Showing results by author "Rees" in All Categories

Orphaned at the age of 10, Archie Ledbetter is forced to live with his uncle in his very grand house. Uncle Walter seems emotionless, exhibiting little feeling towards the young lad. If it wasn't for some of the staff at Huntington Hall, Archie's life would be a complete misery. There's a dark secret that Cook hints at as to why Archie's mother left her lavish lifestyle behind and ended up settling in the East End of London, scraping a living selling cakes and confectionery from the back of a barrow in the marketplace. Archie's never known his father and wonders who he is.

'People may say I can't sing. But no one can ever say I didn't sing.' Despite having no pitch, no rhythm and no tone, Florence Foster Jenkins became one of America's best-known sopranos, giving a sell-out concert at Carnegie Hall. Born in Pennsylvania in 1868, Florence Foster adored music and as a girl was a talented pianist, but her wealthy father refused to allow her to study in Europe. In retaliation she eloped with Dr Frank Jenkins, but the marriage soon foundered, not least because the 18-year-old bride contracted syphilis on their wedding night.

Meet Jack. Jack Rossiter. I'm 27 years old, single and live with my best mate, Matt. Matt and I started hanging out when we were eight. Life was simpler then. Meet Amy. Sometimes in my darker moments I've thought about applying to go on Blind Date. Actually it's a bit of a worry. I think it's my warped way of telling myself something's got to change. Now find out what happens when they meet each other....

"Well-bred people arrive as nearly at the appointed dinner hour as they can. It is a very vulgar assumption of importance purposely to arrive half an hour behind time; besides the folly of allowing eight or 10 hungry people such a tempting opportunity of discussing your foibles." It may be 150 years since this essential etiquette bible was first published, but within its pages is timeless advice on all manner of matters, from the dinner table to marriage, and from smoking to fashion.

Sixteen-year-old Nicholas Cox is the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion who dreams of getting the proper training he could never afford. After earning a place on the elite Kings Row fencing team, Nicholas must prove himself to his rival, Seiji Katayma, and navigate the clashes, friendships, and relationships between his teammates on the road to state championships - where Nicholas might finally have the chance to spar with his golden-boy half-brother.

It’s 1946 and the dust of war has settled over Europe. But for Edith Graham, an ordinary woman living an ordinary life, her journey is only just beginning.... Escaping her humdrum existence, Edith is swept into war-torn Germany and recruited to draw elusive Nazis out of hiding. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more blurred the line between good and evil. In a shadowy world of shifting loyalties, where no-one is quite who they seem to be, who can Edith trust?

Ellen's just 16, but she's dying - and nobody knows why. When she's sent to her grandmother's house she's relieved to find a distraction in the form of her great-grandmother's diaries, written when she was Ellen's age. As Ellen reads, she becomes increasingly embroiled in the fascinating story of her life. Ellen's condition is worsening, and it's becoming more and more difficult for her to distinguish her own life from the nightmarish events recorded in the diaries.

Meet Jack: Dadness. Women have a sixth sense for it. But, lately, as I've looked around, all I've seen is temptation. From random women in the pub to my foxy new boss...they've left me doubting whether I've really been put out to pasture at all.... Meet Amy: Motherhood, I've discovered, is the great leveller. Having kids automatically makes me the same as all the other mums in 'The Coven' up the park. And being 'the same' makes me want to do something terribly rash - like rediscover the impulsive person I used to be.

In May 1943, a young, pregnant Frenchwoman called Lucie Aubrac engineered the escape of her husband Raymond from the clutches of Klaus Barbie, the feared Gestapo chief. She later ambushed the prison vans in which members of the Resistance were being driven to an almost certain death. Spirited out of France by the RAF at the end of 1943, nine months pregnant, she arrived in London a heroine. In 1983, when both Aubracs had retired, Klaus Barbie was put on trial in France.

Tell the Wind and Fire is about a young girl called Lucie who lives in a New York very different from the New York we know: The city is torn between two very different kinds of magic, and Lucie's own family was torn apart years ago by that conflict. Lucie wears magic rings and carries a burden of guilt she can't share with anyone. The light in her life is her sweetheart boyfriend, Ethan, but it turns out Ethan has a secret, too: a soulless doppelganger created by dark magic.

1899. Josie has never questioned her life in a mining village on the South Yorkshire coalfield. But everything changes when she meets Tommy from the neighbouring village. Tommy has been destined for a life underground since the moment he was born. But he has far bigger dreams. Josie and Tommy become fast friends, united by their desire for something better and by their fascination with the local gentry who have their keeping. Wealthy and glamorous, the Sedgewicks of Silvermoor inhabit a world that is utterly forbidden to Tommy and Josie.

Tap into the secrets of what makes you who you are - passions, talents, experiences, temperament, and spiritual gifts - and you'll discover the path to a life of unimagined purpose, impact, and fulfillment. Rick Warren's best-selling book The Purpose Driven® Life describes God's five purposes for every Christian. Now Erik Rees helps you discover God's unique purpose for your life based on the way God has shaped you.

Highlights from the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 programme, selected and introduced by Nigel Rees. This exclusive compilation was first published to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Quote, Unquote. It takes a fond look a the show in which celebrity guests are quizzed about quotations, famous and obscure, and invited to contribute their own quotes and anecdotes.

Based on the popular S.H.A.P.E. book for adults, this teen version walks through the same process of discovery with students. Written by the bestselling author and pastor at Saddleback Church, Doug Fields, this book will help teenagers understand who they are, how they can serve, and why they serve.

Cosmo the witch-cat has his paws full with his new baby brothers and sisters. Especially when the kittens accidentally get turned into frogs by the kindly Frog-Witch. But before she has a chance to magic them back, the Frog-Witch and all the frog-kittens are kidnapped by a sinister stranger with froggy plans. Can Cosmo come up with the purr-fect way to save the day... before it's too late?

Down in the watery blue depths of the ocean is Tingle Reef - home to young mermaid Rani and a whole host of fishy friends! It's an underwater world of magic and mystery - where Rani's adventures are about to begin.... Rani has always known that she's different from the rest of her family. Her flowing red hair and glowing amber eyes stand out from the other mermaids, who have golden hair and eyes like the sea. But Rani's about to find out that she's more different than she realised - she's got magic powers!

Seren James longs for a child, to fill the emptiness left by a husband who has little care for her. But as the years go by, Seren begins to fear that she is almost out of time to have the one thing she wants most. But when Seren meets Anwen, a local woman who offers help, there is a problem: Anwen is suspected by the locals of witchcraft. Is the cost of association too high for Seren to pay, or can her problems be solved another way?

From one of Australia’s best-loved comedians and children’s entertainers Jimmy Rees comes a story about the bedtime excuses that families everywhere will know all too well. Who said bedtime was hard? Dad’s got bedtime sorted! Lenny and the twins have a bath without water spilling over, brush their teeth without toothpaste spraying onto the mirror and go to sleep straight after their story. Perfect!

Since Goronwy Rees' death, his daughter, Jenny, has had to cope with the frequently made allegation that her father was another of the spies recruited at Cambridge in the 1930s. He never disguised his friendship with Guy Burgess, who, with Donald Maclean, had defected to Moscow in 1951, and in 1979, Rees helped Andrew Boyle unmask Anthony Blunt, the Fourth Man. So, was Rees himself actually a spy? The opening of KGB files has acted as a spur to Jenny Rees in her quest to exorcise the past.

It’s 1929, and after running away from her family in Lancashire, becoming a dancer in London and having a riotous time in Paris with her best friend, Nancy, would-be fashion designer Vita Casey is now living a much more sedate life in New York with her baby son, Bertie, far away from her evil brother, Clement, and her nemesis, Edith. When the disastrous events of the Wall Street Crash change their destinies, Vita and Nancy flee to Los Angeles, where Nancy is determined to make it in the talkies.