Showing results by narrator "Fiona Hardingham"

Random House presents the unabridged, downloadable edition of Sophie Kinsella's new title.

Katie Brenner has the perfect life: a flat in London, a glamorous job, and a supercool Instagram feed. Okay, so the truth is that she rents a tiny room with no space for a wardrobe, she has a hideous commute to a lowly admin job, and the life she shares on Instagram isn't really hers. But one day her dreams are bound to come true, aren't they? Until her not-so-perfect life comes crashing down when her megasuccessful boss, Demeter, gives her the sack. All Katie's hopes are shattered.

Robin Wilde has a beautiful six-year-old daughter, a job she's really rather good at, a wonderful best friend and an auntie who is bonkers, yes, but loves her to the moon and back. But Robin has a secret. Behind the mask she carefully applies every day, she can't shift the grey, lonely feelings of The Emptiness. She struggles to fit in with the school mum crew, online dating is totally despair-inducing and she worries all the time about raising her daughter with self-confidence, courage and joy.

Becoming Magic is book one of a complete course in becoming creator of your own exceptional life. In this book, I outline the exact steps which enabled me to move my own life from one of poverty and drudgery, to one of previously unimaginable wealth, purpose and joy. But Magic? I do hope you are joking! That's what I would have said, five or ten years ago. I once despised all things 'New-Age'; all these spiritual types and their airy-fairy views, their bad science and their irrational beliefs.

Even after the apocalypse, crimes must be solved. In 2019, the AIs went to war. It lasted three days, until the electromagnetic pulse from hundreds of nuclear bombs destroyed the infected circuits. Billions of people succumbed to radiation, starvation, and disease. But millions survived, and they rebuilt. Twenty years later, a ceremony is being held to mark the first transatlantic broadcast since the Blackout. The Prime Minister of Britain and two of the Presidents of the United States will speak to an audience of nearly 10 million people. Not all are celebrating. Crime is on the rise, and power is once again a prize worth murdering for. Ruth Deering, a new graduate from the police academy, doesn't care about ancient history or current affairs. She only joined the force to escape the smog-infested city. Those hopes are dashed when she is assigned to the Serious Crimes Unit, commanded by the disgraced Sergeant Mitchell. Her first case seems like a simple murder, but the investigation uncovers a counterfeiting ring and a conspiracy that threatens to destroy their fragile democracy.

Zombies. It is seven months since the outbreak. The world is in ruins. Britain is a radioactive wasteland peopled by the undead. The few survivors cling to the hope that they might wake up tomorrow. For most, that is all they have left. But Nilda has something more, the chance that her son is alive.

There are no reported outbreaks in the UK or Ireland. That's what the government broadcasted. Nilda didn't believe it. Not trusting the authorities, she, and her son, Jay, stay behind when Penrith is evacuated. After weeks of rationing, there is little food left in the small town and many other survivors competing for it. Choosing diplomacy over violence, she attempts to forge a community out of a disparate group. As zombies gather outside their walls, she realizes that they will have to seek sanctuary elsewhere.

A castle can be made safe from the undead, but not from the people inside the walls. It is seven months since the outbreak. In the anarchy and chaos that came with the undead, civilization was destroyed. In the wars that followed, the planet was nearly ruined. Billions died. Only a few thousand survived.

In 2019, the AIs went to war. Three days later, hundreds of nuclear missiles were launched. The electromagnetic pulse destroyed the machines, but the radiation and famine nearly destroyed humanity. By 2039, civilization had regressed to the age of steam, but newer technologies were on the horizon. The future looked bright until the warlords swept through Europe. Villages and towns were laid waste, the few thousand people who'd hacked out a life in the continental wasteland were butchered. It was only when the barbarians reached the British garrison in Calais that they were stopped.

The outbreak began in February. Nations went to war. Governments collapsed. Billions died in the chaos and anarchy that followed. Billions more were infected. They died. They came back. It is now October. Out of the tens of millions who lived in southern England, only 90 people remain. They sought sanctuary behind the ancient walls of the Tower of London, but it was only a temporary refuge. There is no more food to be scavenged from the ruins of the old world. Their water supply is polluted.

When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first. One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable - until her mother vanishes.

Devastated by a broken engagement, Stella Jackson leaves her old life behind for a new start in rural Scotland. But when she arrives in the remote coastal village of Arisaig, nothing is what she expected. At the edge of Arisaig sits Munro House; grand, imposing and said to be cursed by a string of tragic deaths. No less intriguing is its eccentric and handsome young owner, Jamie Munro, who hires Stella as his assistant while he pursues a seemingly impossible aim.

Now, in response to huge demand, this latest addition to my magical Course in Manifesting series turns to the subject of money. In Becoming Rich, you'll not only learn the precise details of how you can use magic to transform your entire financial world and start bringing money flowing to you. You'll also have the chance of winning a sizeable donation to your chosen favorite charity.

If you're jaded by the whole New-Age idea of The Laws of Attraction, and have become bored by their failure to deliver... these books are for you. It is my intention to lead you by the hand through a marvelous journey of wonder and adventure. Part one of this course, Becoming Magic, laid the groundwork for becoming a magical person, while this second book, Doing Magic, offers concrete techniques and instructions for bringing wonderful things into your life.

Struggling with working-mother guilt, Marlene Greene hopes a camping trip in the forest will provide quality time with her three young children - until they see fires in the distance, columns of smoke distorting the sweeping view. Overnight, all communication with the outside world is lost. Knowing something terrible has happened, Marlene suspects that the isolation of the remote campsite is all that's protecting her family. But the arrival of a lost boy reveals they are not alone in the woods, and as the unfolding disaster ravages the land, more youngsters seek refuge under her wing.

Vega Jane was always told no one could leave the town of Wormwood. She was told there was nothing outside but the Quag, a wilderness filled with danger and death. And she believed it - until the night she stumbled across a secret that proved that everything she knew was a lie.

Now Vega and her best friend, Delph, must find a way to make it across this terrifying land of bloodthirsty creatures and sinister magic. But the Quag is worse than Vega Jane's darkest imagining.

Beyond the Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger. The Blood Shrike, Helene Aquilla, is assailed on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable while the Commandant capitalizes on his madness to bolster her own power. As Helene searches for a way to hold back the approaching darkness, her sister's life and the lives of all those in the Empire hang in the balance.

As nations rebuild, democracy is under threat. In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt. Twenty years later, civilisation is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise. During the investigation of a routine homicide, Police Officer Ruth Deering prevents a group of Luddites from destroying the telegraph. This act of sabotage is only the beginning. As arrests are made, and criminals are caught, evidence emerges that the saboteurs are connected to the AIs, the counterfeiting, and to the assassination. The shadowy figure behind the conspiracy must be unmasked before their fragile democracy is destroyed.

Advanced Magic is the final part in the Course in Manifesting trilogy - a complete course in becoming creator of your own exceptional life. In these three books I outline the exact steps that enabled me to move my own life from one of poverty and drudgery, to one of previously unimaginable wealth, purpose, and joy.

This is it. Vega Jane's time. Lied to her whole life, she has broken away from Wormwood, the only home she's ever known, and headed off into the Quag in search of the truth. She battles horrors to fight her way through it, with her best friend, Delph, and her mysterious canine, Harry Two, alongside her. Against all odds, they survive - but arrive in a place that's even worse.