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Find out moreBrowse audiobooks narrated by Helen Lloyd, listen to samples and when you're ready head over to Audiobooks.com where you can get 3 FREE audiobooks on us
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man
The Sin Eater
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Be
Near Dark: A Thriller
Coming Home to Island House
Outsider: A Novel of Suspense
What You Wish For: A Novel
The Alchemist
Relationship Goals: How to Win at Dating, Marriage, and Sex
Tempt Me
Herbert George Wells was one of the most prolific and visionary British writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. H. G. Wells, as he is universally known, is now best remembered for his science fiction novels, although he wrote across many genres, including nonfiction. His fiction embraces history, science fiction, horror, satire, fantasy, and social commentary. Wells was also a futurist, foreseeing air travel, tanks (as in “The Land Ironclads”—part of this anthology) space travel, nuclear weapons, and even satellite television. Amongst his writings are dozens of short stories; some are very well known, others less so. When planning this collection, Raconteurs sought stories that we enjoyed ourselves and which embody the range of H. G. Wells’s imagination and talent. This collection of thirteen short stories includes gothic horror, fantasy, ghost stories, science fiction, satire, and stories of domestic and social commentary. It is a collection that we hope will intrigue and entertain you—and leave you wanting to hear more. H. G. Wells’s Short Stories - Volume One is produced by Raconteurs in partnership with Spoken Realms and includes: “The Magic Shop” – read by James Gillies“The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes” – read by Nigel Patterson“The Door in the Wall” – read by Greg Wagland“The Man Who Could Work Miracles” – read by Malk Williams“The Story of the Late Mr Elvesham” – read by Tim Bruce“The Diamond Maker” – read by Liam Gerrard“Miss Winchelsea’s Heart” – read by Helen Lloyd“A Moonlight Fable” – read by James Gillies“The Red Room” – read by Nigel Patterson“The Star” – read by Greg Wagland“The Land Ironclads” – read by Malk Williams“The Jilting of Jane” – read by Tim Bruce“The Cone” – read by Liam Gerrard
Show moreFrom the world-renowned authority and internationally bestselling author of The Highly Sensitive Person, comes an indispensable guide for the significant number of parents who are unusually attuned to their children. The Highly Sensitive Parent is the only book of its kind, written specifically for parents who think deeply about every issue affecting their kids, experiencing strong emotions as a result, and face unique stressors that do not impact parents without high sensitivity. Parenting is the most valuable and rewarding job in the world, and also one of the most challenging. This is especially true for highly sensitive people. The good news is that sensitivity can also be a parent’s most valuable asset, leading to increased personal joy and a closer, happier relationship with their child. Dr Elaine Aron, world-renowned author of the classic The Highly Sensitive Person and other bestselling books on the trait of high sensitivity, has written an indispensable guide for these parents. Drawing on extensive research and her own experience, she helps highly sensitive parents identify and address the implications of their heightened sensitivity, offering: • A self-examination test to help parents identify their level of sensitivity • Tools to cope with over-stimulation • Advice on dealing with the negative feelings that can surround parenting • Ways to manage the increased social stimulation and interaction that comes with having a child • Techniques to deal with shyness around other parents • Insight into the five big problems that face highly sensitive parents in relationships – and how to work through them Highly sensitive people have the potential to be not just good parents but great ones. Practical yet warm and positive, this groundbreaking guide will show parents how to build confidence, awareness, and essential coping skills so that they – and their child – can thrive on every stage of the parenting journey.
Show moreA darkly luminous new anthology collecting the most terrifying horror stories by renowned female authors, presenting anew these forgotten classics to the modern reader Readers are well aware that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein; few know how many other tales of terror she created. In addition to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote some surprisingly effective horror stories. The year after Little Women appeared, Louisa May Alcott published one of the first mummy tales. These ladies weren’t alone. From the earliest days of gothic and horror fiction, women were exploring the frontiers of fear, dreaming dark dreams that will still keep you up at night. More Deadly than the Male includes unexpected horror tales by Louisa May Alcott and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and forgotten writers like Mary Cholmondely and Charlotte Riddell, whose work deserves a modern audience. Listeners will be drawn in by the familiar names and intrigued by their rare stories. In The Beckside Boggle, Alice Rea brings a common piece of English folklore to hair-raising life, while Helene Blavatsky, best known as the founder of the spiritualist Theosophical Society, conjures up a solid and satisfying ghost story in The Cave of the Echoes. Edith Wharton’s great novel The Age of Innocence won her the Pulitzer prize, yet her horror stories are known only to a comparative few. 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.
Show moreThey were the unsung heroines of World War II; the wives and mothers and teenage girls who clocked in daily to work in vast munitions factories, helping to make explosives, bullets, shells, bombs and war machines that would ensure victory. It was dangerous, dirty and exhausting work. They worked round the clock, often exposed to toxic, lethal chemicals. A factory accident could mean blindness, loss of limb - or worse. Many went home with acid burns, yellow skin or damaged hair, others were forced to leave their loved ones and move to live with strangers in unfamiliar surroundings. Frequently, their male bosses were coarse and unsympathetic. Yet this hidden army of nearly two million women toiled on regardless through the hardest years of the war, cheerfully ignoring the dangers and the exhaustion, as bombing, rationing and the heartbreak of loss or separation took their toll on everyone in the country. Here, in their own words, are the vivid wartime memories of the 'secret army' of female munitions workers, whose resilience and sheer grit in the face of danger has only started to emerge.
Show moreThe new sharp, irreverent and hilarious book from Sarah Long. If you love Dawn French, Sue Townsend and Veronica Henry, this book is for you! When Nicola's husband, Dominic, retires they decide not to spend their days finding hobbies to fill the time until Countdown is on. Instead, they fulfil their life-long fantasy of buying a country house and filling it with their dearest friends. Reliving their youth and spending their children's inheritance. Joined by seven of their friends they club together to invest in a château in Normandy. Group dinners, fine wine, beautiful scenery - they're living the dream! But la vie en rose is harder than it first appears. Is there a reason why only teenagers take gap years?
Show more#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens brings you the delights of a long-ago country-village Christmas, featuring a grandmother, her grandchildren, an artifact hunter, the lady who catches his eye, and three ancient coins that draw them all together in a Christmas treasure hunt. Therese, Lady Osbaldestone, and her household again welcome her younger daughter's children, Jamie, George, and Lottie, plus their cousins Melissa and Mandy, all of whom have insisted on spending the three weeks prior to Christmas at Therese's house, Hartington Manor, in the village of Little Moseley. The children are looking forward to the village's traditional events, and this year, Therese has arranged a new distraction-the plum puddings she and her staff are making for the entire village. But while cleaning the coins donated as the puddings' good-luck tokens, the children discover that three aren't coins of the realm. When consulted, Reverend Colebatch summons a friend, an archaeological scholar from Oxford, who confirms the coins are Roman, raising the possibility of a Roman treasure buried somewhere near. Unfortunately, Professor Webster is facing a deadline and cannot assist in the search, but along with his niece Honor, he will stay in the village, writing, remaining available for consultation should the children and their helpers uncover more treasure. It soon becomes clear that discovering the source of the coins-or even which villager donated them-isn't a straightforward matter. Then the children come across a personable gentleman who knows a great deal about Roman antiquities. He introduces himself as Callum Harris, and they agree to allow him to help, and he gets their search back on track. But while the manor five, assisted by the gentlemen from Fulsom Hall, scour the village for who had the coins and search the countryside for signs of excavation and Harris combs through the village's country-house libraries, amassing evidence of a Roman compound somewhere near, the site from which the coins actually came remains a frustrating mystery. Then Therese recognizes Harris, who is more than he's pretending to be. She also notes the romance burgeoning between Harris and Honor Webster, and given the girl doesn't know Harris's full name, let alone his fraught relationship with her uncle, Therese steps in. But while she can engineer a successful resolution to one romance-of-the-season, as well as a reconciliation long overdue, another romance that strikes much closer to home is beyond her ability to manipulate. Meanwhile, the search for the source of the coins goes on, but time is running out. Will Therese's grandchildren and their Fulsom Hall helpers locate the Roman merchant's villa Harris is sure lies near before they all must leave the village for Christmas with their families?
Show moreExit Wounds is a thrilling anthology of crime stories written by masters of the genre, including Dean Koontz, Val McDermid, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Elly Griffiths, Dennis Lehane, Joe R. Lansdale, and others. After an introduction by the editors, Paul B. Kane and Marie O'Regan, this collection includes the following stories: "The Bully" by Jeffery Deaver"Dead Weight" by Fiona Cummins"Like a Glass Jaw" by Mark Billingham"On The Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier" by John Connolly"The Pitcher" by Sarah Hilary"Disciplined" by Martyn Waites"The Consumers" by Dennis Lehane"Voices through the Wall" by Alex Gray"Wet with Rain" by Lee Child"Happy Holidays" by Val McDermid"Fool You Twice" by Steph Broadribb"Lebensraum" by Christopher Fowler"Dancing towards the Blade" by Mark Billingham"Kittens" by Dean Koontz"Take My Hand" by A. K. Benedict"Dressed to Kill" by James Oswald"Booty and the Beast" by Joe R. Lansdale"The New Lad" by Paul Finch"The Recipe" by Louise Jensen
Show moreA decomposing body ... a severed head in a closet ... a macabre meeting with "Mother"-mystery writer Lorinda Lucas tosses yet another paperback in the trash, appalled at the gruesome direction of today's crime fiction. She's even more disturbed at the half-starved state of Roscoe, the cat next door. Before Lorinda left for her latest book tour, Roscoe was as plump and pampered as her own two felines, Had-I and But-Known. It only takes a modicum of sleuthing to find out that in Lorinda's absence Roscoe's owner, Macho Magee, has acquired a new girlfriend-a harridan who has put the gentle Macho and his pet on a strict diet. And that's only the first disturbing news in Brimful Coffers, the once-quiet village that now includes a writer's colony. Lorinda soon discovers that a hit-and-run has ended a child's life, professional jealousy has taken a deadly twist, and murder is just around the catty-corner ...
Show moreFor years, Abigail Linton devoted herself to caring for her parents and her siblings' children. Now, eager to create a life of her own, Abby seizes upon a position as a governess on a neighboring estate. Unfortunately, her absentee employer is Maxwell Bryce, the Duke of Rothwell, the notorious rake who once broke her youthful heart. But since he hasn't set foot on his estate for fifteen years, Abby assumes she'll never have to lay eyes on him ever again. Then, from out of nowhere, Max appears. He is stunned to come face-to-face with the girl he fell for years ago-before he went away and she stopped writing to him...even though Abby swears that he is the one who left her without a word. Could it be that this spirited, witty spinster has won Max's heart all over again-and that they may have a second chance at love?
Show moreThe year was 1935: the twilight of the English aristocracy. It was a time of wealth and glamour; of lavish balls and evening gowns; of tiaras and a coronation. As personal maid to Lady Coventry, Hilda Newman had a unique insight into the leisured life of one of Britain's most noble families. In her fascinating memoir of life upstairs and down, Hilda takes us back to this period between the wars; a gilded era which would soon be dramatically changed by the Second World War. Transplanted from a tiny house with no bath or hot water to an eighteenth-century Neo-Palladian mansion, Hilda's life changed beyond recognition. But in a time when the very foundations of British society were being shaken to their core, the luxurious life of the country nobility couldn't last. The Second World War brought more turbulence with it, and Croome Court, where Hilda had lived and worked, became a haven for the Dutch Royal Family fleeing Nazi occupation, whilst also home to a top-secret RAF base. The lavish banquets and decadent parties had become a thing of the past. Hilda's story takes us back to a bygone era, showing us what life was really like in England's classic country manors of old - and uncovers the real lives of the people who occupied them, from wealthy lord to lowly servant.
Show morePenguin presents the audibook edition of The Wartime Midwives written by Daisy Styles, read by Helen Lloyd. 1939. Mary Vale, a grand and imposing Mother and Baby Home, sits on the remote Fylde coast in Lancashire. Its doors are open to unmarried women who come to hide their condition and find sanctuary. Women from all walks of life pass through Mary Vale, from beautiful waitress Emily, whose boyfriend has vanished without trace, to young Isla, cast out by her wealthy family after her first year at university goes horribly wrong. Awaiting them is Nurse Ada and Sister Anne who work tirelessly to aid the mothers and safely deliver the babies. But the unforgiving Matron and Head of Governors, Captain Percival, have other, more sinister, ideas. As war looms the women at Mary Vale must pull together for the sake of themselves and their babies and Ada and Anne must help protect their patients, no matter what the cost. Praise for Daisy Styles 'This book brought home wonderfully the vivid camaraderie wartime women shared and their immense sacrifices on the Home Front. Well done Daisy for creating characters that are real women in the best sense. Funny, scheming, loyal and witty, but about all, hardworking and proud. An absolute joy to read' Kate Thompson, bestselling author of Secrets of the Singer Girls 'Feisty young women, a country house in wartime and a scheming aristocrat - all ingredients for a cracking story with truly endearing characters' Annie Murray, bestselling author of Now The War Is Over
Show more'I devoured Hello, My Name is May...May is a brilliant character. Spiky and very funny, and the setting of the care home is superbly realised...a masterful feat of storytelling' Tim Pears, author of The West Country trilogy They wrote it on the wall above my bed. Hello, it said, my name is May. Please talk to me. May has been moved to a care home after her stroke. She can't communicate, all her words are kept inside. If she tries to point, her arms swing in wild directions, if she tries to talk, strange noises come out of her mouth. May is sharp, quick, and funny, but only her daughter Jenny sees this, and Jackie, a new friend at the home who cares enough to look and listen closely. When May discovers that someone very familiar, from long ago, is living in the room opposite hers she is haunted by scenes from her earlier life, when she was a prisoner of her husband's unpredictable rages. Bill, the man in the opposite room seems so much like her husband, though almost a lifetime has passed, and May's eyesight isn't what it was. As Bill charms his way through the nursing home, he focuses his romantic attention on Jackie, while all May can do is watch. She is determined to protect Jackie and keep herself safe, but what can she do in her vulnerable, silent state? * * * * * Readers highly recommend Hello, My Name is May: 'A masterpiece of tension . . . An expert exploration of ageing, and mental health, and what happens to our faculties as we get older . . . Highly recommended' 'A lovely book and one I found hard to put down . . . a recommended read' 'I dived in without knowing much about the story and I ended up loving it. It was one the best reads' 'I wasn't able to put it down once I started it and I certainly wasn't expecting the ending. I shall be recommending this book'
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