Showing results by narrator "Rosie Jones" in All Categories

Twenty-three-year-old Katy Speed is fascinated by the house across the street. The woman who lives there, Gloria, is the most glamorous neighbour on the avenue, owning a fashionable dress shop in Bexhill-on-Sea. But who is the woman who arrives in the black car most Saturdays while Gloria is at work? Sometimes she brings women to the house, other times they have children. Hilda, Katy's mother, disapproves of Gloria. She wonders if these mysterious visitors have just been released from prison. Is Gloria secretly bringing criminals, or worse, into the heart of the community?

China, 1941. With Japan’s declaration of war on the Allies, Elspeth Kent’s future changes forever. When soldiers take control of the missionary school where she teaches, comfortable security is replaced by rationing, uncertainty and fear. Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has always felt safe at Chefoo School. Now the enemy, separated indefinitely from anxious parents, the children must turn to their teachers - to Miss Kent and her new Girl Guide patrol especially - for help.

Edie Eckhart is Excited with a capital E to start secondary school with her best friend Oscar - the fish to her chips, the bananas to her custard. But when she and Oscar are put into different tutor groups on their first day, Edie is devastated. Who will play secret hangman with her in class? Who will she eat sausage rolls with? But while she's plotting her reunion with Oscar, she accidentally gets cast as the lead in the school play.

Flora has anterograde amnesia. She can't remember anything day to day: the joke her friend made, the instructions her parents gave her, how old she is. Then she kisses someone she shouldn't, and the next day she remembers it. It's the first time she's remembered anything since she was 10. But the boy is gone. She thinks he's moved to the Arctic. Will following him be the key to unlocking her memory? Whom can she trust?

Everyone is excited for the London International Horse Show. Then Magic Spirit falls ill and Tilly must nurse him back to health. It turns out that her special skills come in useful at the horse show too, where she helps soothe a fiery stallion who no one else can get close to.

England, 1937: After a devastating childhood at Blakely Hall Orphanage, 15-year-old Sandra is released. She finds work as a housemaid, finally able to put her past behind her. But the start of World War Two throws the country into turmoil, and her brother, Alf, is sent away to fight, leaving her completely alone. Germany, 1939: Eleven-year-old Frieda is about to board a ship bound for England with her brother, Kurt. But at the last moment, as Frieda stands on the deck crammed with frightened children, she spots her brother jumping off, back to land.

A encounter with a boy dangling from the sky changes pickpocket Magpie's life forever. Like her, the boy dreams of flying over the rooftops of Paris. His family, the Montgolfiers, are desperate to be first to discover the secret of flight. Together with Pierre, Magpie is soon caught up in a world of inflatable bloomers, spies and a trio of unruly animals in a race to be the first to fly a hot air balloon - in front of the King and Queen of France.

I was dead for 13 minutes. I don't remember how I ended up in the icy water, but I do know this - it wasn't an accident, and I wasn't suicidal. They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but when you're a teenage girl, it's hard to tell them apart. My friends love me, I'm sure of it. But that doesn't mean they didn't try to kill me. Does it? 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough is a gripping psychological thriller about people, fears, manipulation and the power of the truth.

Every waking moment is about horses for pony-mad Tilly. She lives and breathes pony books and magazines and at night she dreams of ponies. At Silver Shoe Farm she is getting to know Magic Spirit better and better and growing in confidence with him. She's also enjoying making new friends both human and, with the arrival of Rosie, the perfect pony, animal ones too.

Fifteen-year-old Maisy Mitcham and her twin brother, Duncan, lose their mother to an insane asylum one night in 1960. The twins are sent to their grandmother's country house, Nightingales. Cold and distant, she leaves them to their own devices, to explore and to grow. That is until the day Duncan doesn't come home from the woods. With their grandmother seeming to have little interest in her grandson's disappearance and the police soon giving up hope, it is left to Maisy to discover the truth.

England, 1943: Home is no longer safe for eight-year-old twins Molly and Jacob. Night after night, wailing bombs and screeching planes skim the rooftops overhead. They cradle each other, shivering in terror, not knowing if they'll live to see dawn. Their mother, Martha, has no choice but to evacuate them to the safety of the countryside. At the train station, Martha bites back tears as she says good-bye to her precious children. Knowing she might never see them again, she gives Jacob a letter, pressing the envelope into his hands and telling him to only read it if they are in danger.

Shifty and Sam lead the way in a wacky race that has been sabotaged by the one and only Red Rocket! But they soon thwart his dastardly ways, and the rightful winner takes home the prize. When a mysterious parcel is delivered to the cafe, both Shifty and Sam claim ownership. A rift grows between the boys until a small knight rides to the rescue. Rich old Lady Poshington is staying at the fanciest hotel in town, just as a spate of burglaries takes place. Can Shifty and Sam go undercover to catch the thief?

It's 1942, and World War Two is in full swing. Roberta 'Bobby' Hollis has joined the Air Transport Auxiliary in a team of pilots known as the 'glamour girls'. Just as capable as the men, these women ferry aircraft, parts and people between factories, assembly plants and airfields.

Emma has a job in television which is distinctly less glamourous and exciting than it sounds. She's managed to claw her way up the ranks from Tea Maker and Rubbish Collector to Second Assistant Director (heavy on the assistant. Even heavier on the second.). So when she finds she's accidentally very pregnant and at the same time accidentally very sacked (well, less accidentally: she did tell her boss to stick his job up his bum), she knows things are going to have to change.

It's been 500 years since the end of the world and society has rebuilt itself anew. The old Norse gods are no longer revered. Their tales have been banned. Magic is outlawed, and a new religion - the Order - has taken its place. In a remote valley in the north, 14-year-old Maddy Smith is shunned for the ruinmark on her hand - a sign associated with the Bad Old Days. But what the villagers don't know is that Maddy has skills.

When 10-year-old Stella wakes up to discover a world full of blank screens, her family, town and, in fact, the whole world seems to have been thrown into chaos. And what about poor Grandma who is stranded at the other end of the country? Cue a rollicking madcap road trip, full of driving disasters and family fallouts, as they set off on a rescue mission. And along the way Stella and her family discover that being away from screens might not be the worst thing ever, and even though they might not be able to rely on technology anymore, they can rely on each other instead.

Kit is a wizard. The youngest wizard in the world, in fact. But her magic keeps going wrong, and all kinds of weird stuff has started happening - exploding fireballs, animals talking when they shouldn’t be, and a very strange new arrival in a nearby park. So Kit and her two best friends - along with their local librarian - set off to investigate, and to save the world...again. The Monster in the Lake is the funny, exciting, action-packed sequel to The Dragon in the Library.

Kit can’t stand reading. She’d much rather be outside, playing games and getting muddy, than stuck inside with a book. But when she’s dragged along to the library one day by her two best friends, she makes an incredible discovery - and soon it’s up to Kit and her friends to save the library...and the world. The first book in a fantastically exciting, brilliantly funny, magical new series!

The team at Silver Shoe Farm are proud to work with the World Horse Welfare Organisation caring for neglected horses. They're all thrilled when one of their rescued horses, Lulabelle, gives birth to a filly foal who Tilly names Lucky Chance.

Mia Hamilton lived the perfect life with her husband, university teacher Zach, and their two-year-old daughter. But everything changed when Zach committed suicide on the same night one of his students vanished. Five years later, just when Mia is beginning to heal, stranger Alison walks into her life, saying her husband didn't kill himself. Fragile, slight Alison leads Mia on a path into Zach's past, and Mia begins to think she never really knew her own husband.