Showing results by narrator " Katy Sobey" in All Categories

The First World War was the defining event of the last century. It claimed the lives of more than 16 million people across the globe and had an enormous impact on all who experienced it. No nation in Europe was left untouched and even neutral states felt its devastating impact. Yet it was the ordinary men and women who were affected the most. This gripping, revealing and poignant collection of stories tells the First World War from the perspective of those who were there, using letters, diaries and memoirs from Imperial War Museum's unparalleled archives.

When Bella’s heart is broken by her cheating husband, she runs towards those who love her and won’t let her down. Packing a bag, she escapes to Jersey, to help her beloved great-aunt Celestine run her seaside flower stall. Soon Bella begins to find peace as she arranges wildflowers in vases and learns lessons about life from Celestine, who has loved and lost many times during her years on the island. But when charismatic, brooding Rory arrives at the flower stall, seeking answers about his own family’s past, could all that be about to change?

When Isadora discovers a wishing well, the mischievous nymph who lives inside grants her the wish of constant happiness. But being happy all the time isn't quite as enjoyable as Isadora expects. Can Isadora convince the nymph to undo the wish, and allow her to feel all of her feelings again?

Sammy Woodhouse was just 14 when she met Arshid Hussain. Ten years older, he promised to take care of her. Sammy thought she was in love, but in reality she was being groomed by a ringleader of Britain's most notorious child sex ring. Just A Child tells the heartbreaking story of how a young girl from Rotherham was abused by her drug-dealing 'boyfriend', eventually giving birth to his baby, right under the nose of the very authorities who were meant to protect her. When reality dawned, Sammy realised she was one of countless vulnerable child victims - many of whom were trafficked around the north of England.

To Philomena McCarthy, being a police officer means never turning your back on someone in trouble. So when a decorated detective beats his girlfriend and the case is covered up, Phil secretly helps her. But as Phil lets her new friend deeper into her life, sinister things start happening. And by the time she's truly afraid, it's already too late . . .

In need of the money, Lydia Smith happily signed up to ‘flee for her life’ on a survivalist reality show but finds herself contemplating running for the hills instead when her partner turns out to be her one-night-stand Tom Dereborn. The two shared an unforgettable weekend of passion a year ago, but she hasn’t heard a word from him since. Now, trapped alone with Tom, with the show’s ‘hunters’ on their tails, suppressed emotions boil over and the past starts repeating itself. Soon it’s more than just the money that’s at stake – it’s also Lydia’s heart!

In Second World War Bath, young, naïve wireless engineer Will meets Austrian refugee Elsa Klein: she is sophisticated, witty and worldly, and at last his life seems to make sense . . . until, soon after, the couple's home is bombed, and Will awakes from the blast to find himself alone. No one has heard of Elsa Klein. They say she never existed.

All I want for Christmas is...a new Geek Girl story! Harriet Manners knows a lot about Christmas. She knows that every year Santa climbs down 91.8 million chimneys. She knows that Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was almost definitely a girl. She knows that the first artificial Christmas trees were made out of goose feathers. But this Christmas is extra special for Harriet, because four days ago she had her First Ever Kiss. Now she just needs to work out what's supposed to happen next....

Most parents worry about their child's eating at some point. Common concerns include picky eating in toddlerhood; sweet cravings and vegetable avoidance in the early school years; and dieting and worries about weight in the tween and teenage years. The Gentle Eating Book will help parents to understand their child's eating habits at each age. Starting from birth, the book covers how to start your child off with the most positive approach to eating, whether they are breast or bottle-fed.

This book works. It shows that that the naughty step, sticker charts and controlled crying are NOT the only solutions. Many parents struggle with getting their toddlers to sleep, picky eaters, respect, tantrums, discipline, throwing, biting, hitting, communication. All this is normal. What is important is that you don't base your whole relationship with your child on rewards and punishment.

Brooke is delighted when Oliver decides to rent her old family home with his three-year-old son, Finley. Finally someone to bring happiness to the run-down house across the street. They seem like the perfect tenants, but Brooke is a little unnerved when they move in with just a single bag between them. Where are their belongings?

Maude is the daughter of witches. She spent her childhood running wild with her best friend, Odette, weaving stories of girls who slayed dragons and saved princes. Then Maude grew up and lost her magic—and her best friend. These days, magic is toothless, reduced to glamour patches and psychic energy drinks found in supermarkets and shopping malls. Odette has always hungered for forbidden, dangerous magic, and two weeks ago she went searching for it. Now she’s missing, and everyone says she’s dead. Everyone except Maude.

When World War II breaks out, Carrie Anderson sets up a bookstall at her local train station in the hope of providing a sense of escapism for travellers, troops and evacuees. Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and armed with a colourful array of Penguin paperbacks, Carrie’s business soon booms. And when she gifts a book to a dashing officer, an act of kindness becomes the beginning of Carrie’s very own love story. But as war rages on, and Mike is posted abroad, Carrie’s world is turned upside-down.

Cleo loves winter in Wavebreak Bay. As the tourists leave, the temperatures drop, the fairy lights go up and it really starts to feel like home again. It also happens to be the time of year that her best friend Eliot comes back from San Francisco. Though the seasons change, not much else in Cleo's life does. She's in a people-pleasing rut taking the worst shifts at the family restaurant, pet-sitting for her parents and making little time for herself. Cleo has spent so long thinking about everyone around her that she's lost sight of what she wants.

Mira dreams of a glittering future in the Ravalian Court. Training in secret, she intends to compete in the Trials: a deadly competition to join one of three magical Orders. But when her candidacy exposes her mother's dangerous past, they become her only salvation. Princess Scarlett has spent her life on a knife edge: fighting to survive the deadly politics of court. When she meets Mira, she sees an opportunity to alter the balance of power . . . but only if she can keep her alive.

When Emma’s useless fiancé tells her a lie she cannot forgive, she decides enough is enough. She leaves him, quits her dead-end job, and travels hundreds of miles away to Honeymoon in the Dorset countryside, to help her friend Tia turn the old train station into a boutique hotel. Tia has told Emma that it will be a project, but when Emma arrives in Honeymoon and sees a weed-choked crumbling ruin, her vision of an idyllic life in Dorset begins to disintegrate. But when she meets twinkly-eyed builder Aiden, she can’t help but feel that the stars have for once aligned.

Running from her past, Rachel answers an advert to be a live-in assistant to glamorous and eccentric author Dorothy Winters. But behind the closed doors of Dorothy's mansion, she quickly discovers that nothing is as it seems. When Dorothy's manuscript throws up striking similarities to events in Rachel's own life, she becomes convinced that the past she's tried to hide is catching up with her. Then the phone calls start. The parcel arrives. The blood shows up in the bathroom. And Dorothy's friend disappears....

Lady Charlotte Lovett should have never run away upon discovering her betrothal. But when one has been promised to a man who, rumor has it, killed his previous two wives, one does what one must. The only thing that can get her out of this engagement is proving that Viscount Hawley is as sinister as she thinks he is. And the person who would know best is his very own brother.

VE Day 1945: as victory bells ring out across the country, war bride Ellie Burgess’ happiness is overshadowed by grief. Her charismatic Newfoundlander husband Thomas is still missing in action. Until a letter arrives explaining Thomas is back at home on the other side of the Atlantic recovering from his injuries.

1882. When Violet Latimer steps off the train in Paris, she instantly feels at home. Here she can escape her scandalous origins in the rookery of Seven Dials and finally make a name for herself as a painter. But it’s not long before her past catches up with her. The notorious gangster Archie Neville is fresh out of prison and determined to make her his wife–and catch whoever put him away in the first place.