Showing results by narrator "Maggie Ollerenshaw" in All Categories

A fascinating biography of Freda Bedi, an English woman who broke all the rules of gender, race, and religious background to become both a revolutionary in the fight for Indian independence and then a Buddhist icon. She was the first Western woman to become a Tibetan Buddhist nun - but that pioneering ordination was really just one in a life full of revolutionary acts. Freda Bedi broke the rules of gender, race, and religion - in many cases before it was thought that the rules were ready to be challenged.

The Prime children grew up in a bleak North Country farmhouse called the Beacon. Colin married and went to work on a neighbouring farm. Bernice married locally, too. May stayed behind at the Beacon, the spinster daughter looking after ageing parents. And then there was Frank, Frank who was always watching.Frank was the one who got away. He left for London and Fleet Street, but journalism was not enough. Frank wanted fame and money...

Hana is 17 when her husband goes to war. When enemy soldiers attack her house she flees to the Yoshiwara, Tokyo's pleasure quarter, where she becomes a courtesan. Yozo returns to Japan to discover that the world he left behind has been destroyed. Travelling north to join his rebel comrades, he is captured but escapes making his way south-to the Yoshiwara. There the battered fugitive meets the beautiful courtesan.

In these days of pandemic, war and political turbulence, hope can seem to be in short supply. But hope is one of the theological virtues, and it is far more profound than mere optimism. Teresa White in this Lent Book draws on inspiration from writers as diverse as Julian of Norwich and Karl Rahner, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning and Henri Nouwen, but throughout the audiobook there is strong scriptural underpinning that the author uses to great effect.

Stumbling upon his dowdy cousin Elinor on the Continent, Theo Ravenhurst hardly believes his luck. His dangerous lifestyle appears to have finally caught up with him, and her family connections could be put to excellent use... Theo is convinced Elinor's drab exterior disguises a fiery, passionate nature. He gives her the adventure she's been yearning for - and along the way discovers she has talents beyond his wildest imagination...

‘One of the best novels of the year so far’ The Times A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘Unlike anything I’ve read. Haunting and huge, and funny and sensuous. It’s wonderful’ Tessa Hadley ‘I just enjoyed it so very much’ Philip Pullman It is the 17th century and a wall is being built...

Five immaculate short stories dealing with the tentative-to-frantic strategies of isolated beings distanced from unresponsive societies.

Mary Barton has a choice to make: either protect a member of her family or sit back and watch a terrible miscarriage of justice. Will she make the right decision in time?

Everyone says 14-year-old Billie is nothing but trouble. A fighter. A danger to her family and friends. But her care worker sees someone different. Her classmate Rob is big, strong; he can take care of himself and his brother. But his violent stepdad sees someone to humiliate. And Chris is struggling at school; he just doesn't want to be there. But his dad sees a useless no-hoper. Billie, Rob and Chris each have a story to tell. But there are two sides to every story, and the question is... who do you believe?

No one wants to think about getting older. It’s true. At any age, when things are moving along normally day to day and everyone seems fit and well, there seems no reason to think about future problems that your friends and relatives might (and probably will) come across as they age. In fact, it might even seem a little morbid to think such thoughts, or possibly even tempting fate? Yet there will come a time when you must raise these issues, and ideally, this should be before any problems arise.

Part social satire, part police procedural, Bill James returns with the stunning prequel to Tip Top - In the drug-ridden Whitsun and Temperate housing estates a connection, once made, is only ever one thing: trouble. Trouble for the journalist whose investigation into the estates leads to his murder; trouble for policewoman Esther Davidson, whose job it is to arrest the killer; and trouble for TV producer Larry Edgehill, who becomes more involved with a Romeo and Juliet-esque cross-estate romance than he ever would have wanted.