Showing results by narrator "Jane Macfarlane" in All Categories

When Janie Ryan is born, she is destined to be the latest in a long line of Aberdeen fishwives. Ahead of her lies a life filled with feckless men, filthy council flats, and bread & marge sandwiches. But Janie isn’t like the rest of them. She wants a different life. And Janie, born and bred for combat, is ready to fight for it.

For 10-year-old Morag, there's nothing magical about the cellar of her cruel foster parents' home. But that's where she meets Aldiss, a talking rat and his resourceful companion, Bertie the dodo. She jumps at the chance to run away and join them on their race against time to save their homeland from an evil warlock named Devilish, who is intent on destroying it. But first Bertie and Aldiss will need to stop bickering long enough to free the only guide who knows where to find Devilish.

Who is making badgers fight dogs for sport near Tilly's home? Do the new boy at school and his family have anything to do with it? Tilly and William are determined to find out.

Izzy has joined the Air Transport Auxiliary and can’t believe her luck. She’s getting to do the thing she loves most: flying. On the ground she is a woman who longs to be independent, but who is lying to her family about the job she does. But, in the thrill of the air, she can be free. Izzy’s heroine is her friend, Elspeth, who, on an impulse, signed on to do her bit as a lumber-jill and has been regretting it ever since.

They say everyone has a secret. For Grace Adams, her secret lies underground and was called Rose. She was nine years old when she died...Grace has lived in the same idyllic Scottish village for almost her entire life. It is the perfect place to raise a family.

While her mother regards the Locarno dancehall as a den of iniquity, for 17-year-old shop-girl, Nell McClusky, it’s the centre of the universe. Where else is she going to meet the man of her dreams who’ll take her away from the humdrum realities of life on a council estate in 1950s Edinburgh? At first Alistair Rutherford doesn’t look that promising. He dresses more like a student than Nell’s idol, Buddy Holly.

For 16-year-old Lizzie McDougall, life in Glasgow tenements comes as a culture shock after her sheltered upbringing in the Highlands. But for her father, who has just lost his job, Glasgow offers employment. It also enables Lizzie to work in a factory as a seamstress, and it opens her horizons to new friends as well. Especially Pearl, who introduces Lizzie to her boyfriend, Willie, and her cousin, the handsome, happy-go-lucky Jack. And Jack is a real bobby-dazzler.

Tilly and her mother are soon to be homeless. But they're not the only ones in need of a new home. When Tilly discovers that the wild goats are going to lose their land, too, she's determined to find a solution - for them both. But will Tilly be able to save the day? Or will she be too late?

Life in the Glasgow tenements was never easy, but life for Beth is becoming increasingly harsh. In wartime, everyone grabs what brief happiness they can and, in Beth's case, she finds herself drawn to Steve, a flying ace. Their relationship blossoms, but fate deals Beth a cruel hand when Steve is killed in action, leaving her pregnant.

Meet the world's most unusual undercover team. It can be tough working for HM Revenue & Customs, but DJ Smith has more than a little help from her trained sniffer cat, Gorgonzola, a moth-eaten Persian with gourmet tastes and a mind of her own. This first investigation finds DJ and Gorgonzola on the trail of a heroin smuggling ring operating in and around Edinburgh.