Showing results by narrator "Matthew Lloyd" in All Categories

Grace Ashman has lost everything: her mother five years ago, and now her father and her home just a week before Christmas. She lives on the streets until one kind man invites her inside for a meal before the holiday. What she couldn't know is that his kindness will change her life forever.

One of Jules Verne's final books, The Master of the World, which was released in 1904, is a science fiction classic. The novel was written as Verne's health was deteriorating. The Master of the World is a "dark novel," full of dread and anxiety about the emergence of totalitarianism and tyrants, embodied by the novel's antagonist, Robur.

London, 1666. Orphaned by the Great Plague, Sam is soon starving on the streets - and desperate enough to steal. He's quickly recruited as one of sinister Uncle Jack's children, and taught to steal. If he gets caught by the law, the punishment will be death - and if he crosses Uncle Jack, it could be just as bad. Still, it's a living for Sam and his fellow thief Catherine - until the long, hot London summer means a blaze at the Pudding Lane bakery runs out of control.

Michael Irvine is 33 years old, drives a 12-year-old car, and lives with his parents. His job bores him, and his love is unrequited. Very few people pay attention to Michael, and that suits him fine. Then one day, he finds himself the winner of the largest lottery in the history of Europe: €190,000,000. Under the weight of his newfound wealth and fame, Michael's life spirals out of control until he is forced to make a decision.

When Alice’s Uncle Sam brings home a mysterious calendar that’s short on chocolate but big on surprises, she is thrown into an advent she never dreamed of. Codes arrive by text message and open the doors in the calendar, drawing Alice and Sam into fantastical new worlds that are wondrous, frightening and beautiful - and strangely familiar.

A queen of punk before her time. A duo on the brink of stardom. A night that will define their story for ever. Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, a Black punk artist before her time. Despite her unconventional looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her one night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together.

When Andrew - a second-hand-book dealer - comes across a pile of photographs from police archives, he decides to exhibit them. But then the gallery is raided the day before the opening, and the photos seized with surprising violence. It soon becomes clear that someone, somewhere, wants to keep the images hidden. Who? Why? And who - in a world where kidnap, subterfuge and even murder are the norm, and where no one is safe or above suspicion - can Andrew turn to for help? 

A vicar is disbelieving when two teenagers in his parish claim to have been given a message by the archangel Gabriel, but gradually changes his mind and decides he must do something about it.

A stunning collection of new short stories originally commissioned by The New York Times Magazine as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, from twenty-nine authors including Margaret Atwood, Tommy Orange, Colm Toibin, Kamilia Shamsie and more, in a project inspired by Boccaccio’s The...

A man who married young, and so never had the chance to sow his wild oats, suddenly breaks out when in his mid-30s - and becomes convinced he has stumbled on the secret of happiness.

First published in the Forum in 1889, In the Year 2889 was published in France the next year. A humorous and insightful look into a future society, the novella is now believed to be chiefly if not entirely the work of Jules Verne's son, Michel Verne, albeit continuing the work of Jules Verne by echoing many of his much-visited themes and ideas.

Leave Your Phone at the Door embraces the OFFLINE philosophy, which is a celebration of the much-underrated virtues of randomness and serendipity. Whether sharing stories of unexpected encounters, alarming behavioral trends or the joys of quiet and contemplation, Howard Lewis encourages us to adopt an open mind and a generosity of spirit whenever we are confronted by the unfamiliar or surprising or different.

Charlotte Sauvin has always seen the world differently. At home on 33 Place Brugmann, in the heart of Brussels, her father and her closest friends and neighbours – the Raphaëls from the fourth floor, and Masha from the fifth – have ensured her secret is safe. But when the Nazis invade Belgium, and Masha and the Raphaëls disappear, Charlotte must navigate her new world alone.

One quiet snow-covered Sunday morning in Bruges, a prominent business executive is found dead in the streets, apparently due to an alcoholic hemorrhage, but for Inspector Van In, there is something about the autopsy that does not add up. When he questions the businessman's friend, a Dutchman, he too is found dead the next morning, burned to death in a house fire.

It began with a handful of East Berlin teens who heard the Sex Pistols on a British military radio broadcast to troops in West Berlin and it ended with the collapse of the East German dictatorship. Punk rock was a life-changing discovery: in an authoritarian state where the future was preordained, punk, with its rejection of society and DIY approach to building a new one, planted the seeds for revolution.

For Lee "Kix" Thompson, life is about having fun - even when times are tough. Growing Out of It is the tale of one "nutty boy" not really growing out of it at all. From getting up to no good as a teenager to his many musical (mis)adventures in the 1970s, Lee's memoir of his formative years captures his enduring love for his north London stomping ground, where he first met the other members of Madness. 

When Brody Taylor receives a "death letter" from a fellow elite hacker, sent a week after his murder, its contents present Brody with an offer even he can’t refuse. With the investigation being led by his girlfriend, DI Jenny Price, Brody faces an unexpected personal and professional conflict of interest. Meanwhile, unaware of the victim’s true occupation, Jenny is stumped. How and why would a disabled Afghan War veteran be poisoned in his own home by one of the world’s most deadly snakes?

The second-quickest way to get yourself killed when dealing with Coldi people of the planet Asto is to look a superior in the eye. The Coldi people possess an instinct that demands the formation of hierarchical networks in which every person has a prescribed place. These networks provide stability. They also place one person at the top. Ezhya Palayi is that person. After having been released by his previous employers, Cory Wilson not only depends on Ezhya Palayi for his income, but he has developed an unusually friendly relationship with this man whom people on Earth would call an absolute dictator, but whose reign is benign.

Cory Wilson is woken in the middle of the night with a summons to appear in the president of Nations of Earth's office. An aid worker in Djibouti has discovered a shipment of alien guns. As ambassador to gamra, the extraterrestrial organization which controls the Exchange, the FTL wormhole network, Cory has often been critical of Earth's handling of extraterrestrial problems. This is his moment to shine, to apply his knowledge about alien customs, to, in the words of the president, "get those idiots out of there".

The last thing he expected to find in Ireland that summer was the inspiration to go on with his life, and certainly not in the form of an adolescent heiress. New York socialite Peg Shannon has everything - wealth, position, beauty, and limitless prospects for happiness. Or so the world believes. Aspiring London violinist Kendall Gregg is talented, handsome, and charming. While hardly well-to-do, he has connections and ambition which should take him far. Or so it appears.