Fantasy Realism

Queen of the Underworld I never asked to be Queen. In fact, I never even knew I was a witch until a little while ago. Now I’m struggling to lead the creatures of the Underworld while uncovering secrets about my own identity that could change everything. When I’m suddenly kidnapped by the mysterious Lurker elder and taken to their hidden compound, I discover a shocking truth—I have a twin sister, and we share blood with the very enemies I’ve sworn to fight. As I navigate this dangerous new reality, I must confront questions about who I truly am and where my loyalties should lie. With...

Even delightful flowers are born from dirt. This is one of the many ballads of Dante De Luca. He is, at first glance, simply a poverty-stricken painter in a scruffy sweater and scuffed shoes. A nineteen-year-old boy full of youthful folly and fanciful ideas of love. Those things are true, but Dante has hidden depths that transcend the remarkable, abilities that soar in rampant boasts clear into the stratosphere, elevating him above others in a way almost inconceivable to the human brain. Oh, and he has two hamsters. This novelette adds tantalising detail to events prior to the start of the ...

In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm - and the mysterious curse that has haunted them for generations. The madness that led to Susanna Farrow's disappearance left her daughter, June, to be raised by her grandmother. Everyone in Jasper is certain it's only a matter of time before she finds the same end, but June has kept secret that her unravelling has already begun.

Fairies, elves, demons... Secrets and desire... Dark humour, magic, wonder... Twelve stories that will transport you into other worlds, or twisted versions of our own. If you had magic, what would you do with it? If you loved someone, how far would you go?

A ship. A garden. A library. A key. In Kaleidoscope, the incomparable Brian Selznick presents the story of two people bound to each other through time and space, memory and dreams. At the center of their relationship is a mystery about the nature of grief and love which will look different to each listener. Kaleidoscope is a feat of storytelling that illuminates how even the wildest tales can help us in the hardest times.

Alicia has been out of grad school for months. She has no career prospects and lives with her mom, who won’t stop texting her macabre news stories and reminders to pick up items from the grocery store. Then, one evening, the Jamaican water deity River Mumma appears to Alicia, telling her that she has twenty-four hours to scour the city for her missing comb. Alicia doesn’t understand why River Mumma would choose her. She can’t remember all the legends her relatives told her, unlike her retail co-worker Heaven, who can reel off Jamaican folklore by heart.

Summer, 1994. Trevor can barely wrap his mind around the fact that he and his friends have graduated high school. And yet there’s no rush to get to college. He’s determined to live one night at a time. Riding shotgun from party to party, windows down, music up, his focus is entirely on his crush, the enigmatic girl in the driver’s seat. Will things ever go anywhere with Sarah? Maybe? Because Sarah has proposed a mission: They’re going to swim all the pools in town. Before long, they’re sneaking into backyards every night, splashing, floating, and loving every minute of it.

Fille de l'esclave Abena violée par un marin anglais à bord d'un vaisseau négrier, Tituba, née à la Barbade, est initiée aux pouvoirs surnaturels par Man Yaya, guérisseuse et faiseuse de sorts. Son mariage avec John Indien l'entraîne à Boston, puis au village de Salem au service du pasteur Parris. C'est dans l'atmosphère hystérique de cette petite communauté puritaine qu'a lieu le célèbre procès des sorcières de Salem en 1692. Tituba est arrêtée, oubliée dans sa prison jusqu'à l'amnistie générale qui survient deux ans plus tard.

What if the drink you just spilled, the train you just missed, or the lottery ticket you just found was not just a random occurrence? What if it's all part of a bigger plan? What if there's no such thing as a chance encounter? What if there are people we don't know determining our destiny? And what if they are even planning the fate of the world? Enter the Coincidence Makers - Guy, Emily, and Eric - three seemingly ordinary people who work for a secret organization devoted to creating and carrying out coincidences. What the rest of the world sees as random occurrences, are, in fact, carefully orchestrated events.

Surviving the training program was dangerous - even the first challenge to gain entrance to the school could get you killed. But the training was the easy part. Staying alive afterward was the hard part. Kazaks guarded individuals whose lives were deemed critical to the security of the United States. As such, Kazaks attracted fanatics and the best professional assassins money could buy - liars who could tell lies you believed, ghosts who could become nearly invisible, and Illusionists who could appear to be anyone.

Nobody's supposed to see the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee before her Silver, yet Ben and Georgie do exactly that. Who in their right mind would agree to move into a mansion with their narcissistic ex-boss after stealing his job? Ben, apparently. When he joins Isaac’s Dungeons and Dragons party, the adventures begin in the cellar, but get disturbingly real when the players find a space-age capsule in the attic filled with vintage clothes and artefacts. The gang's first foray into the hermetically-sealed space ends in a mad scramble to escape before the computer initiates evacuation protocols...

Sam Green thinks her life is pretty normal. Almost. She does have a strange affinity for animals, weird dreams, and a mysterious staff in her closet. But Sam’s calm life is shattered when a dragon poisons her father and the mother of her best friend Jake. She is further shocked when a shapeshifting giant cat and powerful faerie ask her to fulfill a prophecy.

A girl who dances in a forbidden realm. A boy who dares to follow. Muriel has always dreamed of joining the legendary Westhaven Dance Company, and when she’s finally chosen, it feels like a fairy tale come true. She enters a world beneath the stage—a realm of moonlight and magic, where music drifts from unseen instruments and the dancing never stops. The enchantment is beautiful… but not without its cost. As the days blur and exhaustion deepens, Muriel begins to wonder what lies behind the glamour—and why none of the other girls will talk about it. Owen, a kind-hearted but awkward ...

"We'd had to be cut free of our mother's womb. Abby and I were fused, you see. But here's the real kicker; Abby had the magic, I didn't." Now adults, Makeda and Abby still share their childhood home. The surgery to separate the two girls left Makeda with what feels like an even worse deformity: no mojo. The daughters of a celestial demigod and a human woman, Makeda and Abby were raised by their magical father. Today, Makeda has decided it's high time to move out and make her own life.

Following the birth of her second daughter, Vervain just wants to relax. But the Christian God has become insanely obsessed with her husband, Azrael. Consumed by fury, Jerry attacks the Faerie God in devious ways, all while he remains safely ensconced in Heaven. With every strike, it becomes more apparent that Jerry doesn't care who gets hurt by his vengeance; he's willing to sacrifice everyone and everything to destroy Azrael. The God Squad's goal of stopping a war between Heaven and Hell is soon replaced by another—killing Jehovah. Can they put an end to Jerry's tyranny once and for all...

This Audible production expertly brings to life Salman Rushdie’s postcolonial masterpiece Midnight’s Children, available for the first time unabridged in audio. Written in the magical-realist style that Rushdie is renowned for, Midnight’s Children follows Saleem Sinai - a child gifted with extraordinary powers after being born at the exact moment India becomes independent. The captivating events that unfold act as an allegory for India’s transition from colonialism to independence as Saleem finds himself 'handcuffed to history', with his fate entwined with that of his newly independent state.

A new threat arises, stirring the beasts in its wake. A primordial beast so powerful all the gatherers in the nation have little hope of defeating it. Aiden must find a way to stand and prevent the destruction of Craesti City, the capital of the Kingdom.

Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld - Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies: 12-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm. On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power. And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat - and the shattering truth of their own destiny.

In book two of the Dragons of Starlight series, the stakes are raised when the foretold prince is crowned. While Koren and Jason race to the Northlands of Starlight to find the one person who can help them free the human slaves, Elyssa and Wallace strive to convince the captives that freedom is possible. Soon, all four discover that the secrets of Starlight extend much further than they had imagined.

It’s been three years since ICE raids and phone calls from Mexico and an ill-fated walk across the Sonoran. Three years since Sia Martinez’s mom disappeared. Sia wants to move on, but it’s hard in her tiny Arizona town where people refer to her mom’s deportation as "an unfortunate incident." Sia knows that her mom must be dead, but every new moon, Sia drives into the desert and lights San Anthony and la Guadalupe candles to guide her mom home. Then one night, under a million stars, Sia’s life and the world as we know it cracks wide open.