Showing results by narrator "Imogen Church" in All Categories

While her milliner mother Rosamund is abroad in Paris, 12-year-old Vinnie Fyfe is left behind in Brighton. She finds comfort in eccentric Aunt Bets, her new friend Temitayo and the Brighton Aquarium—where the arrival of a giant octopus will change her life forever. At first terrified, then fascinated, Vinnie begins to produce drawings of the incredible creature, and is sure that a bond is developing between them. But meanwhile, there is a dark and dangerous mystery afoot—involving Rosamund's real reasons for disappearing so suddenly.

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she's dropped off at the door of her brownstone, a stranger answers - a stranger who now lives in her apartment and forces her out in the cold. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to...

Junko is bad at athletics. Really bad. Other students laugh because they think she is small and weak. Then her teacher takes the class on a trip to a mountain. It’s bigger than any Junko’s ever seen, but she is determined to make it to the top. Ganbatte, her teacher tells her. Do your best. After that first trip, Junko becomes a mountaineer in body and spirit. She climbs snowy mountains, rocky mountains and even faraway mountains outside of her home country of Japan.

Alicia was born to dance. From the moment she slips on pointe shoes for the first time, she’s determined to become a professional ballerina. A few years later, Alicia moves from Cuba to the United States to follow her dreams. Then, Alicia begins to lose her sight. How can a ballerina dance if she can’t see where she’s going? Stuck in bed and only able to practice with her fingertips, Alicia doesn’t give up. She finds a way to get back on stage, dancing into the hearts of audiences as one of the world’s most famous prima ballerinas.

Sarah is the first person in her family who wasn’t born into slavery in Delta, Louisiana. But being free doesn’t mean that Sarah doesn’t have to work. She cooks, she cleans, she picks cotton, she does laundry and she babysits. And when she works, she wraps up her hair. One day, Sarah’s hair starts to fall out! It’s itchy, crunchy, patchy and won’t grow. Instead of giving up, Sarah searches for the right products. And then she invents something better than any shampoo or hair oil she’s used before.

Growing up in 19th-century London, England, Ada is curious about absolutely everything. She is obsessed with machines and with creatures that fly. She even designs her own flying laboratory! According to her mother, Ada is a bit too wild, so she encourages Ada to study math. At first, Ada thinks: bleh! Who can get excited about a subject without pictures? But she soon falls in love with it. One day, she encounters a mysterious machine, and from that moment forward, Ada imagines a future full of possibility - one that will eventually inspire the digital age nearly 200 years later.

Wangari lives in the lush, green land of rural Kenya, where the soil is perfect for planting, the trees tower into the sky and the streams are full of mysterious creatures. All day, she plays beneath her favourite fig tree, and at night, she gathers around the fire with her family to listen to her mother's stories. Then Wangari grows up and goes away to school, and things start changing at home. Farmers chop down the trees. Landslides bury the stream. The soil becomes overworked and dry, and nothing will grow. People go hungry.

Tam, an Englishwoman, has been living in a remote westerly tip of Ireland since shortly after World War II, in which she served as an auxiliary pilot. She is now leaving her lover, Niall, who, like his father before him, is a meteorologist. On her way to New York, the airliner she is traveling on becomes grounded by heavy fog at Gander Airport in Newfoundland. As she waits, she notices a mural that moves her to revisit not only the circumstances that brought her to Ireland but her intense relationship with Niall and his growing despondency over the disappearance of his younger brother.

Catherine needs a replacement: someone to step into her place and temporarily take things in hand. Catherine Elliott needs a person to stand in for her at home and work while she does...something else. Her friend Becca thinks she’s having a breakdown, her husband, Allie, is baffled, and her seven year old daughter, Petra, scornful. But Catherine is determined that somebody must take her place. She auditions a series of stand-ins, drawing her husband into the process of casting the character.

Bad Twins by bestselling author Rebecca Chance explores vicious sibling rivalry in a gripping thriller full of family secrets, sizzling scandals, and lots of money. Never trust the face in the mirror . . . It’s no surprise to anyone that Jeffrey Sachs, billionaire CEO of his own hotel chain...

Stunning, charismatic Lexy O’Brien is the reigning queen of British reality TV. Her life in front of the camera is planned and manipulated as successfully as any military assault. But success breeds jealousy. When you’re on top, the only way is down, and there’s always someone standing by to give you a shove....

Being mentored by Chrissie Wellington would be a dream for any triathlete. In To the Finish Line, Chrissie presents her distilled wisdom, hard-won over the course of her extraordinary career, to give all triathletes the chance to learn from the very best. Chrissie writes with emotional honesty, and her warmth and sense of humour also shine through. She speaks frankly about her own experiences - both good and bad - from her career. Such stories will be a source of great inspiration to listeners.

"If you're a young woman navigating life's crazy and wondrous tumult, British writer Lara Williams' new story collection A Selfie as Big as the Ritz is for you." — ELLE British author Lara Williams perfectly captures the bleak, surreal, and often hilarious period of life that every...

Connie Granger has escaped the devastation of her bombed out city home. She has found work in the Women's Timber Corps, and for her, this remote community must now serve a secret purpose. Seppe, an Italian prisoner of war, is haunted by his memories. But in the forest camp, he finds a strange kind of freedom. In each other they find the means to imagine their own lives anew, and to face that which each fears the most. But outside their haven, the world is ravaged by war and old certainties are crumbling.

Growing up the middle child of transatlantic parents, Bella Pollen never quite learnt how to belong. Restlessly crisscrossing the boundaries of family and freedom, safety and danger, home and away, she has sought but generally failed to contain an adventurous spirit within the narrow lines of convention - until, finding herself stymied in the in-between, she reluctantly concludes that to move forwards, she must take a good look at her past.

A day in the life of Carla Valentine - curator, pathology technician and 'death professional' - is not your average day. She spent 10 years training and working as an Anatomical Pathology Technologist: where the mortuary slab was her desk and that day's corpses her task list. Past Mortems tells Carla's stories of those years and investigates the body alongside our attitudes towards death - shedding light on what the living can learn from the dead and the toll the work can take on the living souls who carry it out.

When Lexi's boyfriend, Will, skips her friend's wedding to watch football, it might just be the final whistle for their relationship. But rather than getting mad, Lexi decides to even the score. When 'lost' tickets and an 'accidentally' broken television lead to them spending time together, she realises that revenge might be a good thing. If her clever acts of sabotage prove to be a popular subject for her blog, what harm can that do?

The Snow Rose is the gripping story of a woman on the run from her past by Lulu Taylor, author of The Winter Folly. 'It's psychologically intense, brilliantly written and perfect escapism' – Daily Mail I know they think I shouldn't keep her . . . That's why I've escaped them while I can, while...

The Cambridge University witches have been meeting for as long as the university has been around. They meet mainly to discuss books, though they do so on the roofs of the colleges. Only those invited can join; this includes Kat (a great spell caster and professor) and Cosima, Kat's sister, café owner and witch. However, when Cosima begins casting spells to attract a mate, everything starts to go wrong - she sets off a chain of events that turns each witch's world upside down....

Cuba, 1958. Elisa is only 16 years old when she meets Duardo, and she knows he's the love of her life from the moment they first dance the rumba together in downtown Havana. But Duardo is a rebel determined to fight in Castro's army, and Elisa is forced to leave behind her homeland and rebuild her life in distant England. But how can she stop longing for the warmth of Havana when the music of the rumba still calls to her?