Showing results by narrator "Antonia Beamish" in All Categories

Abigail Jex never expected to see any of the Radleys again. They were extraordinary, captivating creatures transplanted from a bohemian corner of North London to outer suburbia, and the young Abigail found herself drawn into their magic circle: the eccentric Frances, her new best friend; Frances' mother, the liberated, headstrong Lexi; and of course the brilliant, beautiful Rad. Abigail thought she'd banished the ghost of her life with them and the catastrophe that ended it, but 13 years later a chance encounter forces her to acknowledge that the spell is far from broken.

Eleanor Blake, distraught after breaking up with her fiancé Will, decides to do what most would scarcely dare: secretly follow him to the island hideaway where he's on holiday with the woman who took her place. But on the shimmering, sun-drenched Sicilian island of Panarea, distractions come in many forms and her fellow hotel guests Lewis and Frannie may not be all they seem either.

A man's body is found on a canal towpath. In his pocket, a magnetic letter in the shape of an E. Days later, a second victim is murdered, this time with the letter V tucked into her clothing. When the letter E is located near to a third victim, DI Allie Shenton and her colleagues are sent into full alert. Is their killer spelling a word, a name or are the letters an anagram? One thing's for certain as the body count rises—the eerie, childlike clues point to a pattern that doesn't look like stopping.

Three sisters and a brother meet up in their grandparents' old house for three long, hot summer weeks. The house is full of memories of their childhood and their past, but now they may have to sell it. And under the idyllic surface, there are tensions. Secrets are uncovered, and passions erupt as a way of life - bourgeois, literate, ritualised - winds down to its inevitable end.

Brunhild was a Visigothic princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law, Fredegund, started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet - in sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport - these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades, changing the face of Europe. The two queens commanded armies, developed taxation policies, established infrastructure and negotiated with emperors and popes.

How far would you go to keep your family safe? Angie Watts had the perfect ordinary family. A new home. A beloved husband. Three adored children. But Angie’s happy life is shattered when her son Liam falls in with the wrong crowd. And when her son’s bad choices lead to the murder of her husband, it’s up to Angie to hold what’s left of her family together. Her son is missing. Her daughter is looking for help in dangerous places. And Angie is fighting just to keep a roof over their heads. But Angie is a mother.

As winter comes and the hours of darkness overtake the light, we seek out warmth, good food, and good company. But beneath the jollity and bright enchantment of the festive season, there lurks a darker mood - one that has found expression over the centuries in a host of strange and unsettling traditions and lore. Here, Sarah Clegg takes us on a journey through midwinter to explore the lesser-known Christmas traditions.

Young Irish nurse Ellen arrives at May Day House, tasked with helping the men there rehabilitate. But there’s something strange about the house, surrounded by water, on its own island in the Thames. And then there are the men: traumatised by their experiences of war, and subject to troubling methods in a desperate race to get them back to duty. As Ellen gets drawn into the world of May Day House, she starts to realise this will be no place to hide away from her own troubles…

Present Day. When Hanna returns to Norfolk from years working abroad, the strange dreams of her adolescence return: indistinct figures in tunics, mighty soldiers in armour, gladiators, temples, an Iceni warrior woman leading her people. Gradually Hanna’s dreams begin to slip into the present as visions in the famous mists rolling across the fens, and as shocks of recognition when a new face moves to her childhood home. As Hanna realises that she has a connection with a tragedy that occurred many years before, so Brea has to understand that her fate is bound up with her Roman master.

Norway, 1942. War rages, and, under cover of darkness, Rumi Orlstad and her fellow resistance fighters smuggle British agents, fugitives and supplies across the North Sea into Nazi-occupied territory. One night, when he braves a storm to complete an ill-fated mission, Rumi’s fiancé is lost to the dangerous waters. Broken-hearted, she withdraws from the clandestine group, vowing never to let her loved ones put themselves in the line of fire again.

Agnes Day - subeditor, suburbanite, failure extraordinaire - has discovered disconcerting gaps in her general understanding of the world. Terminally middle class and incurably romantic, Agnes finds herself chronically confused by the most basic interactions. Life and love go on without her, but with a little façade she can pass herself off as a success. Beneath the fiction, however, the burden of truth becomes harder to bear.

Mia Hamilton lived the perfect life with her husband, university teacher Zach, and their two-year-old daughter. But everything changed when Zach committed suicide on the same night one of his students vanished. Five years later, just when Mia is beginning to heal, stranger Alison walks into her life, saying her husband didn't kill himself. Fragile, slight Alison leads Mia on a path into Zach's past, and Mia begins to think she never really knew her own husband.

When Beth Wakeford takes her eight year-old daughter, Carmel, to a local children's festival, they become separated. Unable to accept the possibility that her daughter might be gone for good, Beth embarks on a mission to find her. Meanwhile Carmel begins an extraordinary and terrifying journey of her own, with a man who believes she is a saviour.

The Limekiln Estate has witnessed many a dark crime over the years. When DI Allie Shenton is called out to a suspicious death, she isn't surprised to see it's a local she knows only too well. While the slaying of Billy Whitmore is on everyone's lips, a woman is stabbed in her home. A day later and a third victim turns up. Three known associates brutally murdered—the bodies are piling up quicker than the forensic evidence is coming back. Yet Allie senses there's something more disturbing going on. She's sure Fiona Abbott, Billy's partner, is involved too.

Don't be deceived by Northaven's prettiness, by its white-wash houses and its sea views. In truth, many of its townsfolk are ruthless hunters. They revile those who have developed songlight, the ability to connect telepathically with others. Anyone found with this sixth sense is caught, persecuted and denounced. Welcome to the future. Lark has lived in grave danger ever since her own songlight emerged. Then she encounters a young woman in peril, from a city far away. An extraordinary bond is forged. But who can they trust?

A long-serving beat cop in the Met and a teenage girl fall to their deaths from a tower block in London's East End. Left alive on the roof are a five-year-old boy and rookie police officer Lizzie Griffiths. Within hours Lizzie has disappeared, and DPS Officer Sarah Collins sets out to uncover the truth around the grisly deaths in an investigation that takes her into the dark heart of policing in London.

Dame Zandra Rhodes has spent her life rallying against what was expected of her, both as a designer and a woman. Often perceived as too bold for the mainstream, she fought for creativity and individuality, and continues to achieve both in everything she does. In this insightful memoir, Zandra shares her life story for the first time. Told through a variety of mementos and curiosities collected over the course of her eight decades, it is a vibrant account.

Meet Detective Maddie Ives in this new series that will have you gripped from the explosive start to one of the most shocking twists of the year. Early Sunday morning, a rainy city centre. A 10-year-old-boy steps out in front of traffic. He is dazed, confused and barefoot. He is covered in blood. It’s not his. Detective Maddie Ives is called out and finds the boy backed up against a shop front. He can’t or won’t speak. His face is a mask of shock and his whole body is tense. He’s ready to run again. He can’t tell her why. Who scared this boy out of his wits?

The Time Traveller's Almanac is the largest, most definitive collection of time travel stories ever assembled. Gathered by intrepid chrononauts and world-renowned anthologists Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, here is over a century's worth of literary travels into past and the future. The anthology covers millions of years of Earth's history - from the age of the dinosaurs to strange and fascinating futures, through to the end of Time itself.

When DI Allie Shenton is called out to a murder suicide, it quickly becomes clear that it's a double slaying, and there is a killer on the loose. The bodies are found in a property owned by local entrepreneur/drug dealer Kenny Webb. Several young women are staying there, they are refusing to talk and one of them is missing. While she waits on forensic evidence, Allie decides to do what she does best. She takes to the community to see who will talk. Right now, she's the only one who can get answers. But then a third murder rattles everyone.