Showing results by narrator "Phyllida Nash" in All Categories

A sudden interest in the occult swept through the English village of Plummergen, with Ouija boards replacing the best china in many a cozy cottage. It might be quite the thing for maiden ladies and persnickity aunts, but it wasn't Miss Seeton's cup of tea...until Scotland Yard requested she go undercover to investigate some sinister shenanigans in the Kentish countryside. A flim-flam was afoot in the local witches' coven...and magic could be a prelude to murder most foul.

After 20 years of marriage, Nina had offloaded serial philanderer Joe and was happy enough, thank you, coping alone with their two demanding daughters and her own hectic life. It felt like freedom, not having to wonder constantly where Joe was, who with, and up to what. But into Nina's new, carefree life some disturbing elements began to appear.

Mrs Gladden uses similar methods to her male counterparts - she enters scenes of crime incognito, tracking down killers while trying to conceal her own tracks and her identity from others. She does much physical detective work, examining scenes of crime, looking for clues and employing all manner of skill, subterfuge, observation and charm to achieve her ends. Characteristic of the casebooks of the time, Forrester's book features various cases narrated by Mrs Gladden, including murder, fraud and the sale of a baby.

A werewolf video leaves Micky terrified of dogs. Mum decides the only answer is to get Micky a puppy of his own. To everyone's surprise, including Micky's, he chooses a werepuppy. But Wolfie turns out to be a very special pet...and a real joker!

It was said that she had the good manners of a respectable upper servant but was far too young to have been pensioned; that she spoke as if she had received and education, but knew the costers’ slang as if she were born-and-bred to it; and that she not only had no husband – which was a commonplace on Leather Lane – but seemed never to have possessed one…

A Family Man tells the story of 31-year-old Matt Webster, who arrives home from work one day to find that his wife, Kath, has walked out, leaving him to care for their four-year-old son. Shock and hurt are compounded by the challenge of suddenly having to juggle work with being a single parent. While the needs of his confused, unhappy little son come first, Matt embarks on the difficult quest to find out what could have driven his wife to abandon their child. It is only as the truth emerges that he learns the full heartbreak and joy of unconditional love.

Ruby is thrilled when she gets to meet her aunt's dachshund's new puppies for the very first time. And her parents have a wonderful surprise - she is going to have one of them for her very own! Ruby chooses the cheekiest, most adventurous puppy, Toby, and the two have fun playing together. But Toby's inquisitive nature gets him into serious trouble on a woodland walk, when he slips his collar and goes off to investigate the woods by himself.

From an obscure country parsonage came the most extraordinary family of the nineteenth century. The Brontë sisters created a world in which we still live the intense, passionate world of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights; and the phenomenon of this strange explosion of genius remains as baffling now as it was to their Victorian contemporaries. In this panoramic novel we see with new insight the members of a uniquely close-knit family whose tight bonds are the instruments of both triumph and tragedy.

Eleanor Lee is fiercely independent. She has lived alone well into her nineties, despite her now near-total blindness. Now, finally, she has been persuaded by her children to move into a home. She employs Peter, a recent graduate nursing a broken heart, to spend the summer sorting through her attic – papers, photographs, books and letters – ahead of the move.

Landskipping is a ravishing celebration of landscape, its iridescent beauty and its potential to comfort, awe and mesmerise. In spirit as romantic as rational, Anna Pavord explores the different ways in which we have, throughout the ages, responded to the land. In the 18th century, artists first started to paint English scenery, and the lakes, as well as Snowdon, began to attract a new kind of visitor: the landscape tourist.

Siblings Billa and Ed share their beautiful, grand old childhood home in rural Cornwall. Their lives are uncomplicated. With family and friends nearby and their free-and-easy living arrangements, life seems as content as can be. But when postcards start arriving from a sinister figure they thought belonged well and truly in their pasts, old memories are stirred. Why is he contacting them now? And what has he been hiding all these years?

Ella loves her kitten, Fluff, and worries about her going missing again. But Fluff is enchanted by being outside, especially when it starts snowing and she has the pretty snowflakes to play with. But suddenly a blizzard sets in and Fluff loses her way.

1731: When his youngest son is killed in a tragic accident, Sir William Keyt, master of Norton House, buries himself in his fortune. He builds a second vast mansion on his grounds, squandering money he does not have on luxury his family does not want. Keyt has long been blind to the desires of others. His eldest son has fallen in love with their young maidservant, Molly Johnson, a ray of light in a household dimmed by tragedy. But Keyt wants Molly for himself and, driven mad with lust and jealousy, he will do anything to have her...

If you’ve ever wanted to add a little savoir faire to your badinage, or chutzpah to your spiel, then fear not, help is at hand. A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi is an entertaining jaunt through the legions of words, from aficionado to zeitgeist, that we English-speakers have pilfered from across the globe. It includes fascinating derivations and witty examples, as well as all the stories of just how and why we absorbed such exotic imports.

Stephanie Sandford, recently widowed, must tell her family the truth. But the past is indistinct and it’s complicated. First, there was her mum, who developed an anxious streak after marrying the wrong Reg. And then there was the young man from the dairy who gave Stevie swimming lessons before he broke her heart. War came, and four years chopping root vegetables in the canteen of the Sun Pat peanut factory on the Old Kent Road.

When Jodie Fook goes missing from a sleepy Dorset village, the repercussions that reverberate through the small community are as far-reaching as they are devastating. Will she turn up safe and sound - or will she be one of the unlucky ones?

This is the extraordinary true story of a plucky young woman and her dramatic escape from a German-run internment camp in Occupied France. Written in Rosemary's own words and completed by her daughter and son-in-law after her death, Rosie's story moves from artistic circles in Avignon, through occupied Paris and the privations of prison camp, and across war-ravaged Europe.

The Eden sisters are used to looking after themselves, but when a trip to the funfair turns nasty, they’re relieved to be rescued by their brand-new step-mama. Little do they know she's really a wicked witch who only likes children baked in pies (with extra gravy....) Will the Eden sisters ever get safely out of the woods?

Step outdoors and let your space nourish all of your senses and settle a busy mind. Discover how to garden to enliven all five senses - touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste - to build a connection with the world around you and bring joy and wonder into the everyday. Find out how simply being outside can help to ground and calm you, and learn what plants to grow to nourish both your mental and physical well-being.