Showing results by narrator "Candida Gubbins" in All Categories

Lara the Runaway Cat tells the story of Gobi, the loveable pug who followed Dion Leonard across a gruelling 155-mile trek across the Gobi Desert, and her mischievous cat sister, Lara, who runs away from her family, seeking a courageous adventure and different life.

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.

Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write the lyrics to a musical based on the life of Maria von Trapp: a novice nun sent to teach a widowed baron's sickly child. Yet much of Maria's life will have to be reinvented for THE SOUND OF MUSIC. When Maria sees the script that is supposedly based on her life, she becomes so incensed that she sets off to confront Hammerstein in person. Told that he's busy, she is asked to express her concerns to his secretary Fran instead. The pair strike up an unlikely friendship as Maria tells Fran about her life.

The bond between men and the gods is weakening. A dead man walks between the worlds and foresees Odin's doom. The only survivor of a slaughter unleashes a monster from fiery Muspelheim. Long hidden among mortals, a giantess sighs and takes up her magics once again. A chief 's son must overcome war and treason to become the leader his people need. And the final battle is coming.

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.

From her cellar bedroom, Clementine dreams of a magic place. And she's determined to find it one day. But first she must escape from her wicked aunt and uncle and from the Great Black City. With the help of her best friend, Gilbert, a very clever cat, she sets off on an epic journey that just might make her dreams come true. A thrilling, moving and funny adventure about looking for the most magical place of all. Home.

Anna thought she’d found The One – until he broke off their engagement exactly a year before their wedding day. Hoping new surroundings will do her the world of good, she moves in to a place of her own on the edge of gorgeous Wildflower Park. With the help and friendship of her neighbour Sophie, Anna quickly settles in and pledges to focus on her career, but a handsome new colleague seems determined to thwart her attempts at every turn. And when she receives a text from a mystery man, it looks as though an unlikely romance is on the horizon....

Vicky Turnbull has never regretted giving up her career for family life in the suburbs. And apart from being outstandingly good at paintball, no one would ever know that in a past life she was an undercover spy and has been trained to kill a man with her bare hands. Not even her husband and certainly not the other mums at the school gate. But beneath the school runs and bake sales, Vicky had never quite said goodbye to the past.

They were identical in every way. Until the unthinkable tore them apart. Isolte and Viola are twins. Inseparable as children, they've grown into very different adults: Isolte, a successful features writer for a fashion magazine with a photographer boyfriend and a flat in London, and Viola, desperately unhappy and struggling with a lifelong eating disorder. What happened all those years ago to set the twins on such different paths to adulthood? As both women start to unravel the escalating tragedies of a half-remembered summer, terrifying secrets from the past come rushing back - and threaten to overwhelm their adult lives....

When aristocrat's daughter Charlotte Bingham was summoned to her father's office aged 18, she never expected to discover that he was a spy. Even more ominous was his decision that she should work for MI5. Miserably assigned to the formidable Dragon, Lottie wishes for release from the torment of typing. But as fellow secretary Annabella illuminates the mysteries of MI5, and Lottie's home fills with actors doubling as spies, Lottie feels well and truly spooked.

Sisters Georgie and Kate have always been close. Brought up by their mum Jan after the death of their father, this family of women have always been able to rely on each other. Jan loves her daughters with all her heart. She knows some people think she’s an over-protective mother, but they didn’t know what she knows. She has always kept her girls close but now she can feel them slipping away. Secrets have a nasty habit of refusing to stay hidden, and now Georgie and Kate are about to discover that while lies can cause pain, the truth could destroy them all.

After the death of her husband, Sarah Cooper becomes betrothed to Robert Billings and moves her family back to Colchester. But with Robert away on-board ship, somehow Sarah must hold the family together and pray that her man will come back to her. Struggling with family life, Alfie Nightingale leaves to be a policeman in London. But back on the dangerous city streets, Alfie has a life changing decision to make for himself and the family that he has abandoned. Will the Nightingales finally find the home and family they have been searching for?

Left profoundly deaf after an accident, Émile is no stranger to isolation—or heartbreak. Now, as Nazi planes loom over Guernsey, he senses life is about to change forever. Trapped in a tense, fearful marriage, Isabelle doesn't know what has become of Émile and the future she hoped for. But when she glimpses him from the window of the French House, their lives collide once more. Lieutenant Schreiber is more comfortable wielding a paintbrush than a pistol. But he has little choice in the role he is forced to play in the occupying forces—or in his own forbidden desires.

When her beloved grandmother, Marnie, passes away, Laurel is left with a small inheritance and a note telling her to follow her dreams. As she and Marnie always did in difficult times, Laurel turns to her ABBA albums and her favourite film, Mamma Mia! Without pausing for thought, she grabs her passport, dons her best dungarees, and jets off to Skopelos for her own Meryl-inspired adventure....

You never forget your first love. Eighteen years ago, Olivia learned to live without Sean Kenyon. She moved on, building a life with her husband, Richmond, and their two children in the picturesque town Kesterley-on-Sea. But when Sean unexpectedly appears on Olivia’s doorstep, her world is turned upside down once more. As old feelings resurface and new truths come to light, Olivia finds herself questioning everything. Is her husband really the person she thought he was?

Wolves howl. The trickster Loki breaks free from his chains. A demon is loose from Muspelheim. In the battle to come, all shall die, but Ragnar will do anything to save his gods. Einer scours the nine worlds for Hilda who walks among gods and goddesses, searching the truth of the Runes. For centuries, Siv has run from her past, but she knows that to protect her daughter, and Midgard, she will have to face her worst fears. It is time to confront the Alfather.

In this wickedly funny sequel to MI5 and Me, it is the 1950s, and reluctant typist and spy's daughter Lottie has had the bad luck to fall in love with Harry, a handsome if frustrated young actor, who has been press-ganged into the family business as an undercover agent in the Communist hotbed of British theatre. Together the young lovers embark on a star-studded adventure through the glittering world of theatre - but between missing files, disapproving parents, and their own burgeoning creative endeavours, life is about to become very complicated indeed....

When a freshly mummified body is discovered at the Brighton Museum of Natural History, Detective Francis Sullivan is at a loss to identify the desiccated woman. But as Egyptian burial jars of body parts with cryptic messages attached start appearing, he realises he has a serial killer on his hands. Revenge, obsession and an ancient religion form a potent mix, unleashing a wave of terror throughout the city. Caught in a race against time while battling his own demons, Francis must fight to uncover the true identity of the Embalmer before it's too late.

Elfrida Jane, accustomed to the energetic life of a small-part actress, finds life at Mountain Cross very different. At first her mother's old cliff-top house seems lonely and bleak, compared to the glitter and bustle of the theatre. But Elfrida has plenty of courage and soon settles down to enjoy herself. Then, suddenly, her peace is shattered. To the house on the cliff come unexpected visitors from the world of the theatre - a world Elfrida thought she had left behind forever.

The Daughter. My father is innocent. He’s spent almost four years behind bars, but now he’s getting out. I gave up everything to be there for him, just like he was always there for me. The Girlfriend. As soon as I opened the paper that day and saw that picture of Sandy, I didn’t care about the story surrounding it. There’s no way he hurt that girl. Now he’s out, we’ll get married and I’ll finally get to meet his daughter.The Other Woman. No one knows what happened all those years ago, and the life I built depends on no one finding out.