検索キーワード： ナレーター "Joan Walker" すべてのカテゴリー

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is 77 years old and crazy, standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus crazy. She is also Elsa's best and only friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother's stories, in the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

Christmas Eve, 1938. The Westbury family and assorted friends have gathered for another legendary celebration at their beautiful country house. The champagne flows, the silverware sparkles and upstairs the rooms are ready for their occupants. But one bed will lie empty that night. On Christmas morning, David Campbell-Scott is found dead in the snow. There is a pistol beside him and only one set of footprints. Yet something doesn't seem right to amateur sleuth Hugh Gaveston. Campbell-Scott had just returned from overseas with untold wealth - why would he kill himself?

Beryl was the first bride of the Farley clan, finding a home in the welcoming arms of eldest son Tony. His charming voice and kind eyes and the way he truly listened made Beryl feel valued in a world in which she had always been rejected. Yet even now, wrapped in Tony's embrace, Beryl has never quite been able to forget the past she decided to run from, nor the devastating secret about her family's past she tried to bury. With Tony away fighting the Jerries alongside his brothers, it's up to Beryl and her sisters-in-law to keep the family afloat.

By age 50, Elin Boals has created for herself a perfect life: Her wildly successful business as Manhattan’s preeminent fashion photographer is flourishing. Her handsome, patient husband is devoted to her; her teenaged daughter, Alice, has been accepted to the ballet academy of her dreams. But then Elin receives an innocuous-looking envelope. Folded inside is a star-chart, with an address written by a familiar hand.

1911. As Emma packs her trunk to join the ocean liner Olympic as a stewardess, she dreams of earning enough to provide a better life for both her sisters. With their photograph tucked away in her luggage, she promises to be back soon - hoping that sickly Lily will keep healthy, and wild Ruby will behave. But neither life at sea nor on land is predictable, and soon the three sisters’ lives are all changed irrevocably.

Far from home, hope will keep them together. The plucky evacuees must come together in this heart-warming saga set in the Second World War for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin. In September 1940, after a year away from home, 11-year-old twins Connie and Jessie have finally settled into evacuee life in Harrogate. But when the brutal bombings in London begin, threatening their parents who live near the Bermondsey docks, their courage is put to the test.

Mark lives next door to Freya. When her husband dies tragically, he determines to be her saviour, come what may. Whether that means walking the dog, minding the house or taking her on day trips. However, her neighbours on the other side keep getting in the way, as do her two lumpen brothers-in-law....

100 Ways to Be Kind is a road map of practical, simple, and immediately actionable ways to be kind including how to be kinder to yourself, to others, and to nature. Theresa debunks the damaging myth that being kind is a weakness and shows that it is not anger or aggression that brings out our true inner grit, but kindness. Science has proven that there are powerful, potentially lifesaving, reasons to be kind. The kinder you are, the more likely you are to experience happiness. Kindness is the simple and scientifically proven remedy that everyone needs to administer right now.

Have you ever been told to toughen up or stop taking everything so seriously? Or do you feel that in a harsh world - where the way to get noticed is to shout the loudest - your heartfelt approach just doesn’t cut it? Some of us are born sensitive. We live our lives vividly through the lens of emotion and with our senses perpetually on high alert.

Ninety crime writers from the world’s oldest and most famous crime writing network give tips and insights into successful crime and thriller fiction. Howdunit! offers a fresh perspective on the craft of crime writing from leading exponents of the genre, past and present. The book offers invaluable advice to people interested in writing crime fiction, but it also provides a fascinating picture of the way that the best crime writers have honed their skills over the years.

Shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year Arrest Me, for I Have Run Away is a stunning short story collection on human nature and identity. Stevie Davies' latest work, it is bound to captivate and charm the listener.

This is Virginia Woolf’s first collection of essays, published in 1925. In them, she attempts to see literature from the point of view of the ‘common reader’ - someone whom she, with Dr Johnson, distinguished from the critic and the scholar. She read, and wrote, as an outsider: a woman set to school in her father’s library, denied the educational privileges of her male siblings - and with no fixed view of what constitutes ‘English literature’. What she produced is an eccentric and unofficial literary and social history from the 14th to the 20th centuries.

A year after she separated from her husband, Gianni, on Christmas day, Chloe’s heart is finally on the mend as she unpacks the decorations for her first ever festive holiday alone. That is, until the phone rings...It’s the manager of Gianni’s new seaside restaurant in Appledore, begging for Chloe’s help. Equally famous for his gold-leaf Christmas puddings and his explosive temper, Gianni has been really stirring up a sensation with the locals – and not in a good way! It’s the last thing she wants to do, but Chloe knows she is the only one that can help.

Melissa Craig is thrilled that summer has arrived. She has decided to give up her career as an amateur sleuth and enjoy a quiet life in her beautiful cottage. The only digging in Melissa’s life now happens in her garden. However, when a keen beekeeper is found dead, covered in multiple stings, her new resolve is tested. As she gets to know the family of the dead man, she realizes he was no saint. Could someone have possibly wanted him dead? Could this be a very clever murder?

Melissa couldn’t be happier that summer has arrived. She’s delighted to have her mother back by her side, and she is extending her beloved Hawthorn Cottage so her new family can live together. Meanwhile, Melissa’s mother, Sylvia, is back in good health and enjoying a brief stay at a stately retirement home. She loves getting to know the residents, until first a dog and then his owner are both found dead in the dining room. Like mother, like daughter, Sylvia decides to do a little investigating of her own.

Melissa has just finished writing her latest mystery novel and is enjoying the arrival of spring. She’s decided to let her fictional detective retire at last and perhaps put her own days of investigating behind her, too. But the ink has barely dried on the page when Melissa receives shocking news: Her estranged father has been found dead in the family home and her mother, Sylvia, is under suspicion of murder.

Melissa Craig has settled into a new job in the charming Cotswolds village of Upper Benbury. She is teaching French to several of the local teenagers, which gives her a fascinating insight into the young people’s lives. Material for a new novel, perhaps.... Her quiet life is interrupted when she sees her new neighbour running out of the woods in a blind panic. Melissa rushes to help him, but what she finds leaves her breathless: The body of young woman is lying on the bank of the river.

A body is found near a picture-perfect Cotswolds village...but the upstanding local residents couldn’t possibly be involved, could they? Murder is the very last thing on Melissa Craig’s mind when one of her neighbors pops in to complain loudly about a minor local robbery. She’s far too busy thinking about her next book.... But when the evening paper lands, there is a shocking headline. A young woman’s body has been found in the nearby woods, and it seems the local robbery may offer a crucial clue.

Melissa Craig is struggling with her new novel, so when the invitation arrives to visit a nearby country house for some writing time, she decides a bit of peace and quiet is just what she needs. The house is everything she could have hoped for, even if the staff do seem rather unsettled. She has barely unpacked when the owner of the house persuades Melissa to investigate some threatening notes he has received. But before she can do any digging, he is found murdered in his own orchard.

Since her move to the country, Melissa Craig has become firmly established in village life. So, when one of the older residents fails to show up for a drinks party, Melissa goes to check on her. What she finds chills her to the bone: Her dear neighbor has been murdered, and the killer has painted a hideous smile onto her face. Melissa soon realizes that the death in her village bears the same trademark as a series of recent murders in the Cotswolds.