Showing results by narrator "Shakira Shute" in All Categories

This compulsive novel wrestles with vital questions of our time: sentience, purpose, life, death, and how to make a really good commercial. Told entirely through questionably obtained company emails, chat transcripts, TED Talks, training sessions, and more, this all-too-probable future pits emotionally intelligent AI against emotionally stunted humans.

Ten-year-old Agata’s world is shaken at the sudden death of her mother. Left only with her egregious father, a working musician in Venice, her ailing grandmother sends her to the well-known orphanage, hidden from everything she’s ever known. Agata auditions for the conservatory style music school where music is both salvation and spectacle.

A REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK, THE PERFECT READ FOR SPRING 2026. 'A deliciously messy peek behind the crown: scandal, heartbreak, treachery' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Everything I love in a holiday read' REESE WITHERSPOON 'A backstage pass to all the royal secrets' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Smart, juicy and...

Everyone said a change of scenery would help after my divorce. That's how I found my perfect little cottage on Willow Lane, in the postcard-pretty Norfolk village of Blakeney. Twenty years ago, three teenagers went into the woods. One was found dead. One vanished without a trace. Hope was the only one who came home. I didn't plan to get close to her. I was new to Willow Lane. And we both seemed to need a friend.

This Very Short Introduction looks at Pakistan as one of the two nation-states of the Indian subcontinent that emerged in 1947. Pippa Virdee reaches into the ancient past to demonstrate the influence of trajectories of human settlement and civilization on Pakistan's contemporary political arena, and shows how the longer continuities between the land and its peoples are as important as the short-term changes in the political landscape. She considers Pakistan's religion and society, the state and the military, everyday life, popular culture, languages and literature.

When Violet Ayaz and Isaac Evans discover they share a birthday, they don't expect it to lead to a friendship, let alone a relationship. Five years of secret birthday meetings and stolen moments pass, and the two realize they can't deny their feelings any longer. But when Isaac doesn't turn up on their seventeenth birthday and the two break up, Violet is left heartbroken and all of their plans for the future disappear. Isaac attempts to reconnect all summer break, but as their last year of school begins, Violet refuses to listen.

In a world where not everyone believes in God, "blasphemy" is surely a concept that has passed its use-by-date. And yet blasphemy (like God and religion) seems to be on the rise. In this Very Short Introduction Yvonne Sherwood asks why this should be the case, looking at factors such as the increased visibility of religious and racial minorities, new media, and engines of surveillance (which are far more omniscient than the old gods could ever be), and the legacies of colonial blasphemy laws.

Jamie is proud of everything he’s achieved. A consultant anesthetist and the medical education director - he’s a pretty big deal. So when one of his medical students falls asleep, right in the middle of a tutorial, he is furious. He’s a bloody good teacher, damn it! Maybe he could have been a little more understanding. Maybe he didn’t have to try to humiliate her. But the shock of how beautiful this particular student was when she finally opened her eyes, and his inappropriate reaction, only fueled his anger.

Mead House was once our childhood home. Despite my fears, I always knew we would have to return to face the demons of our past. Back to the place where it happened, to where, as carefree teenagers, we lost our elder sister in the most brutal of circumstances. As executors of our grandmother’s will, my twin brother, Ollie, and I needed to empty the house for resale. What I didn’t expect to discover was my sister’s secret journal that contained her most private thoughts and shocking dark secrets.

When Ellie and Ash move into a beautiful old house in rural Norfolk, England, they believe they’ve found their perfect home. Intrigued by the people next door, Ellie befriends shy but sweet Benjamin and, as time goes by, becomes ever more curious about his elusive sister, Virginia.

When Bella stumbles upon her dead sister’s diary, she sets out on a mission to find her sister’s killer, but it leads her to the wrong side of town. And right into the path of Rocco, a loner, a bad boy, who is determined to keep her away. After all, you protect your own, and Bella certainly doesn’t belong with the likes of him. But it’s hard to move on when you’re chained to the past, and Bella is intent on getting justice for her sister…even if it’s at the cost of her own life.

In Wisteria, the very act of innovation is forbidden. Any creation—art, music, engineering—conjures a demon from the other side. The greater the innovation, the more dangerous the demon. This has never stopped Aurelie from inventing—but it has made it more difficult. Her inventions are...

Mr. Solomon Drydale and his team are reeling. After only a single act of mayhem by underworld lord Apothecary Jack, one of their group is down and another is missing. Desperate, Sol acts on his forbidden knowledge of an agent for the Crown who is known only to the highest levels of government—le petit prince, master of disguises. He defies his superiors and asks the Prince for help.

Unmarried after four Seasons of towering over her dance partners, Miss Phoebe Sauber learns she will be cast out of her home when her father remarries. Feeling betrayed by her father and God, she misfires an arrow at an archery tournament. But the arrow pierces a paper held by Mr. Michael Coulton-Jones. And strangely, the symbol drawn on the page is eerily familiar to her.

After being thoroughly snubbed in the marriage mart for her pert opinions and mixed heritage (too English for India, too Indian for England—utterly exhausting), Grace has made peace with spinsterhood. Who needs a husband when you have books, tea, and the satisfaction of minding your own business? Except—plot twist—her ancestral home is suddenly snatched away by a frail but wily old Duke (who probably has one foot in the grave and the other on a dance floor). Worse still, his delightfully evil steward storms in, hiking up rents, threatening tenants, and spreading fear.

The Future of Another Timeline meets The Bone Clocks in this dazzling piece of time-travel climate fiction. Recruited by the mysterious Project Kairos to change history and save the future from ecological disaster, Echo and Hazel are transported through time to opposite worlds. Echo works as a...

Bloomsbury presents The Dark Fable by Katherine Harbour, read by Shakira Shute. Magical heists. Deadly secrets. Come along for the ride . . . if you dare. This heart-stopping, seductive fantasy is perfect for fans of Six of Crows. Evie Wilder is an orphan who has gone through most of her life...

CHRISTY AWARD FINALIST ECPA CHRISTIAN BOOK AWARD FINALIST READ WITH JENNA JR. SUMMER READING PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY In the start of a richly woven fantasy series for young readers in the grand tradition of The Chronicles of Narnia, a mysterious manor house hides the keys to shocking...

Nadia Morgan has everything she ever wanted: a nice house, three wonderful children, and a loving husband. Even running two businesses only adds to her feelings of accomplishment. But she also has a dark secret. Something happened twenty years ago that she's been trying to forget about ever since. Some things can't be left in the past… A phone call from an old acquaintance sets off a series of terrible events that lead to tragic consequences for those involved and has Nadia questioning her sanity.

A dark secret. A deadly obsession. No place to hide. Max Hunter, my boyfriend, booked the beautiful boat house on the Norfolk Broads as a surprise autumn break. A week away to heal after a fraught few months following my father’s death. A chance to put the lies and secrets behind us and to start afresh. But in the silence it feels like someone is out there. Watching, waiting and taunting me.