Showing results by narrator "Aysha Kala" in All Categories

When 12-year-old Ami arrives at The Escape, she thinks it’s just a game - the ultimate escape room with puzzles and challenges to beat before time runs out. Meeting her teammates, Adjoa, Ibrahim, Oscar and Min, Ami learns from the Host that they have been chosen to save the world and that they must work together to find the Answer. But as he locks them inside the first room, they quickly realise this is no ordinary game.

A collection about mothers and daughters, children lost, unborn, grown up, grown apart, and the dissonance between lovers. It exposes the silences in families and the parts of ourselves we rarely reveal. A daughter asks her mother to shut up, only to shut her up for good; an exhausted wife walks away from the husband who doesn't understand her; on holiday, lovers no longer understand each other away from home. The underlying themes of loneliness, secrets, family and displacement and also the desire to belong to someone, to some place intertwine these stories.

Benny Burns spends every weekend helping his dad by working at their burger van, parked outside the local football ground. And when Benny finds his grandfather’s old recipe book and begins following its instructions, he starts cooking INCREDIBLE food – so good, in fact, that he attracts the unwanted attention of fast food giant Bonkers Burgers! and its CEO, Bodley Bonkers.

Ash Persaud is about to become a reaper in the afterlife, but she is determined to see her first love, Poppy Morgan, again; the only thing that separates them is death. Car headlights. The last thing Ash hears is the snap of breaking glass as the windscreen hits her and breaks into a million pieces like stars. But she made it; she's still here. Or is she? This New Year's Eve, Ash is gets an RSVP from the afterlife she can't decline: to join a clan of fierce girl reapers who take the souls of the city's dead to await their fate.

Chaya, a no-nonsense, outspoken hero, leads her friends and a gorgeous elephant on a noisy, fraught, joyous adventure through the jungle where revolution is stirring and leeches lurk. Will stealing the queen’s jewels be the beginning or the end of everything for the intrepid gang?

Yesterday Crumb is no ordinary girl. She was born with fox ears that have cursed her to a lonely life working in the circus, and her origins are a complete mystery. But she is about to escape into the adventure of a lifetime when she learns that she's a strangeling who's lost her magic. Taken in by Miss Dumpling the flamboyant Tea Witch, Yesterday is introduced to a magical, walking teashop filled with fantastical customers, a flying teapot turtle called Pascal and powerful spells in every teacup!

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She's a model daughter and sister, she's well liked by her classmates and teachers and she's dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan. But then Celestine encounters a situation in which she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found Flawed.

Uganda 1972. A devastating decree is issued: all Ugandan Asians must leave the country in 90 days. They must take only what they can carry, give up their money and never return. For Asha and Pran, married a matter of months, it means abandoning the family business that Pran has worked so hard to save. For his mother, Jaya, it means saying goodbye to the house that has been her home for decades. But violence is escalating in Kampala, and people are disappearing. Will they all make it to safety in Britain, and will they be given refuge if they do?

Imagine having the perfect friend, one who never steals, lies or bullies. Now you can, with the TrooFriend 560, the latest in artificial intelligence! What can go wrong with a robot buddy? Especially one that’s developing human characteristics and feelings, and who has just run away with her human?

Fourteen-year-old Cat is lonely - reeling from the loss of her father, she’s disconnected from friends and fighting with her mum. But when a new boy, Tyler, arrives for the summer, Cat finds herself opening up to the handsome stranger. A shocking revelation about her dad turns Cat’s world on its head. She and Tyler uncover a series of secrets that take them on a perilous journey. With fresh lies exposed and threats from a dangerous gang revealed, will Cat risk everything to keep herself and her family safe?

In this love letter to reading, curated by Pandora Sykes in aid of the National Literacy Trust, bestselling and beloved writers share their favourite books: the ones they hold most dearly, that they return to time and again and that helped make them the writers they are.

Yesterday Crumb is determined, brave and nearly ready to defeat a formidable foe: Mr Weep, the Lord of the Dead. Reunited with her beloved Dwimmerly End - a magical walking teashop - apprentice tea witch Yesterday and her friends begin to search for Mr Weep's weakness. Except the dark influence of a strange flower is taking hold of Yesterday's friends and allies, turning them cold-hearted and pitting them against each other. As the flower's effects spread further, Yesterday needs to save her friends and rally the magical world to overcome Mr Weep's dark reign.

Through the glass, the magic is waiting.... Nona and her uncle travel everywhere together, replacing stained-glass windows in war-torn buildings throughout England. One day a mysterious commission takes them to the lonely moors of Dartmoor, where a wild and powerful magic threatens everything that Nona holds dear. Can she find the courage to protect those she loves - even if it means fighting darkness itself?

It's New Year's Eve, and Madeline Bright, fresh to the exotic opulence of colonial India, is yearning for all she's left behind in England. But then, at the stroke of midnight, Maddy meets Luke Devereaux, and as the year changes so do their lives - forever...Bold and charismatic, Luke opens her eyes to the wonders of Bombay, while Maddy's beauty and vivacity captures his heart. Only her mother disapproves, preferring the devoted Guy Bowen as a match for her daughter.

Monsoon Memories is an unforgettable journey through a mesmerizing, passionate land of contrasts – with a family whose story will touch your heart. Anyone who enjoys the storytelling of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, or Dorothy Koomson will love this. Exiled from her family in India for more than a decade, Shirin and her husband lead a comfortable but empty life in London. Memories of her childhood – exotic fragrances, colours, stifling heat and tropical storms – fill Shirin with a familiar and growing ache for the land and the people that she loves.

Roa understands what it means to sacrifice. She married her greatest enemy in order to save her people - Dax, the heir to Firgaard's throne. Even though it was Dax's fault that her beloved twin sister died, leaving her soul trapped in this world. He promised to save her people from his father's oppressive regime, but he plays the fool while her people continue to starve. So when Roa is given the opportunity to save everything she holds dear, she's once again willing to make a sacrifice - even the life of a king.

Bronte Tempestra of the Storm Kingdom is taking charge of her own destiny - she will be the first ever princess to become a knight! But knight school isn't the fun-filled adventure Bronte is expecting - the knights don't seem interested in saving...anything. And when she discovers that the Lightning Steeds have gone missing, leaving the Thunder Trolls to wreak havoc across the lands, she knows it's her moment to prove just how brave a princess can be. Bronte must face down pompous griffin lords and bare-bottomed cloud-stealing gnomes, monstrous horrorflies and spooky zombits.

When Ailsa Field uproots her family to Norfolk, she's determined a change of scene will fix all their problems. Then the Fairports move in next door, and Ailsa is terrified their influence will damage her family's new start. But for teenagers Romy and Jay, none of that matters. But when Romy decides to help Jay, what starts as an innocent plan quickly threatens to destroy the Field family forever....

Zara loves love in all forms: 90s romcoms and romance novels and grand sweeping gestures. And she's desperate to have her own great love story. Crucially, a real one. So when her best friend Adnan begs her to pretend to date him to cover up his new top-secret relationship, Zara is hesitant. This isn't the kind of thing she had in mind. But there's something in it for Zara too: making her parents, who love Adnan, happy might just stop them arguing for a while. She may not be getting her own love story, but she could save theirs.

"Your mother has been arrested. She stole you." For as long as thirteen-year-old Diya can remember, it’s always been just her and her mum, Vani. Despite never staying in one place long enough to call it home, with her mother by her side, Diya has never needed anything else. Then, in an instant, Diya’s fragile world is shattered. Her mother is arrested, accused of abducting Diya when she was a baby... Vani has spent a lifetime looking over her shoulder, determined to make the best possible life for her daughter.