Showing results by narrator "Gareth Bennett-Ryan" in All Categories

Jack, Milo, Robin and Big Rock are back with a new friend - Blaze, the magical phoenix. The gang plan to take on notorious bully, Buster Gutt. Soon Jack finds himself and his alter-ego THUD in some seriously hot water.... In the second story, villainous Lord Veto tries to break up the wrestling trolls. Soon Princess Ava is caught in the middle of a wrestling tournament! The brave trolls must come together for glory once more.

Dare you close your eyes for even a few seconds? One, two, three... Lisa Dale shuts her eyes and counts to 100 during a game of hide-and-seek. When she opens them, her four-year-old daughter, Ella, is gone. Disappeared without a trace. The police, the media and Lisa's family all think they know who snatched Ella. But what if the person who took her isn't a stranger? What if they are convinced they are doing the right thing? And what if Lisa's little girl is in danger of disappearing forever?

'My name is Ruby. I live with Barbara and Mick. They're not my real parents, but they tell me what to do and what to say. I'm supposed to say that my bruises and black eye came from falling down the stairs. But there are things I won't say. I won't tell them I'm going to hunt for my real parents. I'm going to be with my real family. And I'm not going to let Mick stop me.'

From the author of The Palace of Curiosities and Vixen comes a bold new novel exploring questions of identity, sexual equality and how well we really know ourselves. Rich are the delights of late 19th-century Manchester for young siblings Edie and Gnome. They bicker, banter, shout and scream their way through the city's streets, embracing its charms and dangers. But as the pair grow up, it is Gnome who revels in the nighttime while Edie wakes exhausted each morning.

Waldo's Wrestling Trolls are back, and they're ready to rumble! But the villainous Lord Veto has other plans. Challenged to a Giant Rumble but suffering from a shortfall of wrestlers, Jack and his friends set out to find more participants for their great battle. But what starts as a fun-filled road trip in their trusty caravan soon becomes an action-packed adventure filled with dangers such as farting billy goats, poisonous spiders and evil servants of the wicked King Nugget.

Ash's dad has returned from war, close to a breakdown and lost in a world of imaginary threats. Meanwhile, Ash's best friend, Mark, is grieving and has drifted away into his own nightmares. Ash's only escape is his lonely mountain running, training to be the stag boy in the annual Stag Chase. But dark things are stirring. Could Mark and Dad be haunted by more than just their pasts?

It's hard being that woman, the one whose husband disappeared. He went out five years ago for a pint of milk and never came back. So here I am with a daughter who blames me for everything, a son trying his best to pick up the pieces and a gaggle of neighbours who are incredibly nosy. Then I find a left luggage ticket in the pocket of one of his old coats and suddenly I'm thinking... What if he's not dead? What if he's still out there somewhere?

Willem has Asperger’s Syndrome and two main aims in life: to fly and to make at least two friends of his own age. As he stands on the edge of a wall, Sasha gives him a wink. Might she become his friend? As he flies through the air he wishes he could fly and escape. Instead he comes crashing down and breaks his ankle. Sasha is determined to put things right.

Jack is doing fantastically well as the Wrestling Trolls' training coach, Big Rock is winning matches, and the group are on their way to more gold than they can count. Nothing ever goes smoothly for Jack, though, especially after Milo is kidnapped by evil goblins determined to get their greedy hands on Big Rock's winnings! The wrestling crew know that they will have to be very quick and clever if they want to rescue Milo.

Still grieving the death of her watchman husband in a terrorist attack during the Outrages, factory worker Rose is struggling to make ends meet when she encounters middle-class Annie, a newspaperman's wife who devotes her time to lobbying for better working conditions. Rose is desperate to avoid making waves with three mouths to feed. But she can't sit back and watch women and young girls continue to work in dangerous conditions, including her desperately sick lodger.

Sometimes it's love at first sight. Sometimes it takes a while. But the staff at Woodgreen are always there to look after their canine guests until they find the right permanent home. From big to small and pedigree to the scruffiest pooch, no effort is spared to find each and every one a new family who will give them the love they deserve. Rehoming a dog is a big commitment, but also a privilege and a huge joy when the right match is made. Finding a Forever Home shares some of the heartwarming and inspiring stories of once-lost dogs.

'The World of Shadow' introduces The Doll Funeral and delves further into one of the characters in the book - Shadow. Shadow flits through The Doll Funeral; he has a close but often tempestuous relationship with the hero, Ruby. In the short story, we rewind back and see a snapshot of his life, find out more about his connection with Ruby and experience the life, pain and love of this boy who has such a profound influence on the course of the book.

Fredegonda, Goneril, and Drusilla are Great Hagges, much more important and much rarer than regular old hags. They think that ghosts these days are decidedly lacking—people haven't been scared of ghosts for years. So one day they decide that something needs to change—it's time for these ghosts to learn a thing or two about being scary. And what better way to teach them than to set up their very own school for ghosts?