Showing results by narrator "Taryn Ryan" in All Categories

Verity Fassbinder has her feet in two worlds. The daughter of one human and one Weyrd parent, she has very little power herself, but does claim unusual strength and the ability to walk between one world and the other as a couple of her talents. A rarity, she is charged with keeping the peace, and ensuring the Weyrd remain hidden. But now Sirens are dying, illegal wine made from the tears of human children is for sale—and in the hands of those who hold to old, dangerous ways—and someone has released an unknown and terrifyingly destructive force on the streets of Brisbane.

Sydney journalist Chloe Brown is left devastated when her long-term boyfriend finally admits he never wants children. Impulsively, she takes a job on a small country newspaper in Queensland's far north to escape disappointment. But she soon realises that no place is free from trouble or heartache. The grouchy news editor, Finn Latimer, is a former foreign correspondent who has retreated after a family tragedy. Emily, the paper's elegant, 60-something owner, is battling with her husband's desertion. Meanwhile, the whole town is worried when their popular young baker disappears.

An unexpected inheritance is most people's dream, but not so for Paula. She's happy and secure in Western Australia with her own business, a complete contrast to her rootless childhood, and has little interest in the minor stately home in Wiltshire of which she is apparently now the owner. Persuaded to at least visit the property, she travels to the UK but from the journey to what awaits her at the other end, complications personal, romantic and financial abound, which will test the adage that home is where the heart is.

In 1841, Australia's first children's book was published, the anonymous writer known only as 'a lady long resident in New South Wales'. The identity of the author was one of the most puzzling literary mysteries until 1981, when she was finally given a name: Charlotte Waring Atkinson. Today, her great-great-great-great-granddaughters Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell are also celebrated authors. They grew up on stories about Charlotte's life of love, grief and violence - and her struggle to assert an independent spirit.

Tinsel Munroe has busted her guts to get where she is. Yet her dream of working in radio hasn’t turned out to be everything she hoped it would. Sure, she has her own show—aptly titled The Graveyard Shift—where she celebrates the sounds of cult-cinema, but the wage is barely enough to cover her rent and the midnight hours are putting a strain on her relationship with her boyfriend. Even after three years at Melbourne’s coolest station, she’s seemingly no closer to a prime-time slot.

The small town of Rislake in the picturesque Blue Mountains is about to be engulfed by a major bushfire. The order has been given for the residents to clear out. But a last sweep uncovers one person is missing: Tracey Hilmeyer, wife of one of the firefighters tackling the blaze. Detective Kennard is in town to help with crowd control, but instead he finds himself driving straight towards the inferno to look for Tracey at the Hilmeyer home. When he gets there, he finds her dead at the bottom of the stairs, and it’s clear she was murdered.

This collection includes New Girl, Odd One Out, Winning Moves, Three's a Crowd, Beach Wipe Out, Toxic Talk, Shut Down and Double Cross, starring Star Girl and her space cadet friends.

They find her just as the sun is beginning to rise in the early morning mist. They had begun at dawn, the group of searchers keen to get going. A missing child spurred everyone on. In the end, it was a flash of color, a bright neon pink that caught her eye. They had been looking for pink. Nothing tests your faith like being a mother. The first time your children walk to school alone, their first sleepover, when they finally fly the nest. As a parent, you have to believe that everything will be ok.

It’s the phone call every mother dreads. I’m climbing into the car after a trip to the grocery store. As the engine starts, my phone rings. It’s my stepdaughter, Shelby, who is babysitting my three-year-old Millie. "I only went upstairs for a second," she says through her sobs. "She’s gone." When the police turn up, Shelby’s story starts to unravel. What is she hiding? Then I get a message saying, "Your husband is not who you think he is." Suddenly, my family feel like strangers. Everyone has a secret - even me.

"Your son is missing," they say, and life as I know it is over. "Where would he go?" the police ask. "Where would he be?" my daughter begs. My heart races as images flash in my mind. The cabin we rent every autumn, surrounded by fiery-red maple trees. Voices raised. Tears falling. A marriage falling apart. And worst of all my husband telling our child, Theo, to run. The rest is a blank in my memory. If I close my eyes I can almost see it. A betrayal that has left me alone, in tatters, grieving for what we had.

The Kane family, Lorcan, Naiyana and their young son, relocate from Perth to Kallayee, an abandoned mining town in the Great Victoria Desert to start over again, free from their chequered past. The town seems like the perfect getaway: peaceful, quiet, remote. Somewhere they won’t be found. But life in Kallayee isn’t quite as straightforward as they hope. There are noises in the earth, mysterious shadows and tracks in the dust, as if the town is coming back to life. But the family can’t leave. No one can talk sense into them. And now, no one can talk to them at all.

If you passed Alice on the street, you couldn’t help but smile. At how she holds hands with her husband, Jack, who she has been with since she was at university. At the way she admires her three boys, the center of her universe. But if you looked very closely, you’d see how tightly she holds Jack’s hand, afraid to let go. You’d see how carefully she watches her boys, scared to look away. She has told Jack that she ran away from home when she was younger - but she didn’t tell him the whole story.

When tragedy brings biological sisters Jessica Williams and Reeve Elliot together, the initial shock of learning of each other’s existence is quickly replaced by a commitment to be there for each other. As the bond between the two women deepens, their relationship is tested in ways they’d never have imagined. When Jess’s past comes back to haunt her, the nightmare that is Reeve’s present intensifies.

Dee Nichols is a free-spirited yoga teacher, albeit a broke one. But she's not interested in money or possessions or thinking too far into the future. After surviving a terrible car accident, she's just happy to be breathing. Then Dee meets Ethan Roxburgh at a Christmas party. As the head of Roxburgh Holdings, and a regular in the social pages, he's the opposite of what Dee wants in her life. Until a job modelling yoga in a TV commercial turns Dee into an overnight celebrity.

When Olivia Molly Rogers was crowned Miss Universe Australia, she knew exactly what she wanted to shine a light on: her struggles with disordered eating and anxiety. While many of her Instagram followers are eager for her fashion, art and insanely cute dog content, the heart of Olivia's audience is there for her refreshingly honest voice on body positivity and mental health.

Walking past Suzannah and Glenn Archers house on Merton Street, you'd think they have it all with their gleaming white-bricked house and emerald green front lawn. They appear so in love: their home is full of ripples of laughter and the clinking of wine glasses. They're always celebrating something with their siblings and two grown-up daughters, Zara and Emily. They look like the perfect family. But are they?

When first-year music student Amalia stumbles into her Oxford college bar, she has no idea that everything is about to change. Seated across from her is Alex, a velvety-voiced fellow Australian with eyes the colour of her native sky. They strike up a friendship that is immediate - its intensity both thrilling and terrifying. As the days and weeks go by, they spend more and more time together: philosophising, hypothesising, questioning everything.

Liv and Toni were once inseparable. While their parents focused on Mandy, their little sister with special needs, the two older sisters leaned on each other for love, support and security. When they were in their teens, and Liv needed a lifesaving operation, Toni didn’t hesitate to do whatever it took to help her. Since then, their lives have gone in different directions. They live in different cities and rarely see each other. But now it’s Toni who needs help from Liv. Because she’s desperate for a baby.

Her chest tightens, her heart speeding up. The kitchen is chaos. She steps on something hard, and looks down. Toy dinosaurs are scattered everywhere. But her son is nowhere–her baby boy is gone.

When Julia Hudson is involved in a near-fatal accident, the lives of her children – nurse Flo and her twin sister, high-flying lawyer Ari – are sent into freefall. As they sit vigil by their mother’s bedside, the sisters discover that Julia, who has always preached unwavering principles and integrity, has been keeping a terrible secret. A secret that shatters everything they’ve ever believed about their family. But the twins have each other… or do they? Because Julia is not the only one keeping secrets…