Showing results by narrator "Esther Wane" in All Categories

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger”, left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the story lines of her favorite literature.

Rumors have long swirled about the strange kingdom of Eldon. The only thing more frozen than its mountains are the inhabitants themselves. But Princess Celine has never backed away from a challenge, so she eagerly accepts an invitation to visit. Yet the situation in Eldon is even worse than Celine feared. And if the kingdom is to have any hope of freedom or a future, she's going to have to call on new skills and new allies - including the crown prince, Oliver. But against an enemy stronger and colder than ice, all her fire may not be enough.

Solve the mystery with the Secret Seven - everyone's favourite detective club! A brand-new, action-packed Secret Seven adventure by prizewinning author Pamela Butchart. When Peter discovers an old skull hidden in his bedroom, it's time for an urgent meeting of the Secret Seven. Setting off to...

Lord Francis and Lady Ottilia Fanshawe are preparing for the birth of their first child. But Lady Fan won't let a little thing like pregnancy get in the way of solving a local mystery. Their neighbor - Sir Joslin Cadel, who recently returned from a sugar plantation in Barbados - has collapsed and died on his doorstep. And his young ward, Tamasine Roy, claims to have murdered him. With Tamasine clearly suffering from some kind of mental disorder and the rest of Cadel's household acting suspiciously, it is clear all is not as it seems.

Growing up in London, Katherine Jegede was always searching for a philosophy to make sense of life. When she found the mind-as-creator philosophy of Neville Goddard, she thought she had found it. Falling victim to a terrible crime, however, caused Jegede to rethink everything she thought she knew. Rather than abandoning Neville's ideas, however, she discovered within them a new source of strength and fortitude. She not only rebounded from her crisis, but also used Neville's creative-mind principles to become a television presenter, something she had never before imagined possible.

Running from a haunting past that clings to her like a shadow, Doc. Erin arrives in the picturesque town of Clover Springs with hopes of finding solace in its peaceful embrace. Little does she know, her short stay is destined to be far more transformative than she could ever imagine. As her heart wrestles with the pain of yesterday, she finds herself drawn into the lives of the town's residents, each struggling with their own demons.

Everyone who knew him told stories about Lawrence, and Lawrence told stories about everyone he knew. He also told stories about himself, again and again: a pioneer of autofiction, no writer before Lawrence had made so permeable the border between life and literature. In Burning Man: The Trials of D. H. Lawrence, acclaimed biographer Frances Wilson tells a new story about the author, focusing on his decade of superhuman writing and travel between 1915, when The Rainbow was suppressed following an obscenity trial, and 1925, when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Princess Adelaide has been missing for years. And that's exactly the way she wants it. Haunted by her past, not even the curse that entraps her is enough to make her long for her old home. But her past finds her anyway, in the form of a handsome prince from her childhood. Adelaide doesn't want to let Gabe in, but a sinister force is spreading fear throughout her new kingdom, and only Gabe has the will to help her. Adelaide can't refuse his assistance - not when the evil might soon ensnare much more than a solitary princess.

How did human minds become so different from those of other animals? What accounts for our capacity to understand the way the physical world works, to think ourselves into the minds of others, to gossip, read, tell stories about the past, and imagine the future? These questions are not new: they have been debated by philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, evolutionists, and neurobiologists over the course of centuries. One explanation widely accepted today is that humans have special cognitive instincts.

A ravishing, luminous selection of short stories from the prize-winning imagination of A. S. Byatt, "a storyteller who could keep a sultan on the edge of his throne for a thousand and one nights" (The New York Times Book Review). With an introduction by David Mitchell, best-selling author of...

Returning from University, Ellen is disenchanted with her chosen career. Leaving home wasn't what she wanted. She missed Clover Springs, in particular a certain older man. Could she convince her family her true vocation lay as a wife and mother?

Solve the mystery with the Secret Seven - everyone's favourite detective club! These timeless stories are perfect for young fans of mystery, adventure or detective series. It's their first adventure and the Secret Seven super-sleuths are already on the trail of a mystery! The gang are dressed in...

1793, England. After a not-so-relaxing holiday in Tunbridge Wells, Lady Ottilia and Lord Francis Fanshawe have returned to their home with a young orphaned girl, Pertesia "Pretty" Brockhurst. After losing both her parents in tragic circumstances, Pretty had been abandoned by the rest of her family and the childless Fanshawes have delighted in having her around. But when her estranged grandfather turns up on their doorstep, Ottilia is worried she will lose the child she is growing so close to.

Eleanor Templeton, recently arrived in Clover Springs, is looking for a place to hide and nurse her invisible wounds. Gary Barrett, the saloon owner, tries to break down the barriers she has erected, convinced he has found the woman of his dreams. Wilma, usually the first to help new arrivals, doesn't want to meet the new school teacher. Seeing Eleanor from a distance has triggered painful memories leading to Wilma's collapse. With Doc Erin out of town, can Father Molloy and Mrs. Grey rescue their old friend and their new one?

Dr. Aoife Abbey takes us beyond the medical perspective to see the humanity at work inside our hospitals through the eyes of doctors and nurses as they witness and experience the full spectrum of human emotion with every shift. It is their responsibility to mitigate the grief of a family in mourning, calm a patient about to die, and confront their own fear of failure when lives are on the line.

Recently widowed, Laura has no intention of tying herself to any other man. She is finally free of the life she choose after leaving the orphanage. But when evil catches up with her, she is left with no option but to run to Clover Springs. There her friends will provide some protection and safety.

The last time Valerie was in Paris, she was three years old, running from the Nazis, away from the only home she had ever known. Now as a young woman all alone in the world, Valerie must return to Paris, to the bookshop and her sole surviving relative, her grandfather Vincent, the only person who knows the truth about what happened to her parents. As she gets to know grumpy, taciturn Vincent again, she hears a tragic story of Nazi-occupied Paris, a doomed love affair, and a mother willing to sacrifice everything for her beloved daughter.

Alicia Carstairs had it all—or so she thought. Financially secure, well brought up, engaged to a prominent young man. So why was she on a train headed west in the hopes of securing a position as a governess? Aaron Higgins thought he was happy until all his friends, his brother, and now Little Beaver, too, were married and having children. He wrote to Mrs. Gantley, asking for a bride. Miss Carstairs ends up in Clover Springs, offending everyone—most of all, Aaron.

Lady Holme—a person, a place, an idyllic setting—the home of Lord and Lady Hazlett. It is also a nightmare haunt of dangerous secrets, both ancient and modern. It's the autumn of 1920 in beautiful southern Hampshire, and the year is fading away. As leaves begin to fall over the landscape, one of the Hazlett party is mercilessly also made to fall, dropping like a leaf before its time. There's no doubt it's murder; it can be nothing else. Why, though? And where will this tragedy lead?

Little Beaver, while happy with his lot as deputy sheriff in Clover Springs, wants what his friends have—a wife and children. But his heart is stuck on Asha, a woman who lives on the reservation and her father refuses to allow Little Beaver court her. Tragically, through no fault of her own, Asha is thrown off of the reservation and left to survive in the wilds. Heartbroken, Little Beaver vows revenge. His friends tell him he will destroy everything he has worked so hard to achieve, and rather than saving the woman he loves, he may place her in further jeopardy.