Showing results by narrator "Kelly Burke" in All Categories

The American literary tradition has, in a far shorter span of time than others throughout history, achieved a glowing and glittering reputation. From its transatlantic roots it has absorbed the sons and daughters of other cultures, other lands and made them part of her own. Within this melting pot of styles, genres and wordplay one fact stands out: In the American short story, literary tradition has a strong, vibrant and almost inclusive history, if you know where to look.

Based on the origin story of the Grand Guignol theatre in Paris, Theatre of the Damned is a full-cast audio drama which explores the blood-curdling depths to which struggling immigrant theatre producer, Camille Choisy (Amir El-Masry), penniless Parisian playwright, Andre De Lorde (Sam Crane) and aspiring actress, Paula Maxa (Kelly Burke), will stoop in order to satisfy their audiences’ blood-thirsty appetite and gain Faustian profits.

For over thirty years, modern Italy was plagued by ransom kidnappings perpetrated by bandits and organized crime syndicates. Nearly 700 men, women, and children were abducted from across the country between the late 1960s and the late 1990s, held hostage by members of the Sardinian banditry, Cosa Nostra, and the ’Ndrangheta. Subjected to harsh captivities and psychological abuse, the victims spent months and even years in isolation while law enforcement and the state struggled to find them.

If Poppy Love could just avoid Ryan Clark, her life would be fine. The brooding photographer hated her on sight when they met at thirteen years old, and the feeling is mutual. And yet somehow he's always . . . there: Poppy's first wedding as a cake designer, the second wedding when a bear ate her cake, and then there was the fifth wedding when. . . well, it's probably best not to mention it, actually. Now her best friend is getting married and moving to the other side of the world.

A woman's life, erupting with brilliance and promise, is fissured by betrayal and the pressures of duty. What had once seemed a pastoral family idyll has become a trap, and she struggles between being the wife and mother she is bound to be and wanting to do and be so much more. The woman in question is Sylvia Plath in the final year of her life, reimagined in fictive form by Elin Cullhed, who seizes the flame of Plath's blistering, creative fire in Euphoria, lending a voice to women everywhere who stand with one foot in domesticity and the other in artistic creation.

Nemerov’s first novel, "The Melodramatists" is a parody of life in 20th Century America. When wealthy Nicholas Boyne is committed to a mental health facility, his two daughters, Claire and Susan, are left to their own devices. Susan embarks on an ill-fated affair with her psychiatrist, while Claire undergoes a spiritual awakening and sets about a plan to convert the family home into a retreat for the rehabilitation of prostitutes. Brutally funny and packed with wry observations, this is an ideal read for anyone curious about the works of this celebrated writer.

A romance of cosmic proportions. Anton is everything Grace dreamed of. Smart, funny, supportive of her best friend’s work... He makes her heart race. Too bad they’ve never met—at least not face-to-face. Emails and the occasional phone call are their only links. Until finally they do meet. And it blows, because the funny, sensitive, and thoughtful man vanishes in the blink of an eye, replaced by a condescending jerk who thinks she’s little more than an errand girl. Billionaire. Rake. Playboy. Physicist. Anton has played many roles.

Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow was born on 22nd April 1873, in Richmond, Virginia. She published her first novel ‘The Descendant’ anonymously in 1897, at age 24. In 1923 came her short story collection ‘The Shadowy Third & Other Stories’, which included ‘The Difference’, a classic tale of a marriage hitting a problem and the moral and realistic reaction to that. Further works followed and, in 1941, she published ‘In This Our Life’.

When single mum Ivy wakes up to a complete stranger lying next to her, she knows her one-night stand hook-ups have to stop. The encounters mean nothing to Ivy, but for just a short time, they make her forget her own terrible life. But then Ivy discovers the stranger in her bed has been stabbed to death, and she is covered in his blood…except Ivy has no recollection of bringing this man home. Could she have killed him? As she tries to piece together what happened last night, Ivy’s own past returns to haunt her. And secrets can’t stay hidden forever.

Best friend. Teenager. Murderer. A young girl found dead in a neighbor’s field. A fourteen-year-old who confesses. Just a child herself, could Chrissy Cornwall really be a cold-blooded killer? Years later, the murderer is getting out and Natalie Bryers, unable to forget the night of Jenny’s murder, still has questions. Did Chrissy lie then or is she lying now? Did she really kill Jenny? And if so, will she kill again?

Surrender to the laws of attraction and watch the sparks fly. As a world-renowned physicist, Lou Wright is used to making the most researched and logical choices. All of that goes out the proverbial window when it comes to Noah Anderson. He makes her irrational and absolutely dazed. But when Lou tries to act on her attraction, she crashes his one-night stand the morning after and thinks she’s got it all wrong. So terribly wrong.

Children today grow up in an increasingly volatile, complex and uncertain world. Theirs is a generation disempowered from steering their lives while society’s systems are failing to provide the support they need. Yet, a country only prospers when its children—from all walks of life—thrive, meaning that the United Kingdom now faces some consequential choices. Raising the Nation builds a compelling case showing why we must nurture smart, strong and kind children to one day inherit the stewardship of society.