Showing results by narrator "Antonia" in All Categories

On a lazy Sunday morning, Jenny Harris is shaken awake by her panic-stricken boyfriend, Joseph. Their baby daughter lies asleep on her chest. ‘We’ve got to go!’ Joseph screams. In their hotel room, Jenny hurriedly wraps her tiny baby up. All their belongings are left behind. There’s no time. Joseph’s panic is contagious. Jenny sprints with her family from the hotel. And it’s clear that they are being chased. Their pursuers are indiscriminate and they are deadly. Her boyfriend falls, caught up in the carnage, but he manages to give her one last message: 'RUN!’

Loss is a thing of the past. Murder is obsolete. Death is just the beginning. In 1938, death is no longer feared but exploited. Since the discovery of the afterlife, the British Empire has extended its reach into Summerland, a metropolis for the recently deceased. Yet Britain isn’t the only contender for power in this life and the next. The Soviets have spies in Summerland, and the technology to build their own god. When SIS agent Rachel White gets a lead on one of the Soviet moles, blowing the whistle puts her hard-earned career at risk.

Mia Hamilton lived the perfect life with her husband, university teacher Zach, and their two-year-old daughter. But everything changed when Zach committed suicide on the same night one of his students vanished. Five years later, just when Mia is beginning to heal, stranger Alison walks into her life, saying her husband didn't kill himself. Fragile, slight Alison leads Mia on a path into Zach's past, and Mia begins to think she never really knew her own husband.

“Paula Byrne brings J.F.K.’s adored little sister, Kick, back to life.” —Vanity Fair From celebrated biographer Paula Byrne, the remarkable life of the vivacious, unconventional—and nearly forgotten—young Kennedy sister who charmed American society and the English aristocracy, and...

Present Day. When Hanna returns to Norfolk from years working abroad, the strange dreams of her adolescence return: indistinct figures in tunics, mighty soldiers in armour, gladiators, temples, an Iceni warrior woman leading her people. Gradually Hanna’s dreams begin to slip into the present as visions in the famous mists rolling across the fens, and as shocks of recognition when a new face moves to her childhood home. As Hanna realises that she has a connection with a tragedy that occurred many years before, so Brea has to understand that her fate is bound up with her Roman master.

Detlef Sierck, the self-proclaimed greatest playwright in the world, has declared that his next production will be a recreation of the end of the Great Enchanter Drachenfels - to be staged at the very site of his death, the Fortress of Drachenfels itself. But the castle's dark walls still hide a terrible secret which may make the opening night an evening to remember!

Set amidst the gorgeous backdrop of Provence, Serena Kent’s second book in the deliciously entertaining Penelope Kite series finds the amateur sleuth romantically linked with the mayor of St. Merlot and dashing to solve the murder of an expat artist—perfect for fans of Peter Mayle and Agatha...

In a different world, Evie Milton would have accepted her fate, married an aristocrat and become the doyenne of one of England’s finest estates, just like her mother. In a different world, Rose Wiley would have married her fiancé, David, established a modest homestead and brought up a brood of babies, just like her mother. But this isn’t a different world, and these women are not their mothers. Rose dreams of a life filled with more than family and duty to her husband—a life of purpose—and Evie dreams of a life far away from her rarefied existence.

Berlin, 1942. "All I know is we will survive this together," he says before kissing the tears away from my cheeks. But I know if the Nazis discover what we’ve done, how we’ve conspired against them, we will die together. Deaf since the age of five, Mina has had to fight for everything she has, including her place at an Austrian university to study physics. She has never felt accepted—until she meets fellow student Siggy, and her heart stops at the kindness in his bright blue eyes.

The Phoenicium, City of Rebirth, has been razed. From its ashes Blackpyre rises, its conqueror standing at the apex of her power. As a new era of strife dawns across the Realm of Life, Abraxia – the pitfighter who became Archaon's champion – must prove her mastery over the numerous conspiracies that would see her dark citadel destroyed and her downfall realised.

English novelist Barbara Pym’s career was defined, in many senses, by rejection. Her first novel Some Tame Gazelle was turned down by every publisher she sent it out in 1935, finally published only 15 years later. Though she picked up a publisher from there and received modest praise, the publishing industry grew restless and her sales spiralled downwards. By her seventh novel, she had been dropped. This brilliant biography, brimming with Pym’s private diaries and intimate letters, offers a first full insight into Barbara Pym’s life and how it informed her writing.

The recently rediscovered short story 'The Lost One', perfect for fans of Daphne du Maurier, Santa Montefiore and Anya Seton. First published in Woman's Journal in 1960, and set against the backdrop of unfenced country and dark winding valleys at night, the aptly named 'The Lost One' features The Wind off the Small Isles heroine Perdita West, who brings her characteristic pluck and courage to this classic Mary Stewart tale of suspense and intrigue....

In the winter of 2009, Rachel Cusk’s marriage of 10 years came to an end. Candid and revelatory, Aftermath chronicles the perilous journey as the author redefines herself and creates a new version of family life for her daughters. She discovers previously unknown strengths and freedoms, but also finds herself suddenly vulnerable to outsiders, unwelcome advice, social displacement, and the absence of a clear authority. The pressure to reconstruct a “normal” life for her daughters competes with the sense that nothing feels normal at all.

Austria, 1942: In Mauthausen concentration camp, two prisoners dare to fall in love. When a baby is born–a miracle baby born behind the gates of hell–they vow to escape. Inspired by true events, this powerful World War II novel tells the incredible and inspirational tale of two ordinary people who risk everything to achieve the impossible.

When Adrianna arrives at the small, run-down cottage, near the sea in rural Norfolk, she can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Here she can forget her life in the city, and the problems she’s left behind there, at least for a while. But – like Adrianna herself – the cottage holds secrets. And when Adrianna finds a mysterious bundle of notes hidden under a floorboard, she can’t shake the idea that they’ve been waiting for her. Especially when – in the rambling, overgrown garden – she then finds a strangely-carved stone, drawing her into a centuries-old mystery…

The “supremely perceptive writer of formidable skill and intelligence (New York Times Book Review) turns her astute eye to a dramatic family reunion, where simmering tensions and secrets come to a head over three long, hot summer weeks. “Deliciously precise. . . . Built in a Chekhovian...

Charlie Wolfe jumps at the chance to help his uncle renovate a tumbledown cottage overlooking Nomansland Common. Number One Constable’s Cottages was once the home of the man charged with ridding the common of the highwaymen who terrorised travellers. But it’s the story of The Wicked Lady, the notorious female highway robber, that captures Charlie’s imagination, and some long winters’ nights he’s sure he can the hoofbeats of her horse echoing across time.

Many of us believe that the best way to treat crises and challenges is to process them: to mull over and analyse the stresses, anxieties and traumas we face. But this perception is misguided. Instead, we should think of our mind as a sieve through which everything slips unless we choose to hold on to it. But how do we let go of those negative thoughts we’ve held on to which are weighing us down?

Meet Genevieve Dieudonné. She’s beautiful, powerful, resourceful, courageous, and over four hundred years old. In the crowded cities and dark forests of the Warhammer world, Genevieve and her unlikely companions battle the forces of malevolence and insanity. However, the vampire blood running through Genevieve’s veins means she must constantly fight the urge to surrender to the evil within.

Amara's journey has taken her far; from a slave in Pompeii's wolf den to a high-powered courtesan in Rome...though her story is not over yet. While Amara plays for power in Rome's imperial palace, those dearest to her remain in Pompeii. But it is AD 79, and mighty Mount Vesuvius is about to make itself known.