Showing results by narrator "Stephanie Racine" in All Categories

Nell is 26 and has never been to Paris. She's never even been on a romantic weekend away before. Travelling abroad isn't really her thing. But when Nell's boyfriend fails to show up, she has the chance to prove to everyone, including herself, that she can be independent and intrepid. Alone in Paris, Nell finds a version of herself she never knew existed. In this collection of 11 unmissable short stories, Jojo Moyes introduces us to a cast of strong, relatable women in the midst of their everyday lives.

After a traumatic birth, Lauren is alone on the maternity ward with her newborn twins. Her husband has gone home. The nurses are doing their rounds. She can’t stop thinking about every danger her babies now face. But all new mothers think like that. Don’t they?A terrifying encounter in the middle of the night leaves Lauren convinced someone or something is trying to steal her children. But with every step she takes to keep her babies safe, Lauren sinks deeper and deeper into paranoia and fear.

My father was Mr Bones - the notorious serial killer of 25 years ago. As a child I witnessed his crimes. Everything is different now. I have a new identity. I’m a mother. I am finally free. Until that podcast. I should never have listened. They’re linking a recent kidnapping to the crimes of the past. They know who I am. They’re calling me Little Bones again. They say I’m a villain, but I’m not. I’m a victim. You believe me, don’t you?

Astrid has lived in the rhubarb shed her whole life. The outside world is dangerous, Mama explains; she will understand when she’s older, but she cannot set foot beyond the door. Astrid longs to see the world; to meet other children; to live in the farmhouse with Mama. But what she longs for most of all is to see the stars. Then one night, a stranger unlocks the shed: a stranger with wings. She has come to take Astrid to a secret city in the sky called London Overhead, far above the highest peak of the Shard. For Astrid, like her, is a Librae – and will soon grow wings of her own.

From their graves in the field, the oldest part of Paulstadt’s cemetery, the town’s late inhabitants tell stories from their lives. Some recall just a moment, perhaps the one in which they left this world, perhaps the one that they now realise shaped their life for ever. Some remember all the people they’ve been with, or the only person they ever loved. These voices together build a picture of a community, as viewed from below ground instead of from above.

Meet Drew Lord Haig, called upon to sing the obscure hit from his youth at a paramilitary event. Or Max, who recalls an eventful journey to a Christian film festival. Meet Mrs Dallesandro, in the tanning salon on her wedding anniversary dreaming of a teenage sexual experience. And Sonya, who scours the streets of Belfast for the missing posters of her dead son. In Dance Move, the new collection of stories from Wendy Erskine, we meet characters who are looking to wrest control of their lives, only to find themselves defined by the moment in their past that marked them.

As the Second World War enters its final stages, millions in Germany are forced from their homes by bombing, compelled to seek shelter in the countryside where there are barely the resources to feed them. Twelve-year-old Luisa, her mother and her older sister, Billie, have escaped the devastation of the city for the relative safety of a dairy farm. But even here the power struggles of the war play out: the family depend on the goodwill of Luisa’s brother-in-law, an SS officer, who in expectation of payment turns his attention away from his wife and towards Billie.

Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty years young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning up mess and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything. Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door...and their intentions aren’t good. With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared.

Written in a hospital tent to the sound of gunfire and shells falling, Cicely Hamilton drew on her experiences working in France during WW1 to tell the story of William Tully and his new bride Griselda, who are wrenched away from their all-consuming interests – socialism and votes for women – and plunged into the almost dream-like horror of war. As brutal tragedy strikes, their attitude to both pacifism and patriotism is altered and their lives are changed forever.

Georgian mansion Wharton Park was a place of childhood solace for Julia Forrester, spending summers in the Norfolk countryside with her beloved grandfather. So after tragedy strikes, she finds herself seeking comfort at Wharton and the allure of its hothouse, once home to exotic flowers from all corners of the globe but now lying abandoned. There she meets the new owner, the charming and magnetic Kit Crawford, whose own past is shrouded in sadness and mystery.

Astrid has her wings at last. But unlike all her Starminster classmates, she can’t get them to work, no matter how hard she tries. Soon, the formidable new headmistress issues a warning: Astrid must learn to fly, or leave London Overhead forever. Then the Month of Birthdays arrives, bringing circus shows, rollercoasters, mountains of cake – and a legendary series of games, with a prize beyond Astrid’s wildest dreams.

Screenwriter Caroline Byrne is desperate to know why her daughter, Jessica, died, murdered in Stratford when she was supposed to be at a friend’s in Somerset. When Caroline discovers the messages Jessica had been sending a boy named Michael, she realises it’s because of him. Because he failed to meet her that day. He’s the reason why her daughter is dead. And so she makes a choice. He’s the one who’s going to pay. That is her promise. Her price.

A cheating husband has thrown Ella a curved snowball...and for the first time in years, all she wants is her mum. So she heads back to Greece, where her family's taverna holds all the promise of home. Meanwhile, waitress Maddy's dreams of a white Christmas lead her back to London...and her dad.

The ovens are pre-heating, the prosecco is chilling...and the Sunshine and Biscotti Club is nearly ready to open its doors. But the guests have other things on their minds.... Welcome to Tuscany's newest baking school - where your biscotti is served with a side of love, laughter and ice-cold limoncello!

Komméno Island, Greece: I don't know where I am, who I am. Help me. A woman is washed up on a remote Greek island with no recollection of who she is or how she got there. Potter's Lane, Twickenham, London: Eloïse Shelley is officially missing. Lochlan's wife has vanished into thin air, leaving their toddler and 12-week-old baby alone. Her money, car and passport are all in the house, with no signs of foul play. Every clue the police turn up means someone has told a lie....

When Ellie spent a summer with her mum on a Wiltshire commune in the '90s, it was a bigger disaster than Leo DiCaprio's trip aboard the Titanic - so fleeing to America seemed a perfect plan. But now, with her marriage falling apart, running back to her mum seems like the only option for her and her son, Josh. She wasn't expecting Art, the boy she once had a crush on, to still be working at Willow Tree Farm...and to still be as hot and bothersome as he was when they were teenagers.

At least a dozen or so young women at large in Blitz-era London have a claim to this title. But Lost Girls concentrates on just four: Lys Lubbock, Sonia Brownell, Barbara Skelton and Janetta Parlade. Chic, glamorous and bohemian, as likely to be found living in a rat-haunted maisonette as dining at the Ritz, they cut a swath through English literary and artistic life in the 1940s.

Two bodies on the beach. One killer out for revenge. Two years ago, a young girl was murdered while playing on the beach, a doll left by her side. DI Bobby 'Marilyn' Simmons failed to catch her killer, and he's been tormented with guilt ever since. So when another dead girl is found in the dunes, another doll, he knows this could be his only chance to silence his demons.

Female adolescence is an ever-shifting, notoriously tricky time of life. And never before have young women had so much freedom and choice. But never before have they had so many demands placed upon them—by themselves as well as by others. How can today’s teenager or young woman cope during this stage? Are there any simple answers? Writing directly to girls and young women, Dr. Tara Porter draws on decades of experience to offer insight into their own psychology.

It’s December in a small seaside town, and Ruby Harper spends her nights looking into her neighbor's apartment. Unable to sleep due to insomnia and the heartache of a family she has run away from, she fantasizes that the mystery man could be the answer to her loneliness. But one night Ruby sees something unexpected: The man is not alone; a woman and a child are sharing the apartment - and they never go outside. Why are they kept hidden? Then the man is found half-drowned in the bathtub, a pile of women’s clothes is left on the beach, and a little girl is discovered, abandoned.