Showing results by narrator "Helen Taylor" in All Categories

Abigail Argent stands out. Some people notice that she always wears gloves and shudder when they know why. The ones who know her best notice her ability with metal. Abigail's particular talent lies in the coloring of alloys, for seeing the beauty in a plain piece of metal and being able to draw it out. Her study leads her to discover a connection between her own craft and that of her favorite childhood myth: changing lead into gold.

Monday Rent Boy begins in Somerset, England, in the mid-1980s, with the winning and heart-warming story of two 13-year-old friends and fellow altar boys, Arthur Barnes and Ernie Castlefrank. Endearing outcasts, they try not to speak of the secret tie that binds them: both boys are routinely preyed on by The Zipper, their nickname for Father Ziperto, the local Catholic priest. Still, they find adventure and release in the mischief they get up to together, as each also tries to survive in other ways.

Big Cats opens with "Charlotte", in which a young girl with a broken pelvis spies on her voluptuous neighbor during a long, hot summer night, setting the tone of irrepressible curiosity and yearning that is evident throughout the collection. In "Get Away from Me, David", a bank manager tries to overcome his haunted past as he deals with the aftermath of a minor earthquake and the body of a customer who died in the lobby.

June Jenson is famous, though not entirely for the reasons she’d hoped. She's the co-host of Britain's popular Blast From the Past archeological television show with her grandfather who suffers from Alzheimer’s and his old Oxford chum, Dr. Cooke. Hanging out with two elderly men all day isn't exactly what she'd dreamed of doing with her life but it pays the bills. Almost. Plus, she's under contract, so really, she doesn't have a lot of choice in the matter. It's no wonder June jumps at the opportunity to travel to Egypt to chase down clues to the lost ring of King Solomon.

Still adjusting to her family's recent exoneration from the archaeological world (they stole an artifact, caused a ruckus...it's a long story), June decides to embark on a press tour to repair the image of her employer (Oxford University) and her (somewhat crazy, but altogether lovable) grandfather. When the opportunity arises to go to America to find a lost treasure belonging to the notorious outlaw Butch Cassidy, June know's it isn't something she can shy away from - even if she wasn't exactly the one who was assigned by Oxford to the task.

June Jenson, an accomplished Oxford professor, has spent her life trying to get out from under the shadow of her infamous grandfather: a renowned archaeologist accused of stealing a relic during an excavation at Sutton-Hoo. When a secret alliance recruits June to guard priceless artifacts, she realizes that this is her chance to contribute to the history she loves and rid herself of the cloud of suspicion that her family has lived under for so long.

After twenty years of looping frustrations Kathryn walks out of her marriage and washes up in her childhood home determined to write her way to a new life. There she is put to work by her aging parents sorting generations of memories and mementos as biblical rains fall steadily and the house is slowly cut off from the rest of the world.