Showing results by narrator "Helen McAlpine" in All Categories

To begin with, what the hell is a novel? It's basically a tiny world, where characters are born, live and (sometimes) die. To write one all you need is a notebook and a pen - but along the way you'll want to learn about good writing habits, planning, mastering descriptions and dialogue and how to pull it all together. This book will guide you through the process and orient you towards the goal of publication. From absolute beginner to novelista, this book will change the way you write and think about writing.

Rachel McKenzie has trust issues. That’s what happens when your father murders your mother and gets away with it for years. Tormented by her past, Rachel seeks justice for others, investigating suspicious deaths in the remote and rugged Scottish Highlands. So, when Rachel hears about a drowned woman on the windswept island where her estranged family lives, she’s driven to investigate.

While Katie's glad it's not a man's world anymore, she'd be quite pleased if there were more men in it - or at least single ones, anyway. More likely to get murdered than married, according to gleeful media reports, Katie resigns herself to the fact there's no sex in the city and heads for the hills - or the Scottish Highlands, to be precise. Despite the fact she's never been a girl for wellies and Fairlish is in the middle of nowhere, the tiny town does have one major draw: men. Lots of them.

The human body is like an exceedingly well-fortified castle, defended by billions of soldiers - some live for less than a day, others remember battles for decades, but all are essential in protecting us from disease. This hidden army is our immune system, and without it we could not survive the eternal war between us and our microscopic enemies. Immune explores the incredible arsenal that lives within us - how it knows what to attack and what to defend and how it kills everything from the common cold to the plague bacterium.

The flood waters are rising. And so is the body count… Police officer Fiona MacLeish has been ordered to step back from her role in Police Scotland. Haunted by the murder of her parents, she’s dangerously close to breaking point: and is back in her remote childhood home nestled in a valley on the Scottish border. But there’s a terrifying storm coming…

Nora Brown is perfectly happy single. Well, sometimes she wishes there was someone else to do the dishes, or fight with her daughter about brushing her hair, and sure, a woman has needs…but Nora knows better than most that it’s complicated when you’re a single mom of (nearly) 40. She’s not risking a broken heart ever again, thank you very much. Which is exactly why she’s dreading the "sexy singles getaway" at a castle in the Scottish Highlands that her pushy sister is forcing her to attend.

Nothing has turned out quite how Rhona Beech thought: she's been swapping one so-so job for another on an annual basis...and now her nine-year relationship has ended abruptly. When her lukewarm efforts to adjust to the changes in her life are thrown entirely up in the air by some unwelcome news, Rhona has to think again.Her sardonic, funny, poignant attempts to find an answer to the questions she's facing are helped by a cast of friends, strangers and trained professionals..

The gripping new thriller from the author of What Goes Around and Do Me No Harm. Do you ever feel that prickle on the back of your neck, as though someone's watching you? Someone is watching Hannah. Her name is Ruby, and her job as CCTV operative means she can follow Hannah everywhere she goes. It's against the law, but Ruby is willing to do whatever is necessary to keep Hannah safe. And there's no harm in just watching. Until just watching isn't enough....

Maddileh is a knight. There aren’t many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she’s a knight, and made of sterner stuff. A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honor in the most dramatic way possible, she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying. If history tells us anything, it's that “die trying” is where to wager your coin.

Since the death of her mother, Kate Kennedy has been parent, helper and housekeeper to her large family. But life changes drastically as the young men leave the pits and head to the Great War. Desolate to watch brothers and friends march into danger, Kate must stay at home to hold her family together. Against all odds, Kate's baking skills create a path out of poverty. But as storm clouds gather over Europe again, the love, life and happiness she's fought so hard for may not survive - will she lose everything?

When Ailsa Reid becomes the subject of a trial by media after an incident at the school where she works, she escapes to the comfort of her grandparents' house in Fife. But she arrives to find her grandmother, Moira - recently diagnosed with dementia - has gone missing, and her grandfather, Rupert, gravely injured. Desperate to ensure Moira's safe return, Ailsa must rely on the help of her estranged mother, Rowan, who abandoned her at birth. Tensions simmer between the two women as they attempt to piece together the lead-up to Moira's disappearance.

Bridie lives on the remote Scottish island of Tornish, the youngest of three sisters. Although she loves her island, with its wild seas and big skies, she guiltily nurses a secret dream of flight - to America and the freedom of the New World. But her family are struggling under the spiteful oppression of the new Laird, and it seems that even some of the Laird's own household are desperate to leave. When the Laird's full cruelty becomes apparent, there's no more time for daydreams as Bridie needs to help the people she loves escape to safety.

Sparrow lives in the world after the Reek. The atmosphere is toxically polluted, and Axel Brodie, the tech billionaire behind Zephyr Industries, is cashing in as the only supplier of clean air. Sparrow is struggling to help her family survive until her brilliant inventor friend, Miriam Fenn, comes up with a new form of technology that could break Zephyr’s stranglehold on the air supply. But men like Brodie are hard to defeat, and he will do everything in his power to stop Miriam and Sparrow. Who will triumph in this battle to breathe?

Set Me Free is the new bestseller from Daniela Sacerdoti, following up the huge successes of her first two novels, Watch Over Me and Take Me Home. In London, Margherita’s marriage has slowly been falling apart since her little Lewis’ birth, a surprise baby much wanted by her but not by her husband. To add to her problems, her adopted daughter, Lara, is going through a rough patch, and all of a sudden she’s gone from quiet and introverted to constantly angry.

From the fields of Angus to the shores of Mexico, a family struggles to find their way home. To young Victoria Cameron, Angus, Scotland is the most beautiful place on earth, and she wishes nothing more than to stay on her little farm forever. But the death of her beloved grandfather leaves her and her mother without a farm and struggling to make ends meet. Never one to give up, Victoria soon finds work in a Dundee mill, while her mother supports them by taking in lodgers.

Welcome to the gorgeous little Scottish village of Christmas, where snow is falling, presents are being wrapped and the locals are writing their festive wish lists. Will this finally be the year that Belle’s dreams come true? Thirty-year-old Belle Albany is feeling lonely this Christmas. Another whole year has passed and her life is... exactly the same as it was last December. She longs for true love and a little bit of winter magic – but she’s almost given up on finding it in the sleepy Scottish community where she lives.

Isla's brother, an ex-marine and private investigator, has just been found drowned in the River Clyde. The coroner declares it an accidental death. The police are happy to close the case. But Isla is convinced he was murdered. Determined to find out what really happened the night Dougie died and what he was doing in Glasgow, she starts looking into his unsolved cases. What she finds will put her in grave danger and force her to question everything she thought she knew about those closest to her....

If someone took away your perfect life, how far would you go to get it back? Ellen's family is her world. So when her husband leaves her for another woman, she is almost destroyed. But not quite, because Ellen has a plan, a way to make those who have hurt her suffer. Leila is the other woman. She finally has everything she ever wanted. But Leila's brother has come back into her life, raking up a past that needs to stay buried. One of them will pay for their actions with their life, but which one?

Prisoners of the dark sorceress Ashnakh, friends Kiri, Alish, Elio, and Thanis are taken to the forbidding Palace of Mirrors in the Realm of Shyish to await their fate. Trapped in the Shatterglass Labyrinth they must band together to survive. Betrayed by someone who they thought they could trust and harried by dreaded Nighthaunts, will they ever escape the Fortress of Ghosts?

The city of Lifestone is under siege! A dark army under the command of the undead sorceress Ashnakh swarms outside the city walls, awaiting her order to attack. The only ones who can stop her are six brave children, each of them marked with a symbol of the Mortal Realms and each sworn to defend Life against the forces of Death.