Showing results by author "Daisy" in All Categories

A place of myths, rumours and secrets, The Hotel looms over the dark Fens, tall and grey in its Gothic splendour. Built on cursed land, a history of violent death suffuses its very foundations - yet it has a magnetism that is impossible to ignore. Here are the stories of The Hotel: stories of children, mothers, monsters, cult film-makers, thrill-seekers and workers on the night shift, all with their own tales of its strange power, of the horrors of Room 63, and of desperate but failed attempts to escape its seductive pull.

In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she was the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. But her fame was hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her golden voice, she learned early in life to protect herself from those who would use her for their own ends.

Empress Elizabeth of Austria, known as "Sisi", is the Princess Diana of 19th-century Europe. Famously beautiful, as captured in a portrait with diamond stars in her hair, she is unfulfilled in her marriage to the older Emperor Franz Joseph. Sisi has spent years evading the stifling formality of royal life on her private train or yacht or, whenever she can, on the back of a horse. Captain Bay Middleton is dashing, young, and the finest horseman in England. He is also impoverished, with no hope of buying the horse needed to win the Grand National....

Charles Arrowby has determined to spend the rest of his days in hermit-like contemplation. He buys a mysteriously damp house on the coast, far from the heady world of the theatre where he made his name, and there he swims in the sea, eats revolting meals and writes his memoirs.But then he meets his childhood sweetheart Hartley, and memories of her lovely, younger self crowd in - along with more recent lovers and friends - to disrupt his self-imposed exile. So instead of 'learning to be good', Charles proceeds to demonstrate how very bad he can be.

Born to one of Verona's leading families, Catullus spent most of his young adulthood in Rome, mingling with the likes of Caesar and Cicero and chronicling his life through his poetry. Famed for his lyrical and subversive voice, his poems about his friends were jocular, often obscenely funny, while those who crossed him found themselves skewered in raunchy verse, sudden objects of hilarity and ridicule. These bawdy poems were disseminated widely throughout Rome.

It’s 1998 and Isabel Rosen, the only daughter of a Lower East Side appetizing store owner, has one semester left at Wilder College, a prestigious school in New Hampshire. Desperate to shed her working-class roots and still mourning the death of her mother four years earlier, Isabel has always felt like an outsider at Wilder but now, in her final semester, she believes she has found her place—until a nonconsensual sexual encounter with one of the only other Jewish students on campus leaves her reeling.

What happened after the queen married her handsome prince? Did they live happily ever after, or did their marriage, like so many royal marriages past and present, fizzle into a loveless round of duty? This all-new companion audiobook by Daisy Goodwin and Sara Sheridan transports listeners to the private world of Victoria and Albert. Though first cousins, they could not have been more different: Victoria was impulsive, emotional, and capricious, Albert cautious, self-controlled, and logical. But together they forged a bond with each other.

When Boston-born Erin arrives in wind-tossed Roone Bay, she's heart-sore, tired and lonely. Her marriage is over: she's come to build a new life for herself on Ireland's rugged southern coast. And to unravel the story behind the mysterious note in her family's ancient Bible that has haunted her since childhood. But hazel-eyed former lifeboat volunteer Finn, the only local historian around, quietly refuses her pleas to help. So Erin settles in to the town, with its whitewashed cottages and ruddy-cheeked fishermen, and begins her quest alone.

This is the only way I can make sure she’s safe. And she has to be safe. My feet are quieter than a whisper as they trudge along the asphalt. She doesn’t look at me until we’re nearly toe-to-toe, because she walks her with her beautiful head tipped down. That’s something I’m going to change. I grab her quickly, so fast that she doesn’t even have the chance to make a sound. I’ve got her cuffed and gagged in just moments and in the back seat of my SUV just as quick.

New park ranger Daphne Baum is a reformed good girl. Breaking free from her overbearing family as soon as she turned 18, she’s been on her own ever since. The life of a park ranger, moving from park to park, suits her just fine. Though still a rule follower, she’s okay with a little sin in her life. Every generation of Hill men has its black sheep. The general consensus among the family is that Odin Hill is the lucky bastard this go around. At 17, he blew out of town like an angry tornado only to return 15 years later withdrawn and secretive.

Losing your eye in an alley bar-fight will change you. And I don't just mean physically. I thought my biggest hurdle was accepting that I look different. Turns out, my personal Everest is realizing that other people don't accept me. Specifically, women.

I’ve only baked a dozen cream puffs at my Granny B’s bakery and I’m suspected for murder In this hillbilly town. I never thought I’d move back to Bar Harbor, the smallest town ever. But, inheriting my Granny B’s Bakery has given me a chance to do what I love, bake again. How was I to know I’d be accused of murder? The victim, a local food critic known for her harsh reviews, drops dead with my half eaten, maple cream puff in her hand. I knew my cream puffs were to die for. With a fluffy personality like hers, almost everyone in town was happy to see her go. With my golden ...

Rock bottom isn’t the end, it’s the beginning. On his deathbed, Beau’s father reveals a life-changing secret. One big enough to send him into a tailspin of boozing and denial for a year. When Beck, a single mom new to town, shows up at his automotive shop, he isn’t expecting to meet the woman who will tear him from depression and turn his life around.

Early one morning, less than a month after her 18th birthday, Alexandrina Victoria is roused from bed with the news that her uncle William IV has died, and she is now queen of England. The men who run the country have doubts about whether this sheltered young woman, who stands less than five feet tall, can rule the greatest nation in the world. Surely she must rely on her mother and her venal advisor, Sir John Conroy, or her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, who are all too eager to relieve her of the burdens of power.

In this controversial new book, the author offers a thought-provoking critique of educational orthodoxy. Drawing on her recent experience of teaching in challenging schools, she shows through a wide range of examples and case studies just how much classroom practice contradicts basic scientific principles.

Perfect listening for The Queen's Platinum Jubilee year! The Royal Fairies Collection includes seven exciting stories: Alexandra the Royal Baby Fairy, Charlotte the Baby Princess Fairy, Elizabeth the Jubilee Fairy, Frances the Royal Family Fairy, Georgie the Royal Prince Fairy, Kate the Royal Wedding Fairy and Meghan the Wedding Sparkle Fairy.

Windsor, 1940: War rages, and as bombs rain down across Britain, nowhere is safe: not even a royal palace. Secretly tasked with foiling a suspected plot, Sophie Klein is placed in the Royal Library at Windsor castle, where the princesses reside. But when she learns that Windsor is compromised, Sophie must sacrifice everything she knows to save the future queen of England. Philadelphia, Present day: Digging into her great aunt’s family tree, Lacey Turner comes across a mysterious book bearing the stamp of Windsor Castle’s royal bindery. But how did it come to be in her family’s possession?

When Cathy’s breasts start making milk, Jake makes her share it with the guys. *18+ Adults Only

When Pliny the Elder perished at Stabiae during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, he left behind an enormous compendium of knowledge, his 37-volume Natural History, and a teenaged nephew who revered him as a father. Grieving his loss, Pliny the Younger inherited the Elder's notebooks - filled with pearls of wisdom - and his legacy. At its heart, The Shadow of Vesuvius is a literary biography of the younger man, who would grow up to become a lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, and chronicler of the Roman Empire.

Juliette and her husband have finally made it to France on the romantic getaway of her dreams—but as the days pass, all she discovers is quite how far they’ve grown apart. She’s craving a new adventure, so when she happens across a tiny, abandoned shop with a for-sale sign in the window, it feels fated. And she’s about to learn that the forgotten bookshop hides a lot more than meets the eye.