Showing results by narrator "Clare Clare" in All Categories

It’s 5 November, and a woman awakens to a nightmare. Bound and gagged, she lies trapped in the heart of a towering bonfire. As the smoke thickens, panic sets in–she’s moments away from being engulfed in flames. How did it come to this? Rewind eleven months: Margot, a faded TV star, and her long-suffering friend Anna watch as glamorous Liv and her flawless family move into their street. The three women soon fabricate the perfect pretence of friendship, but each harbours her own deadly secret–and newcomer Liv senses something is terribly wrong beneath the polished exteriors.

Is your husband so horrible that you’d ask your best friend to kill him? Penny: I know my husband has cheated on me. But I can’t believe what I just found in the bedside drawer. Are my children safe... ? Lisa: The first time he did it was on our wedding anniversary. He broke down in tears afterwards. That’s the thing about Simon. He’s always sorry... until the next time. Holly: My husband is useless. He just loafs around the house all day and spends my money. But now I think he’s done something far worse.

On a sullen, cloudy July day ten years since 7/7, the happy, confident and optimistic British Prime Minister is visiting a charity in East London. It's just two months after the general election which saw John Campbell's government returned to power with a clear majority, the economy is on the mend and the coalition is fast becoming a bad memory. Suddenly, a man appears out of the crowd and shoots him three times in the chest.

Marnie Blue returns for another exciting year at Lady Sealia Foam's Mermaid School! This time, Marnie and her friends are gearing up to compete in the Golden Glory Day competition - a series of events that includes a fishball tournament, an obstacle course and a seahorse race. In the past, the winner would receive the Golden Days Crown - but the crown went missing years ago, back when Marnie's aunt Christabel was still in school. But Marnie is determined to find the crown and swim to the rescue!

Fantasy, love and an exuberant celebration of English life and literature, Orlando is a uniquely entertaining story. Originally conceived by Virginia Woolf as a playful tribute to the family of her friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West, Orlando's central character, a fictional embodiment of Sackville-West, changes sex from a man to a woman and lives throughout the centuries, whilst meeting historical figures of English literature.

Despite his early death from tuberculosis at the age of 44, Chekhov was a prolific writer and produced more than 250 short stories in addition to several novellas and a novel. The Russian was also a practicing doctor. A celebrated playwright, Anton Chekhov is often recognised as an influential figure of early modernism of the theatre in addition to being held in high esteem by the likes of George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf, although much praise was not as forthcoming until after his death in 1904.

Brought to you by Penguin. Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide. When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-driving cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course. The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war...

It is Marnie Blue's very first day at Lady Sealia Foam’s Mermaid School, and she's terrified. What if she can't make any new friends, or if she's asked to ride a seahorse? What's more, her famous diva aunt Christabel was a notorious rebel at the same school, and got up to all sorts of naughtiness.

Flights, a novel about travel in the 21st century and human anatomy, is Olga Tokarczuk’s most ambitious to date. It interweaves travel narratives and reflections on travel with an in-depth exploration of the human body, broaching life, death, motion and migration. With her signature grace and insight, Olga Tokarczuk guides the reader beyond the surface layer of modernity and towards the core of the very nature of humankind.

Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a shocking message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC. Following the clue up into the eaves, the couple make a gruesome discovery: their home was once a real-life murder house, with the evidence still concealed within the four walls.

Shortlisted for the 2014 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Tsukiko is in her late 30s and living alone when one night she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, 'Sensei', in a bar. He is at least 30 years her senior, retired and, she presumes, a widower. After this initial encounter, the pair continue to meet occasionally to share food and drink sake, and as the seasons pass, Tsukiko and Sensei come to develop a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.

*The brand new thriller from Lucy Foley – THE MIDNIGHT FEAST – is available to buy now* *The No.1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller* Discover the electric murder mystery thriller from the No.1, million-copy bestseller, Lucy Foley ‘Dazzling’ The Times ‘Compelling, up-all-night...

Bookish Arabella Bromley never gave a fig for society's rules—until her sister ran off with a man below her station. Now Arabella is desperate to restore her family's ruined reputation to favor amongst the ton. She'll have to marry quickly and well. But in order to carry off her plan, Arabella needs a duke . . . and she has just the rakish fellow in mind.

The #1 New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her magnum opus—a landmark work of feminist nonfiction that radically redefines our understanding of the extraordinary roles ordinary women played throughout British history and “should be included in every history lesson”...

Even beauty has a dark side! It's a stunning summer evening in the Lake District. The day has been hot and long, and tourists are only just leaving Rydal Water. One solitary rowing boat remains; face-down in the reeds. Underneath is the body of a young woman. DI Kelly Porter heads to the scene...

If you were going to do Just One Thing to transform your health, what would it be? Based on the popular BBC podcast presented by Dr Michael Mosley, the team behind Just One Thing bring you a second volume of 40 brand-new simple tips that could transform your life. Easy to implement, road-tested...

They've both been burned by love before, but will they take a second chance? A year on from the demise of an unhappy marriage, Kate Stretton grabs the opportunity to move to the other end of the country and start afresh in Cornwall with her teenage daughter, Mollie. Unused to the slower pace of...

Fate may have brought them together, but secrets seem destined to keep them apart... An accident and a lost passport mean Gemma's six-month sabbatical to go travelling is not off to a strong start. She heads to Polkerran Point to stay at her aunt’s while her new passport is processed and to...

When Aunt Meg leaves her cottage to Anna Redding in her will, Anna immediately packs up and heads to Polkerran, the Cornish fishing village where she was so happy as a child. With ambitions to turn the cottage into a B&B, a job working for the enigmatic historian, Oliver Seymour, and the return...

Can fake dating turn into something more with a baby on the way? High-flying exec Lauren Kirkham is having a bad week. Unexpectedly pregnant, out of work and – when dumped by her boyfriend – with nowhere to live. She needs a respite, and so goes to visit her friend Anna in Polkerran for a...