Showing results by narrator "Roisin Rankin" in All Categories

Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules and society's pleasures are reserved for the High Kith. Life in the Ward is grim and punishing. People of her low status are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colours. You either follow the rules, or pay a tithe and suffer the consequences. Nirrim keeps her head down and a dangerous secret close to her chest.

Peggy Cassidy is a milly, working in the Belfast linen mills to just about get by. But Peggy also has another job - a secret one. She works as a handywoman - an illegal midwife, tending to the women of her community in their time of need. When Peggy is offered the chance to leave Belfast to receive formal midwifery training in Dublin, it sets off a chain of events that will change her life forever. But amongst her middle-class colleagues, Peggy must keep the truth about her past secret at all times.

Beatrice Alright is the queen of silver linings. She can find a spark of hope in any situation. Even when her partner delivers earth-shattering news that leaves Bea and their four-year-old, Ellie, without a home, she refuses to panic. Because Bea believes that what she does have is more important–her job at St Helen’s Hospital, which offers a warm, dry shelter for her and Ellie to stay while she figures things out. By day Bea cleans the wards, by night she tucks her daughter into bed between mops and buckets. And tries so hard to hold on to hope.

Johnny was my first. I was seventeen and I was only brave enough to talk to him after I'd had three vodkas. He was only brave enough to kiss me when no-one else was around. Dave was different. We didn't go out or see friends. We were each other's world. Dave was all I needed. We were toxic before it became fashionable. Kyle was my best friend. And that was the problem. Or at least that's what he said was the problem.

Ranka is tired of death. All she wants now is to be left alone, living out her days in Witchik's wild North with the coven that raised her, attempting to forget the horrors of her past. But when she is named Bloodwinn, the next treaty bride to the human kingdom of Isodal, her coven sends her south with a single directive: kill him. Easy enough, for a blood-witch whose magic compels her to kill. Except the prince is gentle, kind and terrified of her. He doesn't want to marry Ranka; he doesn't want to be king at all.

Dara Gaffney is fresh out of drama school when she lands the leading role in the revival of Eabha de Lacey's hugely successful yet controversial play. Based on the true story of the death of Cillian Butler, many claim that Eabha had an ulterior motive when she penned it. Cillian's death remains a mystery to this day, and Eabha and her brother, Austin, the only witnesses.

When arrogant new colleague Benjamin swans into Fia’s small office at her New York law firm, it’s no secret they dislike – no, hate – each other. But there is one secret no one knows. The last time Fia and Benjamin saw each other was one summer night nearly ten years ago, at a little chapel – in Vegas. Benjamin isn’t just Fia’s co-worker, he’s also her long-lost husband. They made a promise – they even signed a pact – that they’d divorce after one year. But they never did. Now, if anyone discovers they’re husband and wife, both their jobs are on the line.

Raven O'Sullivan doesn't remember what happened in Hyacinth House five years ago. When her father died during a paranormal investigation there, everyone said it was an accident, but she's pretty certain it's her fault. Her brother, Archer, wasn't there that night. When asked to investigate the supposed ghost of Hyacinth House, he can't resist saying yes. Even if his sister wants nothing to do with it.

Amy jumps at the opportunity when she's offered a nannying job in picturesque West Cork. The assignment is for the welcoming Carroll family, whose stunning house is situated on a stretch of remote and rugged coastline. It's the perfect chance for Amy to start over - far away from her life in Dublin she is trying to escape. With two adorable children to oversee, a pair of generous employers and a lavish new home, everything seems wonderful. So why can't Amy shake a creeping sense of unease?

It’s 1944. Twelve-year-old Grace Devine lives at Blacksod Lighthouse and weather station in County Mayo with her parents and little brother. When a German plane crashes nearby, she and her best friend Sibby risk their lives to save the young pilot. Grace’s family take him in, but their neighbours are horrified at having an ‘enemy’ in their midst.

When Lily married her soul mate Connor, buffeted by the sea spray and wild winds of her coastal homeland in Maine, she never imagined she’d be planning his memorial just three years later. Connor has been lost at sea in the bleak, stormy Atlantic, leaving Lily heartbroken. But as she prepares to say good-bye to Connor for the last time, she is shocked to discover a message to him that he never told her about.

Nirrim's heart is lost, traded to the god of thieves in order to restore her peoples' memories of their city's history. Sid, the person she once loved most, has returned to Herran to take up her duty to the crown. But frightening rumours are growing in the Herrani court: of a new threat rising across the sea, of magic unleashed upon the world and of a cruel, black-haired queen who can push false memories into your mind so that you believe your dearest friends to be your enemies. Sid doesn't know that this queen is Nirrim, seeking revenge against a world that has wronged her.

A brilliant collection of beautiful stories by exciting artist Lara Hawthorne. The collection includes four stories: Alba the Hundred Year Old Fish, Herbert's Garden, The Night Flower and Ratty's Big Adventure.

On a remote farm in the deepest Devonshire countryside, four pregnant women arrive at an exclusive yoga retreat for a five-star weekend of prenatal pampering. The location is idyllic. Their host, Selina, is eager to teach them all she knows about pregnancy and motherhood. But, like Selina, each of the women has a secret. And secrets can be deadly.

Before Hisako Saski is even born, her parents make a deal on her behalf. In exchange for a first-class education and a boost out of poverty, Hisako will marry Adem Sadiq, a maintenance engineer and self-styled musician who works the trade lanes aboard his family's sub-light starship, the Hajj. Hisako is not happy when she finds out about the plan. She has little interest in the broken branch of physics the deal requires her to study and is not keen on the idea of giving up her home and everything she knows to marry a stranger.

Trained for from birth in espionage and seduction, the triplet princesses of Bessemia must travel to three distant lands to marry three princes and enact their queen mother's plan to rule from sea to sea. But when they arrive, each sister discovers her task is not so simple, and their mother's motives may not be what they seem.

It’s Katie’s 17th birthday – the dancefloor is packed, the drink is flowing and Raven’s Hill School confession site is alight with gossip. Then a huge fight breaks out, sending guests fleeing. When Frankie, Jess and Sorcha go back to help Katie clear up her wrecked house before her parents get home, they find more than broken bottles… There’s a body on the living room floor.

It's Krystal's 29th birthday. This year: Her boyfriend finally proposed after six years of dating (only for her to find out he cheated on her for five and a half of them). She landed her dream job as a writer at Craze magazine (which swiftly fell into administration). She moved into her dream flat overlooking the city (just for the pipes to explode making the place unlivable) As she mourns everything wrong in her life, her best friend mutters the dreaded words: Saturn Return.

Mara and her dad have lived in their van for as long as she can remember. Whatever her father does to scrape a living has kept them constantly moving, and Mara has never questioned it. That is until she uncovers a collection of notes addressed to ‘the Tider’, an individual responsible for harvesting lost time from people whose lives were cut short. But before Mara can question her father, he is taken by a dangerous group who want to use his power for evil. With the very fabric of time and space at stake, it’s down to Mara and her new friend Jan to find him before it’s too late.

Cat and her friends are preparing for Halloween night in Clonbridge. While they are planning their routes for trick-or-treating, a troop of fairies and supernatural creatures are also making plans for their annual Revels at Ráth Glas, a ringfort outside Clonbridge. These fairy folk enjoy mischief and chaos and have a tendency to steal human children and swap them with fairies or Stocks. As Cat and her granny have the gift of Sight, they’re aware that something special is happening in the town this Halloween.