Showing results by narrator "Paula Masterton" in All Categories

Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something. Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live on the grounds—and together they begin to unpack the secrets of this place. As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew—and risk what she holds most dear.

Mothers talk about impossible choices. But, as I look at my daughter in a hospital bed, her red hair fanning out around her, my heart feels literally torn in two. Should I risk my son’s life to save my daughter, or keep my little boy safe and watch my precious girl slip away? My darling daughter Tara has a rare form of cancer and there’s nothing I can do. At eleven years old, she’s already been so brave, but my sweet girl is hanging on by her fingernails. She has one last chance: a bone marrow transplant from her little brother.

Thirty-year-old Paige Dougall’s life is a mess. Only a year ago she was smashing all of her life goals - handsome husband, high-flying job, cute kid. But in just under 12 months, everything has gone wrong. Nursing a broken heart, single-mother Paige returns to Kindness Cottage, her childhood home nestled in a picture-perfect Scottish village. Despite the backdrop of rolling hills and lavender-scented air, Paige struggles to settle into her summer at Kindness Cottage. She’s too wrapped up in her own worries to embrace her surroundings...until Johnny Becker steps onto the scene.

It’s the summer of 1929 and Mhairi MacKinnon is in need of a husband. As the eldest girl among nine children, her father has made it clear he can’t support her past the coming winter. On the small, Scottish island of St Kilda, her options are limited. But the MacKinnons’ neighbour, Donald, has a business acquaintance on distant Harris also in need of a spouse. A plan is hatched for Donald to chaperone Mhairi and make the introduction on his final crossing of the year, before the autumn seas close them off to the outside world.

Marion Miller needs a fresh start. Her childhood in Northern Ireland wasn’t easy, with a father who passed away when she was young and a mother who got lost in grief. Now grown-up and with family relations as tense as ever, Marion heads to England, to find out the truth about her father’s mysterious past – and hopefully an extended family who will love her as much as he did.

Clem gets a call that is every mother’s worst nightmare. Her nineteen-year-old daughter Erin is unconscious in the hospital after a hiking trip with her friends on the remote Orkney Islands that met a horrifying end, leaving her boyfriend dead and her best friend missing. When Erin wakes, she doesn’t recognize her mother. And she doesn’t answer to her name, but insists she is someone named Nyx.

In 1890s Singapore, the formidable Miss Leda Cassidy arrives as paid companion to Sarah Jane Bendemeer, whose family suffers under the thrall of Southeast Asia's most terrifying hantu. But there's more to Miss Cassidy than meets the eye, and she's faced down worse in her life than a pontianak. However, she may have met her match in the indefatigable businessman, Mr Kay Wing Tong, whose large and constantly-growing family clearly requires female supervision—especially of the particular kind Miss Cassidy can provide.

Dot is a lonely pensioner. Max is a young offender. But a chance meeting in their local park changes everything for this unlikely duo. They soon find they share a wicked sense of humor and a penchant for petty crime. When Dot wins the lottery, Max helps her make a bucket list of all the things she's always wanted to do but never had the chance. The pair gradually realize that it's not just expensive gadgets, fast cars and fun fairs that make them happy. And that the secret to living a rich life isn't money.

Ember Spark, apprentice vet to magical creatures, is off on her next adventure. When a unicorn comes out of hiding to ask for her for help, Ember soon realises that it's not just one but ALL of the magical creatures that are in danger. And with a new arch-villain, Tabitha Bone, hot on Ember’s heels, there's a whole lot at stake . . .

1589. Princess Anna of Denmark is betrothed to King James VI of Scotland. Before they can wed, Anna must pass the trial period: one year of marriage to prove herself worthy of being Scotland's new Queen. Determined to fulfil her duties to King and country, Anna resolves to be the perfect royal bride. Until she meets Lord Henry. By her side is Kirsten Sorenson, her loyal and pious lady-in-waiting. But, whilst tending to Anna's every need, Kirsten has her own secret motives for the royal marriage to succeed.

When I first met you, darling Marina, you were just five years old. You took my breath away, with your long, dark waves and pink cheeks. You needed me, and I instantly knew I’d do anything to protect you. When six years ago, my heart was shattered, I was left utterly broken – but I didn’t know just how lost I was until you filled that hole in my heart. You quickly became the centre of my world, your sweet laugh my favourite sound. But then things started to change... I put my pain down to work stress, but when the diagnosis came through it was worse than I could ever have imagined.

Ava’s daughter, Carly, is everything a 10-year-old should be: energetic, creative, and the light of her parent’s lives. But when she starts stumbling down stairs and walking into doors, Ava wants to rush to the doctor. Her husband, Rick, is sure she’s fretting over nothing - kids can be a little clumsy sometimes. But Ava’s instinct is telling her something is seriously wrong. Ava takes Carly to see a specialist and is given a devastating diagnosis: a rare genetic condition that will change her future forever.

Rusty Fizzbang, vet to magical beasts, needs an apprentice. Ember Spark, looking for adventure, is his newest recruit - and together with an unlikely friend, Arno, she is sent to help a baby dragon whose parents have gone missing. But keeping magical beasts a secret isn’t an easy task, especially with arch-villain, Jasper Hornswoggle, hot on their heels and keen to derail them.

In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who is not quite a child. Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed. Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something. Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live in the grounds—and together they begin to unpick the secrets of this place.

Evie Stuart is playing it safe. She lives on her family’s remote farm in the Scottish Highlands and never ventures beyond the local village of Lockton. The most unpredictable events in her life are the antics of Miss Daisy, her grandmother Agnes’s pygmy goat. She’s learned that bad things happen when she’s impulsive, and she’s determined not to get burned again. Callum Ryder is exactly the opposite of what Evie wants in her ordered world.

Nineteen-year-old Sarah wakes up one morning feeling that something big, something irrevocable has happened on Black Crag, a small seaside village of around a few hundred people. To this remote community it seems as though the rest of the world had gone to sleep - aeroplanes no longer criss-cross the sky, the radios have gone silent and the ferry no longer brings their supplies. It's almost as if there is no world at all, when life begins and ends with the slate-coloured waves outside their front door.

Edinburgh, October 1679. Lady Christian Nimmo is arrested and charged with the murder of her lover, James Forrester. News of her imprisonment and subsequent trial is splashed across the broadsides, with headlines that leave little room for doubt: Adulteress. Whore. Murderess. Only a year before, Christian was leading a life of privilege and respectability. So, what led her to risk everything for an affair? And does that make her guilty of murder? She wasn't the only woman in Forrester's life, and certainly not the only one who might have had cause to wish him dead.

You lose your virginity to a boy from your gender theory seminar, and the first person you tell is Ella. Ella's with you at the party when you first kiss a girl. And Ella takes you to the hospital the first time you're diagnosed. Over the next few years you have a string of relationships and jobs, but you can always count on Ella to be there for you - until the drinking and the parties, the hospital visits and late-night calls, blur the lines of your friendship into something unbalanced and fragile, at risk of breaking altogether.

Letty Ingram, a half-Malayan lady raised in the UK, has suffered under a strange curse her whole life. Her beautiful and fearsome mother, from an unknown island in the Malay Archipelago, is the key to the mystery. Letty arrives in Singapore in 1906 to seek the help of the Chinese medium, Madam Kay. But Madam Kay's whole family gets involved, including her sister, her father...and their unusual mutual friend, the formidable Miss Cassidy.

Ember Spark has been working as an apprentice to Rusty Fizzbang, vet to magical creatures. When a baby frost phoenix guides her north to the Arctic circle, she soon realises that the migrating Neverwhales are at risk. And with arch-villain, Jasper Hornswoggle, tracking her, danger is afoot not just for the Neverwhales, but for ALL of the magical creatures.