Showing results by narrator "Charlie Sanderson" in All Categories

Helping animals, having fun! The best-selling Animal Ark series has been reimagined for a new generation of children and collated in this beautiful collection featuring titles one through four!

Warwickshire, 1910. Pious young Grace Kettle escapes the world of her unsavoury and bullying father to train to be a nun. But when she meets the dashing and devout Father Luke her world is turned upside down. Her faith is tested, and she is driven to make a scandalous and life-changing choice - one she may well spend the rest of her days seeking forgiveness for.

The plan is simple: hop in her reliable camper van and cross the Channel, headed for a rendezvous with her best friend in Amsterdam. But when Verity stumbles across a decades-old postcard while preparing her cottage for its temporary tenants, her life takes an unexpected turn, and she finds herself on a ferry to Puffin Island instead. Verity’s childhood was filled with tales of adventures set on the picturesque island, but she’d always thought her beloved granny had made it all up. Now, knowing the stories and the setting were real, Verity is determined to find the postcard’s sender.

Amelia is starring as Dorothy in her school production of The Wizard of Oz, and her friend Sam's puppy, Mac, is playing Toto; Amelia and Sam are helping out at Animal Ark when twin sisters come into the surgery with their pet hamster; a shy boy at Amelia and Sam's school is using his pet guinea pig to help him make friends - by taking his pet to school; and when Amelia and Sam start taking riding lessons, they meet a homeless rescue pony named Ginger and a big horse named Walnut who keeps throwing off his riders.

Welcome to Twinkleland Kingdom, where everything is 100 percent perfect. Except Princess Pea - she loves getting muddy and having fun, and she's not keen on choosing her own perfect unicorn at the Royal Unicorn Parade. Until the final unicorn turns out to be a podgy, pongy, proud, magic-horned...pig? And so the adventures of Princess Pea and Unipiggle begin!

Thirteen-year-old Clementine Merlyn lives with her mom, her aunts, and her cousin Mirabelle at Number 15 Pendragon Road. The Merlyns are a family of witches, but because of an ancient falling out with the other branch of the family, the Morgans, they only have powers for a single month of the year: October. And this October may be the one that Clemmie gets her magic. It should be exciting, except that magic is the reason that Mirabelle never talks to her anymore, Aunt Flissie leaves at the end of every September and doesn't come back until November, and Aunt Temmie...well, is long gone.

At Treetops Foundling Home in Victorian Nuneaton, one special little girl brings sunshine and joy wherever she goes. A favourite of her foster mother, Kitty grows into a beguiling young woman but soon attracts the attention of more than one suitor with questionable intentions. She quickly discovers that her beauty is no protection against the peril she finds herself in, as this innocent young girl makes her way in the music halls and theatres of the big city....

Ten-year-old Jack Larkin has seen more than his fair share of shocking sights, growing up in the notorious Crown Saloon. Broken hearts and broken bones are just a fact of life in a Gin Palace, but for orphan Dolly, the Crown is her last hope. After the death of her mother, Dolly ran away from her sleazy stepfather, Arthur, only to find herself living on the streets. When Jack discovers her hiding in the back yard of the Crown, he persuades his mother, Nellie Larkin, to take Dolly in.

Warwickshire, 1875 Emerald Pritchard has lived a privileged life with her parents and her younger sister, Abigail, in the stately Astley House on the outskirts of Nuneaton. But all that suddenly changes when her father disappears leaving the family in debt. They are forced to throw themselves on the mercy of Emerald's uncle who begrudgingly allows them to live in a small cottage within the grounds of his farm.

Adam and Polly Fitch face a bleak future after being sold for just five shillings to Miss Reed's orphanage by their bullying father. But the orphanage does have one advantage - a merry band of children who soon form their own kind of family - and they're all determined to escape the clutches of the wicked Miss Reed. Can Adam, Polly and their band of friends survive life with only each other to rely on?

Unipiggle and Princess Pea are so excited to be on holiday! They can't wait to build sandcastles and explore the magical underwater town, Mermaid Springs. But then the king is swept away in a whirlpool. The mermaids think he has been taken by a mysterious undersea creature...who likes to burp a lot. Can Unipiggle and Princess Pea brave the bubbles to find his secret lair and save the king?

Lily Moon, the local miner's daughter, spends her days as a parlour maid for Lord and Lady Bellingham at Oakley Manor, on the outskirts of Nuneaton. She's always been happy with her lot in life, and never expected more. But one day, everything changes when she temporarily becomes lady's maid to the Bellingham's daughter, Arabella, who is pregnant with the illegitimate child of her lover, and about to be unhappily married off to a man double her age.

Verity Lockwood despises life at Far View House, where her father and mill owner, Jebediah Lockwood, drowns his fortune—and his wits—in drink. With debts mounting, whispers spread—how much longer can Lockwood’s Mill survive? The dark and dirty mills of Yorkshire are no place for a gently bred young woman, but when Verity learns that her father’s ruin threatens not only her home but the livelihoods of the workers who depend on it, she refuses to stand idly by.

Young reporter-in-training Kate and her mouse-accomplice Rupert are on board a train, to visit Kate's mum in the Arctic. But as soon as the train departs, mysterious things start happening. A packet of ginger nuts goes missing. A collection of gymnastics trophies are stolen. And some ancient scrolls disappear. Fellow passenger Madame Maude seems the most likely culprit, until a surprising—and delicious—twist turns the whole investigation on its head.

Jack Hartwell never imagined his latest undercover mission would kick off with a storm – or lead him straight into the heart The Story Shop, a quaint bookshop on Puffin Island. Seeking refuge, he stumbles into Amelia Brown’s enchanting world of books, puffins, and an eccentric group of book club regulars. So when the enigmatic Amelia challenges Jack to read a mysterious novel The Temptation Bucket List – and to complete its challenges with her – he can’t resist.

Nuneaton, 1880. Twenty year old Daisy Armstrong lives a happy life with her loving father, Jed. They have a special bond, particularly after losing her beloved Irish mother and younger brother. But when Jed falls in love with a local widow, everything is set to change for them both. With expensive tastes and a lavish lifestyle, moving into Daisy and Jed's humble forge is not what the widow or her spoiled son, Gilbert, expected - and they make that very clear. Worked to the bone trying to look after their busy home, Daisy is exhausted.

It's every bride's worst nightmare, to be left standing at the altar. But that's what happens to Gemma on her wedding day. Her fiancé, Finn, isn't there when she arrives at the church. Everyone thinks Gemma has been jilted. Snippets of gossip circulate among their guests. They'd seemed like the perfect couple. They were so ideally matched. It just shows, you never can tell, can you? But Gemma is certain Finn would never have done this to her. So where is he?

This highly revelatory book, based on original research and completely new analysis, presents a compelling new suspect as the most notorious serial killer of all time. Using a different analytical approach, for the first time, Sarah Bax Horton identifies a named perpetrator as Jack the Ripper by linking eye-witness accounts of the killer's distinctive physical characteristics to his official medical records. It argues that his broken left arm, which left him unable to work in early 1888, was one of his triggers to kill as part of a serious physical and mental decline caused by severe epilepsy.

'There's an empty notebook lying on the table in the moonlight. It's been there for an age. I keep on saying that I'll write a journal. So I'll start right here, right now. I open the book and write the very first words: My name is Mina and I love the night. Then what shall I write? I can't just write that this happened then this happened then this happened to boring infinitum. I'll let my journal grow just like the mind does, just like a tree or a beast does, just like life does. Why should a book tell a tale in a dull straight line?'

Nine and her friends are headed to the mortal realm in search of the only thing that will shake a very tricky witch off their tail: a priceless stargold locket. It lies hidden in the Nest of a Thousand Treasures, guarded by Nine's old foe – the formidable gangmaster of all the thieflings in London. Even if Nine can get her hands on the locket, the friends must find a way to release its power – and for that they must travel through the World Between Worlds to the lighthouse on the Isle of Illusion, where nothing is quite as it seems…