Showing results by narrator "Emma Gregory" in All Categories

An Australian literary hoax lies at the core of My Life as a Fake, Peter Carey's captivating contemplation of the art world. In steamy, fetid Kuala Lumpur in 1972, Sarah Wode-Douglass, editor of a London poetry journal, meets the mysterious Christopher Chubb. An Australian literary hoaxer, Chubb is carting around a manuscript likely filled with deceit. In this dubious work Sarah recognises a real genius. But whose genius? She is drawn into a fantastic story of imposture, murder, kidnapping and exile, which couldn't be true unless its teller were mad. Or perhaps haunted.

When Grace Manners takes up residence on Wittering Manor estate, she little realises working alongside eccentric Fraser Stratton will change her life. Grace has struggled to make ends meet, and the little cottage on the estate is both a refuge and a workshop for her jewellery business. It's only when Grace uncovers the story behind a diamond brooch she inherited that she becomes drawn into a family secret that threatens to destroy what little she has left....

Essential hacks to bring breathing space into busyness. Is stress taking over your life? Are you worn out, flat out or continually going all out? Can you be more own-worse-enemy than own-best-friend? Keeping up with life’s demands can be relentless. Stress can morph you into someone you don’t want to be, living a life you don’t want to live. If you're feeling overwhelmed, stressed out, and can’t see the wood for the trees - fear not! Stresshacking is full of simple strategies to help you. 

Two massacred families, with signs of ritual killings. A nine-year-old-child, abandoned in the snow. As Liverpool holds its breath, DCI Eve Clay hunts a sadistic killer who knows more about her past than she does. Her search will take her deep into the tunnels beneath Liverpool, boarded up and forgotten since World War II. There, deep underground, she will come face to face with true evil for the first time.

In the sprawling Imperium of Mankind, everyone serves the Emperor in their own way. From the inquisitors who hunt the hidden enemies of humanity in the dark places of the galaxy to the brave soldiers who stand on the front line, and the Imperial Assassins who can change the tides of war with a single shot, each has a part to play in preserving the Imperium. In this audio anthology, three of these disparate heroes are put to the test, each facing a personal crisis that will see them either fall to darkness, or rise to continue doing their duty in the Emperor's name.   

Exploring themes of ownership and abandonment, Eleanor Anstruther’s debut is a fictionalised account of the true story of Enid Campbell (1892-1964), granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Argyll, who sold her son to her sister for £500. Interweaving one significant day in 1964 with a decade during the interwar period, A Perfect Explanation gets to the heart of what it is to be bound by gender, heritage and tradition, to fight, to lose, to fight again. In a world of privilege, truth remains the same; there are no heroes and villains, only people misunderstood. 

He considers himself an artist. His medium is murder. Someone is killing young women, strangling them in their beds, and arranging their bodies in a certain way after death. The police have no witnesses and the killer has left no clues. When a second victim is discovered, DI Erica Swift finds herself on the hunt for another serial killer. Lara Maher is living with a man who controls her every move. He treats her like a precious possession, and their shared past ties her to him. But now something has changed, and his increasingly volatile moods terrify her.

Presented here are 3 short works by Virginia Woolf, each a unique consideration of the work of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The essays included are: The Father: Woolf's ruminations of family and, particularly, the father within the works of Dostoyevsky. More Dostoyevsky: Further thoughts on Dostoyevsky's work, an author of whom she once wrote “It is directly obvious that he is the greatest writer ever born." In Cranford: A comedic exploration of Dostoyevsky's work where Woolf transplants the great master into English provincial life to explore the unique nature of his work and the English nature.

Grace Hardie has grown up in a sweeping estate on the outskirts of Oxford. But her life has been a far cry from a fairytale. Ailing and asthmatic as a child, she never really found her place - not with her brothers, not with any friends - always on the outside. And when tragedy strikes twice in the same day, Grace’s world, and her place in it, is turned upside down. Ungainly and lonely at 16, could the bloom of first love be the guiding light she needs?

It's hard being that woman, the one whose husband disappeared. He went out five years ago for a pint of milk and never came back. So here I am with a daughter who blames me for everything, a son trying his best to pick up the pieces and a gaggle of neighbours who are incredibly nosy. Then I find a left luggage ticket in the pocket of one of his old coats and suddenly I'm thinking... What if he's not dead? What if he's still out there somewhere?

It is 10 years since Ella's sister Miranda disappeared without trace, leaving her young baby behind. Chilling new evidence links Miranda to the horrifying Jason Thorne, now in prison for murdering several women. Is it possible that Miranda knew him? At 30, Miranda's age when she vanished, Ella looks uncannily like the sister she idolized. What holds Ella together is her love for her sister's child and her work as a self-defence expert helping victims.

Having dropped out of university, Harmony returns to the site of the urban commune where she lived as a child, now divided into flats. She rents a room in the hope of uncovering the source of her nightmares about a redheaded woman who haunts the house and her obsession with lost objects from her childhood. As the London riots explode in the streets, the two hot summers converge, blurred by the drugs and sex and cheap wine, and Harmony begins to discover what really happened at Longhope 20 years ago. Can she grow up at last and build her own future?

Heather has lucked out. She has a beautiful house, a happy marriage to James Jessop, with two sons — and she’s just won the lottery. £29 million! Natalie has never quite kept up, but she’s finally in a relationship with a new boyfriend, Nick. She’s been best friends with Heather since they were bullied at school. But will her friend’s new fortune change their friendship? The Jessops’ comfortable life dissolves into chaos. Heather starts receiving anonymous, hateful messages. She begs Natalie to escape with her to Spain, but away from the spotlight in London, things go from bad to worse.

In the summer of 1983, when Helen is 16, the Dover family move in next door. She is infatuated with the bohemian Dovers, especially the petulant and charming Victoria. But the summer ends suddenly one tumultuous evening, and the next day Helen wakes up to discover that the family have simply disappeared. What went wrong that summer's evening? Why does Helen feel like something terrible happened?

The poignant, searching, haunting story of one family's entanglement with 20th-century history. Katja Petrowskaja's family story is impossible to untangle from the history of 20th-century Europe. Taking the listener from Moscow to Kiev to Warsaw to Berlin and deep into archives, pieced-together conversations and memories, Maybe Esther is a journey into language, memory, philosophy, history and trauma and a singular, beautiful, unforgettable work of literature.

Whitehall Palace, England, 1539: When Catherine Howard arrives at the court of King Henry VIII to be a maid of honour in the household of the new queen, Anne of Cleves, she has no idea of the fate that awaits her. Catching the king's fancy, she finds herself caught up in her uncle's ambition to get a Howard heir to the throne. Terrified by the ageing king after the fate that befell her cousin, Anne Boleyn, Catherine begins to fear for her life. Pembrokeshire, Wales, 2018: Dr Perdita Rivers receives news of the death of her estranged grandmother, renowned Tudor historian Mary Fitzroy.

The Black Ships are a mysterious and fearful sight - unmarked vessels that scour the distant reaches of the galaxy, ever watchful for latent psykers and witchbreeds for the monolithic Astra Telepathica. When one such ship, the Validus, is found drifting unpowered in the nightmare realm of the warp, it falls to the Sisters of Silence to uncover the reason behind it. As pariahs capable of blocking even the most potent psychic energy, Amendera Kendel and young Leilani Mollitas ready themselves for the worst....

A restless menace threatens the town of Wyrmditt. Stirred from his grave by fell magic, Sabrodt, the Shrouded King, seeks dominion over the kingdom he failed to claim in life. So great is the terror inflicted upon the lands by Sabrodt and his nighthaunts that Sigmar, God-King, sends a retinue of his warriors most skilled in the art of Azyrite magic to liberate the town. The Stormcast Eternals of the Sacrosanct Chamber are warrior-wizards, imbued with arcane knowledge and the power to wield the energies of the storm in battle.

On the first warm day of spring, in a seemingly unprovoked attack, a young mother is stabbed. At the same time, her five-year-old daughter is snatched. As part of the Violent Crimes Taskforce, DI Erica Swift and her team are assigned with finding the person responsible for the stabbing and to locate the missing child. But as Erica digs deeper, she uncovers a disturbing motive behind the attack. When another child is taken and with time running out, she needs to solve the case before many more lives are lost.

Maire Anne McCartney is recruited for a one-off IRA mission as a honey trap. She is told there will be no violence. But she has been lied to. To save herself, 18-year-old Maire must flee across the border alone and start a new life. Human rights lawyer Anne-Marie Gallagher is appointed Minister of State for Security and Immigration. At the same time, the police in Belfast receive an anonymous tip-off. The password is verified from the Troubles - and the coordinates lead DCI Jon Carne to a field. And a body.