Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Woodward" in All Categories

Alex Owens knows very little about her childhood or who she really is - her only family an absent, emotionally fragile mother. Alex has always felt something was missing and has spent most of her life searching for what that could be. When an infant's remains are unearthed, Alex realises she has a connection to the case. Suddenly long-lost memories start flooding in, leading her back to a small town in California and to dark and terrifying nightmares that haunt her every waking moment.

It's spring 1971 and Vera Kelly and her girlfriend, Max, leave Brooklyn for an emergency visit to Max's estranged family in LA. Max's parents are divorcing—her father is already engaged to a much younger woman, under the sway of an occultist charlatan and her mother has left their estate with no indication of return. Max prepares for the trip with equal parts dread and anger. Upon arriving, Vera is shocked by the size and extravagance of the Comstock estate, while Max attempts to navigate her father and the occultist, who is charming but appears to be siphoning family money.

Where did Brandon Duke’s secretary go? Because this sultry woman is not the Kelly Meredith who left on vacation! She says this makeover is part of a plan…to become more seductive. And Brandon is just the man to give her a few lessons in love, savour every moment, and then say goodbye - as long as he can remember just who is seducing whom!

Eliza Benedict’s past returns to haunt her when the serial killer she escaped from as a young girl walks back into her life. Twenty-five years ago, he stole her innocence. Now he wants to get in touch. Eliza cherishes her quiet existence with her successful husband and children in the leafy suburbs of suburban Washington. But her tranquillity is shattered when she receives a letter from the last person she ever expects - or wants - to hear from.

When the Bergamots move to a well-to-do neighbourhood, they're unsure how well they'll adapt. Soon though, Richard is consumed by his new role and Liz is hectically playing mother to 4-year-old Coco and 15 year-old Jake. But the day Jake unthinkingly forwards his friends a sexually-explicit email from a young girl is the last day of the Bergamots' comfortable existence. Faced with impossible choices, what Richard and Liz do next risks destroying not only their marriage, their daughter, and their place in the community, but also Jake - the child they have set out to protect.

A family watches, horrified, as their patriarch transforms into the wise-cracking lead of an old-timey minstrel show. An art collector gleefully destroys his most valuable pieces. A young artist devotes himself to a wealthy, malicious gossip, knowing that it's just a matter of time before she turns on him. In this new collection of short stories, Paul Theroux explores the tenuous leadership of the elite and the surprising revenge of the overlooked.

In a world where humans are evolving, people are more curious than afraid. They look for answers from a handful of scientists who try to uncover why some develop abilities yet the vast majority do not. For most humans, it's an exciting time, but for Evolved Ones–EOs–it's a game of hide and seek that ends with far too many of their kind disappearing, permanently. Rox returns home to a family she doesn't remember and torn apart by her absence. Guilt threatens to erode what little possibilities she has of building a new life with them.

A young woman struggles to finish her PhD on stars and galaxies. Instead, she obsessively tracks the experience of her own body, listening to its functions and rhythms, finally locating in its patterns the beginning of illness and instability. As she discovers the precarity of her self, she begins to turn her attention to the distant orbits of her family members, each moving away from the familial system and each so different in their experiences, but somehow made similar in their shared history of illness and trauma, both political and personal.

Karen Rainey lives a sheltered life on the edge of the city. For the last five years, she has rarely left the home unless it was unavoidable. She has her food and anything else she needs delivered to the front door. She works from home to avoid venturing outside. But Karen isn’t agoraphobic. She’s terrified of her ex-boyfriend, Zach, who is serving a life sentence in prison for a string of bank robberies after Karen testified against him. With the constant threat that Zach might send someone to find and kill her, Karen keeps a low profile.

For Claire Roth, an established psychotherapist, her new patient - Jody Goodman, a young filmmaker - is a welcome diversion from her predictable life. Jody, successful, yet uncertain, is disarmed by Claire's interest and approval. Gradually, the lines between friendship and family, between love and compulsion, start to blur. In a Country of Mothers is a transfixing psychological thriller, that forces us to confront our own judgments about sanity, danger, and desire.

On their first date back in law school, Natalie and Will Clarke bonded over drinks, dinner and whether they could get away with murder. Now married, they'll put the latter to the test when an unchecked danger in their community places their son in jeopardy. Working as a criminal defence attorney, Nat refuses to rely on the broken legal system to keep her family safe. She knows that if you want justice...you have to get it yourself.

After a long overdue divorce, Erica has finally made it to Italy with her two children and, amazingly, her now dreamy fiancé Julian Foxham. The plan was to start fresh and for Erica to run a country B&B, but two years in and her business is failing miserably, while Julian's career as a novelist is soaring and taking him all over the world with his gorgeous agent. Despite having set a wedding date, with every day that goes by, their dreams are heading in opposite directions. And when her sexy Italian chef Alberto offers her a shoulder to cry on—as the saying goes, When in Rome.

There’s one sure fire way of steering clear of heartbreak, and that’s not to get your heart involved in the first place. So what is that irritating flutter she feels every time she sees Brooks Hudson, and why is she finding him so hard to ignore?

The facts are that a canary is dead, as is Mr. Foster. His wife, Minnie, is the prime suspect. Sheriff Peters can't crack the case, but two clever women can. Glaspell originally wrote the story as a play entitled Trifles in 1916.

As penance for a bet, millionaire Rafe King must complete one job as an everyday carpenter. And that’s when he hit the jackpot – an introduction to Katie Charles. With every word, every touch, the sweet, sexy lady made Rafe feel like more than the cold-hearted tycoon he was reputed to be. There was only one problem: Katie despised all wealthy men, especially the King family. But if he kept this secret, it might cost him…everything.

Annie Shepherd is represented by the biggest entertainment agency in the world. Annie Shepherd has the perfect literary life. But Annie Shepherd has a secret. A huge secret she's tried to hide her entire career, which is bought to the surface when her National Book Award-winning boyfriend (and Annie’s former professor) suddenly dies.

A powerful, compelling, topical novel about a relationship between a radio DJ and a teenage girl from the author of Dying Young and Daniel Isn't Talking. She suddenly remembered a film he'd had her watch with Marlon Brando and a young, bewildered actress. In it, Brando's character had hit the girl with the heel of a shoe while she was naked in a bath. 'I wouldn't do that to you,' Craig had said as she gazed wretchedly at the film. He was making a point about his gentleness.

One woman. A million-dollar card game. A city in darkness. Fearless Florida bounty hunter Lori Anderson travels to Chicago to trap the head of a notorious crime family, in a high-stakes, nail-biting mission that sees her trapped in one of the city’s tallest buildings during a blackout.

Touchy Subjects is about things that make people wince: taboos, controversies, secrets, and lies. Some of the events that characters crash into are grand, tragic ones: miscarriage, overdose, missing persons. Other topics, like religion and money, are not inherently taboo, but they can cause acute discomfort because people disagree so vehemently. These stories are about the spectrum of feeling that runs from awkwardness through embarrassment to shame.

Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are four sisters trying to support the family and keep their spirit up while their father is at war. Each one of them has a unique vivid personality which helps them overcome the hardships of poverty. Showing the transition from childhood to womanhood, "Little Women" together with its sequels: "Good Wives", "Little Men", and "Jo's Boys", has been one of the most widely read novels in the world. It has inspired numerous adaptations including a 2019 movie starring Emma Watson with six Academy Award nominations.