Showing results by narrator "Margaret Ashley" in All Categories

Women march together in protest at a government reneging on climate promises. Two glorified paper pushers in Spain help British ex-pats escape a heatwave that will soon lay waste to most of southern Europe. A Twitter storm erupts in the panic of a real tempest. In Northeast England, a beloved allotment sinks below the waterline. Sea levels rise, toxic rain falls, and the Earth poisons the food that grows in it. The elite and winners of the life lottery are evacuated to giant towers. For many, a decision has to be made between living safe or living free. 

A man carries his girlfriend in the left-hand breast pocket of his shirt. During World War II, a young soldier searches the houses and barns of the families with whom he grew up. An astronaut wonders whether she can adapt to life back on Earth. In her second collection of short fiction, 100neHundred, Laura Besley explores a kaleidoscope of emotions through 100 stories of exactly 100 words.

Strange stories about strange things for strange people. Tales of possession and obsession. Of destruction and restoration. Of the demons we hold inside us, and those we leave behind in others. An odd apocalypse freezes a supermarket on Mother’s Day, a vanished village holds an ancient curse, an abandoned ice cream van tears a street apart. Rival rainbow setters, the woman who sowed a crop of elephants in her garden, and what happens if you keep on turning the clocks back. Perhaps you had a demon then lost it. Do you miss it?

Eden and Janine were best friends throughout their childhood and early teenage years. Then something happened that shattered their friendship, leaving Eden devastated and confused. Ever since her efforts to sort things out with Janine failed miserably, Eden has avoided her ex-best friend. Unfortunately, she can’t avoid her forever, since Eden’s sister is marrying Janine’s brother. Thrown together in the same room for the first time in years, can the two women finally put their issues behind them and move on? Or is their shattered friendship beyond repair?

Marc is an attentive and adoring husband - until, one morning, he goes out and doesn't come back. After three years of searching for him, Kate has to move on. She cuts her hair, throws away his things, and finds new love. Then, one morning, she wakes up with Marc asleep in her bed. He asks for seven days to prove his love.

In this third and final installment of the Life Begins at Forty-Eight series of short stories, Linda finds herself caring for her mother while trying to plan her own wedding.   

Linda returns in this, second installment of the Life Begins at Forty-Eight series. This time she is faced with making preparations for her mother to come out of hospital and introducing Tim to her family. Together, they also take on flat-packed furniture. Patience is a Virtue is a short story by C H Clepitt, jam packed with humor. It is also moving and heart-warming. By the time the story is finished you will feel you really know the characters, and will want to know what happens next.

When Linda is made redundant, she plans to travel and do all the things she never had a chance to do when she was working. Her plans are scuppered, however, when her mother is rushed into hospital. Moving back home opens up a new life for Linda that she could never have imagined for herself. This is a short story by the author of A Reason to Stay, C. H. Clepitt, and in the short time you spend with these characters, you'll feel like you really know them.

Abigail’s had a crush on Mackenzie, the motorcycle courier, for months, but Mackenzie doesn’t even know she exists. Nothing exists for Mackenzie, though, except for her pride and joy - her Ducati Monster. After an unpleasant encounter, Abigail decides to get her own back on Mackenzie - in the worst possible way. Despite the pleas of her colleagues, Abigail plans to hide Mackenzie’s precious motorbike and take the haughty so-and-so down a peg or two.