Showing results by narrator "Jane Collingwood" in All Categories

This sharp, funny collection of stories begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In Third Floor Rising' she watches, dazzled, as her mother carves out a stylish new identity. With a deceptively light touch, Mantel locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.

The masters of the Doom Eagles Space Marines Chapter descend upon the world of Tranzia to honour a batch of new recruits who will lead the Chapter into the next generation. As they make planetfall, the world rises up against them in a rebellion organised by the alien Tau. But something else lurks behind the xenos, a horror that has haunted the Imperium since its very beginnings. The Doom Eagles and their Adepta Sororitas allies are thrust into a race against time to discover the true architect of the Tranzia Rebellion.

Lost. When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister. Faith's childhood was dominated by Laurel's disappearance - from her parents' broken marriage and the constant media attention to dealing with so-called friends who only ever wanted to talk about her sister. Found. Thirteen years later a young woman is found in the garden of the Logans' old house, disorientated and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Laurel is home at last, safe and sound.

Gwen’s life has stalled. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the country and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around herbaceous borders and the council’s wheelie-bin timetable. Above all she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone? When Gwen’s made redundant from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, she realises it’s time to make a change.

A young woman's future is torn away in a heartbeat. Herded on to a train bound for Auschwitz, in an act of desperation she entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger. All she has left now is hope. Jean-Luc thought he had left it all behind. The scar on his face a small price to pay for surviving the horrors of Nazi Occupation. Now, he has a new life in California, a family. He never expected the past to come knocking on his door. On a darkened platform, two destinies become entangled. Their choice will change the future in ways neither could have imagined.

Stories of ultimate revenge, from freshly sold human meat and uncontrollable robots, to life-sucking MP3 players and reality TV where death is the penalty - all told with dark humour and gruesome relish, and made even more fiendish by retro illustrations, chilling facts and a puckish message from the author. This is Anthony Horowitz at his most wicked.

The convention of a book synopsis is fundamentally ridiculous. How can I adequately convey in only 150 words the complexity and bewilderment of the past 10 months and the effect the events that occurred have had on my perfectly regulated existence? One would need much longer to record in detail how I was blackmailed into demonstrating the efficacy of my soulmate programme and forced to participate in a series of ridiculous dates. How my life has been forever altered as a consequence.

A Shattered Empire: Shogun Yoritomo has been assassinated, and the threat of civil war looms over the Shima Imperium. The Lotus Guild conspires crush the growing rebellion. A Dark Legacy: Yukiko and the mighty thunder tiger Buruu have been cast in the role of heroes by the Kagé rebellion. But Yukiko herself is blinded by rage over her father’s death. A Gathering Storm: Kagé assassins lurk within the Shogun’s palace, plotting to end the new dynasty before it begins.

Samantha Brooks' boyfriend has made a mistake: Jamie has booked himself a one-way flight to South America. Solo. But Sam isn't giving up without a fight. She hatches a plan that involves dirty tricks, plotting, and a single aim: to win him back. But by the time Jamie finally wakes up, a gorgeous new pretender has entered Sam's life. Which begs the question...does she still want him back?

In the glitteringly ruthless diamond business, Scarlett Drummond Murray is a force to be reckoned with. As stunningly beautiful as the diamonds she works with, Scarlett is determined to make her mark on the industry with her fabulous jewellery creations. But to do so she must battle through a world that is steeped in greed and corruption.

Inspired by extraordinary true events, this remarkable debut novel reveals the enduring power of love and the strength of the human spirit in one woman's quest to find her son, and a little boy's dream to be found.

Winning stories from The Bazaar of Bad Dreams Hodder- Guardian competition. The number one best-selling writer Stephen King presents six gripping and chilling stories in this captivating anthology: 'Wild Swimming' by Elodie Harper. 'Eau-de-Eric' by Manuela Saragosa. 'The Spots' by Paul Bassett Davies. 'The Unpicking' by Michael Button. 'La Mort de L'amant' by Stuart Johnstone. 'The Bear Trap' by Neil Hudson.

A long time ago Magic faded away, leaving behind only yo-yos, the extremely useful compass-pointing-to-North enchantment and the spell that keeps bicycles from falling over. Things are about to change. Magical power is on the rise and King Snodd IV of Hereford has realised that he who controls Magic controls almost anything. Only one person stands between Snodd and his plans for unimaginable power and riches.

The official autobiography from the Girls Aloud and Strictly Come Dancing star. In 2002 - along with Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding and Nicola Roberts - Kimberley Walsh won a place in the Popstars The Rivals band Girls Aloud, and her life changed forever. Ten years later, after six platinum albums, twenty top-ten singles, a Brit Award, an entry in the Guinness Book of Records and a triumphant sell-out reunion tour, the girls have decided to go their separate ways.

The flames of civil war sweep across the Shima Imperium. Blood turns against blood as the Dragon and Fox clans compete for the empty throne. The traitor Kin walks the halls of Guild power, his destiny only a bloody knife stroke away. And as the earth splits asunder, as armies destroy each other for rule over an empire of lifeless ash and the final secret about blood lotus is revealed, the people of Shima will learn one last horrifying truth.

Do you believe in fairies? Join Tinker Bell's sisters on a magical Valentine's adventure. Inspired by Tinker Bell, from the book Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie. Before Tinker Bell flew to Never Land and met Peter Pan she lived on Sheepskerry Island with her fairy sisters - Clara, Lily, Rosie, Silver, and Squeak the baby. Every fairy loves the Valentine's Games on Sheepskerry Island. There's races, feasts, and friendly visitors to compete with. Clara wants it all to be perfect so she uses a little more magic than usual.

Bec and Izzy have been best friends their whole lives. They’ve been through a lot together - the death of Bec’s mother, the birth of Izzy’s daughter, Bec’s engagement. But there’s a darker side to their friendship, too - and Bec is about to reach breaking point. Then Izzy is found broken and bloodied at the bottom of the stairs. It could have been an accident - perhaps she fell - but if the police decide to look for a killer, then Bec is sure to be their prime suspect.

Entering her thirties, Helen Jukes feels trapped in an urban grind of office politics and temporary addresses - disconnected, stressed. Struggling to settle into her latest job and home in Oxford, she realises she needs to effect a change if she’s to create a meaningful life for herself, one that can accommodate comfort and labour and love. Then friends give her the gift of a colony of honeybees - according to folklore, bees freely given bring luck - and Helen embarks on her first full year of beekeeping.

What if you had always dreamed of something more? Waving goodbye to the chip shop, Nell McNamara starts up a new business making her own line of must-have handbags, which are soon flying off the shelves. It seems Nell's dreams are finally coming true, but her success doesn't come without a price. Before too long, Nell has to ask herself if it's really possible to have it all….

Someone, or something, is haunting the Titanic. Deaths and disappearances have plagued the vast liner from the moment she began her maiden voyage on 10th April 1912. Four days later, caught in what feels like an eerie, unsettling twilight zone, some passengers - including millionaire Madeleine Astor and maid Annie Hebbley - are convinced that something sinister is afoot. And then disaster strikes.