Showing results by narrator "Colleen Prendergast" in All Categories

For Once in My Life is the first novel by British magazine columnist and editor Marianne Kavanagh. For years their friends have been telling them that they are ideal for each other, what with George's love for 1940s jazz music and Tess' preoccupation with vintage fashion. But while they almost encounter each other many times, something (a bout of gastro, a close friend's heartbreak, lost contact lenses) always prevents them from actually meeting.

When 15-year-old Skye's mother finally does something so shocking that it can't be hushed up, the police turn her over to the social workers - and that's when the nightmare begins. No one will let her talk to her father; the woman who is supposed to be helping her dumps her in a terrifying 'home' that's more like a jail. But she still has one friend to turn to: the sympathetic girl she's met in an Internet chat room, the one who seems to have a home life as unhappy as Skye's.

Jo Milne was profoundly deaf from birth, when she also began to lose her sight. Just before turning thirty, Jo was diagnosed with Usher syndrome, a rare genetic and progressive condition that will one day rob her of her sight altogether.

In 2014 she made a life-changing decision to undergo major surgery. She had cochlear implants fitted, allowing her to hear for the first time. Every moment of Jo's days since the operation has become a journey of discovery.

When Rose sees Joe in an Oxford bar, it is instant infatuation. He is everything that turns her on: a gifted musician with wit and high achiever. In her mind, at least, they are ideally matched. But Joe has no intention of settling down.

What happens when your beloved only daughter's friend turns out to be a destructive cuckoo in the nest? When girlish charm turns to seduction and teenage friendship to manipulation. How can just one teenage girl wreak havoc on a decent, loving household? Envy is a uniquely absorbing novel focusing on two teenage girls. Isabel the charmed, golden daughter of a wealthy, devoted daddy, and Diane, whose bitter, downtrodden mother lives on a rented cottage on Isabel's family's land.

A young Viking girl is swept by a storm on to a desolate English beach. Cruelly orphaned there, Ylva becomes set on revenge, tracking a killer through dangerous hinterland. She wants only the favour of the Norse gods and the comfort of her stories. But when a stranger decides to protect Ylva - seeming to understand her where others cannot - Ylva must decide if her own legend will end in vengeance or forgiveness.

A spellbinding adventure from the best-selling, award-winning author of The Last Wild trilogy. Jewel Hastings doesn't know who she is. But she is about to discover that she is one of the most remarkable people to have ever walked the earth. On the run from school bullies, Jewel tumbles through the door of a mysterious old bookshop and falls headlong into Folio, the world of the imagination. There, she must begin a quest to rescue her missing aunt, helped only by her rude pet hamster Fizz and a malfunctioning copper robot.

Rabbit is surprised: some of the trees in the valley seem to be flying south for the winter. His friend Bear is sure that trees can't fly. Then there's a loud crunch! from very near by. It sounds like the world's largest rabbit, eating the world's largest carrot. There's a new creature in Rabbit and Bear's valley, and he's trying to change everything. From novelist and playwright Julian Gough and the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize Jim Field, this is a tale of friendship, Progress and all kinds of getting muddy.

SPLASH! A mysterious thing lands in Rabbit and Bear's peaceful summer lake. Is it exciting, or terrifying? Is it a tiny fluffy owl, or a huge hungry monster? And has Rabbit finally met a creature with worse habits than himself? Rabbit's sure he can solve this mystery. But when he accidentally turns the best day ever into the worst day ever, he needs Bear's help.... From novelist and playwright Julian Gough and the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize Jim Field, this is a tale of friendship, acceptance and what you can do with blueberry poo.

This is a brilliantly funny story of a rabbit and a bear who discover that things are always better when they're shared with a friend. Bear wakes up early from hibernation. If she can't sleep, then at least she can make a snowman. Rabbit has never made a snowman, but he definitely wants to make one that's better than Bear's. But with an avalanche and a hungry wolf heading his way, Rabbit soon realises that it might be nice to have a friend on his side.

When Alexis ‘Lexi’ James falls out with her best mate Nicole over ‘bad boy’ Ryan King, it’s just the beginning of a chain of events that go from bad to worse to deadly. Returning home one night to her high-rise flat, she is faced by a terrifying scene that changes her life forever, and matters are made worse when she is put into care in another town. Years later, Lexi has left school and is back in Manchester. A chance meeting with Nicole and her so-called ‘other half’ Ryan ends in disaster, and she vows never to see them again.

Sheffield, 1892. Patrick Halliday rules his family with a rod of iron. He’s hard on both his wife and his elder daughter, Flora, but he spoils his youngest, Mary Ellen, because she reminds him of his beloved mother. When Mary Ellen, aged seventeen, finds that she is pregnant, Patrick throws her out of the family home and Flora goes with her. After wandering the Derbyshire countryside for miles, they find shelter on a farm, working for their keep. When Flora must return to her job as a buffer girl in Sheffield’s cutlery trade, she is reunited with her friend, Evelyn Bonsor.

Thirteen-year-old Jessamine Grace and her mother make a living as sham spiritualists - until they discover that Jess is a mesmerist and that she really can talk to the dead. Soon she is plunged into the dark world of Victorian London's supernatural underbelly and learns that the city is under attack by ghouls, monsters, and spirit summoners. Can Jess fight these powerful forces? And will the group of strange children with mysterious powers she befriends be able to help?

Natty and Sean Wainwright have a rock-solid marriage and family. When their younger daughter falls ill on an overseas school trip, Natty rushes to her side. Luckily, Natty's best friend from college, Eve Dalladay, is visiting and offers to stay with Sean to lend a hand in the Wainwright household. But Natty returns home to find that Sean has fallen in love with Eve. Natty attempts to start anew, but Eve is there to knock her down again.

Local journalist Cassie is getting married to reliable hotshot lawyer Timothy, and his 'monster-in-law' mother Sylvia wants to plan the entire wedding. When Sylvia books the exclusive ID images to take photographs of the extravagant wedding, Cassie has no idea what she's walking into.

After a tumultuous term in Paris, Libby and Connie are looking forward to a quiet Christmas. Along with Libby's aunt, Miss Mousedale, they are to spend the holiday at the Highland estate of Connie's family. But before long they find themselves caught up in strange events. Missing paintings. Lights in the woods in the early hours of the morning. A hidden room behind a wall tapestry. And Connie's parents seem to be keeping an unhappy secret. Can the friends untangle the clues and solve the mystery?

Let's face it, you work for the best years of your life and spend most of your waking hours on the job, so make sure you are energized, fulfilled, and buzzing. Switched On will help you leap outside your comfort zone and awaken your creativity. Switched On shows you how to think like an entrepreneur—have ideas, spot the opportunities, see the future, and make things happen. The future belongs to fresh thinkers, so turn your receptors on and get ready to bring the real you to work.

In 1959 Milly starts her new life as a housemaid at Rutherford House, working for the aristocratic Rutherford-Percy clan. Entranced by her new mistress, Vivienne, she becomes deeply embroiled in the household and the keeper of dark secrets the family conceals beneath the mansion’s grand exterior. In the present day, Christie is working as a psychiatric nurse when she meets troubled patient Lillian Percy, Vivienne’s granddaughter and heiress to Rutherford House. They soon bond over the loss of their mothers.

Limpet and his mum run an ice-cream shop, full of her favourite flavours: spaghetti ice cream, anyone? Terrific tomato and parsnip ice cream? But his mum's off for the weekend, leaving Limpet and his dad in charge. What could possibly go wrong? When Limpet finds himself in a giant cucumber costume, defending a fairy fort against a mysterious robber, he knows that things can't possibly get any worse. Can he catch the thief, save the ice cream shop and avoid the dastardly stink eye of Mr A Pigeon?

Lifting the Fire Hydrant Lid follows idealistic young recruit Kate Fullen as she negotiates training school and settles into life on the watch. With incidents and routine tasks woven into the fabric of the story, it describes the consuming pressure, emotional turmoil and unpredictable nature of the job. Utilising the rare perspective of a northern, queer, working-class female firefighter, Lifting the Fire Hydrant Lid examines the more intricate difficulties experienced by minority groups and gives a voice to a profession that is seldom heard and rarely seen.