Showing results by narrator "Lucy Paterson" in All Categories

In Leading on the Edge, successful business speaker and consultant Rachael Robertson shares the lessons she learned as leader of a year-long expedition to the wilds of Antarctica.

On a jagged, bleak lava field just outside Reykjavik stands the Gallows Rock. Once a place of execution, it is now a tourist attraction. Until this morning, when a man was found hanging from it. The nail embedded in his chest proves it wasn't suicide. But when the police go to his flat, a further puzzle awaits: a four-year-old boy has been left there. He doesn't seem to have any link with the victim, his parents cannot be found and his drawings show he witnessed something terrible.

Maria Birch is 70 years old, and for her every week is the same. On Monday, she does her weekly shop. On Tuesday, she goes for a blow-dry. On Wednesday, she visits the laundrette. But Thursday is her favorite day of all - everything hurts less on a Thursday. Every Thursday Maria walks to her local café. Waiting for her at one of the red gingham-topped tables is Albie Young, a charming man with a twinkle in his eye and an impressive collection of tweed flat caps. Every week, the pair share a slice of marble cake and a pot of tea. Except one week, Albie doesn’t turn up.

A terrifying ghost story from the Queen of Icelandic crime, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, author of the Thora Gudmundsdottir novels. The crunching noise had resumed, now accompanied by a disgusting, indefinable smell. It could best be described as a blend of kelp and rotten meat. The voice spoke again, now slightly louder and clearer: Don't go. Don't go yet. I'm not finished.

When Finn and Paddy decide to move from their home in the city to the small town of Simmerton, it feels like everything has finally fallen into place. Paddy's been made partner at the law firm in town, and Finn has found full-time work as the deacon. Paddy's new boss has even offered them the use of a gatehouse on his property.

When Orla Clifford inherits her grandmother's crumbling Georgian house on Damask Square, she sees a chance to rebuild her life while restoring its faded grandeur. But beneath its peeling wallpaper and weathered floors, the house holds more than just memories. To make ends meet, she takes in lodgers: Luke, a handyman with artistic dreams; compassionate Livvie; and Beatrice – young, privileged, and haunted by the question of her own past.

When Orna meets Gil on an online dating site, their lackluster affair seems like nothing more than a way to stave off the pain of her recent divorce. But soon it becomes clear that Gil may not be exactly who he claims to be and that Orna’s own lies may be weaving an unexpected trap for her.

All In My Head is a memoir by a woman who in her early 50s received a life-shattering diagnosis. It is about her determined search for effective treatment, the birth of a campaign to get proper data and funding for research into glioblastoma (GBM), and finally her coming to terms with the knowledge that she has reached the end of the road.

A delightful rom-com about a woman who decides to revisit each of her seven exes, convinced that one of them is “the one who got away.” Seven Exes. Seven Missed Chances. Who was the one who got away? Esther is nearing thirty, with a great job and a flat she shares with her two best friends...

Anna and Zoe are twins. Identical in appearance, utterly different in personality, they share a bond so close that nothing - or no one - can rip them apart. Until Anna meets charismatic Nick. Anna is trusting, romantic and hopeful; she thinks Nick is perfect. Zoe is daring, dangerous and extreme; she thinks Nick is a liar. Zoe has seen Anna betrayed by men before. She'll stop at nothing to discover if Nick is as good as he seems. The problem is, lies may hurt. But honesty can kill.

Escape into Rosamunde Pilcher's world, and meet characters who will become instant friends. The big bedroom was lovely: all pale blue and white, satin and muslin, cool and airy, the windows looking out over the garden to the creek. But to 14-year-old Emily, beautiful though it was, it was all wrong. Her stepmother's bedroom now: everything changed since her own mother had died. And stretched out on the bed: Stephanie, very white and pained. The new baby on its way, a month early.

Brought to you by Penguin. All Tastes! All Species! All Currencies! You can find anything in Scalentine, the city of portals, but you won't find a better brothel than the Red Lantern. And its proprietor, Babylon Steel (ex-mercenary, ex-priestess, ex... lots of things), means to keep it that way...

The only witness to a shocking murder is the victim's 10-year-old daughter, Margret. The police turn to the Children's House for their expertise in childhood trauma. The manager, Freyja, doesn't much like the police - especially the detective in charge, Huldar. But she does want to help them protect Margret. And when more people die - their murders heralded by strange messages, texts, and strings of numbers - they will have to work together to crack the riddle before they become targets themselves.

A chilling note predicting the deaths of six people is found in a school's time capsule, 10 years after it was buried. But surely, if a 13-year-old wrote it, it can't be a real threat.... Detective Huldar suspects he's been given the investigation simply to keep him away from real police work. He turns to psychologist Freyja to help understand the child who hid the message. Soon, however, they find themselves at the heart of another shocking case.

**Pre-order UTOPIA AVENUE, the spectacular new novel from David Mitchell.** Winner of the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. A magnificent achievement and an engrossing experience, David Mitchell's first novel announced the arrival of one of the most exciting writers of the twenty-first...

A group of young professionals travel to the Westman Islands off the coast of Iceland to attend an old friend's wake. When two bodies are found on a rocky beach close to the refurbished lighthouse keeper's house that the group had stayed in, medical examiner Iðunn is sent to provide the local police assistance. For Iðunn, who grew up on the island, this takes her back to the heart of her complex family and the ghosts of her own past she would prefer to keep at bay.

Eight years ago, Kathleen Hart was diagnosed with breast cancer. Further complications led to a protracted recovery and months spent in hospital, where Kathleen had to learn how to walk again. While recuperating, she came across a small whitewashed cottage for sale in Wigtown, Scotland. Driving hundreds of miles on nothing more than a few photographs and an inkling, she bought it that very same day and named it Devorgilla after the formidable 13th century Scottish princess. 

Belinda Penshurst loves her home village Little Challham, with its shady lanes, two pubs, and weekly market, and she’s determined to keep it peaceful. She may live in Challham Castle, but she knows almost everything that goes on under her nose. So when irritable pub landlord Tipper is found dead in his cellar, she’s perfectly placed to investigate.

As I watch you check in for a romantic week for two, his arm protectively around your waist, I smile to myself. You have no idea that this was all planned. Or what’s coming next… ‘Welcome to LunaBliss.’ I smile widely as I greet Gemma and her husband at the resort. As we clink glasses to toast the start of a gorgeous week, she doesn’t seem to remember that we’ve met before. And that I’ve waited so long to see her again. Every detail of the week has been planned. From the carefully placed black lilies around her luxury room to the ex who broke her heart turning up unannounced.

On a sultry afternoon in 1936, a woman accidentally interrupts an attempted murder in a London hotel room. Nina Land, a West End actress, faces a dilemma: She's not supposed to be at the hotel and certainly not with a married man. But once it becomes apparent that she may have seen the face of the man the newspapers have dubbed "the Tie-Pin Killer", she realises that other people’s lives could be at stake.