Showing results by narrator "Deryn Edwards" in All Categories

Gender-fluid Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and to get closer to the nobles who destroyed home. So when auditions to become a member of The Left Hand - the Queen's personal assassins - are announced, Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge. But a childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the audition: a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers.

Margaret Beaufort was rich, beautiful and just 13 years of age when she discovered that she carried the future king of England within her body. Forced to give him up as a web of intrigue and danger was spun around her son, she entrusted the child to the care of his uncle, Jasper Tudor, who would have laid down his life for the Lancastrian cause. Caught up in the Wars of the Roses, Margaret was banished from court in disgrace, and although she later won the love and loyalty of three powerful men, her heart remained true to Edmund Tudor, the father of her son.

One year ago, the shadows shifted and began to show something different - not people's shapes, but their real selves. Now, on the first anniversary of the event, teenage friends Teddy, Betsy and Effie plan to risk all and watch the winter sun rise over Copperwell, in defiance of the Shadow Order. But from their hidden vantage point they witness a mysterious woman shout a dire warning, before being arrested, beaten and dragged away in handcuffs.

At Dragonsdale, where riding is the most important thing in the world, there’s trouble ahead for best friends Cara and Breena and their beloved dragons. When Breena’s show dragon, Moonflight, is injured, it looks like time will run out for the pair to qualify for the Island Championship. Cara and her dragon, Sky, however, have never looked better, and although she misses her friend at her side, winning means so much.

After 20 years of contentedly playing the role of home-maker and mother, Frances Copeland's life is shattered by the sudden death of her husband. With no career to fall back on and her son and daughter leaving home, the solitude of bereavement hits particularly hard. When new love beckons, in the form of a handsome young man 15 years her junior, Frances is torn. She longs to open her heart again but does not dare to trust her feelings. Turning to her closest friends for help, she is met by a wall of judgemental attitudes and envy.

When Fan's mum Agnes announces that the family is moving to Western Australia to take care of Agnes's father—a man they've never spoken of before now—Fan finds herself a stranger in a new town, living in a home whose currents and tensions she cannot read or understand. Resentful of her mother's decision to move, Fan forms an alliance with her grandfather, Edwin Salt, a convict transported to Australia in 1861. As she listens to memories of his former life in England, Fan starts snooping around the house, riffling through Edwin's belongings.

King Henry V's beautiful widow, Catherine, is determined to marry Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentleman-at-arms. But her life decisions are not her own, overshadowed as she is by more powerful men who are closer to the Throne. The Duke of Bedford would marry her off to a foreign prince, Henry Beaufort would give his allegiance in exchange for a Cardinal's hat, and the handsome Duke of Gloucester, brother of the dead king, openly desires her. Added to that, her son, the King, is a weak child. She must use all her wits and courage if she is to forge a new life for herself.

1941. Annie Beynon has just become the first stable girl for the most powerful family in her Welsh village. Whilst her gift for working with horses is clear, there are some who are willing to make her life very difficult simply for being a girl. There are other secret ways Annie is defying conventions though, and as the war rages, it seems that it's only a matter of time before Annie's secret is exposed. It's 1963 before Annie is able to face up to the secret she chose to keep over 20 years before.

Heatwaves, wildfires, hurricanes and flooding caused by climate change are already impacting people and nature. Adaptation until now has been incremental with governments and institutions tinkering around the edges of current systems. This will not be enough. Sink or Swim explores the hard choices that lie ahead concerning how people earn a living, the way governments manage relationships between countries, and how communities accommodate the movement of people. Should people be encouraged to move away from the coast?

When Maud decides to learn advanced sorcery for the talent show, she can't control her spells. Now Maud has to work out how to do reverse magic - before the whole school guesses her monstrous secret!

A recent survey of CEOs revealed that creativity is considered the most important quality in leadership. Who Killed Creativity? investigates how companies, leaders, managers, and individuals can build (or rebuild) a culture of innovation by fostering creative thinking and problem-solving - finding better solutions faster. By exploring such questions as: Are bully bosses psychopaths in disguise? and Why does the future of civilisation lie in a garbage dump in Mexico?, this book offers a compelling tale with a novel twist.

Chloe Daniels regains consciousness in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. She doesn't recognize the strangers who call themselves family. She can't even remember her own name. As she slowly recovers, her parents and sister begin to share details of her life. The successful career. The seaside home. The near-fatal car crash. But Chloe senses they're keeping dark secrets - and her determination to uncover the truth will have devastating consequences.

London, 1965. Top model Joycie Todd lives a glittering life with photographer Marcus Blake. But her childhood tells a different story… When she was eleven, Joycie’s mother disappeared. Run away with another man, so everyone says. But Joycie can’t forget the thumps she heard in the night, or the bloodstained rug hidden under the bed. A rug that was gone the next day. Twelve years later, Joycie has left her past behind. But when an old friend dies, Joycie is left a letter beseeching her to find out the truth.

When Ronnie's husband, Nick, leaves her for their next-door neighbour, Gaye, Ronnie's life starts to fall apart. Devastated by the break-up of her marriage, Ronnie is desperate for Nick and Gaye to set up home elsewhere. But Nick and Gaye won't budge. Forced by her well meaning family to use ever more devious tactics, just how far will Ronnie go?

After being imprisoned for two years, a former teacher enrolls in a course to learn how to become a Private Detective. What begins out of curiosity, turns into a serious business, until she is being threatened by someone who doesn't want her to continue her investigation….

When Janine and Dougie fell in love they thought it would be forever. Fifteen years later their relationship is well and truly over, their daughter Stevie their one remaining connection. Stevie is on the cusp of adulthood. At sixteen, she's not quite a child, but not quite grown up: a dangerous age. But it's only during a birthday celebration in Spain, when she gets too close to one of Dougie's best friends, that her parents realise just how dangerous.