Showing results by narrator "Melody Grove" in All Categories

Oxford, 1862: As Mary Prickett takes up her post as governess to the daughters of the dean of Christ Church, she is thrust into a strange new world. Mary is desperate for change, but there is a problem: Mary does not like children, especially the precocious Alice Liddell. When Mary meets Charles Dodgson, the Christ Church mathematics tutor, she is flattered by his attentions, and Mary begins to believe that she could be more than just a dowdy governess.

When 16-year-old K narrowly survives a bomb attack, she agrees to cross the line: to go under cover, befriending the radical young group held responsible. But it's hard making friends when you're lying. And what K discovers is far from black and white. Even enemies become real people - and one boy is special. Can she ever tell him who she really is? Can love unite them all?

The inhabitants of the Popcorn Islands lead a peaceful and comfortable existence - that is until pirates attack Captain Foster's ship on its way to America and steal half the popcorn harvest. So Lucy, Hermione and Sam offer to accompany the captain and his dog, Biscuit, on the next trip to keep a lookout for danger. But danger is exactly what they run into! Now the pirates aren't just after more popcorn...they want new recruits, too!

Venice, 1468. Sosia Simeon is a lover of many men in the fabled city, though married to one she despises. On the edge of the Grand Canal, Wendelin von Speyer sets up the first printing press in Venice and looks for the book that will make his fortune. When he publishes Catullus, the poet whose unrequited love inspired the most tender and erotic poems of antiquity, a scandal is set in motion that will change all their lives forever.

Meet Cassidy. With her embarrassing dad, pregnant mum, loser brother and knicker-chewing dog, she's almost invisible in her family. So she's hoping year seven is her time to shine, especially since a test proved she's Gifted & Talented. The only problem is she picked her answers at random. But surely the school wouldn't make a mistake about her genius.

My name is Hanna. I am 15. I am Latvian. I live with my mother and grandmother. My father is missing, taken by the Russians. I have a boyfriend, and I'm training to be a dancer. But none of that is important any more. Because the Nazis have arrived, and I am a Jew. And as far as they are concerned, that is all that matters. This is my story.

Oxford Street burned for three weeks; the Regent's Park camps have been bombed. Lalla, 16, has grown up sheltered from the new reality by her visionary father, Michael Paul. He has promised Lalla and her mother that they will escape. Escape on a ship big enough to save 500 people. Once onboard, as day follows identical day, Lalla's unease grows. Where are they going?

As a young child Eponine never knew kindness, except once from her family's kitchen slave, Cosette. When at sixteen the girls' paths cross again and their circumstances are reversed, Eponine must decide what that friendship is worth, even though they've both fallen for the same boy. In the end, Eponine will sacrifice everything to keep true love alive.

Peta Jones is an ordinary girl struggling with the loss of her father, an ex-army hero who died in mysterious circumstances. When she receives clues that he may still be alive, she embarks on a dangerous rescue across the Mediterranean to a clifftop castle, home to an exiled billionaire. Soon she discovers that what some people will do for money, Peta will do for love.

Shiv's younger brother, Declan, died while their family was on holiday in Greece. Shiv doesn't know how to live any more - she is tormented by guilt. Now she finds herself at the Korsakoff Clinic, undergoing a most unorthodox therapy, which is often painful. The clinic must help her find a way to live again. But first, they will make her face what really happened to her brother.

Cytherea has taken a position as lady's maid to the eccentric Miss Aldclyffe. On discovering that the man she loves is already engaged to his cousin, Cytherea comes under the influence of Miss Aldclyffe's fascinating, manipulative steward Manston. Desperate Remedies contains sensational ingredients of blackmail, murder and romance, but with its insight into psychology and sexuality it already bears the unmistakable imprint of Hardy’s future genius.

As a teenager, Rachel lived through the death of a friend and discovered that even the most enchanted of lives can be shattered. When faced with tragedy in her adult life, Rachel ought to turn to her husband for support; but instead they end up further apart than ever. Lonely and resentful, Rachel is drawn into a destructive affair. But betrayal comes at a high price....