Showing results by narrator "Sarah Slimani" in All Categories

It’s the opening night of The Manor, the newest and hottest luxury resort, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; the “Manor Mule” cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka, and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen.

High on the cliffs of Morocco, far from the city lights and the souks, stands The Surf House: a sanctuary for travelers chasing sunshine and waves. But the idyll hides a dark mystery. And when Bea washes in, seeking refuge after a dangerous encounter in Marrakesh, she soon gets caught in the current. A woman her age—who stayed in the same area, walked the same beaches, met the same guests—disappeared one year earlier, vanishing without trace. Somewhere inside The Surf House lies the truth—but there’ll be a price for uncovering it.

Diana Zahrani is Formula One’s first female racing driver. All the other drivers are told to race carefully around her, and leave her to her real job: being a pretty face and good advertising for a hypermasculine sport. But Diana’s not worked this hard her whole life just to be a mascot. World Championship favourite Miguel de la Fuente is not taking any rookie seriously, let alone a woman. But motorsports is a small world, and as Diana and Miguel race their way through the season, they’re forced to face each other again and again.

The lives of three women dramatically collide during the French Revolution: Sofi, a wallpaper factory worker; her sister Lara, a lady’s maid; and a young aristocrat, Hortense. At the factory, the sisters notice something eerie about the intricately illustrated wallpaper: the same mysterious woman appears again and again. But what does it portend?

A customer service assistant spends her long workdays printing letters. Her one friend is the printer and, in the dark confines of her office, she begins to open up to him, talking about her fears, her past, her hopes and dreams. To her, it seems like a beautiful friendship is blossoming. To her boss, it seems like she’s losing her mind.

In the shadows of an ancient wood, guests gather for the opening weekend of The Manor: a beautiful new countryside retreat. But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. And the candles have barely been lit for a solstice supper when the body is found.

The Hexologists, Iz and Warren Wilby, are quite accustomed to helping desperate clients with the bugbears of city life. Aided by hexes and a bag of charmed relics, the Wilbies have recovered children abducted by chimney-wraiths, removed infestations of barb-nosed incubi, and ventured into the Gray Plains of the Unmade to soothe a troubled ghost. Well-acquainted with the weird, they never shy away from a challenging case.

When Nadia Amin, a witty and bighearted PhD, publishes an article on deradicalization, everything changes. The United Nations comes calling with an opportunity to put her theory into practice and lead a rehabilitation program for women caught in the crosshairs of harmful ideology. And why not? Abandoned by her mother and devastated by unrequited love, she leaps at the chance.

In the glass city of Amoria, magic is everything. And Naila, student at the city's legendary academy, is running out of time to prove she can control hers. If she fails, she'll be forced into exile, relegated to a life of persecution with the other magicless hollows. Or worse, be consumed by her own power.

In a place known as the Ledge, a civilization is trapped by a vast chasm and sheer mountain face. There is no way for anyone to escape the frozen wasteland without befalling a deathly drop. They know nothing of the outside world except that it is where the Glacians reside—mystical and vicious winged creatures who bring meager rations in exchange for a periodic human sacrifice.

When academic Nadia is disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, she decides to make a getaway - accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues. But then Nadia meets Sara, a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen, and she is struck by how similar their stories are. Both from a Muslim background, both feisty and opinionated, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines, Sara and Nadia immediately connect.

Dr. Sunya Song embarks on an interstellar journey across the Milky Way to connect with the artificial intelligence known as Baomind, a moon-sized entity that holds the key to humanity’s survival amidst cosmic challenges and unforeseen threats in Hugo Award–winning author Elizabeth Bear’s next epic science fiction novel.

As the nation's foremost investigators of the paranormal, Isolde and Warren Wilby are accustomed to bumping up against things that go bump in the night. They have made quite a name for themselves as the Hexologists: detectives of the uncanny, the monstrous, the strange. After a decade of wedded bliss and dozens of fantastical adventures, there is little in the world that can still surprise them. But when a famous artist dies under suspicious circumstances, Isolde finds herself investigating a murder that may not have happened, and a crime scene that seems to shift beneath her feet.

In the glass city of Amoria, magic is everything. And Naila, student at the city's academy, is running out of time to prove she can control hers. If she fails, she'll be forced into exile . . . or consumed by her own power. When a tragic incident threatens her place at the Academy, Naila is saved by Haelius Akana, the most powerful living mage. Haelius risks his reputation to help her to harness her abilities, but he has many enemies who desire him - and Naila - to fail.

High on the wave-pounded cliffs, far from the bustling souks of Marrakesh, sits The Surf House. A hidden gem on Morocco’s shores, the house is a sanctuary for the surfers, travellers and dreamers who wash in. But the idyll is built on something rotten. And when Bea arrives, relieved to find refuge after a dangerous encounter in a Marrakesh alleyway, she soon gets caught in the swell of a deep, dark mystery. Because another young woman went missing one year ago – and the last place she was sighted was The Surf House.

Bekhal Mahmod was one of six siblings from a Sunni Muslim family in Iraqi Kurdistan who sought a new life as asylum seekers and arrived in London in 1998. When Bekhal's father tried to force her into an arranged marriage at 15, she ran away. This caused her father to ‘lose respect’ within the Kurdish community and Bekhal became the target of an honour killing and her younger sisters Banaz and Payzee were quickly married off to restore the family's reputation. When Banaz left her husband, Mahmod decided this 'shame' to the family meant Banaz must die. Within weeks, she had vanished.

Over one night, alone in the Punta della Dogana Museum in Venice, Leïla Slimani grapples with the self as it is revealed in solitude. In a place of old and new, she confronts her past and her present, through her life as a Moroccan woman, as a writer, and as a daughter. Surrounded by art, she explores what it means to behold and clasp beauty; enveloped by night, she confronts the meaning of life and death.

Paris, 1789. The Oberst Factory, which crafts exquisite wallpaper for the most fashionable French homes, is a place shrouded in mystery. Most enigmatic is the woman pictured in each of its prints, rumoured to be the late Mrs Oberst, who died in peculiar circumstances. When sisters Lara and Sofi arrive there for work, they quickly form a friendship with Josef Oberst, the motherless heir to the factory. Whilst Sofi's political fervour intensifies, Lara is disturbed by the uncanny way her life appears mirrored in the wallpaper.

The Hexologists, Iz and Warren Wilby, are accustomed to helping desperate clients with the bugbears of city life. Aided by hexes and a bag of charmed relics, the Wilbies have recovered children abducted by chimney-wraiths, removed infestations of barb-nosed incubi, and ventured into the Gray Plains of the Unmade to soothe a troubled ghost. They never shy away from a challenging case. But when they are approached by the royal secretary and told the king pleads to be baked into a cake, the Wilbies soon find themselves embroiled in a mystery that could very well see the nation turned on its head.

In a day when the culture dictated that women were to be seen and not heard, God raised up a woman with the faith, wisdom and courage to lead her people as a judge over Israel. After settling in the Promised Land, the people of Israel repeatedly turned their backs on God and went their own way. But by His grace, God mercifully responded to His people’s cries for help by raising up judges to lead His people back to Him. This is the story of one of those judges—the one called Deborah.