Showing results by narrator "Kristin Atherton" in All Categories

It’s that time of year again, snowflakes are fluttering and the countdown to Christmas has begun! Twenty-seven-year-old Holly Devine has just had her heart well and truly broken. Hurt by the two people she loves the most, she flees to her eccentric Aunt Clara’s cosy cottage to hide away over the winter season. But kind, impulsive Aunt Clara has other ideas... She’s not about to see her favourite niece wallowing in sadness during the most wonderful time of the year. So, with the help of her close circle of friends and plenty of gin, she creates a handmade advent calendar for Holly.

Betty is about to celebrate her 100th birthday. With her carer Tali at her side, she receives an invite from the Century Society to reminisce on the past. Remembering a life shrouded in secrecy and danger, Betty remains tight-lipped. But when Tali finds a box filled with maps, letters and a gun hidden in Betty's cellar, it becomes clear that Betty's secrets are about to be uncovered.

PARIS, CHRISTMAS 2021. After a heart attack, Mathias Taillefer wakes up in the hospital with a stranger at his bedside. The mysterious girl reveals herself to be Louise Collange, a volunteer who has come to play the cello for patients. When she finds out that Mathias is a cop, she asks him to look into a very special case. Her mother, a former ballerina at the Paris Opera Ballet, died last year after falling from her balcony, and Louise has a hunch she was pushed. Though hesitant at first, Mathias agrees to help her, sending them both headfirst into a deadly chain of events.

Berlin, 1926. After the death of their parents, sisters Leni and Annette only have each other. Dreaming of better days, but desperate, Leni finds work at a notorious cabaret: the Babylon Circus. From the dancer’s barely-there costumes, to the glimmering mirrors that cover the walls, the Babylon Circus is a place where reality and fantasy merge. For Leni, it’s an overwhelming new world, and she’s happiest hiding in the shadows. Until she meets the cabaret’s resident pianist, Paul…

After a morning that starts with a terrible migraine, an accidentally strong concoction of painkillers, and a bump on the head, Clover Hendry is not quite herself. And as she walks out of work at 9.47am, for once Clover isn’t worrying about the consequences. For once, she’s going to live for herself. . . if only for a day. Full of a joyful recklessness, Clover Hendry is taking the day off. But will her new-found freedom uncover long-buried secrets?

Every Friday Mercy Hamilton goes to the same supermarket. She doesn’t go to buy groceries, instead, she shows a fading photo of a little girl to anyone who’ll look – begging for help to find her daughter. One Friday, Erica Fielding comes across Mercy, and touched by her story, Erica agrees to help. As Erica is drawn deeper and deeper into Mercy’s life, she discovers there is no record of Mercy’s daughter. In fact, there’s no record of a child at all. But who is the girl in the photo if not Mercy’s missing daughter? And what danger will Erica find herself in by pursuing the truth?

We live in an age when the pursuit of authenticity—from living our 'best life' to eating artisan food—matters more and more to us, but where the forces of inauthenticity seem to be taking over. Our world is full of people and products that are not what they seem. We no longer know whether we are talking to a person or a machine. But we can fight back—and this award-winning book shows us how. Authenticity argues that although our counterfeit culture is shaped by the most powerful forces of evolution, economics and technology, we can still come together to reclaim reality.

The icon-maker and angel-summoner Liliath, long believed dead, has woken from her century-long sleep to pick up the threads of a plan that has already destroyed one kingdom and may yet destroy another. To succeed, Liliath must bring together Agnez the musketeer; Simeon the doctor; Dorotea the mage; and Henri, one of the Cardinal's clerks, and take them into utmost danger....

April Wood has returned home from her adventure on Bear Island, but over a year later, she can’t stop thinking about Bear. When April hears that a polar bear has been shot and injured in Svalbard, she’s convinced it’s her friend and persuades her dad to travel with her to the northernmost reaches of the Arctic. So begins an unforgettable journey across frozen tundra and icy glaciers. But along the way, she discovers much more than she bargained for – a tiny polar bear cub, desperately in need of her help.

After 100 years of being a vampire, it’s time for Eleonora to have her Birthnight. Since Leo’s last rite of passage, her Grimwalk, ended with her losing her right leg and a good deal of her confidence, she’s hoping to redeem herself in the eyes of her mother, the fearsome Lady Sieglinde. All Leo has to do is hunt down and kill her first prey, and she already has the perfect plan. After all, who will miss an orphan from the bleak St. Frieda’s Home for Unfortunate Children?

At a run-down brothel in Caudal, Spain, the prostitutes are collecting stray dogs. Each is named after a famous male writer: Dante, Chaucer, and Bret Easton Ellis. When a john is cruel, the dogs are fed rotten meat. To the east, in Barcelona, an unflappable teenage girl is endeavouring to trace the peculiarities of her life back to one woman: Alba Camb, writer of violent short stories, who left Caudal as a girl and never went back.

When young child Kimberley Painter vanishes, her disappearance shakes her tight-knit community to the core. Thirty years later, when her body is found in the woodlands next to a manor house, WPC Alessandra Cano must investigate what happened to Kimberly all those years ago. However, as Alessa immerses herself in the historic case, she's besieged by eerie signs and messages, becoming convinced that Kimberley's restless spirit is reaching out from beyond.

Hedgerows, moors, meadows and woods - these hold a veritable feast for the forager. In this hugely informative and witty handbook, John Wright reveals how to spot the free and delicious pickings to be found in the British countryside, and how to prepare and cook them.

It’s the beginning of December, and the town of Port Landon is covered with snow and glowing with festive cheer. Working at the Port diner, Kait Davenport is counting down to Christmas the same way she does every year, serving fruitcake and cinnamon-flavoured coffee. But when she unexpectedly runs into her high school sweetheart, Branch Sterling, she knows this Christmas is going to be different.

A stranger died to save you...now it’s your turn. Meet Beth Turner. From the outside she looks like any other 33-year-old woman, with a gorgeous house and beautiful daughter. But Beth has a secret that has haunted her past for as long as she can remember. A secret that only those closest to her know. Aged seven, she almost drowned on a family holiday...and a stranger died saving her life. Survivor's guilt has been the defining characteristic of her life ever since.

Women are rarely cold-blooded killers. But when famous philanthropist Hugo Fletcher is found dead, there is no doubt in anybody's mind that the killer is a woman. And it is clear from the precision of the planning that this was no crime of passion. It was an execution. The victim was revered the world over for his charitable work with trafficked Eastern European prostitutes, and as at least one of these girls is missing, Detective Chief Inspector Tom Douglas is certain that there has to be a connection.

Bonfire Night. A missing girl. Anna takes her eyes off Laurel for only a second. She thought Laurel was following her mum through the crowds. But in a heartbeat, Laurel is gone. Laurel’s parents are frantic. As is Anna, their nanny. But as the hours pass, and Laurel isn’t found, suspicion grows. Someone knows what happened to Laurel. And they’re not telling. Have You Seen Her is the breathtaking new thriller with a killer twist from best-seller Lisa Hall.

All Shelley wanted on her hen weekend was to enjoy three days of sun, sea and sangria. But instead of being surrounded by the A-team of her closest friends, she somehow ends up with a Golden Girls-meets-the-Spice Girls B-list that includes her mother, a rebellious teenager and a best mate ‘on the verge’. The squabbling starts at the airport, and on arrival in Spain, Shelley barely has time to unpack her suitcase before getting an unwanted text—one that throws her wedding into doubt.

Heiress Ariana Theodosis wanted everything that Hollywood had to offer, took it all, and is now paying the price. When she inherits a hotel on the beautiful French Riviera, she hopes it’s a chance to start again. Elizabeth and Robert Chappell were Hollywood’s fiery English golden couple. Their legendary breakups and passionate make-ups were tabloid gold, but now they are headed for divorce. Will they say their last goodbyes by the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean?

Once upon a time there was a princess, locked in a tower, forced to bend to her father’s will… But Celine is no ordinary princess, and she has no intention of being a damsel in distress. Celine has a lover, Hugo, whose cunning plan to rescue her is tied up in his own ambition to reclaim the lands and title that are his birthright. If only they can break the spell that binds him to the body of a cat, they will free the kingdom from the grasp of a cruel witch and live happily ever after.