Showing results by narrator "Esther Wane" in All Categories

With her secrets uncovered and her power-mad brother bent on her execution, Princess Oria has no sanctuary left. Her bid to make herself and her new barbarian husband rulers of walled Bára has failed. She and Lonen have no choice but to flee through the leagues of brutal desert between her home and his—certain death for a sorceress, and only a bit slower than the blade.

Theodora Goss's first major short story collection showcases such stories as "The Rose in Twelve Petals," "The Rapid Advance of Sorrow," "Lily, With Clouds," "In the Forest of Forgetting," "Sleeping With Bears," and many more. 

Sister Veronica is back at the Convent; a changed woman as a result of her experiences with the corrupt clergy and the murder she lived through. Now - more than ever - she has a thirst for righting wrongs, even if it means getting herself into danger. So, when a two-month-old baby girl is left on the Convent doorstep one night, wrapped up in dirty blankets and placed in an open cardboard box, Sister Veronica steps in to help solve the mystery. And when she discovers a tarot card left with the baby, she is drawn deeper into the search for the mother.

Some of today's greatest storytellers reveal their choices of the ideal grown-up bedtime story: writers such as Margaret Drabble, Ken Follett, Tessa Hadley, Robert Macfarlane, Patrick Ness, Tony Robinson, and Warsan Shire. Fold away your laptop and shut down your mobile phone. Curl up and crash out with the ultimate bedside book, one you'll return to again and again. Full of laughter and tears, moonlight and magic, Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups joyfully provides the dream way to end the day - and begin the night....

One dark and stormy night, lost and alone, Alyssa finds herself knocking on the door of a castle. After a lifetime spent in the deep forest, Alyssa has no idea what to expect on the other side. What she finds is two unruly young princesses and one very handsome prince. When Alyssa accepts the job of Princess Companion, she knows her life will change. What she doesn't know is that the royal family is about to be swept up in unexpected danger and intrigue, and that she just might be the only thing standing between her kingdom and destruction.  

Rumors have long swirled about the strange kingdom of Eldon. The only thing more frozen than its mountains are the inhabitants themselves. But Princess Celine has never backed away from a challenge, so she eagerly accepts an invitation to visit. Yet the situation in Eldon is even worse than Celine feared. And if the kingdom is to have any hope of freedom or a future, she's going to have to call on new skills and new allies - including the crown prince, Oliver. But against an enemy stronger and colder than ice, all her fire may not be enough.

This collection investigates the origins of our most intriguing old-fashioned superstitions, many of which we still find ourselves abiding by today. Hundreds of the beliefs passed down through the generations have their foundations in our ancestors' efforts to ward off evil, which they blamed for hardship, illness, and injustice in times when life was, as often as not, "nasty, brutish and short." 

Alone in her tower, Princess Oria has spent too long studying her people’s barbarian enemies, the Destrye—and neglected the search for calm that will control her magic and release her to society. Her restlessness makes meditation hopeless and her fragility renders human companionship unbearable. Oria is near giving up. Then the Destrye attack, and her people’s lives depend on her handling of their prince…

Lorelei has seen the best and worst of this kingdom. She has fought through armies of the dead, fallen in love with a dragon, and discovered there may be more to her origin than she originally thought. Now, free from the rebellion, she can make her choice for where her life leads. If only that decision was a little easier...

Only fourteen, Stella Infuriati is the youngest member of her town's resistance network during World War II. Risking imprisonment and death, she relays messages, supplies, and weapons to partisan groups in the Tuscan Hills. Her parents have no idea, consumed instead by love and fear for their beloved son, Achille, a courier and unofficial mechanic for a communist brigade fighting the fascists.

Greyhounds, streaks of lightning, were bred to be the fastest dogs on earth. Yet for decades, tens of thousands were destroyed, abandoned, and abused each year when they couldn't run fast enough. Scrappy Marion Fitzgibbon, whose empathy for animals made her relentless, became obsessed with saving these dogs - despite the overwhelming power of dog-racing proponents - when she became head of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Princess Altagracia has lost everything. After a bloody civil war, her twin sister has claimed not just the crown of their planet Szayet but the Pearl of its prophecy, a computer that contains the immortal soul of their god. Stripped of her birthright, Altagracia prepares to flee the planet—just as Matheus Ceirran, Commander of the interstellar Empire of Ceiao, arrives in deadly pursuit. Princess Altagracia sees an opportunity to win back her planet, her god, and her throne...if she can win over the Commander and his distrustful right-hand officer, Anita.

The biggest event in the Catholic calendar is a disaster in Zofia Turbotyńska’s household. Her maid, Karolina, has handed in her notice and worse, gone missing. When Karolina’s body is discovered, violated and stabbed, Zofia knows she has to investigate.

Tom is a successful author, but he’s struggling to finish his novel. His main distraction is an online admirer, Evie, who simply won’t leave him alone. Evie is smart, well read, and unstable. She lives with her father, and her social-media friendships are not only her escape - they’re everything she has. When she’s hit with a restraining order, her world is turned upside down, and Tom is free to live his life again, to concentrate on writing. But things aren’t really adding up.

Neuroscience is revolutionizing our understanding of human psychology and behavior. By showing how to apply this new understanding to how you recruit, manage, and develop your people, Brann is enabling you to deliver a step change in organizational performance and individual achievement. 

Trystan was once the pampered daughter of a wealthy aristocrat, but since his death, she's considered a social pariah. Trapped by her stepmother's malicious web of lies, Trystan is willing to do just about anything to escape - even play a part in a devious plot to disinherit the kingdom's incompetent heir, Prince Ramsey. But what should have been a simple task proves to have sinister implications. The consequences for Trystan's actions become clear in the midst of the glittering royal masque, where two very different princes compete for the hearts of their people.

On a remote farm in the deepest Devonshire countryside, four pregnant women arrive at an exclusive yoga retreat for a five-star weekend of prenatal pampering. The location is idyllic. Their host, Selina, is eager to teach them all she knows about pregnancy and motherhood. But, like Selina, each of the women has a secret. And secrets can be deadly.

After Ludwig van Beethoven’s death, a love letter in his writing was discovered, addressed only to his ‘Immortal Beloved’. Decades later, Countess Therese Brunsvik claims to have been the composer’s lost love. Yet is she concealing a tragic secret? Who is the one person who deserves to know the truth? Becoming Beethoven’s pupils in 1799, Therese and her sister, Josephine, followed his struggles against the onset of deafness, Viennese society’s flamboyance, privilege and hypocrisy and the upheavals of the Napoleonic wars. 

Snow has always lived under the shadow of her cruel stepmother, with only her beloved father and her childhood friend - the huntsman, Alexander - to make life bearable. When her father dies, she should be crowned queen, but instead she finds herself fleeing for her life. With no allies, no skills, and no food, her future could be over before it has truly begun. But there's more at stake than just one life. If Snow can't claim her throne, her kingdom faces destruction. Snow has to make a choice: focus on her own salvation or put everything on the line - even those she loves the most.

Longing to find true love, Kate Millington arrives in British Columbia on a bride ship. With countless men waiting to snag a bride, Kate has no trouble getting engaged. It's staying engaged that's the problem. After traveling to the remote mining town of Williamsville to marry her newest fiance, she finds herself single again. As the prosperous owner of a gold mine, Zeke Hart has everything he's ever wanted except for a wife. At Kate's arrival, he takes it upon himself to protect his childhood friend from the men clamoring to court her.