Showing results by narrator "Davina Porter" in All Categories

Jarvis lets out rooms in the rambling old house he owns in London. When Axel—the enigma who hates London’s underground tube, yet spends his free time riding it—moves in, Jarvis’ diverse tenants are joined together in a disturbing nightmare.

One of the most determined, energetic, and lusty heroines in all of English literature, Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders will do anything to avoid poverty. Born in Newgate Prison, she was for 12 years a whore, five times a wife (once to her own brother), 12 years a thief, and eight years a transported felon in Virginia before finally escaping from the life of immorality and wickedness imposed on her by society. She is as much a survivor and just as resourceful as Defoe's other great literary creation, Robinson Crusoe.

When a meteor strikes London, its inhabitants are devastated. It's not long before corrupt individuals start taking advantage of the disaster and, with the city lying in ruins, nothing seems certain to those who dwell there. In only they knew that, held captive and tucked away in an attic in...

William Somerset Maugham's remarkable first novel was such an instant success that the 23-year-old medical student left school to become a full-time author. Liza, a vibrant but poverty-stricken London girl, is the most graceful and daring dancer that anyone has ever seen, wildly moving to the music of the Italian organ player on Old Kent Road. But her bright light begins to dim as the tragic effects of illness and poverty overtake her body, if not her spirit.

Nicey Melinda and Sethany Ann are two very old, but very well-loved dolls. This time of year, the dolls are busy planning their yearly Christmas dinner party - with a little help from the two little girls they live with. The girls bundle Nicey and Sethany up to go to the woods for their Christmas tree. After they all decorate the tree with silver nutmegs and golden pears, there is much baking to be done for the party. Oh, what a lovely Christmas they will have! Tasha Tudor’s delightfully nostalgic story conveys the charm of holiday traditions.

Celebrated historian Diana Preston presents betrayals, escapes, and survival at sea in her account of the mutiny of the Bounty and the flight of convicts from the Australian penal colony. The story of the mutiny of the Bounty and William Bligh and his men's survival on the open ocean for 48 days and 3,618 miles has become the stuff of legend. But few realize that Bligh's escape across the seas was not the only open-boat journey in that era of British exploration and colonization.

Lydia was never the most upstanding of the Bennet sisters, but who ever said that moral rectitude was fun? At least she bested her elder sisters and was the first to get married. She never could understand what all the fuss was about after she left Brighton with her gallant. It is a shame, though, that Mr. Wickham turned out to be a disappointing husband in so many aspects, the most notable being his early demise on the battlefields of Waterloo. And so Lydia, still not yet twenty and full of enterprising spirit, is in urgent need of a wealthy replacement.

The 18th century’s Age of Enlightenment in pre-Revolutionary France continues to fascinate us today. Steegmuller brings his scholarly talents to this collection of the letters of Mme. Louise d’Épinay, best-known for the treatment she received in Rousseau’s Confessions. Eavesdropping on the writings of this intelligent woman, the listener gains not only insights into her friendship with Italian priest-diplomat, Ferdinando Galiani, but also a glance into the life of France’s elite.

Sergeant Gunnhildur, recently promoted from her post in rural Iceland to Reykjavík’s Serious Crime Unit, is tasked with hunting down escaped convict Long Ommi, who has embarked on a spree of violent score-settling in and around the city. Meanwhile, she’s also investigating the murder of a fitness guru in her own city-center apartment. As Gunna delves into the cases, she unearths some unwelcome secrets and influential friends shared by both guru and convict.

A young, smart, and beautiful American woman signs up for an escort service to prove to a man she barely knows that she will do just about anything.

In such acclaimed novels as The Photograph, Family Album, and How It All Began, Penelope Lively has captivated readers and listeners with her singular blend of wisdom, elegance, and humor. Now, in her first story collection in decades, Lively takes up themes of history, family, and relationships across varied and vividly rendered settings.

Victoria Trumbull, 92-year-old native of Martha's Vineyard, is savoring the sea air over Vineyard Sound with her granddaughter, Elizabeth, when she spots a person who seems in trouble near the top of a cliff. Elizabeth goes for help, but it's too late - the man dies before he can be rescued.

Newbery Medal winner Laura Amy Schlitz's gothic novel in the grand Victorian tradition, Spledors and Glooms, is set in London and centered around the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl, who goes missing. Two children realize it is their guardian, a Venetian-born puppeteer and magician, who has kidnapped her and used his dark powers to imprison her mind and body in the form of a puppet and strive to return her to human form.

Jackie French Koller is the author of more than 30 books for children and young adults. She has won awards from both the American Library Association and the International Reading Association. Princess Arenelle has just turned 11. Which, as everyone knows, is the age of magic. She’s come a long way on her quest to be the next Imperial Wizard, but the evil Dark Lord Graieconn continues to grow more dangerous. Now she must find a way to outsmart him and defeat his vile horde of creatures.

Pudding the panda makes everyone smile at Edinburgh Zoo. But what would make her truly happy is a family to take care of - like her heroine, Mary Poppins. Meanwhile, Callum is having a hard time at home. His parents keep arguing; his sister is annoying; and his ninth birthday gift is a certificate for an "adopted" panda when all he’d wanted was Lego. Then by a twist of fate, the unbelievable happens, and the two come together on Callum’s front doorstep.

When the bodies of two men are found shockingly posed in the garden of an elderly countess, Captain Natalia Monte of the Carabiniere is assigned the case. Soon she finds herself shuttling between Naples' decadent art galleries and violent criminal underworld. If she is to succeed in solving the heinous crime, Natalia must deal with not only her own complicated past and allegiances but also those of the city as a whole. A Few Drops of Blood is a riveting and poetic exploration of the violence that lurks in the heart of beauty.

Life is good for Cal—and his Panda Bear, Pudding! The family stage-show Panda-Mime is a hit, and there's talk of a Hollywood film. But is it too good to be true? A nosy reporter is sniffing around, and if she discovers that Pudding's a real-life bear, then all their dreams will be dashed.

Unabridged ? 10 hours A beautiful epic of love, longing, redemption, and enchantment in the tradition of Marion Zimmer Bradley?s The Mists of Avalon...

With her children evacuated and her husband at the front, Tory Pace is grudgingly sharing the family home with her irascible mother, working at the local gelatin factory - to help the war effort - and generally doing just about as well as could be expected in difficult times. Her quiet life is thrown into turmoil, however, when her prisoner-of-war husband, Donald, makes an outrageous demand for sexual gratification: He wants a dirty letter!