Showing results by narrator "Nicky Diss" in All Categories

Moll Pecksniff and her friends are living as outlaws in a secret cave by the sea, desperate to stay hidden from the Shadowmasks. But further along the coast lies the Amulet of Truth, the only thing powerful enough to force the Shadowmasks back and contain their dark magic. So, together with Gryff, the wildcat that’s always by her side, and her best friends, Alfie and Sid, Moll must sneak past smugglers, outwit mer creatures and crack secret codes to save the Old Magic.

Schooldays at St Clare's are never dull for twins Pat and Isabel O'Sullivan in Enid Blyton's much-loved boarding school series. In book nine the unimaginable has happened - the twins made head girl! It's a tough job - cheeky first formers and cruel Priscilla keep the girls on their toes. It's the twins' last year, and there definitely will be mischief!

Three sisters...one secret. Ashleigh: a creative, free spirit and loyal. But Ash is tormented by her demons and a past that refuses to be laid to rest. Jessica: perfect wife and loving mother. While Jessica might seem to have it all, she lives a secret life built on lies. Grace: an outsider, has never known the love of her sisters, and her resentment can make her do bad things. When Ashleigh goes missing, Jessica and Grace do all they can to find their eldest sister. But the longer Ashleigh is missing, the more secrets and lies these women are hiding threaten to tear this family apart.

Despite the many films and television programmes over the decades since the end of the Second World War that portrays our allied heroes as grown-up men and women, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just 20 years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger.

In Vaxxers, we hear directly from Professor Gilbert and her colleague, Dr Catherine Green, as they reveal the inside story of making the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and the cutting-edge science and sheer hard work behind it. This is their story of fighting a pandemic as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Sarah and Cath share the heart-stopping moments in the eye of the storm, they separate fact from fiction, they explain how they made a safe vaccine in record time with the eyes of the world watching and they give us hope for the future.

The whole world believed eight-year-old Cara killed her younger brother on that fateful night. But she blamed it on a paranormal entity she swears was haunting her house. No one believed her and after two years of treatment in a psychiatric unit for delusional disorder, Cara was shunned by her remaining family and put into foster care. Now she's being forced to return to the family home for the first time since her brother's death, but what if she's about to re-discover the evil that was lurking inside its walls?

William Shakespeare found dozens of different ways to kill off his characters, and audiences today still enjoy the same reactions - shock, sadness, fear - that they did more than 400 years ago when these plays were first performed. But how realistic are these deaths, and did Shakespeare have the knowledge to back them up? Kathryn Harkup turns her discerning scientific eye to the Bard and the varied and creative ways his characters die.

England, 1932, and the country is in the grip of the Great Depression. To lift the spirits of the nation, Stella Douglas is tasked with writing a history of food in England. It’s to be quintessentially English and will remind English housewives of the old ways, and English men of the glory of their country. The only problem is—much of English food is really from, well, elsewhere. So, Stella sets about unearthing recipes from all corners of the country, in the hope of finding a hidden culinary gem. But what she discovers is rissoles, gravy, stewed prunes and lots of oatcakes.

Juliet Capulet is the heartbeat of the world's most famous love story. She is an enduring romantic icon. And she is a captivating, brilliant, passionate teenage girl who is read and interpreted afresh by each new generation. Searching for Juliet takes us from the Renaissance origin stories behind William Shakespeare's child bride to the boy actor who inspired her creation onstage. From enslaved people in the Caribbean to Italian fascists in Verona, and real-life lovers in Afghanistan. From the Victorian stage to 1960s cinema, Baz Luhrmann and beyond.

TV presenter Nadia and her husband, Mark, took their two children out of mainstream school five years ago. Since then they have homeschooled them. At a time when so many of us are being forced to rethink our roles as parents and teachers, Mark and Nadia bring their experiences - the good and the bad - and offer a candid and practical guide to teaching at home. Statistics show that the number of homeschooled children in the UK has increased by 40 percent over the last three years, and the rate is steadily increasing. 

When she was a teenager, Zoë Frixos fell in love with Simon Baxter, her best friend and the boy next door. But his family moved to America before she could tell him how she felt and, like a scratched record, she’s never quite moved on. Now, almost 20 years later, Simon is heading back to London, newly single and as charming as ever. 

It’s Julia’s wedding day. Her nerves are to be expected - every bride feels the same - but there’s another layer to her fear, one that she cannot explain to her soon-to-be husband, Mark. She’s never told him the details - and she is determined he never finds out. As she begins down the aisle, spotting Mark in his tailored suit, she knows she is taking her first steps to happiness - her past is behind her, it can’t catch her now. Mark turns to face her. But it isn’t Mark in the beautiful suit - it’s his best man. Because Mark is missing.

Life is tough for Faith Diamond. Growing up on the wrong side of London, with a family incapable of staying on the right side of the law, her future has only ever been about survival. But then a series of prostitutes are found murdered: strangled and stripped naked. The only thread linking the bodies is pimp Marshall Vella - a man connected in more ways than one with the Diamond family. Now Faith is forced to consider the possibility that the people she fights to protect might be involved in something more evil than even she could have imagined.

A collection of 29 of Enid Blyton's Christmas stories. Visit Santa's workshop, hang up your stocking and help two naughty goblins make a Christmas pudding in this magical collection from the classic children's author. Stories include 'Mr Icy-Cold', 'The Christmas Party' and 'Rescuing Santa Claus'. A wonderful selection to enjoy and share. Mystery and magic, laughter and mischief, the joy of shared times and plenty of delicious food....

One mother's past could cost her everything. Frankie Keegan is struggling. While she tries to make strides in her career, life at home is slowly unravelling as she is haunted by the secrets of her past. Someone else remembers. As the dark nights draw in, the anniversary of the loss of her brother looms, and Frankie is drawn back to the memories of that fateful night 20 years previously. As she descends into a guilt-ridden state, she begins to suspect that someone else is also remembering that night and they are determined to terrify her.

Gina Mills is desperate to be a newsreader, but her boss, the director of the struggling Channel Eight, won't help. Walking home one night, Gina stumbles upon a dead body, and after calling the police, she makes the split-second decision to report the murder live. When questioned by the police, Gina can't remember specific details about her discovery, but these memory gaps are explained away as shock. But when Gina finds a second body, it's clear she's being targeted. But why?

Madame Augustina Pinchbeck travels the country conjuring the spirits of dearly departed loved ones...for a price. Whilst her ability to contact ghosts is a game of smoke and mirrors, there is real magic behind her tricks, too - if you know where to look. Through a magical trade, she persuades children to part with precious objects, promising to use her powers to help them. But Pinchbeck is a deceiver, instead turning their items into enchanted cabinets that bind the children to her and into which she can vanish and summon them at will.

Magic is forbidden in Myrsina, along with various other abominations, such as girls doing maths. This is bad news for Gretel Mudd, mathematician and inventor of helpful contraptions. When the sinister masked huntsmen accuse her of witchcraft, she is forced to flee into the neighbouring Darkwood, where witches and monsters dwell. There, she happens upon Buttercup, a witch who can’t help turning things into food; Jack Trott, who can make plants grow at will; the White Knight with her band of Dwarves; and a talking spider called Trevor.

Eleven-year-old Echo Quickthorn has grown up believing that nothing exists outside the Kingdom of Lockfort, but everything changes when an eccentric professor parks his airship outside her window armed with a map that shows all the magical places that exist beyond the city walls. Together with her pet lizard, Gilbert, Echo sets off on an incredible adventure to find her missing mother, an adventure that will take her to unimaginable places, places filled with giant butterflies, mechanical dragons and...sky pirates!

When struggling actress Heidi has a life-changing accident aged 32, her world falls apart. Stuck in hospital and unable to walk, her only companion is Maud, the elderly lady in the bed next to hers. Heidi misses her flatmate, her life, her freedom - surely 32 is too young to be an amputee? But when Maud's aloof but attractive grandson Jack pays a visit to the ward, Heidi realises that her life isn't over just because it's different.