Showing results by narrator "Helen Lloyd" in All Categories

It’s 1925. Hitler has published Mein Kampf and Mussolini has shut down the free press in Italy. Three friends meet on a Scottish estate for a weekend of salmon fishing and convivial conversation over brandy and cigars: Winston Churchill, future world leader; "Bendor", 2nd Duke of Westminster; and Coco Chanel, iconic fashion entrepreneur. The narrative develops into a visceral account interspersed with sharp and insightful humor, revealing two men whose deep friendship is divided by their profound political differences, as each of them tries to navigate an uncertain world.

Olive Turner might have lived through eighty-four Christmases, but she'll never get bored of her favorite time of year. And this one's set to be extra-special. It's the Gin Shack's first Christmas—and there's a gin-themed weekend and a cocktail competition on the cards! But, beneath the dazzle of fairy lights and the delicious scent of mince-pies, Olive smells a rat. From trespassers in her beloved beach hut to a very unfunny joke played on her friends, it seems that someone is missing a dose of good cheer.

Hadrian Ames, the duke of Clayton, needs a bride. He even has the perfect one picked out...that is, until he meets the lovely, free-spirited Natalie Fanshawe. She’s the opposite of what a man of his high rank should desire in a wife - an outspoken American who has never even set foot in a London ballroom. But Natalie doesn’t have time to be swept off her feet by a handsome duke who’s probably a spoiled scoundrel like every other British lord. And she couldn’t care less about Hadrian’s title. After all, it’s not as if he actually worked to attain his wealth and status.

1980s Cork. Jack Shine is sorting through his mother's belongings when he discovers a shoe box full of love letters and newspaper clippings. Jack's mother, Rebekah, was a young woman when the Second World War broke out, and she came to Cork alone as a Jewish refugee from Vienna. She died when Jack was young, and he never learned of his father's identity. So, who wrote these love letters to Rebekah and why did she keep newspaper clippings about a famous Austrian footballer player? Who was 'The Paper Man'?

The wicked, bawdy Restoration court is no place for a child princess. Ten-year-old Anne cuts an odd figure, but as King Charles' niece, Anne is also a political pawn who will be forced to play her part in the troubled Stuart dynasty. Forced to overcome grief for her lost children, the political manoeuvrings of her sister and her own betrayal of her father, she becomes one of the most fascinating figures of English history.

Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan presents a stunning retrospective of the first 10 years of the author’s work. It is a compilation of more than 200,000 words of short fiction, including many of her most acclaimed stories as well as some of the author’s personal favorites; several previously uncollected, hard-to-find pieces; her sci-fi novella, The Dry Salvages; and a rare collaboration with Poppy Z. Brite.

Dr. Barnabus Milligan has always felt called to help people, whether that means setting a broken bone or rescuing the impoverished women of London from their desperate lives on the streets, as part of his work with the Dread Penny Society. Three years ago, he helped rescue Gemma Kincaid by secretly marrying her to protect her from her family of notorious grave robbers. But six months after Gemma and Barnabus exchanged vows, she realized her love for her new husband was unrequited. To protect her heart, she left.

We’re living longer, and this is something to celebrate and enjoy. And research shows we can help ourselves to age better. This book will show you how. Maggy Pigott’s uplifting and practical guide explains what to do, why, and how to live a healthier, happier life in eight steps - whatever your age. They include having a purpose, connecting with others, and being physically active. Each step has easy to follow tips, over 150 in all, and inspiring, often amusing, quotations from the ancient world to the present day. v

Virginia Woolf’s most famous "stream of consciousness" novel, Mrs. Dalloway, records the events of one June day in 1923 - the day on which Clarissa Dalloway is hosting a party in her London home. Mrs. Dalloway continues to fascinate and challenge, hinting at homosexuality, mental illness, racial prejudice, infidelity, and unrequited love. It presents a perfect picture of London between the wars, in an England where the class system is still firmly entrenched while carrying throughout an undercurrent of rage at the resulting inequalities.

Detective Constable Connie Childs is dragged from her bed to the fire-wrecked property on Cross Farm Lane. Three bodies discovered, a family obliterated, and their deaths all seem to point to one conclusion - one mother, one murderer. But DC Childs realises it is the fourth body, the one they cannot find, that holds the key to the mystery. Her determination to unmask the murderer might cost her the thing she cares about most: her career.

When Deb Brandon discovered that cavernous angiomas - tangles of malformed blood vessels in her brain - were behind the terrifying symptoms she'd been experiencing, she underwent one brain surgery. And then another. And then another. And that was just the beginning. The book also includes an introduction by Connie Lee, founder and president of the Angioma Alliance. Unlike other memoirs that focus on injury crisis and acute recovery, But My Brain Had Other Ideas follows Brandon’s story all the way through to long-term recovery, revealing without sugarcoating or sentimentality Brandon’s struggles - and ultimate triumph.

It’s nearly Christmas in the small English town of Little Wittering, and retired teacher Sally Smith is enjoying an afternoon in the hair salon. Until she sniffs out a corpse. With a body in the broom cupboard and a police-imposed lock-in until the culprit is caught, it doesn’t take long to deduce someone in the salon is a cold-blooded killer.

One of Canada’s most acclaimed horror writers, Gemma Files presents a mosaic of interconnected stories about interconnected families. After fleeing Scotland, five clans settled in the fictional town of Dourvale in northern Ontario. Known as the Five-Family Coven, they are the descendants of witches and witch-children, none of whom were spared persecution in their native country. Now shamans, spellcasters, singers, and thieves, the members of the Devize, Druir, Glouwer, Roke, and Rusk families survive by trading their occult powers and talents.

Authors Paula Mee and Kate O’Brien had a lot of questions when they reached the menopause. While doctors were matter-of-fact and friends had light-hearted conversations about the changes occurring in their bodies, there was no road map for what can, if you’re unprepared, be a turbulent transition. Your Middle Years provides just that. Combining the authors’ joint expertise, it shows that midlife and the menopause years are not a stumbling block but an opportunity to embrace maturity, feeling energised, refreshed and ready to take on the next phase of your life with gusto.

They wrote it on the wall above my bed. Hello, it said, my name is May. Please talk to me. May has been moved to a care home after her stroke. She can’t communicate - all her words are kept inside. If she tries to point, her arms swing in wild directions; if she tries to talk, strange noises come out of her mouth. May is sharp, quick and funny, but only her daughter, Jenny, sees this and Jackie, a new friend at the home who cares enough to look and listen closely.

At 16, Nancy, the only member of her family to survive the Great Famine, leaves her small island for the mainland. Finding work in a grand house on the edge of Cork City, she feels irrepressibly drawn to the charismatic gardener Michael Egan, sparking a love affair that soon throws her into a fight for her life. In 1920, Nancy's son Jer has lived through battles of his own as a soldier in the Great War. Now drunk in a jail cell, he struggles to piece together where he has come from and who he wants to be.

We're living in some incredibly dark and strange times, but whatever coronavirus throws at us, it's failed to dent the great British spirit. Every day, we're heartened by incredible stories of rare and wonderful people going above and beyond - and some sadly losing their lives in the process. With celebrities turning their hands to educating our children with daily sports and music lessons and weekly community doorstep celebrations for our incredible NHS and service industries who are stalwartly keeping us fed and nurtured, our get-up-and-go attitude is in full swing!

Notes from a Summer Cottage by Nina Burton is a beautifully written nature memoir about the time spent renovating a cottage in the Swedish countryside and all the species that she encountered her during her stay. Within the walls, the ceiling and the floor of the cottage and its surrounding garden, she encounters a host of animals—ants, honey bees, foxes, squirrels, blackbirds, badgers, pigeons, deer and many more—all of whom have made her house and garden their home and all of whom cause Nina to reflect on their role within our world.

A wedding on picturesque Martha's Vineyard promises to be the affair of the season when Penny Arbuthnot asks her cousin, feisty 92-year-old poet Victoria Trumbull, if she can use her property for the reception. Victoria agrees - but she has no idea what's in store for the hapless couple. For one, Penny is seriously in debt and desperate to marry money. She thinks she's on the road to riches when she hooks Rocco Bufano, whose father is a multi-billionaire. But unbeknownst to Penny, Rocco's been disowned by dad.

D. H. Lawrence's 'The Rainbow' explores themes of love, sexuality, and the struggle for personal fulfilment in early 20th century England. Published in 1915, it follows the lives of three generations of the Brangwen family, focusing primarily on the women, as they navigate societal expectations and their own desires.