Showing results by narrator "Fiona Hardingham" in All Categories

For countless generations, the inhabitants of the village named Elnubrium have passed down one rule: Never enter the forest that surrounds them. Hidden deep beyond its borders is a world full of secrets and wonders to behold, but also death to those that don't belong. However, the village is slowly dying; blocked by impassable mountains and the ancient forest, there isn't enough room to provide for people of Elnubrium. If something isn't done soon, drastic measures will be taken to preserve the current way of life in the village.

From the world of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls comes the historical fiction novel about the exciting life and adventures of Ada Lovelace. In Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code, Ada uses her incredible imagination to dream up technology that could have jump-started the digital age nearly 200 years ago. In fact, she writes what will become the world's first programming language.

Virginia Laydon, an infant at the end of Blood on the River, has now grown up in a colony that is teetering dangerously on the precipice of conflict with the native Algonquins. Virginia has the gift, or the curse, of the knowing - an ability that could help save the colony and is equally likely to land her at the burning stake as an accused witch.

It seems, yet again, that breaking the Binding has shattered the world. And the only hope of mending it is Anna and Mátyás working together. But it's never that simple, is it? The praetheria, the creatures once held captive by the spell, are now waging war against the Austro-Hungarian empire. And they are holding Noémi hostage - using her life to manipulate Anna and Mátyás, like marionettes on a string.

When famed poet Hugh de Bonne is discovered dead of a heart attack in his bath one morning, his cousin Robert Highstead, a historian turned postmortem photographer, is charged with a simple task: transport Hugh’s remains for burial in a chapel that has been locked and abandoned for 16 years, housing the remains of his beloved wife, Ada. However, Ada’s grief-stricken niece refuses to open the chapel for Robert unless he agrees to her bargain: Before he can lay Hugh to rest, Robert must record Isabelle’s story of Ada and Hugh’s ill-fated marriage over the course of five nights.

Since the tragic loss of her parents, Enid has lived alone in a coastal cottage in Jersey. But this year someone new has come into her life: Fred, who truly gets her, and who knows how to make her happy. The only problem is that Enid has Asperger’s and doesn’t like to leave her comfort zone - and Fred lives in Australia. Like Enid, Fred has survived heartbreak and is searching for a way to start again. Could a stranger on the other side of the world really bring new meaning to his life, or is he just setting himself up for another fall?

Serena Meadows and her twin sister, Luna, are identical in appearance - but the similarity ends there. Luna always had a mean streak and, as a teenager, her selfishness culminated in an almighty betrayal from which Serena thought she’d never recover. Years later the twins are reunited by tragedy and Luna is a changed woman. The arrogance and spite of her youth are gone and, at a time when Serena really needs support, Luna sets aside her own life to come to the rescue. But her generosity is not what it seems and before long she does something devastating.

It’s been fifteen years since Rosamunde last lived at the vicarage in Potter’s Cove, the pretty coastal village where she grew up, experienced her first true love - and a heartbreak that changed her life forever. But now Potter’s Cove is calling her back: it’s time to make peace with the past and go home. Rosamunde’s return to the vicarage in the days before Christmas is a whirlwind of festive cheer and heartwarming reunions with friends, family and her loving father, the vicar.

Are you tired of having to "get motivated" time and time again yet failing to achieve your goals? Do you feel like motivational quotes, visualization, or inspirational stories have not really helped you? Do you think there must be something wrong with you because traditional motivational strategies don't work for you? You are not alone. There is nothing wrong with you or your motivation. It’s just that you've been using the wrong strategies. Ready to finally ditch those exhausting "pump yourself up and fail again" cycles and start using an approach that really works?

Orphaned at birth to labor in a workhouse, Oliver Twist is barely ten when he flees for London. There he befriends young Jack Dawkins, who educates the innocent Oliver in the ways of survival. When Jack draws Oliver into a gang of juvenile pickpockets, tutored by the unscrupulous Fagin, Oliver’s corruptive influences grow. But for a boy taught only wrong, Oliver must hold on to what he knows is right.

In 2019, the AIs went to war. Three days later, hundreds of nuclear missiles were launched. The electromagnetic pulse destroyed the machines, but the radiation and famine nearly destroyed humanity. By 2039, civilization had regressed to the age of steam, but newer technologies were on the horizon. The future looked bright until the warlords swept through Europe. Villages and towns were laid waste, the few thousand people who'd hacked out a life in the continental wasteland were butchered. It was only when the barbarians reached the British garrison in Calais that they were stopped.

Sixteen-year old Anna Arden was once just the magically barren girl from an elite Luminate family. Now she has broken the Binding - and Praetheria, the creatures held captive by the spell, wreak havoc across Europe. Lower-class citizens have access to magic for the first time, while other Luminates lose theirs forever. Austria and Hungary are at odds once more.

Violet's in her element. Cosplay at the ready, she can't wait to feel part of her favorite fandom: The Gallows Dance, a mega book and movie franchise that she and her friends know every word of (canon and fanfic included). But at Comic Con, a freak accident transports Violet and her friends into the story for real. And in just the first five minutes, they cause the death of the heroine, and get taken prisoner by the rebel group she was supposed to lead to victory. It's up to Violet to take her place...but when you change the script in one place, the rest gets revised too....

Oh, to be a Beloved - one of those lucky people for whom nothing ever goes wrong. Everything falls into their laps without effort: happiness, beauty, good fortune, allure. Betty Stash is not a Beloved - but her little sister, the delightful Gloria, is. She's the one with the golden curls and sunny disposition and captivating smile, the one whose best friend used to be Betty's, the one whose husband should have been Betty's. Then, to everyone's surprise, Gloria inherits the family mansion. Losing what Betty considers her rightful inheritance is the final indignity.

Devastated by a broken engagement, Stella Jackson leaves her old life behind for a new start in rural Scotland. But when she arrives in the remote coastal village of Arisaig, nothing is what she expected. At the edge of Arisaig sits Munro House; grand, imposing and said to be cursed by a string of tragic deaths. No less intriguing is its eccentric and handsome young owner, Jamie Munro, who hires Stella as his assistant while he pursues a seemingly impossible aim.

Following a traumatic incident in London, journalist Jennifer Dorey has returned home to Guernsey, taking a job as a local newspaper reporter. When she finds a drowned woman on a beach, Jennifer uncovers something much bigger and more sinister than she first thought. Jennifer enlists the help of DCI Michael Gilbert, an officer on the verge of retirement, to investigate a pattern of similar deaths over the last 50 years. They follow a dark trail of island myths and folklore to the illegitimate son of a Nazi soldier.

As nations rebuild, democracy is under threat. In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt. Twenty years later, civilisation is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise. During the investigation of a routine homicide, Police Officer Ruth Deering prevents a group of Luddites from destroying the telegraph. This act of sabotage is only the beginning. As arrests are made, and criminals are caught, evidence emerges that the saboteurs are connected to the AIs, the counterfeiting, and to the assassination. The shadowy figure behind the conspiracy must be unmasked before their fragile democracy is destroyed.

When Elsie Gormley leaves the Brisbane house in which she has lived for more than 60 years, Lucy Kiss and her family move in, eager to establish their new life. As they settle in, Lucy and her husband, Ben, struggle to navigate their transformation from adventurous lovers to new parents, taking comfort in memories of their vibrant past as they begin to unearth who their future selves might be. But the house has secrets of its own, and the rooms seem to share recollections of Elsie's life with Lucy.

Finn Blackstone is in trouble. A mission to find out the truth about her mysteriously absent father has morphed into a perilous game of cat and mouse. Now Finn and her friends must navigate a terrifying futuristic landscape filled with machines intent on the group's annihilation. As Finn struggles against external forces, she faces an imminent threat as she grapples with her alter ego, Infinity.

Brighton, 1938: Grace Kemp is pushed away by the family she has shamed. Rejected and afraid, she begins a new life as a nurse. But danger stalks the hospital too, and she'll need to be on her guard to avoid falling into familiar traps. And then there are the things she sees....Strange portents that have a way of becoming real.