Showing results by narrator "Karen Cass" in All Categories

Kitty Underhay is accompanying her fiancé, Matthew Bryant, and Bertie, his new cocker spaniel, on an outing to Torbay Country Club. However, the delightful day soon turns to disaster. Walking Bertie in the shaded grotto after an exhilarating archery demonstration, Kitty makes an unsporting discovery: the body of their host, Sir William Winspear, with an arrow in his back.

Jess Metcalf is perfectly content with her quiet, predictable life. But when her beloved grandmother passes away and she loses her job at the local library, Jess’ life is turned upside down. Determined to pick up the pieces, Jess decides it’s time for a new beginning. Unable to part with her grandmother’s cherished books, she packs them all up and moves to a tiny cottage in the English countryside. To her surprise, Jess discovers that she’s now the owner of an old red phone box that was left on the property.  

1937. Katya Komarovsky is studying medicine in Glasgow, living among friends and eager to begin her career as a doctor. But when her spendthrift parents announce that they’ve run out of money and are facing ruin - and that she’ll now have to support them by working as a governess in Vienna - the life she’s dreamed of goes up in smoke. Furiously resentful, Katya rages at her wealthy employer, Thor, for stealing her future - and saddling her with twelve-year-old Gretchen, a deeply troubled child who has only a blazing musical talent to redeem her.

Willful and outspoken, 16-year-old Isabelle yearns to escape her stifling life in provincial twelfth century France. The bane of her mother’s existence, she admires the notorious queen most in her circle abhor: Eleanor of Aquitaine. Isabelle’s arranged marriage to Gerard - a rich, charismatic lord obsessed with falcons - seems, at first, to fulfill her longing for adventure.

Pip Appleby seems to have it all, with her prestigious job as a human rights lawyer and her enviable London home. But then a tragic accident stops her life in its tracks, and in an instant everything changes. Retreating to her family’s rural farm and the humble origins she has been trying to hide, Pip is haunted by what she has done. When she discovers the diary of actress Evelyn Mountcastle in a box of old books, Pip revels in the opportunity to lose herself in someone else’s life rather than focus on the disaster that is her own. But soon she sees parallels....

Most people, including many policy makers, activists, scientists, and philosophers, have encouraged us to be more empathetic - to feel the pain and pleasure of others. Yale researcher and author Paul Bloom argues that this is a mistake. Far from leading us to improve the lives of others, empathy is a capricious and irrational emotion that appeals to our narrow prejudices. It muddles our judgment and often leads to cruelty. We are at our best when we are smart enough not to rely on it and draw upon a more distanced compassion.

Catherine has been enjoying the single life for long enough to know a good catch when she sees one. Gorgeous, charismatic, spontaneous – Lee seems almost too perfect to be true. And her friends clearly agree, as each in turn falls under his spell. But there is a darker side to Lee. His erratic, controlling and sometimes frightening behaviour means that Catherine is increasingly isolated. Driven into the darkest corner of her world, and trusting no one, she plans a meticulous escape.

The SARAH M. EDEN BRITISH ISLES COLLECTION contains two brand new historical romance novellas A FRIEND INDEED and A HAPPY BEGINNING, as well as four hand-picked readers' and reviewers' favorites of Sarah's popular Timeless Romance Anthology novellas. Listeners will love this selection of six historical romance novellas set in the British Isles.

Jessica, Stephanie and Priyanka are complete strangers, but they have one thing in common: more than two decades ago, unbeknownst to them, their husbands committed a sexual assault. Or was it something else—a night of drunken regrets, just a horrible misunderstanding? It was a secret that remained buried for years. One unsuspecting morning, the women each receive a letter from someone accusing their husbands of this terrible act and claiming to be the daughter born from the crime. Their worlds suddenly turned upside down, they don't know who to trust.

Sadie doesn't have time for finding love. She's too busy as PA for famous artist Damian Banks. When she's not arranging exhibitions, she's organising his dry cleaning or dumping his never ending stream of girlfriends. But when she strikes up an unusual friendship with her desk share buddy, she finds a confidante and a new potential love interest. Problem is, they've never actually met. With Christmas just around the corner, can Sadie put herself first for a change and find what she's been looking for all along?

England, 1920. Eleanor Swift has spent the last few years travelling the world: taking tea in China, tasting alligators in Peru, escaping bandits in Persia and she has just arrived in England after a chaotic 45-day flight from South Africa. Chipstone is about the sleepiest town you could have the misfortune to meet. But then, from the edge of a quarry, through the driving rain, Eleanor is shocked to see a man shot and killed in the distance. Before she can climb down to the spot, the villain is gone and the body has vanished.

1957: Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper in the southeast suburbs of London. Clever but with limited career opportunities and on the brink of forty, Jean lives a dreary existence that includes caring for her demanding widowed mother, who rarely leaves the house. It’s a small life with little joy and no likelihood of escape.

Suzi did a bad thing. She’s paying for it now, pregnant, scared, and living in an isolated cottage with her jealous husband, Nick. When Nora moves into the only house nearby, Suzi is delighted to have a friend. So much so that she’s almost tempted to tell Nora her terrible secret. But there’s more to Nora than meets the eye. It’s impossible - does she already know what Suzi did?

Frankie doesn't believe in true love. As relationships expert at popular magazine Stylife, she has learnt that dating disasters are far more common than happy-ever-afters. So when she is tasked to find out if meet cutes can work in real life, she is up for the challenge—but whether it's being a damsel in distress with a flat tyre or spilling coffee over a stranger, she isn't convinced this can really lead to love. But little does Frankie know that the ultimate meet-cute opportunity is just around the corner. 

When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript in her late grandfather's bookshop, she becomes fascinated by the story it tells of two young girls who mystified the world. But it is the discovery of an old photograph that leads her to realize how the fairy girls' lives intertwine with hers, connecting past to present and blurring her understanding of what is real and what is imagined. As she begins to understand why a nation once believed in fairies, can Olivia find a way to believe in herself?

Kitty Underhay is looking forward to a week of long lunches and wedding planning with her husband-to-be, Captain Matthew Bryant. But the plan is derailed when he is called on to collect a former comrade-in-arms, arriving on the 15:50 from Paddington. As the train bearing Simon Travers pulls up to the platform, a piercing scream rises over the screech of its brakes. Travers is dead in his seat, a dagger in his heart. Only a few individuals had access to Travers’s compartment, and Kitty must find out which of these seemingly benign passengers is, in fact, a cross-country killer.

As a published novelist, Lila Rose has been writing about fictional weddings all her life. But disaster strikes on her own big day when she hears her philandering fiancé, Daniel, whispering sweet nothings to someone else. With her dream day shattered, all Lila wants to do is run and hide, so she decides to fly solo on her own honeymoon. When Daniel arrives in the resort with his new squeeze, Lila strikes up a ‘showmance’ with hot new movie star Freddie Bianchi. Freddie is perfect for the part, and Lila soon relaxes into her leading lady role.  

Onetime adventurer and now amateur sleuth Lady Eleanor Swift is attending the annual royal regatta with her new pal Tipsy Fitzroy. Tipsy has Eleanor trussed up like a debutante in a new dress, determined to turn her into a proper society lady. Even Eleanor’s favorite companion, Gladstone the bulldog, has a new outfit for the occasion. But the sparkling prize-giving ceremony is interrupted when the devilishly handsome host gulps his glass of champagne on stage and collapses to the floor. The victim is none other than the king’s cousin, Lord Xander Taylor-Howard.

Beth loves her job working in a care home, looking after its elderly residents, but she doesn’t love the cramped and dirty house-share she currently lives in. So, when she gets the opportunity to move to Nightingale Square, sharing a house with the lovely Eli, she jumps at the chance. The community at Nightingale Square welcomes Beth with open arms, and when she needs help to organise a fundraiser for the care home they rally round. Then she discovers The Arches, a local creative arts centre, has closed and the venture to replace it needs their help, too.

What is Un Lun Dun? It is London through the looking glass, an urban Wonderland of strange delights where all the lost and broken things of London end up...and some of its lost and broken people, too. When 12-year-old Zanna and her friend Deeba find a secret entrance leading out of London and into this strange city, it seems that the ancient prophecy is coming true at last. But then things begin to go shockingly wrong.