Showing results by narrator "Cecelia Ramsdale" in All Categories

A year after the death of her older brother, Prue Haywood's family is still shattered by grief. But everything changes when a stranger arrives at the farm. A new, incredible technology has been discovered in the city of Medlock, where a secretive guild of inventors have developed a way to capture spirits of the dead in animal-like machines, bringing them back to life. Prue knows that the 'Ghost Guild' might hold the key to bringing her brother back, so she seizes the stranger's offer to join as an apprentice.

Young widow Tilly is making a new life for herself, keeping house for the rangers at the Binboona Wildlife Sanctuary in the isolated wilderness of the North-Western Gulf Country. Caring for injured wildlife and helping to run the popular tourist campsite are just the distraction she needs from everything she left behind when her husband, Gerry, and young daughter were lost at sea. But when the police show up asking questions about Gerry, the peaceful routine she’s built is disrupted as she begins to question what really happened to her family.

Lexi Winter is studying for her detective exams, but her nemesis Vaughn is out there somewhere, and her concentration is fractured. Just as she's wondering if her hypervigilance is tipping over into madness, Vaughn resurfaces and issues a challenge. Five people will be dead by the end of the month. If Lexi can identify and save the last one before the deadline, he'll turn himself in.

After their mother dies, David and Penny move to her family’s old house in the forest. Dad says it’s a fresh start, but it feels sad and empty without Mum. And there are noises in the attic.... A small furry creature is living in the roof. There are other creatures, too - less friendly ones - that seem to be multiplying. Only with Pog’s help can David and Penny save themselves - and goodness in the world. If they can resist promises from the darkness...

Ace hacker, former sex worker and vigilante, Lexi Winter is now a cop and not keen to revisit her criminal past. But when old friends invoke the wrath of a local motorcycle club – the same club Lexi herself used to work for – she races to help them the only way she can: undercover. If Lexi is to save a child's life, she is going to have to go back – back to a life she thought she had outrun. Back to the person she used to be. But her timing isn't great. Former club president Arthur Cronin has finished his long prison sentence and is out for revenge for the death of his wife and child.

Most probationary constables would baulk at chasing a drug dealer into a train tunnel in the dead of night – not Lexi. But when she emerges, injured but alive, to face the wrath of her boss it’s clear that while Lexi may now be in uniform, she has as much trouble with authority as ever. Just to prove it, Lexi is quietly using her hacking skills to investigate a notorious drug-dealing Sydney crime family with links to her old prey, the paedophile Damon Vaughn.

Lexi Winter is tough, and has stood on her own two feet since childhood, when she was a victim of notorious paedophile: the Spider. All she cares about now is a roof over her head and her long-term relationship with Johnny Walker. She isn't particular about who she sleeps with...as long as they pay before leaving. Lexi is also an ace hacker, tracking and entrapping local paedophiles and reporting them to the cops. When she finds a particularly dangerous paedophile who the police can't touch, she decides to gather enough evidence to put him away. Instead, she's a witness to his death.

In the murky world of Kings Cross in 1932, aspiring crime writer Joan Linderman and her friend and flatmate Bernice Becker live the wild bohemian life, a carnival of parties and fancy-dress artists' balls. One Saturday night, Joan is thrown headfirst into a real crime when she finds Ellie, her neighbour, murdered. To prove her worth as a crime writer and bring Ellie's killer to justice, Joan secretly investigates the case in the footsteps of Sergeant Lillian Armfield.

When Sara Blake takes up a position as governess on Redhill Station in Central Australia, she isn’t expecting to encounter a family in crisis, or to uncover a tragedy of her own. The longer she spends out bush, the more she becomes plagued by elusive visions of her dark and troubled childhood. The fragments of memory lead her deep into the red centre of Australia, where at picturesque Kings Canyon she must confront the horrifying secrets of her past.

When Tara Button’s mother asks her to drive the bright yellow family caravan from one end of the state to the other, it’s her charming but unreliable brother, Zac, who convinces her it’s a good idea. Besides, the road trip might keep Zac out of trouble–and that’s always been a second job for Tara. Tara doesn’t expect Zac’s enigmatic friend Danh to come along for the ride. Or the bikies that seem to be following them up the coast.

Grace Burrows knows her seventieth birthday celebration is going to be an enchanting affair. And she can't wait to immerse herself in an evening surrounded by family and her closest friends, to waltz across the dance floor as she used to and reminisce over shared memories gathered across the decades. But it's also the evening she'll have to finally reveal a secret that she knows will devastate her family—her time left with them is too short to be fair...

Do you know what your money story is - your personal set of beliefs and experiences around money that directly influence how you earn, save and spend? Could your story be holding you back from the financial life you dream of? Meet 25 incredible real-life Money Diarists who are digging deep, opening up and sharing their intimate money stories with finance expert Victoria Devine - to lift the lid on how money really works in our lives so we can all understand it better.

Four new festive rural stories from favourite Australian authors about the country practices at the heart of these small towns.

Mary Bligh is no shrinking violet. After an horrific six-month sea voyage from Britain, she proves to be as strong-willed as her father, the bloody-minded, newly appointed Governor William Bligh. The pair immediately scandalise Sydney with their personalities, his politics and her pantaloons. And when 300 armed soldiers of the Rum Rebellion march on Government House to depose him, the Governor is nowhere to be seen as Mary stands defiantly at the gates, fighting them back with just her parasol.

TV researcher Poppy McGowan has never sought the spotlight and is none too happy to be photographed with rock god Nathan Castle. When the photo pops up on celebrity gossip sites, it sparks a media feeding frenzy, forcing Poppy to go to ground, don a wig, and pull some nifty moves to escape a tailing car. On top of that, she cops abuse from Nathan's outraged fans.

Treasury of Mindfulness opens with a couple of short chapters outlining in simple terms the key principles of mindfulness and how to develop the practice in everyday life. Then there is the treasury itself, where the listener can rummage around to find exactly what they are looking for, or, even better, in which they can randomly listen to a chapter whenever the mood takes them and trust that whatever they’ve landed on is something they will find helpful and thought-provoking.

Seventeen-year-old Layla was just like any other teenager in the small town of Glasswater Bay – she studied hard, went out drinking with her friends and worked at the local cafe. But when she started having a relationship with her older, married boss, everything changed. Twenty years later she's living a quiet life in the suburbs with a husband and two children, a life far removed from the girl she was. Until she receives a text message: I know what you did.

Ren will do anything for her best friend, Anna. The news that Anna's daughter Charlotte has terminal brain cancer sends them on a desperate hunt for a cure and their only hope lies in an expensive European drug trial. Ren jumps on board Anna's fundraising efforts, willing to put everything on the line - her reputation in their close-knit community and all the money she can beg or borrow - to secure Charlotte's place. When the local charity drive quickly becomes a nationwide campaign, townspeople start asking questions about the trial. Questions Ren can't answer.

At the height of her musical career, Indigo should be nothing but happy. But Indi is disillusioned with show business, finding herself depressed and lonely. When she reaches breaking point, a simple life back in the country begins to beckon her. But the demons left lingering in the shadows from a childhood trauma follow her, and nightmares of that fateful night plague her ... Can she unearth the truth of her family's deep dark secrets?

School's out. Forget study, exams, and mapping out the future. For the next seven days, the only homework is partying with friends, making new ones, and living in the moment. There are no parents or curfews - and no rules. Zoe, Samira, and Dahlia are strangers, but they have something in common: Their plans for a dream holiday after their final year of school are flipped upside down before they even arrive at the beach.