Orphan Kids

In a world where dark faeries have stepped in to save the planet from humanity's mistakes, 17-year-old December Thorne is nothing but a shadow. Shunned by her peers, bullied at school, and paid a little too much attention by her sleazy foster father, she lives in constant fear and perpetual solitude. Until the day everything changes. Offered a scholarship to the prestigious Oberon Academy, December finds herself living in a whole new world.

The sinking of the Brig Minerva results in many deaths, while for others, the future is suddenly brighter. But it’s not always easy to leave the past behind.... Evie Parfitt is almost 30, penniless, and with no prospect of ever marrying. She has her hands full helping turn a jewel merchant’s willful heiress into a lady able to move in good society. When the sinking of the Minerva leaves her charge an orphan and she selects a notorious rake as her guardian, Evie is determined to protect both of them from his attentions.

West Yorkshire, 1901. When Eli Simmonite takes in a heavily pregnant woman fleeing from peril, he feels sure no good will come of it. After all, settled folk don't need much reason to take against the travellers, so having one seek safety amongst his people is unheard of. When danger comes knocking, they leave devastation in their wake. Eli is left with the baby girl and his orphaned grandson; a reminder of the offer of aid that cost him his family. With no kin but the adopted family who hold her responsible for their demise, Rosie is filled with questions of her past.

For nearly one thousand years, the Core Empire has held together thousands of star systems and billions of citizens. But a coup attempt has broken the empire into pieces. Some planets and systems have survived and still have law and order. Others have fallen to barbarism and piracy. For young Hugh Cascade, this is but a history lesson, even if the nightmares of kinetic weapons exploding have followed him through most of his childhood. Ten years later, the war finds Hugh, now a military cadet.

Orphan is about the struggle to save the lives of children who, because of an unlucky roll of the genetic dice, are born with any one of several thousand rare genetic disorders. Many are burdened with diseases that carry mysterious names, some of which you will hear about for the first time in this audiobook, along with compelling stories about the physicians, scientists, and parents who have taken them on.

As snow begins to fall, and word reaches their town that the Red Army are approaching, German-born mother-of-two Emma knows she has no choice: She must pack their meagre belongings and leave their home, in search of safety. Even if safety is within Nazi Germany. But as the icy grip of winter tightens around them, her four-year-old son—her blue-eyed angel—Jacob becomes ill. Desperate for him to get well enough to continue their journey, she takes him to a hospital, where she hands him to a kind nurse. Then a terrible attack separates mother and son, and their lives change forever.

Beloved author Lindsey Hutchinson is back with another novel of triumph over adversity set in the heart of a Black Country community. Perfect for fans of Josephine Cox and Lyn Andrews. Taken into service, orphan Lily Rae has heard all the stories about what entitled masters think their pretty maid's duties include. But when the very worst happens to her, she knows scrubbing the scullery floors of Ryder House no longer provides refuge from the sadistic Sebastian Ryder. Cold and alone, Lily makes for the town of Wednesbury, knowing she has only herself to rely on.....

If every war needs its master chronicler, Ukraine has Serhiy Zhadan, one of Europe’s most promising novelists. Recalling the brutal landscape of The Road and the wartime storytelling of A Farewell to Arms, The Orphanage is a searing novel that excavates the human collateral damage wrought by the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The massive orphan train exodus whisked three-year-old Teresa from the safety of her New York orphanage, where the worst thing the Foundling nuns did was wash her curly black hair, to a desolate house and cold-hearted "parents" in Kansas. There, she entered a small and strange Volga German world whose inhabitants spoke a language she had never heard. In this odd world, she encountered whippings and sexual abuse. Mail-Order Kid looks at the orphan train movement through the eyes of one small child who yearns to know her "real" mother.