Showing results by narrator "Victoria Fox" in All Categories

February 1941. After months of bombing raids in London, 12-year-old Olive Bradshaw and her little brother, Cliff, are evacuated to the Devon coast. The only person with two spare beds is Mr Ephraim, the local lighthouse keeper. Desperate to be helpful, Olive becomes his post girl, carrying secret messages (as she likes to think of the letters) to the villagers. But Olive has a secret of her own. Her older sister, Sukie, went missing in an air raid, and she’s desperate to discover what happened to her.

Forbidden to leave her island, Isabella dreams of the faraway lands her cartographer father once mapped. When her best friend disappears, she's determined to be part of the search party. Guided by an ancient map and her knowledge of the stars, Isabella navigates the island's dangerous Forgotten Territories. But beneath the dry rivers and dead forests, a fiery myth is stirring from its sleep.

In 10 dazzling stories, Saba Sams dives into the world of girlhood and immerses us in its contradictions and complexities: growing up too quickly, yet not quickly enough; taking possession of what one can, while being taken possession of; succumbing to societal pressure but also orchestrating that pressure. These young women are feral yet attentive, fierce yet vulnerable, exploited yet exploitative. Threading between clubs at closing time, pub toilets, drenched music festivals and beach holidays, these unforgettable short stories deftly chart the treacherous terrain of growing up. 

How far would you go for love? When new boyfriend Jack stands her up at the airport, Ruby Miller dries her tears, jumps on the Eurostar and heads to Paris. She thinks she's going there to visit an old friend and have a total break from romance. But the City of Love has other ideas. A locked apartment where time has stood still, a bundle of long-lost love letters and a flirtatious French lawyer sweep Ruby into a mystery that spans over 70 years.

Because love is the greatest mystery of all.... 'In a way, I'm a bit of a love detective. Because what's a greater mystery than love?' Meet Ruby Miller. A writer who makes happy-ever-afters happen. Until she discovers her fiancé is a lying cheat and loses her faith in love. So when her sister invites her on a beach holiday to Goa to forget about him, Ruby jumps on a plane...and into an extraordinary adventure.

Abandoned at Chipchase’s Travelling Circus as a baby, Louie dreams of becoming a showstopper, a tightrope walker-- The Girl Who Walked on Air--she just needs to be given a chance. And the circus needs her, too--Wellbeloved’s rival show is stealing their crowds.

Reluctantly Mr. Chipchase lets Louie perform. She is a sensation and gets an offer from the sinister Mr. Wellbeloved to perform...

Louise has had to watch her husband, Andrew, start a new family in the four years since he left her. The ‘other woman’ is now his wife - but Louise isn’t ready to let Caz enjoy the life that was once hers or to let go of the man she still loves. As Louise starts to dig into Caz’s past, the two women’s pretence of civility starts to slip. But in trying to undermine each other, they discover more about the man they both married. And when Andrew is murdered at a family party, both women are found standing over the body. It’s always the wife. But which one?

Three muffled thuds ring from the partially filled grave of the newly wed girl. Only the verger hears them, and he dismisses the noise as his imagination. But over the next few days, others also hear faint sounds. An exhumation order is granted. Reporter Kate Hemingway sneaks into the small suburban churchyard when the coffin is opened, and the scene she witnesses is so horrific she can never forget it. As she starts work on the story, Kate finds herself caught up in a sinister and macabre cover-up.

When Lilian finds a parcel on her grandad's doorstep, she is shocked to see who sent it: a famous Egyptologist, found dead that very morning! The mysterious package holds the key to a story about a king whose tomb archaeologists are desperately hunting for. Lilian and her friends must embark on an incredible journey to return the package to its resting place, to protect those they love, and to break the deadly pharaoh's curse.

Tess is heartbroken when Seb breaks up with her and can't help blaming herself. If only she'd done things differently. If only she could make right all her regrets...But she can't. It's over. She has to forget about him. Drunk and upset on New Year's Eve, she wishes she'd never met him. But when she wakes up to discover this dream has come true, she realises she has a chance. To do it all over again. And to get it right this time....

When Alice’s brother gets a longed-for chance for a heart transplant, Alice is suddenly off to her estranged grandmother’s house. There’s nothing good about staying with Nell except for beautiful Darkling Wood at the end of her garden - but Nell wants to have it cut down. Alice feels at home there, at peace, and even finds a friend, Flo. But Flo doesn’t seem to go to the local school, and no one has heard of a girl with that name. When Flo shows Alice the surprising secrets of Darkling Wood, Alice starts to wonder, what is real?

Talented lawyer Hannah Campbell is after a change in her workaholic Manchester life - so on an uncharacteristic whim, she books herself a place at the world-renowned Killorgally Cookery School in County Kerry. But on her first night In Ireland, sampling the delights of Dublin, Hannah can’t resist falling for the charms of handsome stranger Conor. It’s only when Hannah arrives at her postcard-pretty home at Killorgally for the next six weeks that she discovers what happens in Dublin doesn’t quite stay in Dublin....

Italy, 1921. Yacobo Levi, an intellectual dreamer, works in the family bookshop. Angelo Ghione, a contadino, makes good wine by singing to the grapes. Lifetime best friends, their Jewish and Catholic families live side by side amidst a backdrop of village communal life. Born on the same day, their children grow up and fall in love. When the 1938 racial laws are passed, the love between Bella and Rico thrives. When Angelo discovers their liaison, he suggests they marry, but tensions simmer beneath the surface of love and friendship.

Amihan lives on Culion Island where some of the inhabitants, including her mother, have leprosy. Ami loves her home with its blue sea and lush forests, but the arrival of Mr Zamora changes her world forever as Ami is banished from the island. She seeks to return before her mother's death. Can the colony of butterflies lead her home before it's too late?

A body washed up on the beach. An evacuation to an old house with forbidden rooms and dark secrets. An animal rescue service. Set in World War Two, Emma Carroll explores the resilience, resourcefulness and inventiveness of children when their lives fall to pieces. Introducing some compelling new characters, as well as revisiting some familiar settings, these adventures are sure to win over new listeners as well as fans of old favourites such as Letters from the Lighthouse and Frost Hollow Hall.

Sofia and her little brother, Ermin, are sent to the convent orphanage but soon escape, led by an enigmatic new friend and their pet crow, Corvith. Together they cross the city underground, following clues in bones up to the towers of Siena, where - circled by magpies - the children find the terrible truth....  

It’s time to pack your bags and head to the breathtaking, snow-covered peaks of the Swiss Alps for velvety hot chocolates, delicious cheeses and a gorgeous love story.... Food technician Mina has always believed that chocolate will solve everything - and it’s just what she needs when her latest relationship mishap goes viral! So with her bags packed and a new determination to sort her life out, Minna decides to drown her sorrows with the best hot chocolate in the world at her godmother’s cosy Swiss chalet. 

In 1910, eleven-year-old Iris Villarca lives with her father at Rawblood, a lonely house on Dartmoor. Iris and her father are the last of their name. The Villarcas always die young, bloodily. Iris believes it's because of a congenital disease which means she must isolate herself from the world. But one sunlit autumn day, beside her mother's grave, she forces the truth from her father: the disease is biologically impossible. A lie to cover a darker secret.

Jo Lawless is still grieving her husband when his oldest friends invite her to a weekend houseparty in France. She’s always felt like an outsider in the group, but she decides to go, hoping their shared loss will bring them closer together. But the weekend is disrupted by the arrival of an unexpected guest, whose presence brings old tensions to the surface. Long-buried secrets begin to emerge, and it’s clear that at least one person is bent on revenge.

When Bethany's lover is brutally murdered, she has to hide her grief from everyone. But someone knows her secret. And then one day the threats begin. With an ever-growing pile of evidence pointing to her as the murderer, the only way she can protect her secrets is to prove her innocence. And that means tracking down a killer.