Showing results by narrator "Katherine Press" in All Categories

Marinka dreams of a normal life, where her house stays in one place long enough for her to make friends. But her house has chicken legs and moves on without warning. For Marinka's grandmother is Baba Yaga, who guides spirits between this world and the next. Marinka longs to change her destiny and sets out to break free from her grandmother's footsteps, but her house has other ideas....

When Tartelin answers an ad for a personal assistant, she doesn't know what to expect from her new employer, Marianne, an eccentric elderly woman. Marianne lives on a remote island that her family has owned for generations, and for decades her only companions have been butterflies and tightly held memories of her family. But there are some memories Marianne would rather forget, such as when the island was commandeered by the British government during WWII.

Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2021. Found abandoned in a bear cave as a baby, 12-year-old Yanka has always felt out of place in her small village. When she wakes up to find that her legs have become bear legs, she sets off into the forest to discover who she is, on a journey that takes her from icy rivers to smouldering mountains, with an ever-growing group of misfits alongside her….

In 1946, Rosa Sweetman, a young Kindertransport girl, is longing for her family to claim her. The war in Europe is over and she is the only child left at Westwood, a rambling country estate in the north of England, where she'd taken refuge seven years earlier. The arrival of a friend of the family, Yara Fielding, starts an adventure that will take Rosa deep into the lush beauty of the Amazon rainforest in search of jaguars, ancient giant sloths and somewhere to belong.

Louise Lovett’s death was a tragedy. But questions still swirl about exactly what happened to Louise that day. Did she fall…or was she pushed? Helen Matthews’ donor heart saves her life. But as her new heart beats inside her, Helen feels the pull of its previous owner – despite what everyone is telling her, Helen is certain she has one final message to pass on. As the lives of Helen and Louise become ever more entangled, Helen’s obsession gets increasingly out of control. And the fragile new life she has built begins to fall apart.

Soulmates do exist... But will they find their way to each other? The year is 1954. In a small French museum, two people's lives are about to change forever. On a wintery night in December, fifteen-year old Zara meets Leon for the first time. As the power cuts out in the museum, Leon and Zara spend an hour in complete darkness, discussing their love for art, Monet and Paris. They both feel an instant connection but they have never seen each other in the light. They might not know what the other looks like but they know, their lives will never be the same.

Lainey has just lost everything. Luckily one little fib (OK, quite a big fib) helps nail her dream job. Soon she's living in a stunning house by the sea, fending off obsessed fans for a retired - if far-from-retiring - actor and organising his charming but chaotic family. Yes, everyone thinks she's part of a couple, and it's tricky keeping this secret. But at least she's not looking for love: with her disastrous relationship history, men are definitely off the agenda.

1952. In the fragile atmosphere of post-war Paris, Sophie Bernot is training as a heart surgeon. A young woman in a man's world, Sophie is determined to bury her past and forge her medical career, whatever the costs. Across the channel, Sebastian Ogilvie is burning with ambition for his first architectural project. As his schemes lead him to France, and to a chance encounter with Sophie, his future seems full of promise.

England, 1925. Louisa Drew lost her husband in the First World War and her six-year-old twin sons in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. Newly remarried to a war-traumatised husband and seven months pregnant, Louisa is asked by her employer to travel to Clewer Hall in Sussex where she is to photograph the contents of the house for auction. She learns Clewer Hall was host to an infamous séance in 1896, and that the lady of the house has asked those who gathered back then to come together once more to re-create the evening.

When journalist Laurie Forbes turns up on Beth Ashby's doorstep, minutes after Beth's husband, political high-flier Colin Ashby, has been arrested for murder, neither can even begin to guess the shocking repercussions that have just been triggered in both their lives. Beth attempts to escape from her shattered life by throwing herself into the kind of reckless high-living that seems destined for disaster, while Laurie finds herself being threatened, terrorised and even taken prisoner for what she knows.

When 13-year-old Olia steps through a magical doorway, she discovers another land. A land tangled by magic, where hope is lost and a scheming wizard holds all the power. Soon Olia learns that she is destined to save this land, but with time running out and her new friends and family in danger, she must search for the magic within herself—to save everything and everyone she loves.

When war is declared, Lily sees an opportunity to escape her domineering father: she will join the Great Western Railway factory to win her financial independence and move out of home. Maggie doesn’t want to simply follow in her sisters’ footsteps and work in the laundries at the GWR. So, when the chance comes to volunteer for men’s work in the machine shop, she’s the first to raise her hand. Catherine, a clerk in the GWR office, has been helping with London’s evacuation efforts, organising trains to move children out of the city.

Martha is a feisty and articulate young woman, the daughter of a wheelwright, living in a Herefordshire village in Elizabethan England. Unusually for the time she is educated and so helps at the local school whilst longing to escape the confines and small-mindedness of a community riven by religious bigotry and poverty. As she is able to read and is well-versed in herbal remedies she is suspected of being a witch. When a landslip occurs - opening up a huge chasm in the centre of the village - she is blamed for it and pursued remorselessly by the villagers.

Stuart Ingram was once a respected local councillor. The first time the police knocked on Gina's door, they arrested her husband. The second time, they accused him of child abuse. But he died a guilty man. This time, the police are here for Gina - to tell her that her husband is dead. Murdered, just two weeks before his trial. Gina always stood by her husband. Even when everyone else walked away. She believed the trial would clear his name. But now Stuart is dead. And his wife is the suspect.

One sunny day in July, someone took three-month-old Alicia Owen from her pram outside a supermarket. Her mother, Marie, was inside. No one saw who took Alicia. And no one could find her....

Veronica and Gabe met when they were children at ballet class, and by the time they’d reached their teens, they knew they’d be dancing together forever. Only Gabe’s mother had other ideas.... Twenty-something years later, Veronica no longer dances and life hasn’t turned out how she thought it would. She’s divorced with a needy ex-husband, monosyllabic teenage sons, a sister who fancies herself as a long in the tooth ‘it girl’ and a mother who’s recently moved into a care home.

When Tasha builds a snow girl with her grandpa, all she wants is for her to be real. If only wishes on snow could come true. Then Tasha meets Alyana, a friend made of wishes, starlight, snowfall, and magic. But when your best friend is made of winter, what do you do when spring comes?

Monty Bannerman's father is a leading genetic scientist and Nobel Prize winner whose company has just been taken over by what will soon be the world's biggest pharmaceutical giant. He had some misgivings about their company ethics - but ultimately, he needs their money, and they need his mind.

Amber, Lachlan and Raffaele met as teenagers in the seaside home of kind-hearted foster parents. Arriving in glorious Cornwall was the best thing that ever happened to them - and now, as adults, their bond is stronger than ever. But Amber has a secret. She's in love with Lachlan. She can't confess her feelings because that would never work. Restless Lachlan dates a lot and definitely isn't the settling-down type. Surely it's better to keep him as a friend than to risk losing him for good?

The perfect husband...After a difficult pregnancy, Esther is grateful that her forward-thinking husband, Robin, offers to put his career on hold so that she can return to the job she loves. The perfect father...Robin flourishes in his new role of stay-at-home parent, but Esther finds leaving her daughter behind to go to work more challenging than she'd thought, and soon the imbalance in their relationship brings old tensions to the surface. A perfect lie? Then one day Esther arrives home from work to find Robin and Riley are missing.