Showing results by narrator "Nikki Patel" in All Categories

Aaliyah is an ordinary 13-year-old living in the Midlands – she's into books, shoes, K-pop, and she is a Muslim. She has always felt at home where she lives...until a terrorist attack in her area changes everything. As racial tensions increase and she starts getting bullied, Aaliyah decides to begin wearing a hijab to challenge how people in her community see her. But when her school bans the hijab, and she is intimidated and attacked for her choices, she feels isolated

Nicki - 30ish, care worker living in Brighton - is scrolling for her next hook up. A difficult home life, a job that's going nowhere, she seeks solace in random encounters. Amber - 17, college student, lost - desperately needs someone to notice her. She creates 'Kevin', a fake dating profile for a man in his thirties. Neither Nicki nor 'Kevin' has any idea what they're about to get into. They quickly match, and an unlikely friendship develops, giving each other the validation both sorely need. But can you ever truly connect when one of you is a liar?

1938: Divya has made the long sea journey from India to England, employed as a nanny by a British family. But once they arrive, she is cruelly abandoned, with no means to return home. Afraid and alone, she faces prejudice and rejection… until she finds her way to an Irish-run boarding house on West India Dock Road and meets Jack, Charity and a host of unexpected friends.

A friend has your back. And may stab you in it. Wealthy, pampered Susan is living the perfect life in leafy Kingston. She'll never let anyone see the darkness she's concealing behind the diamonds and rosé. Grace is new to the group, seemingly the perfect wife and mum. Yet no one knows the truth of what’s happening behind closed doors. Loner Natalie hides the pain of her childhood behind a carefully ordered life. But how long can the past stay hidden? Three unlikely friends, brought together for a weekly class run by beautiful, friendly, instructor, Jade.

In the second instalment of Tara Sim's Dark Gods trilogy each heir walks a dangerous path, attempting to undo the damage the gods have wrought across the four realms. But they live on borrowed time. The divine will have their war - and not all of them will survive it.

Orphaned Jenny and her chimney sweep brother Noah eke out life in a cellar dwelling in the heart of the slums. Noah is the main breadwinner, but he is treated horribly by his master. Worried for her brother's safety and health, Jenny resolves to put her talent for singing to good use and begins trawling the low inns and taverns at night entertaining the punters. When she catches the attention of a music hall manager and is offered a spot on the stage, it seems like a dream come true. But her newfound success can't include her brother.

In 16-year-old Abida's small Pakistani village, there are age-old rules to live by and her family's honour to protect. And, yet, her spirit is defiant, and she yearns to make a home with the man she loves. When the unthinkable happens, Abida faces the same fate as other young girls who have chosen unacceptable alliances - certain public death.

1929. When a passionate love affair threatens to leave Lucy in disgrace, she chooses a respectable marriage over a life of shame. With her husband, coffee-plantation-owner James, she travels to her new home in India. Everything in India is new to Lucy, from the jewel-coloured fabrics to the exotic spices. When her path crosses that of Gowri, a young woman who tends a temple, Lucy is curious to find out more about her, and the events that lead her to live in isolation from her family.

Separated when they were 6 months old, twins Ani and Riri couldn't be more different. Loud and adventurous Ani wants to be a sleuth when she grows up. Shy and quiet Riri prefers books to people, and just wants a safe, germ free job when she grows up. When they're forced to spend the summer together, Ani is convinced it's going to be another Great Twin War like the last time they tried family bonding. But this summer is different - there's a murder, and their dad is arrested as the prime suspect. Can they work together to protect their family and solve the mystery?

1942. Nisha's Malayan home has been destroyed by war. She and her mother, Amma, flee to her father's ancestral house in England, perched on a cliff top on the cold Northern coast. When Amma falls gravely ill, Nisha is left to face her formidable grandmother alone. The old woman's rules are countless, including forbidding Nisha to climb the Weeping Tree - a claw of leafless, twisted branches jutting upwards from the crag. But when a ghost child beckons Nisha to sit under its boughs and promises her Amma's life in return for three truths, the tree's pull proves irresistible.

For Khadija, the only escape from her arranged betrothal is the sky. When she spots a rogue hot air balloon fighting against its ropes, she leaps at the chance for adventure. She soon finds an unlikely ally in a poor glassmaker's apprentice, Jacob. But Jacob is a Hari, and Khadija a Ghadaean. The Hari are oppressed and restless and the ruling Ghadaeans brutal in their repression. The Hareef use forbidden magic, summoning jinn - wicked spirits made of fire - to enact their revenge, forcing Jacob and Khadija to choose what kind of a world they want to save.

Aarti has lived on the island with Aunt for as long as she can remember. Like the weather, Aunt rules her world with rare warmth. Aarti's only comforts are a book of Indian myths full of blue gods, a fox's friendship and a toy rabbit she finds in a locked room. Then, she learns Aunt has been feeding her lies. Fate intervenes when a half-drowned boy washes up on the beach. With his help, Aarti hopes to remember who she really is...and perhaps find a way home.

An emotional, page-turning read about love, family and the secrets we keep, for fans of Amanda Prowse, Ayisha Malik and Balli Kaur Jaswal. Shortlisted for The Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award 2020. It was the perfect marriage... until they fell in love. After attending Oxford University, Chaya is torn between her duty to family and her life in the UK since her traditional Sri Lankan parents want her to settle down. Gimhana is hiding his sexuality from his family, and it's getting harder and harder to turn down the potential brides his parents keep finding for him.

Ever since they first met at university, Beth and Nick have circled in and out of one another's lives: supporting each other through grief, marriage, divorce, career crises and family dramas. Fourteen years ago, when they were on the cusp of adulthood, they both survived a devastating fire that sent their lives in different directions. And they’ve been running ever since: from the pain, from the memories, and most devastatingly of all, from the guilt.

Hannah Conway overhears a lot while working behind the bar of a nightclub – friendly gossip, lovers quarrels, bad business deals – but nothing that usually involves anyone she cares about. Until she hears Jez Reilly, a corrupt businessman who runs the club, talking about the street her grandma lives on. Jez wants to buy the land for a new luxury development, and most of the residents and businesses have already agreed to sell up. But for those who refuse, something sinister is in store.

Flora Stormer and her friend Pavan are racing to the North Pole by dog sled, trying to find their friend's missing parents. When they hear about a magical pearl that can show the past and future, Flora realises it could help them solve the mystery. But their arch-enemy Lord Granville is determined to get his greedy hands on it first. Soon, the race to the Arctic becomes a race to the mystic pearl!

When twelve-year-old Estie is expelled from school, she's sent to stay with her aunt in Scotland over the summer. Even though Estie knows what she did was right. Even though nobody, not even her mum, asked to hear her side of the story. Estie's determined to keep her barriers up and stick to herself until the holidays are over. But when she comes across an intricately folded paper bird with a secret message written inside - a message from someone desperate to tell their own unbelieved story - a chord is struck, and Estie can't help but follow the clues to the next piece of artwork.

Escape to the frost-sparkling Yorkshire Dales for some festive fun under the mistletoe! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas for costume shop owner Becky Finn. Leaving London to move back home to the twinkly rural village of Egglethwaite, she plans to build a new life for herself with fiancé, Cole. Keen to raise funds for the struggling village hall she loved as a child, Becky finds herself at the head of a colourful group aiming to revive the Egglethwaite Christmas pantomime.

Twelve-year-old Mimi lives with her Aunt Moyna in a centuries-old Citadel where she studies the ancient practice of making, capturing and recycling dreams. The Citadel was once run by Mimi’s parents who have been imprisoned by the king, accused of treason. When Mimi spies a royal visitor, she uncovers a plot to transform the Citadel from a place of gentle, healing dream craft and a dangerous plot – the crown prince is purchasing nightmares from her aunt to poison the king. With only her dream creature and her best friend, Mimi must escape the Citadel and begin a perilous journey across India.

Flora Stormer, a talented young artist with Tourette's Syndrome, is helping her father prepare for an expedition to search for the legendary golden lotus - a plant with magical healing properties. But when her dad falls ill, Flora bravely sets sail in his place, hoping the mythical plant might save him. Equipped with her paints and a magical map, Flora treks through the rainforest, encountering dangerous animals and poisonous plants along the way. But the greatest threat she faces is from a greedy collector determined get his hands on the flower first.