Showing results by narrator "Stanley McGeagh" in All Categories

Hugo has to choose who to stay with while his mum’s having a baby. Who will care for him and his dog Henry the best? Will it be Granny? Mrs Mariposa next door? Or Uncle Jack?

When Mr. Tipkins, a gift-giver from the Department of Wishes of Faerie, arrives to give a wish to a newborn baby in the village of Widdershins, he isn't in the best of moods. His uncharacteristic burst of bad temper begins a chain reaction that has consequences no one can foresee. The Truth About Magic is a story of mistakes and of deception, of wizards (good and bad), and of what happens when perfectly ordinary wishes go wrong.

His best-selling books are violent, terrifying, brilliantly written and have sold millions of copies around the world, but Stieg Larsson was not there to witness any of their international success.That his fame is entirely posthumous demonstrates the dizzying speed with which his star has risen. However, when one looks a little deeper at the man behind these phenomenal novels, it becomes clear that Larsson’s life would have been remembered as extraordinary, even if his Millennium trilogy had never been published.

Aristotle is a bold little cat who is always getting himself into danger. He lives with a good witch called Bella Donna who thinks he'll make a proper witch's cat one day – if he can live long enough. Like all cats, Aristotle has nine lives – and he needs every single one of them.

There's a thief on the loose in Tuptown, and the annual Butterfly Ball will be cancelled unless someone is brought to justice. Luckily Pigsticks has crime fighting in his blood and a magnifying glass in his hand. Will Detective Pigsticks and his keen-eyed assistant, Harold, solve the crime? And can they do it in time to save the Butterfly Ball?

Pigsticks and Harold set off on a journey to the Ends of the Earth armed only with a sense of adventure (Pigsticks'), common sense (Harold's), and a lot of cake. They pick their way through jungles, trek across deserts, and climb a huge mountain, but the Ends of the Earth are always just out of reach. When their last crumb of cake is stolen and it doesn't look like they'll ever make it home again, they finally find the Ends of the Earth - in the last place they'd ever think to look.

"Isn’t he e-nor-mous!" says the giant father when his first twin son is born. "There’s a-lot-uv-’im!" notes the giant mother when the second twin boy arrives. And as Normus (a vegetarian) and Lottavim (a carnivore) grow and grow, the two are hugely happy - playing Roll the Boulder, singing badly, and doing everything together: waking up, going to sleep, even sneezing. So when they reach the age of 20 and the height of 12 feet, it's not surprising that they each think the same thought at exactly the same time: "It's about time I found a wife!"

One small, yellowed photograph of a man on horseback. Old files from Stalin's time, mouldering in the Kremlin archives. An Israeli prime minister who seems determined to throw his people into further war. A trail of murder and terrorism across Australia, the Middle East and Europe.... Whoever holds the photograph holds the key to unlock many secrets - as Miriam Davis, a Sydney lawyer, and her journalist partner Paul Sinclair, discover when Miriam's grandfather is murdered. But what are the secrets? What does the photograph mean?

Derrick "Taffy" Rees was a 12-year-old Welsh boy when he saw a newspaper advertisement which offered children a free passage to Australia. So in 1938 Derrick set sail for Australia, with his mother's permission, and took along his two young sisters - aged eight and ten. Derrick "Taffy" Rees is now 75, and he tells his story in By Then I Was Thirteen.

In 1839, John Harrington voyages 12,000 miles from Ireland into the unknown to take up a sheep-run in the southern regions of Australia. From a distinguished family of Anglo-Irish aristocrats who have fallen on hard times, the youngest son has been sent to the remotest part of the world to make his fortune. For 20 years, Harrington prospers, but he is plagued by a sense of dislocation and loneliness in a hostile place. When he is joined by his drunken brother and married sister, tragedy and violence ensue.

Pigsticks and Harold travel through time in the fourth book of Alex Milway's hilarious series. When Pigsticks wants to win first prize at the Tuptown Science Fair, there's only one place to look for help - the future! But his rusty time machine is hard to control and soon Pigsticks and Harold are landing in trouble all throughout history. Will they make it home, or be lost in time...forever?

Pigsticks and Harold embark on a pirate adventure in the third book of the hilarious Pigsticks and Harold series.

Disaster strikes when Pigsticks' old enemy, Sir Percival Snout, turns up in Tuptown and claims the whole town belongs to him. Pigsticks and Harold need to raise a fortune to buy it back - and fast. Luckily, Pigsticks' great-great-grandpig was a pirate, and his buried treasure has never been found.

Bryn and his family have just moved to a new house by the lake. The area is beautiful, teeming with wildlife. But soon there are scars on the landscape where the houses are being built - bulldozers tear at the earth, the sound of machinery rends the air. Once again the Min Min stirs.... And this time it has chosen Bryn.

The parping pantpiper is on the rampage in Pete's classroom. This stinky little ickimal must be stopped and fast! Binko the alien and Pete are back in their second adventure, and this time it's a tale of killer wedgies, mouse sausages, and pants aplenty. The second in this super-fun series, at the heart of which is the friendship between a human boy and an alien child who share a passion for mischief and a talent for causing havoc.

John Ross is a heartbeat away from the American presidency. The darling of the Right, his meteoric rise to the top seems unstoppable...until FBI agents Stephanie Martin and Mark Elliott come across information connecting him to a shadowy group of right-wing extremists with links going back to the medieval Knights Templar and Richard I of England. As their investigation deepens, Stephanie and Mark reveal an association prepared to ally itself with organised crime, infiltrate secret services, and bolster right-wing religious and nationalist groups in its quest for power.

Pete Perkins is a normal little boy who loves nothing more than making mischief and pulling practical jokes. But when he wakes up one night to find a tiny green alien called Binko crawling out of his belly button, Pete finds himself caught up in a prank that’s gone all wrong - with cosmic consequences! Binko lives on the planet Pok, where his parents are Head Keepers at the Galactic Zoo. Unfortunately, while trying to play a trick on them, Binko manages to let loose a whole enclosure of Ickimals. These yucky creatures cause mess and mayhem wherever they go, and Binko has tracked them to Earth!

From the author of the best-selling Inspector Wallander Mysteries, this is the story of young Lucas, who gets a most precious present for his birthday: a black kitten that he calls Night. He becomes very attached to Night, but one day Lucas comes home from school and discovers that his beloved cat has disappeared. He is desperate, and no one is able to console him. He searches for Night everywhere and doesn't stop hoping for his return. It's only sometime later that Night appears in his dreams....

Piccolo Grande's ordered life has been turned upside down by his competition-crazy guardian angel. His fine old house has become an obstacle course of prizes that Great Aunt Annabelle has been winning at an alarming rate. Enough is enough! Piccolo devises a plan to give away, sell, or bank all the prizes. But little does he know that Annabelle's latest windfall, a bright pink motor scooter and sidecar, is about to lead them into a gang-load of trouble with a very wicked twist.

Furious about his banishment from Faerie, Rathalorn's one aim is to go back and wreak his revenge. To do this he needs something he no longer has: powerful magic. He finds what he is looking for in the Magical Twins, a pair of mysterious young fairground wizards. But with great power comes great danger.

Great Aunt Annabelle has passed her very messy inspection and can stay on as Piccolo's guardian angel - for now. But with a newfound passion for entering and winning competitions, will Annabelle be too busy to notice if Piccolo is in danger? When Annabelle wins a party, who is the beautiful but mysterious visitor who arrives unannounced in a sleek silver limousine - is she friend or foe, angel or otherwise? Only a disastrous party will reveal her secrets and Annabelle's curious past.