Showing results by narrator "Maria Johnson" in All Categories

This book charts the emergence of Kate Bush in the early-to-mid-1980s as a courageous experimentalist, a singularly expressive recording artist and a visionary music producer. Track-by-track commentaries focus on the experience of the album from the listener’s point of view, drawing attention to the art and craft of Bush’s songwriting, production and sound design.

This Very Short Introduction provides an up-to-date, authoritative, and accessible guide to modern child psychology, from birth to early adolescence. Beginning with infancy, Usha Goswami considers the process of attachment and 'bonding', showing how secure attachments enable the development of...

After losing a hand at Waterloo and selling out of the military, Captain William Allen has little to live for. But when he encounters the clever and exquisite Margaret Blackburn, the necessity of extricating her from a moneylender's clutches gives him a new purpose in life. If Margaret is to remain in London long enough to realise her goal of becoming a published author, William must convince Margaret's mother that he is a suitor in earnest.

This clean and wholesome regency romance follows the adventures and exploits of a sensible widow, a managing earl, an absent-minded botanist, a high-strung heiress, a coldhearted guardian, and a villainous kidnapper.

Sara Schönflies, a young Jewish woman from a line of gifted tailors and seamstresses, finds her world shattered by the rise of the Nazi regime. When Sara and her sisters are transferred to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, their talent becomes a lifeline. Their survival hinges on sewing beautiful dresses for the wives of SS officers and Nazi dignitaries. Amidst the horrors and suffering, Sara's determination, her sisters' unwavering courage, unyielding defiance, and the unexpected friendship with a member of the Sonderkommando become beacons of hope.

When Eloise Blackburn finds a strange gentleman perched in the leafy branches of an ash tree, she has strong suspicions he is not who he says he is. After all, the neighboring Allen family has never mentioned a cousin named Crispin from the West Indies. And what's this he's saying about a missing inheritance and a secret passageway in Allen Abbey?

Following the demise of the old rector, newly reformed Thomas Allen receives a position as vicar near Allen Abbey, his boyhood home. But memories of Thomas’ wild youth cause both the gentry and the country folk to doubt his sanctity and sincerity. Only Mary Bates, the daughter of the Abbey’s steward, seems willing to believe that the leopard has truly changed his spots.

DCI Daniel Owen is barely holding things together when an old flame crashes into his life, with a dead body and enough emotional baggage to sink a ship. Then the fires start. Who is Jonathan Cole, and why is he living at a run down holiday park? Did he kill the park's owner? Daniel wants to believe Jonathan is innocent, and Jonathan wants to seduce Daniel. Mal, now Superintendent Kent, wants to come home. His undercover officer has disappeared from the same holiday park, and that can't be a coincidence, can it?

A missing heiress. A trip to Paris. Can a gentleman-turned-footman convince the runaway beauty that at least one man in her life is worthy of trust?

After seven long years in Devon, Lady Maud Worlington returns to London to reclaim life on her own terms, but a nefarious shadow and the prospect of financial ruin dog her steps. An impulsive and unforgettable kiss under the mistletoe creates a connection with Geoffrey, the handsome, young Duke of Tilbury. Yet, as pleasant as it is to have a suitor, Maud is not sure how a boy of one-and-20 can prove an equal partner in life and the equal of all the forces mounted against her.

When Lady Jemima Fitzwater is dismissed from Princess Charlotte’s household, she discovers that her invalid mother at Cavendish Square has been running through money like water. Jemima tries to fend off the mounting debts, but an unfortunate indiscretion from her past threatens to destroy both her reputation and her resolve. The only person who might be able to help is her man of business, Mr. Talbot, but is telling him her secret too high a price to pay?

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Anna Karenina, a literary masterpiece by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.

An aimless life. An unsettled conscience. Can the gentlewoman next door bring a new sense of purpose to this duke run aground in Derbyshire? Nigel Lymington, the new Duke of Warrenton, always played second fiddle to his elder brother’s wild exploits. After rising to the title himself, he tries to live up to his family’s rakish reputation, only to discover that he has neither the temperament nor the money to indulge in the wastrel Warrenton way of life.

It is 1535, and in the tumultuous years of King Henry VIII’s break from Rome, the religious houses of England are being seized by force. Twenty-year-old Catherine Havens is a foundling and the adopted daughter of the prioress of the Priory of Mount Grace in a small Yorkshire village.

I have always wanted to tell my story, not for sympathy or to shock anyone but to show I am human. My life has been far from perfect. It's not one of those broken child books. I am and never will be broken. I am a strong woman with a successful career. Why is it called Fact or Fiction? Sometimes I have said to myself, " You couldn't make this shit up”, but then wonder if people would actually believe me if I told them.

In Silence: The Psychology and the Craft for Emotional Wellbeing, the author―a psychotherapist, university professor, educator, and researcher―takes the listener into a thought-provoking and heartfelt journey. She offers original perspectives and vulnerable stories from her clients, students, and personal life. Drawing on, among others, ethnographic and autoethnographic accounts, Lehmann serves the listener with psychological insights, offering a timely, critical, and thorough viewpoint to contrast with an overload of misinformation about what silence is and how people should feel when quiet.

France, 1940. Nazi forces march towards Paris. Lili Rosenswig's wealthy and eccentric family is ensconced in their country chateau with their sumptuous collection of arts and antiques. The beloved Matisse portrait of Lili's mother has been brought from their Paris salon for safety. It is the day before young lovers Lili and Paul are to be married that they are forced to flee and their fortunes change irrevocably.

Felicity Wren, a woman without family, is bound by societal expectations and a lonely past. Theodore “Tad” Hartford, the son of a successful merchant, is an outsider to the world of nobility. Their arranged marriage, a means to secure Felicity’s future and Tad’s ascension in Society, begins as a duty but quickly becomes something more.

Elara Millstone never wanted a life of impossible bargains. But when her father, once a respected alchemist, claims he can change straw into gold, they find themselves trapped in a dangerous game with the powerful Duke of Sutton. If her father fails to deliver on his promise, imprisonment would be the least of their worries. Desperate to save them, Elara makes a deal of her own with a mysterious masked gentleman who seems to hold the key to their survival.

Eight-year-old Sharon Rowling has a lot to contend with. Her stunning mum, Maria, literally stops traffic with her beauty, much to the dismay of her dodgy dad, Ricky, who is under height and underemployed. Then there's her three excruciating siblings plus her unhinged Shetland pony, all of whom remain stubbornly oblivious to the fact that Sharon's deepest fear might soon become a reality.