Showing results by narrator "Penelope Rawlins" in All Categories

In Grudova's unforgettably surreal style, these stories expose the absurdities behind contemporary ideas of work, Britishness and art-making, to conjure a singular, startling strangeness that proves the deft skill of a writer at the top of her game.

Bella's new next-door neighbour is Magda. Magda is lots of fun, and soon they are best friends. But Magda is also trouble! She breaks Bella's mum's best tea set, wrecks Bella's room and covers the living room in soot. And in Trouble at School, on Bella's first day at her new school she already has a best friend - or frenemy! - Magda! Bella wants to make a good impression, but with Magda around, things don't always go according to plan.

Maisie Mae's life is complete and utter chaos! She has five stinky brothers, and has to share a bedroom with the terrible twins. They think it's funny to put snails under her duvet, fish-food in her sandwiches and hide her favourite things in the rabbit hutch. What Maisie really, really, really wants is a room where there are No Boys Allowed! And she'll do anything to get it...

Things are looking up for Penny Robinson. She's kicked her gambling addiction and even started her own business: Princess on a Shoestring, an all-inclusive service for brides-to-be. Penny's got it all under control, that is until a rival planner decides to take her down - one hard-won bride at a time. And when a romantic weekend away has some unexpected consequences, Penny's expectations for her career are brought back down to earth with a bump.

This fascinating biography follows the life of one of the most extraordinary psychologists of modern times, Carl Jung, and the incredible impact he made on our understanding of the human mind. Author Lily Yuan takes us on a journey through Jung's life, beginning with the formative years of his childhood through his tumultuous relationship with fellow psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud to his travels across the world in his later years.

Princess Ellie is pony-mad! She loves helping out at the stables and riding her ponies. It's so long since she learned to ride on Shadow, her Shetland pony, that now her feet touch the ground when she's riding him. The King thinks she looks silly and decides to sell Shadow. But Ellie can't bear to lose him. Can she invent a plan to save Shadow?

Franz Kafka is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most enigmatic geniuses of European literature. What happens when his idiosyncratic imagination meets some of the greatest literary minds writing in English across the globe today? From a future society who ask their AI servants to construct a giant tower to reach God; to a flat hunt that descends into a comically absurd bureaucratic nightmare; to a population experiencing a wave of unbearable, contagious panic attacks, these ten specially commissioned stories are by turns mind-bending, funny, unsettling and haunting.

One day changes Jody's life forever. She has shut herself down, haunted by her memories and unable to trust anyone. But then she meets Abe, the perfect stranger next door, and suddenly life seems full of possibility and hope. One day changes Mags' life forever. After years of estrangement from her family, Mags receives a shocking phone call. Her brother Abe is in hospital, and no one knows what happened to him. She meets his fiancée, Jody, and gradually pieces together the ruins of the life she left behind. But the pieces don't quite seem to fit....

There's a saying about all work and no play—but there's never a dull moment for Caroline working at Holly Walk Mall, especially at Christmas. When she's not dealing with orders from Ian, 'the manager who can’t manage' as her friend Rachel puts it, she's overseeing the usual late-night shopping sessions, Santa's grotto construction and, most importantly, the sampling of many delicious festive treats at the Italian café her friends Nina and Marco own.

After the death of her lover, Jake, Talulla Demetriou is the last living werewolf. And she's on the run. Pregnant, grieving, and with only her human familiar Cloquet helping her keep one step ahead of the Hunt, Talulla flees to a remote Alaskan lodge to have her child in secret. The birth leaves her ravaged, but with her infant son in her arms it looks as if the worst is over. Until the door bursts open – and she discovers that the worst is only just beginning… Talulla is plunged into a race against time to save her son.

This audiobook will walk you through the necessary steps to setting up as a freelance mum, from deciding on your freelance career path to launching a website, social media, getting your name out there and perfecting your brand. There is a comprehensive guide to the childcare options available to freelance mums, daily routines for optimum productivity, and tips on establishing and maintaining healthy work-life boundaries.

Black Rainbow is the powerful first-person story of one woman's struggle with depression and how she managed to recover from it through the power of poetry. In 1997, Oxford graduate, working mother, and Times journalist Rachel Kelly went from feeling mildly anxious to being completely unable to function within the space of just three days.

In the genteel squares and stuccoed villas of late-Victorian Brighton, Ellen and Reynold Harper - twins, companions, colleagues, - ply their trade as portrait photographers. But at the golden hour, the girls arrive to pose for the lucrative - and dangerous - illicit photographs that really keep the Harpers' business afloat. This is the other, shadowy world of the city: a world of erotic tableaux, boundary-crossing music hall artistes, and the sinister figure of the local gangster, the Croc.

TV presenter Allis Hagtorn leaves her partner and her job to take voluntary exile in a remote house on an isolated fjord. But her new job as housekeeper and gardener is not all that it seems, and her silent, surly employer, 44-year-old Sigurd Bagge, is not the old man she expected. As they await the return of his wife from her travels, their silent, uneasy encounters develop into a chilling, obsessive relationship, and it becomes clear that atonement for past sins may not be enough.

Imogen should be enjoying her life–she is happily married with a high-powered career that could see her rise to the very highest levels of management. But that’s never going to happen because Imogen’s boss, Michael, has discovered she has a secret, something she has hidden from everyone, even her devoted husband. If the secret is ever revealed, her life will be destroyed, which means Imogen is completely and utterly in Michael’s power, and he loves it.

In July 1956, Marilyn Monroe arrived in London, on honeymoon with her husband Arthur Miller, to make The Sleeping Prince (later released as The Prince and the Showgirl) with Laurence Olivier. When the couple arrived at London Airport, they were looking forward to a peaceful stay. Marilyn would work during the day at Pinewood Studios, while Arthur would write. Then, in the evening, the couple would be able to relax together in their private English country cottage. It didn't quite turn out that way.

Anna wasn’t looking for love when Adam swept her off her feet, but there was no denying their connection, and she believed they would be together forever. Years later, cracks have appeared in their relationship. Anna is questioning whether their love can really be eternal when a cruel twist of fate delivers a crushing blow and Anna and Adam are completely lost to one another. Now, Anna needs Adam more than ever, but the way back to him has life-changing consequences.

Sky Mundy's life has changed dramatically since she fled the underground compound where she grew up. She and her friends are now prey to dinosaurs and being pursued by marines, but Sky is determined to follow a map left by her missing father. When the map leads to a hidden underwater lab, Sky is horrified to learn that scientists are still breeding dinosaurs. As she delves deeper into her father's secrets, Sky uncovers a plan that will destroy the world, unless she can put a stop to it....

A tale of love, misunderstandings and second chances in the city that never sleeps. The path of true love never did run smooth.... When Brooklyn bookstore owner Bea James is let down once too often by unreliable boyfriend Otis, she swears off relationships for good, determined instead to focus on her successful business and otherwise happy life in New York. Meanwhile, on the other side of Manhattan, Jake Steinmann is nursing a broken heart after his beautiful wife Jessica files for divorce.

Five months pregnant and facing difficult decisions, 30-year-old Sandra leaves her job and her boyfriend to take stock of her life in her sister’s beach house on the Costa Brava. She befriends an elderly Norwegian couple, Karin and Fredrik, who provide her with stimulating company and take the place of the grandparents she never had. However, when she meets Julian, a former concentration-camp inmate who has just returned to Europe from Argentina, she discovers that all is not what it seems and finds herself involved in a perilous quest for the truth.