Showing results by narrator "Sarah Coomes" in All Categories

Can a clever girl inventor uncover a ruthless pirate's heart of gold? Thrilling sea adventure takes on a hint of steampunk in the second book by the author of the acclaimed Hour of the Bees.

Since the day her mother died, Jem has known about the numbers. Numbers that pop into her head when she looks into someone’s eyes. They’re dates, the numbers. Dates predicting with brute accuracy each person’s death. Burdened by such grim knowledge, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. Maybe they can find happiness together, if only in the brief time that remains before his expiration date.

1904 INDIA: beautiful and headstrong Clarissa Belhaven and her delicate sister Olive find their carefree life on their widowed father's tea plantation threatened by his drinking and debts. Wesley Robson, a brash young rival businessman, offers to help save the plantation in exchange for Clarrie's hand in marriage, but her father flatly refuses. When Jock Belhaven dies suddenly, his daughters are forced to return to their father’s cousin in Tyneside and work long hours in his pub.

As the icy chill of winter, 1914, settles on the magnificent country estate of Summerset Abbey, three young women seek comfort and warmth in the smiles of friends, the fire in their hearts, and the promise of spring… Victoria Buxton - With her delicate constitution but strong, unflappable spirit, Victoria has never followed societal conventions, the rules of fashion, or the pursuit of a husband. Instead, she finds herself drawn into the controversial - and dangerous - fight for women’s suffrage.

Navigating her way through nightmarish lands devoid of sunlight, Eyelet Elsworth races to free her beloved Urlick Babbit, the first person to understand and accept her - differences and all. Framed for murder and sentenced to execution, Urlick is running out of time. And the Commonwealth's tyrannical new ruler, Penelope Rapture, is strangely eager to speed up the clock.

When their grandmother dies, Grace and Andrew Easton inherit her sprawling, book-filled London home, Dinmont House. Rather than sell it, the adult siblings move in together, splitting the numerous bedrooms and studies. The arrangement is unusual, but ideal for the affectionate pair - until the day Andrew brings home a new boyfriend. A devilishly handsome novelist, James Derain resembles Cary Grant, but his strident comments about Grace’s doctoral thesis soon puncture the house’s idyllic atmosphere. When he and Andrew witness their friend’s murder outside a London nightclub, James begins to unravel.

Seventeen-year-old Eyelet Elsworth has only one hope left: to find her late father's most prized invention, the Illuminator. It's been missing since the day a mysterious flash wiped the sun from the sky. Living in darkness is nothing new to Eyelet. She's hidden her secret affliction all of her life—a life that would be in danger if superstitious townspeople ever guessed the truth. Orphaned when her mother is executed for a crime she did not commit, Eyelet sets out to track down the machine—her one and only chance at a cure.

1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society and the distant rumblings of war.... Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle’s guardianship....

The laughter of summer lawn parties fades for the men and women of Summerset Abbey, as the rumble of cannon-fire sweeps across Europe. In a changing world, they soon find that only one thing is certain: none of them will ever be the same. Rowena Buxton takes a dangerous mission transporting planes, and find herself tempted. Victoria Buxton lives on her own in London as a lady bachelor. And Prudence Tate crosses a line when her new husband elists in the war effort.

For generations, Arienh’s people have feared the Viking raids. She knows all too well the terrible toll the Northmen have taken on the Celts, having lost most of her own family to their swords. So one stormy night when she encounters and wounds a Viking warrior, she has every right to want him dead. And yet she hesitates…. Ronan knows Arienh doesn’t recognize him. He was just a boy when his kinsmen raided her village and Ronan risked his own life to protect her. Now he has returned to claim the beautiful girl who captured his heart years before. But wooing a Celtic woman is no easy task.

Jo Atkins' sixteenth year was disastrous: She lost her dad, was assaulted by a stranger, and then had her heart broken. For the last twenty-five years, she's believed that nothing could ever be as bad again. She was wrong.

Çeda, the heroine of the novel Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, is the youngest pit fighter in the history of the great desert city of Sharakhai. In this prequel, she has already made her name in the arena as the fearsome, undefeated White Wolf; none but her closest friends and allies know her true identity. But this all changes when she crosses the path of Rümayesh, an ehrekh, a sadistic creature forged long ago by the god of chaos.

In the underbelly of Soho's organized crime ring, everyone knows that retired boxer Harry Woods is not one to mess with. And that goes double for his family. Harry has it all: the big house, the flashy cars, and an abundance of wealth. As much as money talks in his world, Harry knows deep down the only thing that really counts is family. Haunted by the sudden death of his wife, he'll do anything to protect his children, but truth is a heavy burden and hidden secrets can unravel even the strongest of bonds....

Ireland, 1790: In the midst of a violent storm, the small fishing village of Dromkeen comes under attack by Moorish pirates. Dromkeen is a poor settlement, but it is rich in what the pirates are hunting: slaves. Among those captured in the surprise raid is the young farmer Brannon Ryan, whose strength and fortitude make him a valuable commodity in the slave markets of North Africa. He is sold into servitude, forced to become a soldier of the sadistic sultan of Morocco. All the while, his heart remains in Ireland, where he can only hope that his beloved Orlaith has met a better fate.

Can classmate Julie protect the brothers from vanishing? With warmth and humor, Carnegie Medalist Frank Cottrell Boyce transports readers from the steppe of Mongolia to the streets of Liverpool in an immigration tale that is compelling, miraculous, and often laugh-out-loud funny.

No one wanted you. But I did. Kat's true identity is a secret, even from her. All she has ever known are Grace and Anna and their small village. Kat wants more—more than hours spent embroidering finery for wealthy ladies and more than Christian, the gentle young farmer courting her. But there...

Jeannette Boucher, a young French beauty from a family left penniless by the revolution, must marry against her will to save them all from ruin. But almost immediately after the vows are spoken, she learns that her old English husband is impotent - and in his desire for an heir, he plans to compromise her in the worst way. Determined to escape such a fate, she stows away on one of His Majesty’s frigates. But a woman alone is in constant danger.

Sixteen-year-old Jude has to get out of tiny Churchtown. She has to escape her outcast status at the Royal Duchy School and her pathetic dad, who hasn’t gotten past her mum’s death. The only bright light is drama, her way out, if only she can get into the Lab in London. It takes a lot of nerve to apply to such a prestigious program, and Jude’s not sure she can do it. Then Jude’s childhood best friend, Stella, returns. Stella, sexy and bold, and 10 times cooler than Jude. With Stella by her side, Jude knows she’s capable of anything. But Stella’s influence extends well beyond the theater.

When Mio sneaks the family's katana - a priceless ancestral sword - from her parents' attic, she just wants to spice up a costume. But the katana is much more than a dusty antique. Awakening the power within the sword unleashes a terrible, ancient evil onto the streets of unsuspecting modern-day London. But it also releases Shinobu, a fearless warrior boy, from the depths of time.

Dad is building a pair of wings, eating flies, and feathering his nest. Auntie Doreen is getting cross and making dumplings. Mr. Poop is parading the streets, shouting LOUDER and LOUDER, and even Mr. Mint, the headmaster, is getting in a flap. And watching it all is Lizzie, missing her mam and looking after Dad and thinking how beautiful the birds are.