Showing results by narrator "Kristin Atherton" in All Categories

When Prince Oroonoko's passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko's noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn's visit to Surinam, Oroonoko reflects the author's romantic view of native peoples as noble savages in 'the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin'.

Once upon a time there was a princess, locked in a tower, forced to bend to her father’s will… But Celine is no ordinary princess, and she has no intention of being a damsel in distress. Celine has a lover, Hugo, whose cunning plan to rescue her is tied up in his own ambition to reclaim the lands and title that are his birthright. If only they can break the spell that binds him to the body of a cat, they will free the kingdom from the grasp of a cruel witch and live happily ever after.

For Rose O’Connell, enrolling her seven-year-old son, Charlie, into the prestigious school across the road marks a bright new future for her family. One where she can finally forget the dark stains of her childhood. The school is ruled by The Circle, an elite group of influential mothers with beauty and wealth. Every other mum would kill to join it—but to Rose’s shock, it’s her they invite. Rose is so close to having the life she’s dreamed of. But there’s something peculiar about The Circle. What is each woman hiding beneath her perfect exterior?

Welcome to Make-Believe. You create the fantasy, they control your mind. Cassie worked at Imagen, the tech giant behind the cutting-edge virtual reality experience Make-Believe™, and she got to know the product well. Too well. Her dream job now seems to be part of a larger nightmare, and Imagen is not done with her yet. With Imagen holding all the cards, and personal and public freedoms at stake, how far will Cassie go to end the deception?

Four young lovers escape into the woods outside Athens, each hoping to find true love and happiness. Instead, they find fairy mischief and love potions! Everyone is confused about who likes who—and has the Queen of the Fairies fallen in love with a donkey?

First Dates, Channel 4's runaway hit TV show, has captured the hearts of the nation. Each week millions of us cosy up on our sofas to watch nervous singletons arrive in the restaurant in the hope of finding love. Now Fred Sirieix, the insatiably charming maître d' of the First Dates restaurant, is here to help all of us - whether we're on a quest to find The One or simply want to discover more about how to connect with someone and sustain the magic.

Captured centaurs and satyrs, incompetent seers, people who suddenly change sex, a woman who remembers too much, a man who cannot laugh—these are just some of the colorful characters who feature in the unforgettable stories that ancient Greeks and Romans told in their daily lives. Together they created an incredibly rich body of popular oral stories that include, but range well beyond, mythology—from heroic legends, fairy tales, and fables to ghost stories, urban legends, and jokes. This unique anthology presents the largest collection of these tales ever assembled.

A nightmare jolts Debs awake. She leaves the kids tucked up in their beds and goes downstairs. There's a man in her kitchen, holding a knife. But it's not an intruder. This is her husband, Marc, the father of her children. A man she no longer recognises. Once their differences were what drew them together, what turned them on. Him, the ex-army officer from a good family. Her, the fitness instructor who grew up over a pub. But now these differences grate to the point of drawing blood. Marc screams in his sleep.

Jess and her husband need a new start. So when the chance to buy a rambling old house in the Suffolk countryside comes up, they leap at it. But not everyone in Suffolk is welcoming. The locals know a secret about the Maple House, and soon, Jess realises they’ve made a huge mistake. Something bad happened in that house. Something nobody wants to talk about.

For Ruth, a new mother recovering from postpartum psychosis, every day is difficult and, after months spent hearing voices in the walls and trusting no one, she’s no longer confident in her own judgement. Neither, it seems, is anyone else. So, when she hears a scream from the local petrol station one night, she initially decides it must be her mind playing tricks again.

Once upon a time, Gil and Rudy lived simple lives. Ingold brought them across the Void, where an evil known as the Dark threatened to devour civilisation whole. Civilisation’s hopes rested on an infant prince, and to protect him, Gil and Rudy had to draw on newfound powers - she as a warrior, he as a wizard. With Ingold’s help they escaped the Dark and led a hardy band of survivors to a far-away keep, where humanity could be safe for a time. But now that time is past, they have been found, and there is nowhere to hide from the Dark.

A vampire and a ghost being friends is unheard of. It makes no sense. The two factions have despised one another for all eternity. But...Leo the vampire and Minna the ghost have battled together side-by-side, they're sisters-in-arms, they're best friends, and they'll have to work together to vanquish a deadly new threat. Summoned to the Ghostly Realm for the murder of the Orphanmaster, Leo must complete three tasks to prove herself worthy of her unlife, each more treacherous than the last. C

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Beautiful Mutants by Deborah Levy, read by Kristen Atherton. Levy's surreal and artful first novel introduces Lapinski - the manipulative and magical Russian exile who summons forth a number of urban pilgrims in a shimmering contemporary allegory about broken dreams and desires.

Arrow's freedom from the Erith is finally in her grasp. But there is a rogue magician at large. Ruthless, determined, skilled in unclean magic, the powerful rogue threatens everyone and everything, including the life Arrow wants to live. With the true strength of her magical power unlocked, Arrow may be the only one who can stop him.

With her final novel, Villette, Charlotte Brontë reached the height of her artistic power. First published in 1853, Villette is Brontë's most accomplished and deeply felt work. Her narrator, the autobiographical Lucy Snowe, flees England and a tragic past to become an instructor in a French boarding school in the town of Villette. There, she unexpectedly confronts her feelings of love and longing as she witnesses the fitful romance between Dr. John, a handsome young Englishman, and Ginerva Fanshawe, a beautiful coquette.

Brazilian-born doctor André Cabral is living in London when one day he receives a letter from his home country, which he left nearly 30 years ago. A letter he keeps in his pocket for weeks but tells no one about. The letter prompts André to remember the days of his youth - torrid afternoons on Ipanema beach with his listless teenage friends, parties in elegant Rio apartments, his after-school job at his father's plastic surgery practice and, above all, his secret infatuation with the daughter of his family's maid.

Joey and Harry do NOT like each other. Stuck together on a school trip to a museum, things couldn’t get any worse, until they meet some incorrigble monsters! The monsters are on a field trip of their own, bringing BAD LUCK to the human world. Quickly, they decide to take the children back to where they’ve come from and feed them to their king. But what exactly lies ahead for Joey and Harry at the Ministry of Mischief? Will they make it back home in time for tea? Or will they be stuck with these misbehaving monsters forever?

When a magic stunt goes disastrously wrong, best friends William and Vanessa wake the next day to discover they've been transformed into superheroes. But there's just one catch.... They're no longer human.... William is a crocodile, and Vanessa is a wolf!

On an island on the coast of Cornwall, cut off from the mainland by the tides for most of the day, 13 old friends meet at Tregowan Castle for a weekend of revelry. By the next evening, only 12 are still alive. Amongst them is a killer—but who? As a storm traps them on the island and past betrayals and grievances are revealed, nerves fray and friendships begin to fracture. But with no escape and no way of calling for help, it’s only a matter of time before the killer strikes again. And when everyone is keeping secrets, anybody could be the next victim.

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Since that day, prize-winning independent journalist Katerina Gordeeva has travelled to refugee centres across Europe to record the human voice and cost of war. Take My Grief Away reveals twenty-four raw, heartbreaking first-person accounts from people united in grief and their first-hand experiences of the brutality and senselessness of war. These twenty-four voices will transform what you think you know about war, grief and human nature.