Showing results by narrator "Esther Wane" in All Categories

Caroline, Marchioness of Chesleigh, has been married for six years—at least in name. In fact, Caro has hardly seen her husband since the early days of their union. Scarred and reclusive, Maxim wasn’t ready to trust his wife with his secrets—or his heart. Instead, he quickly resumed his life of espionage in France, believing Caro was better off alone. When the spy who left her returns upon inheriting the Dukedom, he finds his wife is not the girl she once was. Yet the desire that once ignited between them burns as hotly as ever.

On a brisk day in 1970, a daughter arrives at her mother's home to take care of her as she nears the end of her life. 'Home' is the sprawling Italian castle of Roccasinibalda, and Diana's mother is the legendary Caresse Crosby, one half of literature's most scandalous couple in 1920s Paris, widow of Harry Crosby, the American heir, poet and publisher who epitomised the Lost Generation.

Princess Altagracia has lost everything. After a bloody civil war, her twin sister has claimed not just the crown of their planet Szayet but the Pearl of its prophecy, a computer that contains the immortal soul of their god. Stripped of her birthright, Altagracia prepares to flee the planet—just as Matheus Ceirran, Commander of the interstellar Empire of Ceiao, arrives in deadly pursuit. Princess Altagracia sees an opportunity to win back her planet, her god, and her throne...if she can win over the Commander and his distrustful right-hand officer, Anita.

Kali has always dreamed of adventure, but she never expected to find it in the company of a talking cat. Puss definitely has an agenda, but he isn’t sharing it with her. All she knows is that he wants a miller’s child to accompany him across the Great Desert to the mysterious lands beyond. Kali doesn’t mean to let her opportunity go, even if she doesn’t understand the purposes of the mysterious creature at her side. But when she encounters thieves and misadventure, she realizes something bigger is underway.

I gasp out loud as I step through the door of the beautiful country hotel. My hands fly to my mouth in shock as I see the room is filled with my friends and family, my grown-up daughters and grandchildren at the center, gathered to celebrate my special birthday. Everyone raises their glasses to toast me. I should be enjoying the moment but I'm on edge and I can't relax. Who organized this surprise party? How did they know I was going to be here? Because I didn't come back to Burcott House to drink champagne and dance. Ten years ago, someone was murdered at this hotel.

Not long after receiving a devastating medical diagnosis, Amy Cooper is at the police station—reporting the disappearance of her husband, Callum. A few miles away, a mother and her children are outdoors enjoying a day in the snow when they discover a dead man in a ditch nearby. The mother calls the police, whose initial investigation indicates the body belongs to the missing husband, killed in a hit-and-run. But the autopsy results reveal to DI Samantha Freeman and DS Jenny Newcombe that the man didn’t die in a car accident.

Once upon a time Gabrielle Price wrote and published an extraordinary novel. But 20 years on her literary star has dimmed, her "work of genius" is all but forgotten, and no further novels have materialised. She now lives an unremarkable life: middle-aged, living alone in the sleepy village she grew up in, and working as a housekeeper for the local vicar. Her lonely existence is dominated by memories of her best friend Madeleine, who died young, in tragic and mysterious circumstances.

The biggest event in the Catholic calendar is a disaster in Zofia Turbotyńska’s household. Her maid, Karolina, has handed in her notice and worse, gone missing. When Karolina’s body is discovered, violated and stabbed, Zofia knows she has to investigate.

With the help of old associates Chief Inspector Jellicoe, the newly promoted Detective Inspector Wellbeloved, and Rufus Watts, Kit and Mary soon find themselves in the middle of a race against time before the murderer strikes again in a case where revenge is the motive and everyone is putting on an act. After the Indiana Jones-like adventure in The Tangier Tajine, Kit and Mary Aston return to a more traditional murder mystery set in the world of post-war variety theatre just before the arrival of moving pictures and radio sounded the death knell to this wonderful realm of entertainment.

We all encounter problems and challenges on a daily basis, ranging from small things—traffic, losing your keys, or running late—to much bigger issues—job insecurity, health issues, and relationship struggles. What should a believer in Christ do in the face of such adversities? Authors Lewis and Sarah Allen propose that while the world may teach us one way to approach challenges, there is a better way—complete dependence on Christ and pursuit of wise living.

Three months ago, Romy emerged from the cultivation tanks after a year floating inside. Body intact. Mind broken. Memory gone. Now she undergoes regular testing as doctors work to find out...well, she's not exactly sure what. The tests must have something to do with the reason she can't remember her knot - the single lucid memory the other insane soldiers on Orbito Four still possess. Whatever the researchers are searching for, if it aids the soldiers in the deathly war against the lethal alien invaders - the Critamal - the excruciating pain is worth it. But a grey-eyed man has other plans.

In the aftermath of an asteroid impact, Earth’s power grid is damaged nearly beyond recovery. The survival of our world may well depend on energy sources collected from an abandoned undersea settlement beneath the icy surface of Enceladus. Earth-raised Colonel Carter Rhodes, in charge of Earth’s recovery efforts, calls upon Gwen Baré, a Venusian engineer, to regain control of the deserted moon outpost and collect fuel for Earth’s collapsing power grids.

A young writer is brutally attacked in her home and left for dead. For her sister, Nina Bergmann, it's the beginning of a nightmare that will threaten to destroy her marriage, her job and ultimately her life. As she sets out to unravel the truth about what really happened to her sister, Nina comes face-to-face with inner demons she believed long since banished and discovers that her sister's past and that of the once-divided city are intertwined in unimaginable ways. The Wall may be gone, but its legacy still haunts Berlin.

All Elaine Westover ever wanted was to be left alone. A shy but brilliant artist, her only desire is to paint in peace, but when she is forced to accept a commission in order to save her family home, she must confront a client as villainous as he is rich. After a chilling encounter reveals his twisted ambitions, he imprisons her and threatens to destroy everything she loves unless she meets his demands.

Listeners will discover lost and forgotten women who wrote horror every bit as effectively as their male contemporaries. They will learn about their lives and careers, the challenges they faced as women working in a male-dominated field, the way they overcame those challenges, and the way they approached the genre - which was often subtler, more psychological, and more disturbing.

In this gothic, virtuoso debut collection, Mike McCormack dispenses nightmares both stylish and macabre. "A Is for Ax" offers alphabetized look at the killing of a parent, while the title story tracks a chilling sibling rivalry. Other works here offer multiple-quiz on the road to Calvary, a door-to-door saleswoman trafficking in strange and menacing feats, and a self-mutilating artist pushing himself to the limit. These sly and dangerous stories show us a young writer who was already a master of wicked formal play, and whose sly takes on life and death remain profoundly unsettling.

Princess Cordelia is used to being overshadowed by her many brothers and sisters. So when she's offered the chance to attend her brother's wedding in a faraway kingdom, she leaps at it. In Northhelm, she'll finally have the chance to stand out. And maybe, just maybe, she'll even find romance. But not everything in the Northhelmian court is as it appears. With her brother distracted by the wedding, only Ferdinand, the ugliest man at court, will listen to Cordelia's concerns.

Amsterdam, at the turn of the 18th century. For as long as she can remember, Dorothea Graff has lived in service to her mother, Maria Sibyilla Merian, one of the greatest naturalists in Europe. But as she collects insects and colours illustrations for Maria's world-famous publications, Dorothea longs for a life that is truly her own. When Maria becomes entranced by the plant and insect life of Suriname, she is determined to record it for herself, taking Dorothea with her. All the family's savings are ploughed into the dangerous expedition, but greatness is never achieved without sacrifice.

When Kit and Mary Aston visit the Newmarket stables of an old friend who is training a potential Derby winner, they stumble into a new case. The death of Teddy Harrison seems to be an open and shut case of suicide. Yet, the manner of his death raises suspicions as the two men who found him were rumored to be paramours to the dead man's wife. Kit meets an old detective sparring partner from his days at school in Cambridge. Together with Mary, they investigate one of the twistiest mysteries you will come across.

The quest for the work and a career that's right for you - that's fulfilling and that you enjoy - is a process of discovery. It involves learning about yourself and finding out about the wide range of work and careers available. And it involves finding out how best to access the work or career you're interested in. Whether you have no idea what work or career you want to do or there's too many options and you can't decide, Career Finder will help you discover what's right for you and how to go about achieving it.