Showing results by narrator "Sophie Loughran" in All Categories

Australia, 1847. The last thing Mellie Vale remembers before the fever takes her is sprinting through the bush with a monster at her heels—but no one believes her. In a bid to curb Mellie’s overactive imagination, her benefactors send her to visit a family friend, Anthea Winstanley. Anthea is an amateur paleontologist convinced she will one day find proof that great sea dragons swam in the vast inland sea that covered her property millions of years ago. Mellie is instantly swept up in the dream.

When 12-year-old Esther disappears on the way home from school in a small town in rural Australia, the community is thrown into a maelstrom of suspicion and grief. As Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels arrives in town during the hottest spring in decades and begins her investigation, Esther’s tenacious best friend, Ronnie, is determined to find Esther and bring her home. When schoolfriend Lewis tells Ronnie that he saw Esther with a strange man at the creek the afternoon she went missing, Ronnie feels she is one step closer to finding her.

Finn and her best friend, Daphne, have grown up together in a small town in the Blue Mountains, NSW. Bonded by both having lost a younger sister to suicide, they've always had a close - sometimes too close - friendship. Now in their twenties, their lives have finally started to diverge: Daphne is at university and Finn is working in the Mountains, as well as falling in love with a beautiful newcomer called Magdu. Unused to sharing Finn, Daphne starts to act up in ways that will allow her to maintain the control over her best friend she's always relished.

Torn between her girlfriend, Magdu, and her best friend, Daphne, Finn is looking forward to a day of rock climbing and bonding for the three women on the soaring cliffs near their Australian town. But nothing goes as she planned, and in a horrific accident, Magdu falls to her death. Rocked by grief, Finn tries to pinpoint where it all went wrong. Did Magdu die because of Finn’s friendship with overbearing Daphne, who has never wanted Finn to change or leave her? Can Finn trace it all the way back to the tragic childhood loss of her sister?

The Fiancee - Belinda's life is in free-fall after the sudden death of her fiancé, Andy. But then ghostly signs begin to appear which suggest he might not really be gone. And Belinda begins to tumble even further. Will his final parting gift be enough to save her? The Mother - Evelyn McGavin, Andy's mum, is also struggling. She copes with her sorrow by shoplifting (once), hating Belinda (constantly) and jumping out of a plane. In her skydiving instructor, Baz, she finds an unexpected friend. But why is he so agitated when he hears how Andy died?

On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home. Ronnie's going to find her; she has a plan. Lewis will help. Their friend can't be gone; Ronnie won't believe it. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels can believe it; she has seen what people are capable of. She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible. Lewis can believe it, too. But he can't reveal what he saw that afternoon at the creek without exposing his own secret.

Twelve year-old Esther Bianchi disappears on her way home from school in the small town of Durton–and the truth will not come easily. As the community is thrown into a state of grief and suspicion, Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels begins her investigation into the disappearance of Esther Bianchi. She questions those who knew the girl, attempting to unpick the secrets which bind them together.

Identical twin sisters Summer and Winter live alone on a remote island, sheltered from the fallout of a mysterious event that has laid waste to the rest of the world. They survive on rations stockpiled by their father and spend their days reading and rereading their mother’s collection of classic literature - until the arrival of a mysterious stranger upends their carefully constructed reality.

Charlotte Perkins is seven years old and can't wait to grow up - if only she could decide what she wanted to be! Luckily, no dream is too big for little Lottie Perkins. Emerging listeners will fall in love with this adorable and collectable new series from award-winning Australian author Katrina Nannestad. Includes the books Movie Star, Ballerina, Pop Singer and Fashion Designer.

Hannah has been running - literally and figuratively - from her life back in Australia. Whenever she's not working, she's pounding London's streets, putting the past behind her. Then she meets a fellow Australian named India, and Hannah's entranced. For India is confident, exotic and charming - qualities that Hannah feels she's desperately lacking. India has a secret, too - one beyond any remedy.

When Gina Rushton admitted she had little time left to make the decision for herself, the magnitude of the choice overwhelmed her. Her search for her own 'yes' or 'no' only uncovered more questions to be answered. How do we clearly consider creating a new life on a planet facing catastrophic climate change? How do we reassess the gender roles we have been assigned? How do we balance ascending careers with declining fertility? How do we know if we've found the right co-parent, or if we want to go it alone, or if we don't want to do it at all?

The last thing Mellie Vale remembers before the fever takes her is running through the bush as a monster chases her - but no one believes her story. In a bid to curb Mellie's overactive imagination, her benefactors send her to visit a family friend, Anthea Winstanley. Anthea is an amateur palaeontologist with a dream.

One tanked career, one badly timed glamour shoot and one dead boyfriend later, 30-year-old Lottie Bentz is finally going home. In the orchard town where she grew up, Lottie tries to purify and declutter her life, Kondo-style. She gets rid of her phone, clears out her old stuff and swears off make-up, mirrors and lying. But home has its own problems, and Lottie's staunchly feminist mother is furious about Lottie's risqué photos appearing in a magazine.

In 2019, Bridie Jabour wrote a piece for the Guardian about the malaise of millennials and how the painful, protracted end of their adolescence is finally hitting home. They're looking at their lives and thinking: "Is this it? Have I chosen the right place to live, the right job, the right partner? Am I, perhaps, not as special as I thought?"

Brisbane, 1943: The war continues to devastate, and the battle for the Pacific threatens Australian shores. For Ellie O'Sullivan, helping the war effort means utilizing her engineering skills for Qantas as they evacuate civilians and deliver supplies to armed forces overseas. Her exceptional logic and integrity attract the attention of Central Bureau - an intelligence organization working with England's Bletchley Park codebreakers. But joining Central Bureau means signing a lifetime secrecy contract. Breaking it is treason.

Producer Mara Bolt is the queen of reality TV. Ambitious to the point of ruthlessness, Mara will do anything - anything - for ratings. When she meets Kristy Shaw, Mara is certain she's found the star of her newest series, The Shot. Kristy is languishing away in her small hometown and a dead-end job, pining for her first love, Max Irving. The Shot offers her a Total Body Transformation - extreme plastic surgery to render her unrecognisable - as a way to recapture Max's affections under a new identity. But there's a catch

After posting a drunken rant that goes horrifically viral, Bronte needs a place to lie low. Jobless, friendless, broke, she volunteers as a carer on an isolated rural property. She won’t be paid for looking after dementia sufferer Nell, but at least she’ll have a place to stay. Bronte’s host is Nell’s daughter Veda, who runs spiritual rebirthing retreats. She also claims the rights of a sovereign citizen and rejects the authority of the state, refusing even to register her car. She has acquired a small but devoted following of the like-minded.

Windmill fabricator Danny Burroughs doesn’t have time to wait in line at the local saddler. But his little sister has her heart set on a unique piece of saddlery for Christmas and he can’t let her down. Expert saddler Beth Wells has no idea that when she comes to small town Levenham to look after her grandfather’s shop she’ll be swamped with customers. When super-cute Danny arrives at the saddlery after midnight wearing a Santa suit, a broad grin and pleading she make his sister’s present, Beth makes a deal – she will take the order in exchange for Danny’s help.

Finn and her closest friend Daphne grew up in the imposing shadow of Australia’s Blue Mountains. Their uneasy bond forged from both losing their sisters at a young age. Now in their twenties, Daphne is at university, while Finn remained in the mountains, falling in love with newcomer Magdu. A young woman with troubles of her own.

Charlotte Perkins is seven years old and can't wait to grow up - if only she could decide what she wanted to be! Luckily, no dream is too big for little Lottie Perkins! Movie star, ballerina, pop singer, fashion designer...what's her thing this week?