Showing results by narrator "Colleen Prendergast" in All Categories

Molly McKenzie is only eleven years old when her abusive father beats her to within an inch of her life. Escaping from the hovel she calls home, Molly is found by kind fisherfolk, sick and near death. With them she experiences the love of a family for the first time and, even though life is hard, she is content. Time passes and Molly’s looking ahead to a future with the boy she loves, but then a terrible tragedy rips her life apart. Once again she’s cast adrift in an uncaring world, but Molly is made of stern stuff and is determined to survive.

When the body of Oscar Lomas, an experienced hiker, is found at the bottom of a remote cliff in the Peak District of England called Cloud Drop, all the signs—including the "Sorry" note he left behind for his wife, Beth—point to suicide. Plans for the funeral begin, but Beth cannot accept that her husband took his own life. As she sets out to discover what really happened, Beth soon realizes that the safe, protected life she thought she had was nothing of the sort, and that Oscar had kept many secrets from her—secrets that involve even close family and old friends.

Welcome to The Estate - where even the darkest times have their lighter moments.... Cath Mason has learned to be tough. The things she's seen growing up on the Mitchell Estate, she's had to be. Yet, even broken and beaten by life at times, she's still the first person a woman in need of help seeks out. At Cath's house, there is safety in numbers as well as a place to hide. No matter what trouble comes to her door, she won't turn anyone away - because she knows what it's like to live with secrets and lies.

When single mum Ruth has a brief fling with Rob, she's mortified to discover that he lied to her. He lied to her, because he's married. Worse still, he's the husband of Janine, head of the PTA at the primary school where Ruth works as secretary, and when the truth of their fling is discovered, Ruth suddenly has a lot of enemies at the school gates. Threatening texts begin to arrive, rumours abound and the staff room becomes hostile.

Caitlin Hext’s first shedding ceremony is imminent, but she’s far from prepared to produce a Snakeskin clone. When her skin fails to turn to dust as expected, she must decide whether she wishes the newcomer alive or dead. Worse still, it transpires that the Hext family may be of central importance to the survival of Charmers, a group of people with the inexplicable power to produce duplicates every seven years and, in the process, rejuvenate.

Halifax, 1876. On the death of her mother and sister, Isabelle Gibson is left to fend for herself and her brother in a privately run workhouse. After the matron's son attacks her, Isabelle decides to escape by agreeing to marry a farmer she has never met. But Farrell is a drunkard and in constant feud with his landlord, Ethan Harrington. When he deserts her, Isabelle and Ethan are thrown together. But both are married and must hide their growing love.

Rabbit is fed up. Spring has come, but it's not as perfect as he thought it would be. Bear thinks that if they work hard, they can make it better. But Rabbit has a Plan. He sets off across the lake in search of a perfect world. Crossing the water together, Rabbit and Bear learn many things, and discover that their perfect world may be closer at hand than Rabbit had thought. A story of hope, friendship, and an entire island made of bird droppings.

Twenty-five years in showbiz is a good run, right? Because after tonight, when her small (read: huge) wardrobe malfunction was broadcast to the nation's living rooms, Daisy's time in the spotlight might be over. It's all about damage control now, and Daisy needs an escape route. Especially when her boyfriend publicly announces their engagement - the one she hasn't actually agreed to tell the world about. All she needs is space from prying eyes and time for the press to move on. The only place she can run to at short notice is the Cotswolds cottage she used to own with her ex-husband.

Icebear has arrived in Rabbit and Bear's valley, and he wants to be king. He's big and scary, and the more kind and understanding the animals are, the meaner he becomes. Rabbit is confused: Bear has always been able to fix their problems in the past - but maybe this time he needs to ask for help from someone else. Does Wolf have the answer to the bad king's demands...or will Rabbit and the other animals find the solution within themselves?

Seven women stand in shock in a seedy hotel room; a man's severed head sits in the centre of the floor. Each of the women—the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him—has a very good reason to have done it, yet each swears she did not. In order to protect each other, they must figure out who is responsible, all while staying one step ahead of the police. Against the ticking clock of a murder investigation, each woman's secret is brought to light as the connections between them converge to reveal a killer.

Four a.m. on a wet stretch of the A1 and a driver skids out of control. Quick on the scene, senior investigating officer Kate Daniels and partner DS Hank Gormley are presented with a horrifying image of carnage and mayhem that quickly becomes one of the worst road traffic accidents in Northumberland’s history. But as the casualties mount up, they soon realise that not all deaths were as a result of the accident....

A takeaway, TV and tea with two sugars is about as exciting as it gets for 30-something Sophie Stone. Sophie's life is safe and predictable, which is just the way she likes it, thank you very much. But when a mysterious benefactor leaves her an inheritance, Sophie has to accept that change is afoot. There is one big catch: in order to inherit, Sophie must agree to meet the father she has never seen. Saying yes means the chance to build her own dream home, but she'll also have to face the past and hear some uncomfortable truths....

London has not been kind to Lottie Allbright. Realising it’s time to cut and run, she packs up and moves back home - but finds her family in disarray. In need of a new place to stay, Lottie takes up the offer of a live-in job managing a local vineyard. There’s a lot to learn - she didn’t even know grapes could grow so far north! Butterworth Wines in the rolling Derbyshire hills has always been run on love and passion, but a tragic death has left everyone at a loss. Widowed Betsy is trying to keep the place afloat but is harbouring a debilitating secret.

Stranded on the outskirts of Ironopolis, nickname to a lost industrial Middlesbrough, the Burn Council Estate is about to be torn down to make way for regeneration. For the future... But these streets know many stories, some hide secrets... Jean holds the key to the disappearance of a famous artist... Jim's youth is shattered during the euphoric raves of '89... A brutal boyhood prank scars three generations of Frank's family... Corina's gambling addiction costs her far more than money....

This is how it begins. Lone women terrorised and their helpless families forced to watch - in a sick game where only one player knows the rules. And when those rules change, the new game is Murder. Living with her parents in the dank beach community of Limeburn, ten-year-old Ruby Trick has her own fears. Bullies on the school bus, the forest crowding her house into the sea, and the threat of divorce. Helping her Daddy to catch the killer might be the key to keeping him close. As long as the killer doesn't catch her first...

Jo Milne was profoundly deaf from birth, when she also began to lose her sight. Just before turning thirty, Jo was diagnosed with Usher syndrome, a rare genetic and progressive condition that will one day rob her of her sight altogether.

In 2014 she made a life-changing decision to undergo major surgery. She had cochlear implants fitted, allowing her to hear for the first time. Every moment of Jo's days since the operation has become a journey of discovery.

A lost little girl with her notebook and toy monkey appears on the CCTV screens of the Green Oaks shopping centre, evoking memories of junior detective Kate Meaney, missing for 20 years.

Lily turns 16 with two very different sides to her life: school, where she is badly bullied and home with her mum and dad, warm and comforting, but with its own difficulties. After a particularly terrible bullying incident, Lily's dad decides to give his daughter the tools to fight back. Introducing her to boxing, he encourages Lily to find her own worth. It is both difficult and challenging, but in confronting her own fears, she finds a way through, that illuminates her life and friendships.

Limpet's mum is opening an ice-cream shop, full of her favourite new flavours: mushroom and tuna ice cream, anyone? Roast parsnip and gravy? Limpet's not sure about this. He likes a nice, safe life. His favourite ice-cream flavour is vanilla. But when wicked Mr Fluffy arrives with his Mega Emporium of Amazing and Spectacular Ice Creams, Limpet knows he's got to fight back. And there are magic ingredients on his doorstep which can solve all his worries, if only he can get the recipe just right.

Available for the first time: audio editions of Milly's brilliant short stories 'Here Come the Boys', 'The Wedding Dress', 'Ladies Who Launch' and 'The Barn on Half Moon Hill'. Milly Johnson is the sparkling and irrepressible author of six best-selling novels. She is also a columnist, greetings card copywriter, poet and after-dinner speaker. Her books are about the universal issues of friendship, family, betrayal, babies, rather nice food and a little bit of that magic in life that sometimes visits the unsuspecting.