Showing results by narrator "Jessica Hayles" in All Categories

It is autumn in Castle Knoll and Annie Adams is busy settling into her new home. She doesn't find Gravesdown Hall particularly cosy, especially since she found two dead bodies there over the summer. What's more, ever since she arrived in the village, Annie has had the creeping sense she's being watched. Lonely, and desperate for some company, Annie starts talking to a stranger she meets in the grounds of the estate. The striking old woman introduces herself as Peony Lane, the fortune-teller who predicted Great Aunt Frances' murder all those years ago. And now she has a fortune to tell Annie.

Alexandra Wilson was a teenager when her dear family friend Ayo was stabbed on his way home from football. Ayo's death changed Alexandra. She felt compelled to enter the legal profession in search of answers. As a junior criminal and family law barrister, Alexandra finds herself navigating a world and a set of rules designed by a privileged few. A world in which fellow barristers sigh with relief when a racist judge retires: 'I've got a black kid today and he would have had no hope'. 

Party girl actress Mercy Valentine is nobody’s hero, and that’s how she wants it. She’s sarcastic, sharp and always defensive—so no one can hurt her ever again. Mercy’s starring in a major theatre show and hitting the gossip headlines, but her glamorous world is about to come crashing down. And when Mercy crashes, there will be fireworks.

As Tess traces the sunrise over the floodplains, light that paints the house a startling crimson, she yearns for the comforting chaos of life as it once was. Instead of Max and Sonny tracking dirt through the kitchen - Tess and Richard's 'rainbow twins' - Tess absorbs the quiet. The nights draw in, the soil cools and Richard fights to get his winter crops planted rather than deal with the discussion he cannot bear to have. Secrets and vines clamber over the broken red bricks and although its inhabitants seem to be withering, in the damp, crumbling soil - Sonny knows it - something is stirring.

‘Meggan’s words have the power to make you feel seen, understood, and less alone. This book is the reminder you need that you are worthy of self-love and acceptance.’ Jay Shetty, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Think Like A Monk and host of the On Purpose podcast Life can be a lot...

When Kendra Tamale returns to England from Australia she rents a room from Kyle, a separated father of two, and begins a new job. She's looking forward to a fresh start and a simple life. Kyle's six-year-old twins, Summer and Jaxon, have other ideas and quickly adopt Kendra as their new mother - mainly because she lets them eat marshmallows for breakfast. Kendra eventually becomes a part of their lives, even though she's hiding a painful secret that makes her keep everyone - especially children - at arm's length.

With an irresistible cast of characters, an incredible high fantasy world, and a unique, dangerous magic system, THORN SEASON is an epic court romantasy – perfect YA for fans of Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse. 'Destined to be a romantasy sensation' – Katherine Webber 'Sexy, hilarious and...

Mermaids Beattie, Mimi and Zelda are enjoying a summer on land with legs when they receive a strange crabagram ordering them to return home at once. Some seriously bad mermaids are on the loose, and the girls are the only ones who can stop them. If they’re going to save the day, they’ll need answers. And a clam car. Definitely piranha-print nail polish. Possibly not the talking seahorse.

Meghan was 11 when she first advocated for women’s rights; a teenager when she worked in a soup kitchen feeding the homeless; a popular actress when she campaigned for clean water in Africa and passionately championed gender equality in a speech to a United Nations Women’s Conference. Even before she met Prince Harry, hers was an extraordinarily accomplished life. Meghan’s wedding to Harry was a joyful occasion, marking happiness at last for the Queen’s grandson who had captured our hearts 20 years earlier when he bravely walked behind his mother Diana’s coffin. 

Meri Pebble, professional spy mermaid, has a new mission. She’s going to be a personal assistant to the Sushi Sisters (famous for their notorious appearance on reality TV programme Catwalk Prawn, and for driving around in a submarine shaped like a giant bit of sushi). Beattie, Mimi, Zelda and Steve the talking seahorse are coming along for the ride as the least convincing glam squad ever.

Do you wish you could do more to change the world but don't know how? Do you ever look around at the many charities asking for donations and feel overwhelmed? This inspiring and uplifting book explores the effectiveness of charity and calls for more radical giving if we want to contribute to a...

Gunpowder, treason and a plot like no other… **AN OBSERVER TOP 10 DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2024** **WINNER OF THE UNICORNS CULTURE AWARD 2024** **SHORTLISTED FOR SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL BOOK AWARD – FIRST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024** 'Ignites a fire in your heart' ANYA BERGMAN 'An explosive re-imagining...

Mermaids Beattie, Mimi and Zelda, along with Steve the talking seahorse, are trapped aboard the spooky ship the Merry Mary, heading for the legendary (and super-stylish) Crocodile Kingdom. On land, Paris Silkensocks, ice-cream seller and gadget queen, has uncovered a plot to destroy the mermaid world. Can Paris find the mermaids in time? Can Beattie avert a Crocodile Kingdom crabtastrophe? Can seahorses get seasick?

"What this charming, moving and fascinating collection proves is that the [letter] form itself - a scribbled note, a declaration of love, an outpouring of passion, a bitter word -has always been with us." - Mark Gatiss A good love letter can speak across centuries, and reassure us that the agony...

Welcome to Keeper Island, the private Caribbean paradise where the cocktails are chilled, the guests are not, and new manager Lola is hoping nothing messes up her badly needed fresh start. Her previous job in Hong Kong ended in tears – and quite a lot of blood – so she’s come to Keeper to lie low, as well as to provide the gold-star service the resort’s spoiled one-percenters expect. Her only connection to her previous life now is her old mentor and new boss, Mike Moxham. But nothing is that simple, and no secret is truly safe forever.

A young black man is arrested for murder. The case against him is strong - a mum and a teacher saw him standing over a body in a park, a knife still in hand. But his up-and-coming barrister Rosa knows how people prejudge, but most of all, she suspects something is amiss. This boy comes from her neighbourhood. From a good family. So she begins to dig. As Rosa discovers secret upon terrible secret, she moves closer to finding a testimony that could win the case - or bring the whole establishment down on her.

Franz Kafka is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most enigmatic geniuses of European literature. What happens when his idiosyncratic imagination meets some of the greatest literary minds writing in English across the globe today? From a future society who ask their AI servants to construct a giant tower to reach God; to a flat hunt that descends into a comically absurd bureaucratic nightmare; to a population experiencing a wave of unbearable, contagious panic attacks, these ten specially commissioned stories are by turns mind-bending, funny, unsettling and haunting.

In the kingdom of Frostopia, mermaids Beattie, Mimi and Zelda have come to the aid of Maritza Mist, a famous water witch who supplies magic spells to the underwater kingdoms. Two notoriously bad mermaids have escaped from Viper View prison and stolen Maritza's map that shows the locations of 12 magical objects. When brought together, these objects will create the most powerful water witch the world has ever known. Beattie, Mimi and Zelda set off to travel the underwater kingdoms to stop them.

Mindfulness in Wild Swimming explores how swimming in rivers, lakes, and seas is the epitome of conscious living. Zen-seeker Tessa Wardley reconnects the physical and spiritual cycles of life to the changing seasons and flow of wild waters worldwide and leads the reader on to a mindful journey...

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER “A brilliant follow-up that proves Kristen Perrin is here to stay...A thrilling story that ends with a big reveal you won't see coming, even though the clues were in front of you the entire time!”—G.T. Karber, international bestselling author of Murdle New York Times...