Showing results by narrator "Uma" in All Categories

Christmas is the single biggest annual event on the planet, a time for merry-making, over-indulgence, peace, goodwill, and the occasional family row. It’s as comfortable and familiar as a pair of old shoes and yet still glittery and exciting. But what do you really know about it? It’s stuffed full of traditions and rituals that most of us have been observing all our lives without having the slightest idea of where they come from.

She's spent thirty-five years in the public eye: 'Vanessa's Friends Say She's Drinking Custard!' Vanessa seizes her chance to set the record straight in this warm, witty, intensely human story. She spares no one's blushes, including her own. How could someone so clever make such cataclysmic mistakes? Vanessa's often wrong, but always relatable. She puts the 'Oh my goodness, I can never unread that paragraph!' into celebrity autobiography.

Lou Clark knows a lot of things. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop, and she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live, and now everything feels small and joyless. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive. They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

The evil Saruman has been defeated by Gandalf, but in Mordor the battle for the Ruling Ring continues. Wounded by the giant spider, Shelob, Frodo has been captured by the dreaded orcs

Without a common enemy to unite against, humanity teeters on the brink of self-destruction. Isaac has prevented one apocalypse, but now faces a more insidious threat: humanity itself. Grand plans for a perfect world are crumbling, and masterplans are failing as superpowers prove to be no cure-all. Societies are shattering under pressure, pushed to their breaking points.

When two teenagers stumble upon a frozen corpse deep in the woods, they make the fateful decision to bring it back to town—unaware they’ve just unleashed the apocalypse. In the morgue beneath the hospital, the dead begin to stir, attacking the living and spreading a relentless infection. The once-quiet town quickly descends into chaos as the hospital becomes a battleground, its halls soaked in blood as survivors fight to escape the growing horde.

It's the perfect Christmas love story. Margot Murray is a newly single, high-flying businesswoman with no interest in a cutesy seasonal romance. Ben Gibson is an unlucky-in-love sweetheart in need of a woman to bring home for the holidays. Together, they make a pact: Margot gets two blissful weeks away from London in a picture-perfect manor, in exchange for posing as Ben's girlfriend. The story can only go one way. Margot is sure to fall in love for real. And she does. With Ben's sister, Ellie.

To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how the British Royal Navy allowed one nation to rise to a level of power unprecedented in history. From the navy's beginnings under Henry VIII to the age of computer warfare and special ops, historian Arthur Herman tells the spellbinding tale of great battles at sea, heroic sailors, violent conflict, and personal tragedy - of the way one mighty institution forged a nation, an empire, and a new world.

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College―Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

A disturbing tale of a young man's uncanny ability to remain both young and beautiful while descending into a life of heartless debauchery, The Picture of Dorian Gray was considered proof of both Wilde's genius and his perversion. Oscar Wilde's scandalous best seller of 1891 was one of the most damning pieces of evidence used against him in the trial that brought about his downfall.

Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.

Tom is off on a school activity trip in the fifth instalment in Liz Pichon's best-selling series. Exciting news! Mr Fullerman announces that class 5F are going on an activity break! Which should be fun. As long as I don't get stuck in a group with anyone who snores or, worse still, with...Marcus Meldrew. Delia is already threatening to paint my room funny colours while I'm away. Which is annoying. I just hope the only surprise I have when I get home is the new pet that I hear Mum and Dad talking about.

Being Queen of the British Werewolves means I’m not one to back down, especially when my friend Emory is facing trial on spurious charges. I stormed in, certain that my impassioned speech would help save the king of the dragon shifters – but darker forces prevailed.

"Jack and the Beanstalk", read by Lenny Henry
"Goldilocks and the Three Bears", read by Sheridan Smith
"Puss in Boots", read by Lenny Henry
"Snow White", read by Sheridan Smith. Here are four fantastic stories, full of magic and fun, that young children are sure to love!

In a small town in 1950s Ireland Eilis Lacey is one among many women of her generation who cannot find work at home. So, when a job is offered in America, she knows she must leave. Arriving, alone, at a noisy boarding house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has left behind. She is far from home - and homesick. And just as she begins to find a new way of living, and the possibility of companionship, Eilis receives tragic news which sends her back to Ireland.

You didn't apply for this job—and yet here you are—one among more than a million people this year alone who were thrust into the role of dementia caregiver. This book was purposefully designed to guide you every step of the way. It recognizes the profound challenges you face and offers a lifeline to help you not just survive, but thrive in your caregiving role.

Sydney Shaw, like every single woman in New York, has terrible luck with dating. She’s seen it all: men who lie in their dating profile, men who stick her with the dinner bill, and worst of all, men who can't shut up about their mothers. But finally, she hits the jackpot. Her new boyfriend is utterly perfect. He's charming, handsome, and works as a doctor at a local hospital. Sydney is swept off her feet. Then the brutal murder of a young woman—the latest in a string of deaths across the coast—confounds police. The primary suspect? A mystery man who dates his victims before he kills them.

Iris Nightingale is more than okay. She has her life planned out to a perfect schedule. Work, run, sleep, repeat. She spends her quiet Friday nights sitting alone on a bench in the park, trying to push back the memories that no amount of running can help her escape. But one evening, there’s someone else on her bench - Hunter. Tall, wry and infuriating: everything about him gets under Iris’s skin. Little does she know that he's about to upset more than just her routines...

Danny Youngblood thought he knew the dangers of monster summoning. But when a mysterious desert civilization, the Sapiens, launches a devastating attack on the Empire, he discovers a threat far greater than anything he's ever faced. As the Sapiens close in on the Imperial City, Danny and his friends must race against time to uncover the secrets behind their advanced weapons and powerful monsters. With the help of the brilliant inventor Isa, they develop new strategies and powerful summons to combat the invading force.