Showing results by narrator "Eve Karpf" in All Categories

Hi! I'm Charlie (DON'T call me Charlotte – ever!). History is boring, right? Wrong! The Victorians weren't all deadly dull and drippy. Lottie certainly isn't. She's eleven – like me – but she's left school and has a job as a nursery maid. Her life is really hard, just work work work, but I bet she'd know what to do about my mum's awful boyfriend and his wimpy little son. I bet she wouldn't mess it all up like I do ...

In a small East Anglian town, Florence Green decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop. Hardborough becomes a battleground. Florence has tried to change the way things have always been done, and as a result she has to take on not only the people who have made themselves important but natural and even supernatural forces, too. Her fate will strike a chord with anyone who knows that life has treated them with less than justice.

Along the centuries numerous interpretations and definitions of Sufism have waxed and waned but the undeniable beauty of their verse in its myriad of forms including the musical Ghazal (love song), Masnavi (narrative) and Rubai (quatrain) always remains. Our chronological volume of the classic Sufi poets helps us understand the spiritual direction of Sufism, starting with Rabia in the 8th century through to Khwaja Ghulam Farid over a thousand years later.

Sheila Beattie knew exactly what her future would be. She would marry her sweetheart Eric, a fisherman like her father, and they would raise their family and dream their simple dreams in the village in which they’d been born. Her life lay before her, happy, safe and secure. But she was sixteen - and about to discover in this world there is nothing certain but change. After all, no one and nothing can be trusted - except the voice of your own heart...

"Remember you must die" says the telephone caller.This the voice, and message communicated in a series of anonymous calls made to many elderly people. Including; Dame Lettie, a blue-blooded reformer, Godfrey - her rather irritating brother, and his once fabulous novelist wife Charmian. But who is the caller? And why are they reminding them of this final truth? It's unsettling and mysterious. The activity increases and soon a witch-hunt is in full force, with nobody beyond suspicion.

Unbeknownst to anyone, somewhat-unhappy and never-quite-fitting-in 10-year-old Eddie Albert can speak to animals, including his pet dog Butch, his hamster and his two goldfish (who claim they were once pirates). But when Eddie is sent to stay with his eccentric aunt in Amsterdam, he discovers that she too has this gift.... So begins a breathless cosmopolitan comic crime adventure, as Eddie, Aunt Budge, his new friend Flo and a whole gang of amazing animals take on the most dastardly villain Amsterdam has ever seen, in a desperate race against time to save one of their own.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. A decade of monumental change and slaughter. Many of society’s telling questions are cast aside in times of that speak of greater needs, greater priorities. For these talented authors their ideas and words keep these magnificent stories at the forefront of our literary lives.

When Flossie Teacake tries on her older sister's fur coat she is transformed from a timid ten-year-old into a glamorous 18-year-old. With all her dreams coming true she is determined to have a fantastic time.

In this series we look at some of our leading classic authors across two genres: the short story and the poem. In this modern world there is an insatiable need to categorise and pigeon-hole everyone and everything. But ideas, these grains and saplings of the brain, need to roam, to explore and find their perfect literary use vehicle. Our authors are masters of many literary forms, perhaps known for one but themselves favouring another.

Ruby and Garnet are ten-year-old twins. They're identical, and they do everything together, especially since their mother died three years earlier – but they couldn't be more different. Bossy, bouncy, funny Ruby loves to take charge, and is desperate to be a famous actress, while quiet, sensitive, academic Garnet loves nothing more than to curl up with one of her favourite books.

‘Oh, if only I could have a room like this!’ said Flossie Teacake, as she gazed at the wonderful things in her sister Bella’s bedroom. A few minutes later, both Flossie and the most wonderful thing in the room had disappeared down the stairs as Flossie’s dreams began to come true...A magical story about a young girl with an extraordinary fur coat, from best-selling author Hunter Davies.

"In a German Pension" is a collection of short stories by Katherine Mansfield, a New Zealand writer and critic who was an important figure in the modernist movement and widely considered one of the greatest short story writers of all time. Focusing on the lives and interactions of a diverse group of guests staying at a German spa-town pension, where the narrative explores themes of social norms, cultural differences, and the complexities of human relationships.

Flossie Teacake, the youngest member of the family, is back! As always she is clad in her magical fur coat which turns our heroine from a timid ten year old into an extremely exciting 18 year old! Nothing stops Flossie and her helter-skelter life which races along at its usual frantic pace. This time she manages to become a dancing teacher at the Grapefruit Dance Studios in Covent Garden...

The Sounds of Crime is an exclusive collection of five brand new short stories by some of the best crimewriters around. Using the theme of 'audio', this unique collection features brand new stories by Lawrence Block, Peter James, Val McDermid, Mark Billingham and Christopher Fowler.

The fourth story featuring the madcap ten-year-old, Flossie Teacake. Her older sister's magic fur coat transforms Flossie into Floz, a teenager who can go anywhere and do anything - including buying a lottery ticket and winning a million pounds.

In the seaside town of Temple Regis, seagulls are wheeling overhead and the holidays are getting close. And then the body of political candidate Odile Clifford is discovered on the balcony of the lighthouse. Fearless Riviera Express reporter Judy Dimont goes in search of the killer - but who is it? And where will they strike next?

Perhaps England’s greatest literary family. To find one brilliant novelist in a family is extremely rare. But two? Three?

The Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily Jane and Anne, together with their brother Patrick, are famed throughout the world. And amongst their many talents was poetry. Of course, being Brontë’s, they were rather good at that too.

Elizabeth Gaskell is equally well known as Mrs Gaskell. When her mother died, she was three months old and she was sent to live in Knutsford, Cheshire with her Aunt Hannah, this setting would become the basis for her novel Cranford.

Gerald Hennessey - silver-screen star and much-loved heartthrob - never quite makes it to Temple Regis, the quaint Devonshire seaside town on the English Riviera. Murdered on the 4.30 from Paddington, the loss of this great man throws Temple Regis' community into disarray. Not least Miss Judy Dimont, corkscrew-haired reporter for the local rag, The Riviera Express. Investigating Gerald's death, she's quickly called to the scene of a second murder.

Harmony Parker thought animals much nicer than people, and saw everyone she knew as some non-human species. Her father, for example, was most definitely a bald-headed Sea Lion, her mother a tubby, fussy Pouter Pigeon, and her tiresome older sister a Siamese cat. But Harmony's parents would not allow her to have real pets of any kind – not even a harmless gerbil. Then Uncle Ginger arrived from India and gave Harmony a very special present ...