Showing results by narrator "Candida Gubbins" in All Categories

Milo, Mia and Birdy are so excited to return to the holiday cottage beside the Enchanted Wood for Christmas. They can't wait to visit their magical friends Silky the fairy and Moonface again. Which amazing worlds will arrive at the top of the Faraway Tree at this time of year? The children are hoping the Land of Presents might come by, or the Land of the Never-ending Christmas Dinner. But not all the Lands are full of good things and Milo, Mia and Birdy must help a friend in great need before they can celebrate the season truly happily.

Create a relaxing environment for your child's bedtime routine with this calming audio collection. Developed with The Children's Sleep Charity, and parent-tested, Ladybird Sleepy Tales are specially designed to help 3- to 6-year-olds wind down after a day's activity. They're the perfect calming tool to share before or after your bedtime story, as part of your nightly routine. Each tale is 15 minutes long, so you can put your audiobook sleep timer on with no need to return to the screen.

As a kid, Nina O'Brien spent all her summers at her grandparents' cabin by the beach at Stepping Stone Bay. Long, sunny days full of fun and laughter with her best friends, Leo, the boy from the boatyard next door, his older brother, Adrian, and local girl Maeve - and, as Nina grew older, the magic of falling in love with Leo. But one summer night changed everything, and those glorious days came to an abrupt end for them all.

When an anonymous parcel turns up at the shop where Sophie works, she’s surprised to find a beautifully bound classic novel, one that eerily seems to chime with her own story. Enigmatic Harry lives in a crumbling manor house, spending solitary days patching up leaks in the roof. The subject of unwelcome gossip in the village since his return from London, he prefers to keep to himself. As Christmas draws near and the gifting season arrives, Sophie attempts to get to the bottom of her mysterious parcel.

As a single mother, Annie has an especially close relationship with her son, Ben. They have always been together. Just the two of them. So, when Ben brings home his mysterious beautiful new wife, Daisy, immediately Annie doesn’t trust her. Who is this woman who has taken her son away from her? And what is she hiding? She’ll protect him with her life....

When Jo's beloved grandparents ask for her help in running their little café at the end of the pier in Salthaven-on-Sea, she jumps at the chance. The café is a hub for many people: the single dad who brings his little boy in on a Saturday morning; the lady who sits alone and stares out to sea; the woman who pops in after her morning run.

For Esther, it’s proving hard not to feel bitter watching Lucas enjoying his successful career, not to mention the attentions of his gorgeous, intelligent, and predictably younger lover. She meanwhile is struggling to forge a new life for herself, navigating the pitfalls of modern dating, while trying not to despair at the cost of living as a single woman of a certain age. Then Lucas faces a shattering accusation at the same time as their children Dylan and Lily, start to implode.

Charlie hates the holidays, and this year is shaping up to be her worst yuletide ever. Her boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, her flat is out of bounds after a gas leak, and her mother has gone to spend Christmas in Melbourne with her fifth husband. Finding herself single, mildly concussed and temporarily homeless, Charlie hesitantly agrees to dust off her wellies and spend the festive season in Devon, looking after Cosy Canine Cottages, her cousin Jez's dog-care centre.....

When sisters Celine and Pip get a call telling them their reclusive mother has died, the two women assemble at her riverside home in Arundel to pick up the pieces. But someone is missing - their sister, Vanessa, brutally murdered years ago and the victim of an unsolved case. As the sisters confront ghosts from the past, the discovery of another body in similar circumstances throws new light on Vanessa's death.

Lady Georgiana Pendlebury is no stranger to breaking the rules of polite society. But when a so-called ‘friend’ invites her to a clandestine party, Georgiana is shocked to discover the event is more scandalous than even she could have imagined. So when a mysterious stranger offers help, she accepts, not realising their encounter will turn her life upside down.

DS Caitlin Fitzgerald has a secret—but it's one she's deleted from her memory. In the 1990s when she was at school, she and her friends killed a fellow pupil. Thirty years later, Caitlin is happily married and loves her job as a police officer. One day, her husband persuades her to go to a school reunion and another ex-pupil, Garfield Rice, is found dead, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent Labour MP and the investigation is high profile, it's headed by Caitlin's new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur.

August 1940. As the Battle of Britain rages overhead, a warlock leader from the Council of High Witches comes to Woodville with a ritual to repel the imminent Nazi invasion. The only catch is it involves full-frontal nudity on the White Cliffs of Dover. The Witches of Woodville are having none of it, but when more witches arrive they realise they might have a spy in their midst and it’s up to Faye Bright to uncover the traitor. But she’s got enough on her plate already with the ghost of a Polish Hurricane pilot who may hold the key to the truth.

Sylvie Cloutier, art lover and former antiques dealer, is trapped in her loveless marriage to the bullying Henri like a bird in a gilded cage. Meanwhile, security guard, hopeless romantic and bookworm Philippe Moreau cycles through the streets of Paris in his crumpled uniform, late (again) for his night shift at the Louvre. When Sylvie begs her husband to let her go to work, he gets her a job as an evening cleaner at the Louvre, thinking such a menial position will dispel any ideas about independence she might have. But his plan backfires when she falls in love with kind, gentle Philippe.

It's been two years since Harper and Will discovered their mum's boyfriend Nick is Santa Claus—now their family is one bigger thanks to baby Yula Hall who's almost a year old. But baby Yula also seems to have Christmas magic she can't control (cue turning the sandpit into a snow pit, causing mischief at nursery by pulling whichever toy she likes out of any drawer and the house being wrapped up in Christmas paper!)

When Max is sent to Istanbul to stay with her boring Great-Aunt Elodie, little does she expect to be plunged into a thrilling nighttime adventure across Europe. And when the mysterious Heartbreak Diamond goes missing, Max must find her feet in a whirling world of would-be diamond smugglers, thieves and undercover detectives. Will she discover the real diamond thief before they reach their destination?

Sarah Nightingale is a strong young woman who keeps her head high and faces every new adversity with courage. So when Daniel Cooper, a happily married man with three children, offers her a position taking care of his children and poorly wife, she jumps at the chance. Perhaps life is finally looking up for Sarah? Meanwhile, Sarah’s brother Alfie is also prospering in London after escaping his life of servitude. But when a personal tragedy strikes, Alfie decides to leave London and go home to look for his sister.

It's been eight years since Gen Loxley lost her daughter, Beth: eight years of grief in which nothing's really moved forward, for all that her husband, Art, wills it to. Gen, once a writer of novels, has settled in to a life of half-hearted teaching, while Art makes his name and their fortune - and pressures her into trying IVF once again. For Gen, it seems a cruel act of replacement; life without Beth is unthinkable, unbearable - but still it goes on.

Aveline is determined to discover the truth behind her Uncle Rowan's mysterious disappearance when she travels to his home with Mum and Aunt Lilian. After years of hoping he would return, they have finally decided to sell his house - but Aveline and Harold have other plans. Sneaking into Rowan's study, Aveline discovers he had been researching possible supernatural activity around an ancient burial mound - and linked this with the unexplained disappearances of other local villagers. Dark, magical forces are at work, and they'll do anything to remain hidden.

After the death of his wife, Sarah Nightingale marries Dan Cooper and becomes mother to his three little boys. They move to a fine house of their own and Sarah has never been happier with a family to finally call her own with maybe a baby of her own on the way…When Alfie Nightingale has a dalliance with a young girl called Betty, he’s obliged to do the right thing by her when she learns she's with child. Now there will be another baby in the family. But when one disaster follows another, Sarah and Alfie have dreadful choices to make if they and their families are to survive.

It's 25 days until Christmas. And 10-year-old Harper gets a surprise when Mum announces she's bringing her new boyfriend Nick home for the holidays! Nick seems nice enough. But why do strange Christmassy things happen whenever he's around? Like snow falling only in the family's garden? Or a reindeer suddenly appearing on the roof?! Harper's convinced that Nick must be Father Christmas! And if her mum and older brother won't believe her, she'll just have to find a way to prove it herself.