Showing results by narrator "Nicolette" in All Categories

Retired actress Guinevere 'Gwinny' Tuffel is finding life hard after inheriting her late father's run-down house and discovering she's broke. But Gwinny is delighted to be at Hayburn Stead for her best friend Tina's wedding to a handsome Italian business magnate. However, before they get the chance to declare 'till death do us part', the husband-to-be is found dead in the library and Tina is accused of his murder. Convinced of her friend's innocence, Gwinny must uncover the real killer from a pool of larger-than-life suspects.

This unique biography, told in a lively manner through six 'voices', presents the Buddha's revolutionary solution for humanity that lends to the end of ill will, craving and delusion. It goes back to the earliest sources of the Buddha's life and teachings, drawing as it does from the Pali Canon which was said to record the words that the Buddha spoke, the events that happened, and his specific teachings on which the world-wide religion was based.

The villagers of Thrush Green celebrate Christmas traditionally, in a way that has hardly changed over the generations. Children eagerly hang up their stockings, families go to church together and everyone enjoys the treats of the festive season. And when it snows as the carol singers make their way round the cottages on the green, it looks as if Christmas will be perfect this year. But not everything is as peaceful as it seems.

In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a young Australian woman arrives to take up the antiquated role of ‘matron’. Within this landscape of immense privilege, in which the girls can sense the slightest weakness in those around them, she finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body. That is until she meets Mrs S, the headmaster’s wife, a woman who is her polar opposite: assured, sophisticated, a paragon of femininity.

In the quiet of a New Zealand winter's night, a rescue helicopter is sent to airlift a five-year-old boy with severe internal injuries. He's fallen from the upstairs veranda of an isolated farmhouse. At first, Finn's fall looks like a horrible accident; but his frantic mother, Martha McNamara, knows how it really happened. And she isn't telling. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

The new cozy crime novel from the bestselling author of The Marlow Murder Club, now a major TV series on PBS Masterpiece! Two dead celebrities. One village full of secrets. Someone is killing celebrities in Marlow. First, it's a famous soccer player. Then, a bestselling thriller writer. When two...

The final installment in Anna Jacobs' beloved Irish Sisters series. Sometimes the worst has to happen . . . Recently widowed, Hannah Firth is still young - young enough to dream of a new life. When her spiteful daughter-in-law uses her as an unpaid servant, Hannah tries to leave, but she is...

Brought to you by Penguin. From the No.1 bestselling author of Away with the Penguins comes the heart-warming and charming final chapter of Veronica McCreedy's story. "Emperor penguins defy the odds, and I shall too.” Still fiery and feisty at eighty-seven, Veronica McCreedy, the very first...

Fiercely resilient and impeccably dressed, Veronica McCreedy has lived an incredible 87 years. Most of them alone, in her huge house by the sea. But Veronica has recently discovered a late-life love for family and friendship, adventure and wildlife. More specifically, a love for penguins! And so when she's invited to co-present a wildlife documentary, far away in the southern hemisphere, she jumps at the chance. Even though it will put her in the spotlight, just when she thought she would soon fade into the wings.

Twenty-four of the Buddha's most distinguished disciples are brought to life in ten chapters of rich narration. They include monks who were very close to him throughout his life, including Sariputta and Mahamoggallana; his cousin and companion Ananda; his principal women disciples, including the nun Isidasi and his lay disciple, the courtesan Ambapali; and the serial killer Angulimala, whose character was transformed after meeting the Buddha.

Brought to you by Penguin. Perhaps one reason not enough people kill billionaires is it’s actually quite tricky... An electrifying, ultra-contemporary heist, a wild and hilarious story that is also dangerously prescient. When her home is destroyed in wildfires, fourteen-year-old Australian...

When Stella Simmons comes to the Devonshire village of Burracombe to start her teaching career, she is alone in the world. Orphaned as a child and brought up in a children's home, she was separated from her sister, Muriel, and has never been able to trace her. Stella is soon caught up in the life of the village, especially in the plans for celebrating the Festival of Britain. With the help of artist Luke Ferris, she tries to find Muriel. But Luke has his own troubles - notably the relationship he once had with Val Tozer, daughter of a local farmer.

Eudora Honeysett is done - with all of it. Having seen first-hand what a prolonged illness can create, the 85-year-old has no intention of leaving things to chance. With one call to a clinic in Switzerland she takes her life into her own hands. But then 10-year-old Rose arrives in a riot of colour on her doorstep. Now, as precocious Rose takes Eudora on adventures she’d never imagined, she reflects on the trying times of her past and soon finds herself wondering - is she ready for death when she’s only just experienced what it’s like to truly live?

The final installment in the breathtaking Kershaw Sisters series. She thought the worst was behind her . . . Life is tough in Lancashire in 1905 - and especially so for fifteen-year-old Mary Ann, who was born out of wedlock. When her new stepfather begins to abuse her, Mary Ann doesn't know how...

At eighteen, Cathie longs for more than life as a settler in the Australian bush. So when her uncle offers her the chance to send her to England, she grabs the opportunity with both hands and runs away from her family. But little does she know that he is using her to get revenge on his sister...

Gwinny Tuffel, the dog sitter, stays at an ageing rock singer's Little Venice houseboat to look after his border collie while he goes on tour. But during the annual Canal Carnival the singer's body is discovered, having never made it out of London. The police dismiss it as an accident, but Gwinny suspects murder most foul. It is up to her to solve this curious crime .

Sweeping from the early 1920s through to the end of World War II, Sons and Daughters by Margaret Dickinson is a compelling, traditional saga set against the Lincolnshire landscape that Margaret Dickinson portrays so well. Charlotte is an only child, reared by a brutal father who cannot forgive...

Bram Deagan dreams of bringing his family from Ireland to join him in Australia, where he now runs a successful trading business. But when a typhus epidemic strikes Ireland, it leaves the Deagan family decimated. And, with other family members scattered round the world, it is left to Maura...

Saga storytelling at its finest for all Catherine Cookson fans. Cassandra Blake has raised her three motherless sisters. The girls are the pride of their book-loving, impractical father, and not in a hurry to marry. Then the American Civil War cuts off supplies of cotton to Lancashire, the mills...

'This is one of the best books I've ever read' - 5-star reader review The unputdownable saga from the author of A PENNYWORTH OF SUNSHINE and DOWN WEAVERS LANE. Calico Road runs through a tiny Lancashire hamlet up on the edge of the moors, miles from anywhere. Its folk are an independent breed -...