Showing results by publisher "Quercus" in All Categories

Who doesn't want to know how to achieve real confidence - and who better to pass on the secrets than a woman who has overcome such gruelling physical and emotional hurdles and emerged on the other side smiling? In 2008 Katie Piper survived a brutal rape and acid attack which left her severely burned and disfigured and changed her life forever. Her previous audiobooks told the story of her long and painful journey back towards health and happiness. Now, in Confidence: The Secret, Katie takes the next step from recovery to empowerment.

Christopher Kerr is a hospice doctor. All of his patients die. Yet he has tended thousands of patients who, in the face of death, speak of love, meaning and grace. They reveal that there is hope beyond cure as they transition to focus on personal meaning. In this extraordinary and beautiful book, Dr Kerr shares his patients' stories and his own research pointing to death as not purely the end of life but as a final passage of humanity and transcendence.

Six Four. The nightmare no parent could endure. The case no detective could solve. The twist no listener could predict. For five days in January 1989, the parents of a seven-year-old Tokyo schoolgirl sat and listened to the demands of their daughter's kidnapper. They would never learn his identity. They would never see their daughter again. For the 14 years that followed, the Japanese public listened to the police's apologies. They would never forget the botched investigation that became known as Six Four.

When little Ella's grandmother dies, she is turned out of her home and forced into a life of cruel labour. Even her own mother won't help, too busy with her new husband. Seeking refuge at the Foundling School for Girls, Ella meets Julia, who has been torn apart from her twin, Ned. They must take matters into their own hands if they're to stay together despite their parents' wishes. In a world of hardship and betrayal, three children begin a search for belonging.

Only the intervention of the Great Powers of France, Russia and Britain can save Greece. In the wild south, the people of the Mani have risen up against 400 years of Ottoman rule. But initial triumph leads to bitter feuding among the Greek victors, and the Sultan sends his vassal, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, to invade. Burning everything in his path, he is on the point of victory.

Have you heard of The Rules of Engagement? It's a book that promises to teach you to find the man of your dreams in 10 easy steps. Unsurprisingly, I don't own a copy. What is it, 1892? But I'm a journalist, and I've promised to follow it to the letter and write about the results. Never mind that my friends think I'm insane, I'm stalking men all over town, and I can't keep my mouth shut at the best of times. My name is Cat Buchanan. I'm 36 years old and live with my daughter in Glasgow.

Known, thanks to his racing style and attitude, for being one of road cycling's last romantics, Dan has always shied away from revealing too much about himself and his story. Now, having retired at the end of the 2021 season aged 35 and no longer bound by the constraints of the racing circuit, Dan feels the time is right to tell his story in the same forthright and honest manner that he rode his bike. This audiobook reflects Dan's generous and outspoken spirit, his resilience to pain, crashes, bad luck and, finally, his acceptance of destiny.

Fuzzy and Coco are guinea pigs who live with their kindly owners, Ben and Henrietta Bliss. Coco likes to spend her days pampering herself and listening to harp concertos. Fuzzy is much more down to earth - he is a passionate cook who wants nothing more than to learn to make delicious meals for Ben and Henrietta. So when Fuzzy spots an ad run by glamorous local chef Scarlet Cleaver stating 'Guinea Pigs Wanted', he is enormously excited - what a chance to learn some cooking skills!

In their rise to fame over the course of the war, Bea Herron, Ivy Sparrow and Rainey Bird have faced down bombs and looked tragedy in the eye. They have also found love, created their own families and had careers that they never thought possible. With peace finally on the horizon, what will the new world hold for them?

Georgian England, mid 18th century: As a foundling the young Em Smith is brought to the Cheshire country home of the ambitious Waterland family, where she serves as a companion to their daughter, Eliza. But as they grow up, Em's position becomes uncertain and she is increasingly troubled by the mystery of her birth. When Eliza goes in pursuit of a husband and a fortune in London, Em finds herself implicated in a horrific crime and must flee for her life.

The new arrivals are checking in to the Ionian Escape hotel on the sun-soaked island of Kefalonia, and they're all hoping for a complete break from their everyday lives. But some of them are bringing quite a lot of baggage . . .

Aphrodite Du Bell is a diamond of the first water and a favourite of the queen. Famed for her beauty, the members of the ton praise her warm brown skin, perfect curls and exquisite features. But her renowned loveliness didn't stop the love of her life, Evander Eagleman, from jilting her and marrying another woman four years ago. Heartbroken and still not knowing why the Duke threw her over, Aphrodite has been in self-imposed exile ever since.

A woman's body is found on a frozen lake, bearing the marks of grisly torture. Inspector Anna-Maria Mella knows she needs help with the case - the woman was a key player in a mining company whose tentacles reach across the globe. Lawyer Rebecka Martinsson is desperate to get back to work, to feel alive again after a case that almost destroyed her both physically and emotionally.

Young Dot Allbones is the runt of a large Midlands family. Blessed with none of her sisters' beauty, she'll be lucky even to find a man to marry her. Whatever shall be done with Dot? When Kate Eddowes comes up from London and moves in next door, no one expects the pretty and popular orphan to take any notice of the plain-faced and provincial Dot, five years her junior. But against the odds, the girls strike up an unlikely friendship.

A few years ago Alexis Fleming was bedridden with a chronic illness. Things became so bad that she wanted to end her life many times during this period - but her beloved dog, Maggie, kept her going, especially when doctors gave her just six weeks to live. Incredibly, Alexis fought her way back to health with Maggie by her side, only for Maggie to die of lung cancer two years later on a vet's operating table.

Smoky the Brave is the extraordinary, touching and true story of a heroic dog and her adoptive masters in the jungles of the Pacific War. In February 1944, as Japanese military advances threatened to engulf Australasia, a tiny, four-pound Yorkshire terrier was discovered hiding in a Japanese shell scrape amidst the thick jungles of Papua New Guinea. The GIs who discovered her presumed she had been some kind of Japanese army mascot, but it soon turned out that she understood neither commands rendered in Japanese nor English.

There are plenty of self-help books for mourners, but nothing in the way of a modern, approachable and above all useful field guide for the living. And all of us - young, old, sick and well - could use the help. After all, pregnant couples have ample resources available to them as they prepare to bring a new life into the world: Lamaze courses, elaborate birth plans, tons of manuals. Why don't we have a What to Expect When You're Expecting to Die book?

Berlin, 2017: several young girls have been disappearing for the past fourteen years. Red ribbons show the police the way to their bodies, but there's no trace of the killer. One evening, internationally renowned philosophy professor and anthropologist Walter Lesniak is arrested on the suspicion of the murders in the presence of his daughter, Ann. 'Professor Death' becomes the headline of the tabloid press and Lesniak himself refuses to cooperate with the police. Ann is certain this is all some kind of mistake. And she will prove it.

This is an epic audiobook set in an age of dramatic change. Siward, scion of a great dynasty, commands the Varangian Guard and has vowed to defend the Roman Empire to the last. Makkim, renowned general to Ottoman rule, has vowed to destroy it. They are enemies in war, but unknown to them, they are also rivals to inherit one of Europe's greatest fortunes. Even worse, they are competing for the love of the same woman .

In Always Smiling, Toff is here to share her experiences, some funny, some sad, some that make her cringe with embarrassment. So whether it is friendships, family dramas, heartbreak and relationships, or how she coped with living her life in front of millions of viewers of Made in Chelsea, Toff reveals how she has learnt to keep a smile on her face, whatever life throws at her. Told with her trademark honesty, humour and endless sense of fun, Always Smiling is a must-have for any fan.