Showing results by narrator "Laurence Bouvard" in All Categories

When Martina Torres arrives in the glamorous and vibrant metropolis of Hong Kong, newly married to her high school sweetheart, the world seems to be her oyster. But looks can be deceiving. Adrift in a foreign city, with no job and no friends, Martina chafes in her new role as Expat Wife. But her luck changes when she meets Veronica Hawkins. Beautiful, sophisticated, and very, very rich, Veronica is the epitome of Old Hong Kong--the last surviving member of a British mercantile dynasty that built the city during its colonial heyday.

When Michele Kirsch's father is killed in a train crash, her mother gets the vapours and Michele gets extremely nervous. By her mid-teens, she has found salvation in valium. Her favourite words on the prescription sheet are 'Take as Needed', which she interprets as Take All the Time. Later, as a wife and mother, she adds alcohol into the mix, and before long her life is spinning out of control. Leaving home 'for the sake of the family', she takes the scenic route to rehab, redemption and reinvention.

After uprooting her life, Irene Steele has just settled in at the villa on St. John where her husband, Russ, had been living a double life. But a visit from the FBI shakes her foundations, and Irene once again learns just how little she knew about the man she loved. Irene and her sons try to get on with setting up their new lives while evidence mounts that the helicopter crash that killed Russ may not have been an accident.

In the year 2038, the Earth has been ravaged by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Retroviruses run rampant through humanity. Economic disaster has destabilised the world, the US has undergone a socialist revolution, and the balance of power has changed. Then the aliens arrive. With no clear understanding of the visitors' intent, factions form, including the anti-alien group White Queen, working to turn humans against these extra-terrestrial tourists.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel, read by a returning cast. We always thought the biggest threat to humanity would come from the outside. We were wrong. As the human race picks up the pieces of destruction left behind, a new world order emerges. New alliances are formed. Old divisions are strengthened. And, with a power struggle fuelled by the threat of mutually assured destruction, nothing is certain.

Frances Price - tart widow, possessive mother, and Upper East Side force of nature - is in dire straits, beset by scandal and impending bankruptcy. Her adult son Malcolm is no help, mired in a permanent state of arrested development. And then there’s the Price’s aging cat, Small Frank, who Frances believes houses the spirit of her late husband, an infamously immoral litigator and world-class cad whose gruesome tabloid death rendered Frances and Malcolm social outcasts. Putting penury and pariahdom behind them, the family decides to cut their losses and head for the exit.

As Agent Nadine Finch rushes to investigate the murder of newlywed Nikki Darnell in Ocala National Forest, Florida, fear floods her body. She swore she’d never set foot there again, not since the case 15 years ago which tore her life apart. But taking in the triangular cuts scarring Nikki’s perfect pale skin, she knows she must put her own traumatic past aside to find justice for Nikki and her inconsolable husband.

Lily was abducted from outside her high school gates. For eight long years, she's been locked away from the outside world. During that time she's changed from a girl into a woman. She's had a baby. And now she has seized her chance and escaped. Running for her life, with her daughter in her arms, she returns to her family and the life she used to know - to her much-loved twin sister, Abby; her mum; her high school boyfriend - and her freedom. But is it possible to go back?

Britain is under New Management. The disbanding of the Laundry - the British espionage agency that deals with supernatural threats - has culminated in the unthinkable: an elder god in residence in 10 Downing Street. But in true 'the enemy of my enemy' fashion, Mhairi Murphy finds herself working with His Excellency Nylarlathotep on foreign policy - there are worse things, it seems, than an elder god in power, and they lie in deepest, darkest America.

Over half of all the visual artists working today are women, but the paintings and sculptures shown in many galleries and museums tell a different story because they're usually the work of men. In this audiobook, Kate Pankhurst, descendent of Emmeline Pankhurst, tells the fascinating stories of some of history's most talented female artists.

What's worse than having telepathy in high school? Having telepathy in high school and then losing it. When class 10B got their flu shots and developed the unexpected side effect of telepathy, it seemed like the worse thing ever. But two years later, they've gotten used to their powers. They've even come to like them. And as they prepare to leave school, they're all making exciting plans - plans that involve them being Espies.

Alessandra is not quite fifteen when her prosperous father brings a young painter back from Holland to adorn the new family chapel. Fascinated by his ability she is lured into closer involvement. On the streets of Florence she observes a terrible evil stalking the city and a fiery priest, who has set out to rid the city of vice, even art itself.

1946, Berlin. War correspondent Kate Mancini is in Germany, reporting on the aftermath of the devastating war. For her readers back home in New York, she tells the stories of innocent families, trying to rebuild the wreckage of their lives now the soldiers have left at last. But in the Russian-held sector of Berlin on an icy winter’s day, Kate breaks all the rules, rescuing Mia Stein, a silent orphan who she fears will otherwise perish.

A gang of unlikely friends are thrown together one wet summer in the small town of Elbow, famous for only two things: chilli pickle and rain. Already bored, they hope something will turn up, but what none of them expect is a real-life dead body with a missing eyeball! Soon the mystery of who killed Herman, owner of the giant pickle factory, becomes a crazy adventure.

In Good Bones and Simple Murders, Margaret Atwood displays, in condensed and crystallized form, the trademark wit and virtuosity of her best-selling novels. Among the jewels gathered here are Gertrude offering Hamlet a piece of her mind, the real truth about the Little Red Hen, a reincarnated bat explaining how Bram Stoker got Dracula all wrong, and the five methods of making a man. There are parables, monologues, prose poems, condensed science fiction, reconfigured fairy tales, and other miniature masterpieces. In The Tent, Margaret Atwood has penned a collection of smart and entertaining fictional essays.

"Kiss me," he growled.... "And make it believable." Alone and scared on the dark streets of Moscow, staid, bespectacled Paige Barnes has no choice but to comply with the handsome stranger's command.... Little does Paige know she's been rescued by Alexei Voronova, Russian prince and her boss's deadliest rival. Now he has Paige unexpectedly in his sights, Alexei is prepared to play emotional Russian roulette to keep her close and discover her true motives. But in his splendid gilded palace his game of chance spins out of control and passion takes over....

Drawing on the latest research in social psychology, Dr Connson Chou Locke will look at why we are prone to miscommunicate and how to overcome these barriers. This practical guide, based on her hugely popular Guardian Masterclass, will help you hone your personal style and enhance your presence and influence with ease.

Car-En, a ringstation anthropologist on her first Earth field assignment, observes a Viking-like village in the Harz mountains. As Car-En secretly observes the Happdal villagers, she begins to see them as more than research subjects (especially Esper, a handsome bowhunter). When Esper’s sister is taken by an otherwordly sword-wielding white-haired man, she can no longer stand by as a passive witness. Knowing the decision might end her career, she cuts off communication with her advisor and pursues the abductor into the mountains.

There was no way multi-millionaire Zach Harper would split his inheritance with a stranger. Even if she was his wife. What had supposedly been a prank Vegas wedding to Kaitlin Saville was very real. The CEO believed he could buy off his bride. However, Kaitlin didn't want money. So he offered her a job, vowing never to consummate their marriage. But some vows were meant to be broken....

An alien AI has been sent to the solar system as representative of three advanced species. Its mission is to save the Earth's ecosystem - and the biggest threat to that is humanity. But we are also part of the system, so the AI must make a choice. Should it save mankind or wipe it out? Are we worth it? The AI is all-powerful and might as well be a god. So it sets up some conditions. Violence is now impossible. Large-scale destruction of natural resources is impossible. Food and water will be provided for those who really, truly need them. You can't even bully someone on the Internet anymore.