Showing results by narrator "Sarah Ovens" in All Categories

Sometimes the past is best left buried. Since the birth of baby Joe five weeks ago, Ali Baker has been struggling to cope. Starved of sleep and haunted by painful memories from the past, she's a million miles away from the polished, professional barrister she has worked so hard to become. Then her mother tragically and unexpectedly dies, leaving Ali an orphan. Haunted by her loss, Ali can't forget her mother's last words to her: There is something I really need to tell you.

They say I'm a murderer. Six years ago, Kate Reynolds was found holding the body of her best friend, covered in blood, and clutching the knife that killed her. I plead guilty. Kate has been in prison ever since, but now her sentence is up. She is being released. But the truth is, I didn't do it. There's only one person who can help: Private Investigator Madison Attallee, the first officer on the scene all those years ago. But there's someone out there who doesn't want Kate digging up the past.

It’s 1929, and after running away from her family in Lancashire, becoming a dancer in London and having a riotous time in Paris with her best friend, Nancy, would-be fashion designer Vita Casey is now living a much more sedate life in New York with her baby son, Bertie, far away from her evil brother, Clement, and her nemesis, Edith. When the disastrous events of the Wall Street Crash change their destinies, Vita and Nancy flee to Los Angeles, where Nancy is determined to make it in the talkies.

Bea is an outspoken English girl determined to break with family tradition and pave her own path. After embarrassing her parents at a dinner party designed to find her a husband, Bea is invited to spend an eye-opening summer in Italy with her uncle's artistic bohemian friends. There, she meets Ben, a brilliant artist - and a brilliant flirt. When sparks fly between them, a challenge is set: Can they create the perfect summer romance? There's just one rule: They absolutely, positively cannot fall in love.

Sophia Hepworth arrives in Montana with the promise of a normal American high school experience. But after a turbulent few years abroad with her diplomat parents, forgetting the past is easier said than done. After all, 'normal' high school students aren’t fluent in multiple languages or trained in several forms of combat. Then Sophia meets a group of friends she can really trust and finds herself drawn more and more to mysterious Aksel - who she maybe shouldn’t trust but can’t stop thinking about.

World War II has begun. Brigit has been evacuated to Wales from her home near the aeroplane factories of Coventry. But when it's revealed that her father is German, Brigit runs away to join her mother in a very special training camp, where Churchill is building a secret army of spies and saboteurs known as the Special Operations Executive. Brigit and her mother soon find themselves on the front line in Nazi-occupied France, where they search for double agents and meet with danger at every turn in their efforts to support the French resistance.

Rebecca Riley has always been a bit of a pushover. When her glamorous boss, Vanessa, asks her to jump, she doesn’t just ask how high...she asks if her boss would like her to grab a coffee on the way back down! So whilst overseeing the renovation of Vanessa’s beautiful countryside home, the last thing Rebecca ever expected was to be mistaken for her boss – or that she would even consider going along with it! Far away from the bustling city and her boss’s demanding ways, could she pretend to be Vanessa and swap lives, just for a little while?

Penelope lives with her mother - her father died years ago. She has always been different from other children: for example, her hair has been grey since she was born. But one day, Penelope wakes up with sparkling red hair and her mother confesses the truth: her father is not only still alive, he's a wizard. Penelope has inherited his powers and embarks on a journey to find him....

The final instalment in this inspiring series about dancing, friendship and following your dreams. A big performance looms, and Maddy knows that the school has a way of weeding out the weakest dancers. Now is her time to shine. But will Maddy and her friends be celebrating at the end of the year?

1997. Seventeen-year-old Laura Bow has invented a rudimentary artificial intelligence and named it Organon. At first it's intended to be a sounding board for her teenage frustrations, a surrogate best friend; but as she grows older, Organon grows with her. As the world becomes a very different place, technology changes the way we live, love and die; massive corporations develop rival intelligences to Laura's, ones without safety barriers or morals; and Laura is forced to decide whether to share her creation with the world.

The second story in a new series about dancing, friendship and following your dreams from best loved author Jean Ure. Maddy is delighted when she and her friends are accepted to the prestigious City Ballet School - it feels like one step closer to their dream of becoming professional dancers. But the school brings a whole new set of challenges - and soon Maddy finds herself tested like never before.

The first in a brand-new series about dancing, friendship and following your dreams, from best-loved author Jean Ure. When new girl Caitlyn arrives at Coombe House School, Maddy is sure she must be a fellow ballet dancer; she certainly has all the grace and poise of a ballerina. So when Caitlyn denies it, Maddy isn't convinced. But it isn't until she comes across Caitlyn practising ballet in the gym that she realises there must be more to her story...Just what can it be? Maddy is determined to find out!

Robbie is heir to the evilest dynasty in the world - the Sinistevils. He can't wait to pledge his heart to the menacing power of the family Sceptre and embark on his bloodthirsty future. The thing is, Robbie is...well...nice. And when he discovers his heart has been swapped for clockwork, he's incapable of believing Mother had dark intentions. Instead, he embarks on a quest to retrieve his heart, claim his wicked destiny and secure Mother's pride at last. But Mother has other ideas.

On the goldfields of 19th-century Australia, two very different girls are trying to escape their past. Violet Hartley has fled from England after a scandalous liaison; now she is angling for a rich husband and a new life. Little Cat is fleeing from her home in Southern China after killing the powerful old man who tried to rape her. Disguised as a boy, she joins the huge Chinese workforce on the goldfields of Victoria. But the son of the murdered man is on her trail, intent on vengeance. Love, sexual desire, violence and financial ambition entwine in this mesmerising saga.

Eva is a survivor. She's not sure what she survived, exactly, only that They invaded without warning, killed nearly all of humanity and relentlessly attack everyone who's left. All she can do to stay sane, in the blockaded city that's no longer home, is keep a journal about her struggle. Fifty years later, Eva's words are found by Emerson, a young anthropologist sent to the ruins to study what happened. The discovery could shed light on the Invasion, turning the unyielding mystery of the short war into a story of hope and defiance.

This is the deeply touching story of an elephant who captured the world's imagination, brought beautifully to life with enchanting storytelling. Follow Jumbo’s amazing journey from his remote home in the rugged mountains of East Africa and the time he spent delighting visitors with elephant rides and comedy routines at London Zoo. Be amazed by his spectacular stint in P.T. Barnum’s 'Greatest Show on Earth’ and how he led a herd of elephants across the newly built Brooklyn Bridge to test its strength.

Fact: Ember and Ness are best friends. There’s nothing more to say about it. It is what it is. It is what will always be. Ember and Ness. Then Ness dies. It is sudden and unexpected and leaves Ember completely empty. How can this be? When Ember finds a way into the Afterworld, she determines to bring Ness back. Because that’s what friends do, isn’t it? They rescue each other. They help. They never give up. Ember and Ness. That don’t change. A powerful, poignant, darkly comic and deeply moving story about friendship at its most extraordinary.

When Lola moves house she can’t help feeling sad to leave her old friends and life behind. She’s always been shy and worries it’ll be hard to make friends at her new school. It’s not all scary, though. Lola loves her new home with its rambling garden and the deer that sometimes wander in through the broken fence. Then one day she comes across a fawn who seems to be in trouble. Lola is determined to do everything she can to help the terrified little deer, but will she be able to do it on her own?

Libby and Jack are the happiest they’ve ever been. Thanks to their dear friend, 80-year-old Sid, they’ve just bought their first house together, and it's the beginning of the life they've always dreamed of. But the universe has other plans for Libby and Jack, and a devastating twist of fate shatters their world. All of a sudden life is looking very different, and unlikely though it seems, might Sid be the one person who can help Libby and Jack move forward when what they loved the most has been lost?

In Belle and Joni's world, there are two options for girls: One, follow the rules of the Doctrine like Belle: apply your Mask, work hard to be crowned at the Ceremony, be a Pretty. Or two, fight the rules like Joni: leave your face bare, work hard to escape to the Education, be an Objectionable.