This set contains The BFG, The Twits, James and the Giant Peach, The Enormous Crocodile, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Danny the Champion of the World, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox and Matilda

Speed Reading for Success will explain how to read faster - and understand and recall what you have read. Many people have doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled their reading speeds using the techniques Jane Smith explains in this concise and highly acclaimed audiobook. Learning these skills will enable you to get through more material in the time available, and you’ll become better-informed than ever.

Life's a bit of a beach these days for Ginger Walsh, who's single at forty-one and living back home in the family FROG (finished room over garage). Geri, her BlackBerry-obsessed sister, is also nearly off the deep end about her pending fiftieth birthday (and might just drag Ginger with her). Toss in a dumpster-picking father, a Kama Sutra T-shirt -wearing mother, a movie crew come to town with a very cute gaffer, an...

Texas in the early 1900s, its inhabitants still traveling by horseback and barely familiar with the telephone, was on the cusp of an oil boom that, unbeknownst to its residents, would spark a period of dramatic change and economic growth. In the midst of this transformative time in Southern history, two unforgettable characters emerge and find their fates irrevocably intertwined: Samantha Gordon, the privileged...

Who is Septimus Heap? A lost child? An ordinary hero? A powerful wizard? The Magyk begins here.

The first book in this enthralling new series by Angie Sage leads listeners on a fantastic journey filled with quirky characters and magykal charms, potions, and spells. Magyk is an original story of lost and rediscovered identities, rich with humor and heart.

In this hotly anticipated thriller our hero Jack Reacher on a quest into his father's past, and climaxes in the most stomach-clenching, hair-raising, blood-curdling ticking time bomb of an adventure yet. Jack Reacher plans to follow the autumn sun on an epic road trip across America, from Maine to California. He doesn’t get far. On a country road deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he...

Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur detective Charles Paris. Charles Paris is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept drama company. No fan of immersive theatre, he’s unimpressed with the director’s vision and less than thrilled to be rehearsing alongside puppeteers and mime artists. But he soon finds himself back on familiar territory when the actress playing...

Join Noddy and friends in the magical world of Toyland in these six episodes from the hit television series, complete with music and sound effects. Noddy and Big-Ears, Tessie Bear, Bumpy Dog and all his other friends get into mischief and have some great adventures in these six fantastic episodes. Noddy is having a picnic in the countryside when he remembers he has to be in Toy Town to meet the train, in...

In a Greek taverna, high over the small village of Aghia Anna, four people meet for the first time: Fiona, an Irish nurse, Thomas, a Californian academic; Elsa, a German television presenter; and David a shy English boy. Along with Andreas, the old man who runs the taverna, they become close to each other after witnessing a tragedy when a pleasure steamer catches fire in the harbour. NIGHTS OF RAIN AND STARS is the...

Narrated by Charlie Mackesy. With music by Max Richter and Isobel Waller-Bridge. Discover the universal tale of four unlikely friends that has captured the hearts of readers of all ages, now available in audio. Adapted into a BAFTA and Academy Award-winning animated short film. Experience the world of a curious boy, a greedy mole, a wary fox and a wise horse who find themselves together in sometimes difficult...

Past, present and future collide as the Thirteenth Doctor meets classic Doctor Who companion Ace, in an epic novel written and read by Sophie Aldred. Once, a girl called Ace travelled the universe with the Doctor – until, in the wake of a terrible tragedy they parted company. Now, decades on, she is known as Dorothy McShane, the reclusive millionaire philanthropist who heads the global organisation A Charitable Earth.

Everyone thinks they know the real Gordon Ramsay: rude, loud, pathologically driven, stubborn as hell. But this is his real story… This is Gordon Ramsay’s autobiography – the first time he has told the full story of how he became the world’s most famous and infamous chef: his difficult childhood, his brother’s heroin addiction and his failed first career as a footballer: all of these things have made him the celebrated...

There was once a time, nearly four thousand years ago, when the tall towers of a city called Troy reached gleaming into the sky; when its proud king fought against an invading army in a desperate siege. The Tale of Troy was so important to the ancient Greeks that its author, Homer, became a kind of hero. Long after his death artists, thinkers, and ordinary people still look to his tale for inspiration. This exciting version of the...

More chills and thrills in Darren Shan’s latest Demonata title. Let the Slawter commence… “Never trust fairy tales. There are no happy endings. There's always something new around the corner. You can overcome major obstacles, face great danger, look evil in the eye and live to tell the tale – but that's not the end. As long as you're breathing, your story's still going…” Nightmares have haunted the dreams of Dervish Grady...

Can we resurrect dinosaurs, Jurassic Park-style? Are we living in the Matrix's digital simulation? Do aliens with acid blood exist somewhere in the universe? And just why were the original Planet of the Apes movies so terrible? In Science(ish), Rick Edwards and Dr Michael Brooks confront all the questions that your favourite movies provoke. Inspired by their award-winning podcast, this popular (hopefully) science (definitely)...

Alexander Hamilton was an illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean who overcame all the odds to become George Washington's aide-de-camp and the first Treasury Secretary of the United States. Few figures in American history are more controversial. In this masterful work, Chernow shows how the political and economic power of America today is the result of Hamilton's willingness to champion...

An account of the former British prime minister's seventy-year relationship with the United States describes how he laid the foundation of a century-long alliance between the countries and established a policy of cooperation that continues to this day.

Drag celebrates the fabulous current and historical influence of drag, and its talented and inspiring performers. Since man first walked the Earth...in heels, no other art form has wielded as unique an influence on pop culture as drag. Drag artists have now sashayed their way to snatch the crowns as the queens of mainstream entertainment. Through informative and witty essays chronicling over 100 years of drag, listeners...

In 1947, American historian and World War II veteran Martin Mitchell wins a Fulbright Fellowship to document the end of British rule in India. His wife, Evie, convinces him to take her and their young son along, hoping a shared adventure will mend their marriage, which has been strained by war. But other places, other wars. Martin and Evie find themselves stranded in a colonial bungalow in the Himalayas due to...

One of Travel + Leisure's most anticipated books of summer 2020. From the Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids comes a story of four generations of women grappling with family betrayals and long-buried secrets. It's been years since Zoe Fairchild has been to the small Devon village of her birth, but the wounds she suffered there still ache. When she learns that her...

Nominated in Best Fiction at the Audie Awards 2020. The sequel to the international number one best seller The Tattooist of Auschwitz, based on a true story of love and resilience. Her beauty saved her life - and condemned her. Cilka was only 16 years old when she was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, in 1942. The Commandant at Birkenau, Schwarzhuber, noticed her long beautiful hair, and forced her...

Seventeen-year-old Alba is an aspiring comic-book artist, pastry enthusiast and eternal optimist. She thinks life in her tiny town is awesome (if predictable) and she never wants it to change. Unfortunately Alba’s just finished Year 12 – so the only thing she can predict is that everything’s going to change. Even so, Alba didn’t see the end of the world coming. Apart from a questionable television psychic, no one did. And for...

This Summer the girls became a gang. They call themselves the C.H.I.X. after the first letters of their names and the chickens they look after. After looking after Charlie's grandma's chickens, best friends Charlie, Hannah, Izzie and Xa (Alexandra) form a secret club formed by the first letters of their names. They are the C.H.I.X. They wear a feather around their necks, look for adventure and swear an oath to never eat...

TV and radio presenter Kate Garraway has a lot on her mind. She's about to turn 50, which is fine (she thinks) but suddenly she seems to have MANY questions about EVERYTHING. Should she be getting plastic surgery? Will the menopause ruin her life? What's the secret to making love last? Can anyone really deal with the idea of death? And why, oh why, did nobody tell her how important big knickers would be?!

A few months short of his sixteenth birthday Danny runs away from home after a huge row with his mum. After only four hours everything he owns is stolen at a motorway service station. He is approached by Luke, a 19-year-old on a road trip, supposedly making a video diary. Luke has a huge car and plenty of money and Danny likes him instantly. But Luke is not what he seems and everywhere they go a mysterious...

"Pam Ayres has a quality of fun which glows ever more brightly as newer, lesser entertainers make their bid for stardom". ("The Scotsman"). Pam Ayres brings you four brand new shows made up of a delightful mix of poems, personal stories and sketches on subjects that have recently inspired her: "Passion", "In The Doghouse", "On Yer Bike" and "Shopping". She's joined by actors Felicity Montagu and Geoffrey Whitehead...

The world is in flames. You look behind; there's nothing but smoke. Ahead of you the future has just burst into flames. Your life is on fire. The world's an inferno. You're burning with passion and fear, with love and rage. You're burning for revenge.
Burning for Revenge is the fifth volume in the award-winning Tomorrow series.

The second Dirk Gently book by Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul is a witty detective story perfect for fans of his phenomenally successful The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. When a passenger check-in desk at Terminal Two, Heathrow Airport, shot up through the roof engulfed in a ball...

Georgette Heyer remains an enduring international bestseller, read and loved by four generations of readers and extolled by today's bestselling authors. Despite her enormous popularity she never gave an interview or appeared in public. Georgette Heyer wrote her first novel, The Black Moth, when she was...

The hero of Genevieve Incident is assigned to the Monitor Insolent as she escorts a freighter into the northern reaches of league space. Their destination, the distant world of Cimmeria.While the Cimmerians are striving to find their own identity under the yoke of a corrupt regime, far from their world the Pruessen...

Mary Wimbush stars as unconventional psychoanalyst sleuth Mrs Bradley in these two full-cast dramatisations of stories by Gladys Mitchell. Colourful, cynical, intimidating and extremely intelligent, Mrs Bradley is one of the most unorthodox detectives in the history of Golden Age crime fiction. The heroine ...

The shy young Duke of Sale has never known his parents. Instead, his Grace Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware, or Gilly for short, has endured 24 years of rigorous mollycoddling from his uncle and his valet. But his natural diffidence conceals a rebellious spirit. So when Gilly hears of Belinda, the beautiful...

Hated for his cruel and vicious nature, ruling his family with an iron hand from his sickbed, tyrannical patriarch Adam Penhallow is found murdered the day before his birthday. His entire family had assembled for his birthday celebration, and every one of them had the ways and means to commit the crime.

Slumped on a seat under an oak tree is old Sampson Warrenby, with a bullet through his head. Everybody in the village is ready to tell Chief Inspector Hemingway who did it. Could the murderer have been the dead man's niece? Or perhaps it was the other town solicitor? The couple at the farm had a guilty...

When Ernest Fletcher is found bludgeoned to death in his study, everyone is shocked and mystified: Ernest was well liked and respected, so who would have a motive for killing him? Enter Superintendent Hannasyde who, with consummate skill, begins to uncover the complexities of Fletcher's life. It seems the ...

Sir Nicholas Beauvallet has fallen in love with a Spanish noblewoman. She and her father were aboard a galleon captured by Sir Nicholas. He vows to make her his bride even though it means returning the pair to Spain and entering the lion's den.

It's no ordinary morning at the Poplars – the master is found dead in his bed, and it seems his high blood pressure was not the cause. When an autopsy reveals a sinister poison, it's up to the quietly resourceful Inspector Hannasyde to catch the murderer in time to spare the next victim.

Society believes the worst of Justin Alastair, the notorious Duke of Avon who is clearly proud of his Sobriquet, Satanas. It is he who buys Leon body and soul from a scoundrel in a Paris backstreet.

Killing Floor is the first book in the internationally popular Jack Reacher series. It presents Reacher for the first time, as the tough ex-military cop of no fixed abode: a righter of wrongs, the perfect action hero. Jack Reacher jumps off a bus and walks fourteen miles down a country road into Margrave, Georgia.

When spirited, independent Miss Annis Wynchwood embroils herself in the affairs of a runaway heiress, she is destined to see a good deal of Mr Carleton, Lucilla's uncivil and high-handed guardian. And, chafing at the restrictions of Bath society, Annis has to admit that at least Mr Oliver Carleton is never boring.

After a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl, The Pythons made their last performance together in 1983 in the hugely successful MONTY PYTHON'S MEANING OF LIFE. Writing and acting in films and television then took over much of Michael's life, culminating in the smash hit A FISH CALLED WANDA ...

The publication of Robinson Crusoe in London in 1719 marked the arrival of a revolutionary art form: the novel. British writers were prominent in shaping the new type of storytelling - one which reflected the experiences of ordinary people, with characters in whom readers could find not only an escape, but a deeper understanding of their own lives.

Ian McEwan’s mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft and witty audiobook of betrayal and intrigue, love, and the invented self. Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of an Anglican bishop, has a brief affair with an older man during her final year at Cambridge, and finds herself being groomed for the intelligence...

Walt Whitman said, "...poetry is the voice of the nation, expressing its deepest concerns, ambitions and longings," which is certainly true of the great classic poetry of America. This wide-ranging anthology, from the earliest poets of the 16th century to the present day, reflects the changing preoccupations and visions of Americans, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe...

Here is some of Oscar Wildes finest short fiction: Lord Arthur Saviles Crime, The Canterville Ghost, The Model Millionaire, The Sphinx Without a Secret, The Birthday of the Infanta and The Portrait of Mr W. H. The range of Wildes talent and wit is fully evident in this diverse mix of stories. Within the collection there is an unconventional ghost story about a bungling and inept ghost, a twist on the conventional murder...

From the Sunday Times bestselling author Gervase Phinn comes a fourth book of reminiscences about life as a Yorkshire Dales school inspector that will continue to delight and charm fans across the globe. Life for the Gervase Phinn is about to become not unlike the rambling hills of the Dales themselves -

Love is in the air when five sisters discover that a wealthy and eligible bachelor is suddenly within reach. But it is his friend, the haughty Mr. Darcy, who becomes smitten. Unfortunately for him, the object of his affection is not so easily swayed. One of the most popular characters in English literature, ...

The climactic volume of the trilogy, wherein the little hobbit and his trusty companions make a terrible journey to the heart of the land of the Shadow in a final reckoning with the power of Sauron. The climactic volume of the trilogy, wherein the little hobbit and his trusty companions make a terrible journey to...

Scobie Malone is back with a new promotion and a new and bewildering murder to unravel. No one particularly likes Natalie Shipwood, head of the successful Orlando development company, but when her private secretary Marilyn Hyx is found murdered, it seems someone might be trying to tell Natalie something. Through the murky world of rumor, leaked documents, creative accounting and Security Commission...

Another foolhardy Cambridge college-climber has died attempting Harding's Folly. This time it's John Talentire, one of the brightest young dons at St Agatha's, and the verdict is accident, compounded by idiocy. But Imogen Quy - her name rhymes with 'why' - can't help wondering how such a clever young man died so stupidly. And when a wildly eccentric production of Hamlet is interrupted by a murder accusation...

The thrilling first book in the best-selling Harry Hole series, never before published in English. Harry is out of his depth. Detective Harry Hole is meant to keep out of trouble. A young Norwegian girl taking a gap year in Sydney has been murdered, and Harry has been sent to Australia to assist in any way he can.

North and South follows our widely-praised recording of Cranford (2008), transporting the listener to the heart of Victorian England by vividly delineating the social landscape and an unlikely romance which flourishes within it. Saddened to be leaving behind the sophistication of the South, Margaret Hale...

Meet Silver. Forty-four, divorced and living alone. His once celebrated music career is now a faded memory and his ex-wife is about to marry another man. The only good thing in Silver's life is his Princeton-bound teenage daughter, Casey - and she would probably say the exact opposite about him. So in Silver's opinion, things could be going better . . . a lot better. Then Casey drops a bombshell: she's pregnant.

A unique recording with Dylan Thomas reading his own work, as he meant it to be read. Because Dylan Thomas often wrote as much for the sound of his poetry as for its meaning, he was extraordinarily well-suited to the task of interpreting his own works on audio ...

King Caspian has grown old and sad in the ten years since the disappearance of his only son. With time running out, Jill and Eustace embark on a perilous quest to find the Prince and bring back tranquillity to the magical land of Narnia. Journeying to the wild lands of the North, the friends and their companion Puddleglum go through some hair-raising adventures. There are mighty storms to battle and a terrifying...

Philip Franks, Geraldine James, Michael Maloney and Kenneth Cranham star in the first "Radio 4" full-cast dramatisation of a bestselling P.D. James murder mystery for seven years. Venetia Aldridge QC is a distinguished criminal lawyer. When she secures the acquittal of a young man, Garry Ashe, from the charge of murdering his aunt, a series of bizarre events is set in train, starting with her own murder.

The year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years.

There are now two handsome and healthy sons in the nursery, Elizabeth's beloved sister Jane and her husband Bingley live nearby and the orderly world of Pemberley seems unassailable.

Stephen Hawking is an intellectual icon, known not only for the adventurousness of his ideas but for the clarity and wit with which he expresses them. His phenomenal multi-million-copy bestseller A Brief History of Time introduced the fascinating landscape of theoretical physics to readers all over the world. Now, in a major new book, Hawking turns to the most important breakthroughs that have occurred in the years since...

When ""Daily Telegraph"" correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa in 2000 he quickly became obsessed with the idea of recreating H M Stanley's famous expedition - but travelling alone. Despite warnings that his plan was 'suicidal', Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. Making his way in an assortment of vessels including...

This compelling collection brings Baker Street's celebrated resident and his cohort, Dr Watson, out of retirement to investigate seven of the most notorious mysteries in the annals of true crime, from the murder of a London prostitute to the 1907 theft of the Irish Crown Jewels. In Paris, Holmes and Watson become embroiled in the suspicious...

Survival tips for times of stress: 1. Take deep breaths. 2. Count to 10. 3. Eat chocolate. Lucy thought she had got her happily ever after with the gorgeous Aidan, but things aren't turning out the way she hoped they would. But she's not the only one with problems - Autumn's new boyfriend has yet to meet her parents; Nadia's husband has sworn he's given up gambling, but she's finding that hard to believe; and Chantal...

Kenji Yamada has a critical wife, a hated mother-in-law and what he thinks is a job for life until his fortieth birthday teaches him otherwise. Initially too embarassed to tell his family that he has been fired, Kenji first befriends a travelling salesman with a passion for Elvis before taking up gambling, but his wife's outrage soon brings an end to this and sends him on a roller-coaster of misadventures. Via a bizarre chain of...

Thirteen-year-old Emily Houchens doesn't have many friends. She spends her time alone in the woods near her house - her safe place, until she finds the body of a young woman. Susanna Mitchell is searching for her sister, Ronnie, who vanished after leaving a late-night bar. The more she discovers about Ronnie's life, the more she realises that her sister began to disappear long before she went missing.

The New York Times bestselling novel from Dennis Lehane is a gripping, unnerving psychological thriller about the effects of a savage killing on three former friends in a tightly knit, blue-collar Boston neighbourhood. There are threads in our lives. You pull one, and everything else gets affected. When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up...

Originating from CSA WORD - the fifth instalment in its famous 'Short Story' compilation series - fine vintage stories that slip down as easily as a 1787 Chateau Lafite but are considerably lighter on the pocket to indulge in. This excellent value collection features twenty-two complete and unabridged stories from writers as diverse as Saki, P.G. Wodehouse, Jerome K. Jerome, Kate Chopin and Edward Lear.

A brave nun. Her twin brother. The secrets and lies that would tear them apart. There is a special bond that twins share, an ethereal connection that can't be put into words. Margaret Harrod shared that unique bond with her twin brother, Michael. As children they were inseparable, and at age 22, together, they gave their lives to the Catholic Church. Margaret became a nun and Michael a Salesian priest - it was the...

The Driving Instructor: 20 Comedy Classics "hearty laughs for healthy lives.... these will always raise more than smiles" The Driving Instructor - Bob Newhart Poisoning Pigeons & Fight Fiercely, Harvard - Tom Lehrer Kid in the Well - Lenny Bruce Nursery School (George, don't do That...) - Joyce Grenfell Max at the Met - Excerpt - Max Miller Sunday Afternoon at Home - Tony Hancock, Sidney James, Bill Kerr and Hattie Jacques...

Discover the witty and wonderful story of two unlikely women whose lives are woven together, from the bestselling author of The New Mrs Clifton Barbara and Siena - two women living fifty years apart. Both constrained by choice; one has too little and one has too much. Siena, a 21st century woman, has so far managed to avoid the tick of the biological clock. Without children she can control her own wonderful...

This item contains the original radio perfromance of The Radio Ham, The Blood Donor and an additional recording of Tony Hancock named The Secret Life of Anthony Hancock

Jamal and Bibi have a dream. To lead Australia to soccer glory in the next World Cup. They know it won't be easy. They'll have to beat some really good teams, plus landmines, pirates, storms, and assassins. But they're sure they can achieve their dream, if only they can get to Australia.
Sometimes, to save the people you love, you have to go overboard. A story of hope, ball control, and an incredible journey.

Recently retired from US military intelligence, Judd Ryder is walking home one evening when he sees a man wearing his clothes step out of his house. Moments later the man is killed in a hit-and-run. Was the stranger the intended victim, or was it Judd himself? Searching the man, Judd finds a phone with only one number dialled - to CIA trainee Eva Blake, Judd's former girlfriend. What Judd and Eva don't know is...

Lee Child once again demonstrates his mastery of the thriller genre with an unbeatable collection of three Jack Reacher novellas and six short stories, together for the first time in one pulse-pounding collection from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Too Much Time: In this original novella featuring Jack Reacher after his time in the army, Reacher finds himself in a hollowed-out town in Maine.

On Westminster Bridge (Wordsworth) Ode To A Nightingale (Keats) On Wenlock Edge (A.E. Housman) Youth And Age On Beaulieu River (Betjeman) A Subaltern's Love Song (Betjeman) Hunter Trials (Betjeman) Now Sleeps The Crimson Petal (Tennyson) Daffodils (Wordsworth) Sonnet No.2: When Forty Winters Shall Besiege Thy Brow (Shakespeare) Sonnet No.18: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day? (Shakespeare)...

Librarian spy Irene and her apprentice Kai return for another "tremendously fun, rip-roaring adventure" (A Fantastical Librarian), third in the bibliophilic fantasy series from the author of The Masked City. Never judge a book by its cover... Due to her involvement in an unfortunate set of mishaps between the dragons and the Fae, Librarian spy Irene is stuck on probation, doing what should be simple fetch-and-retrieve...

On 16 July 1940, Hitler issued Directive No. 16, setting in motion Operation Sea Lion: his plan to invade England. The success of Operation Sea Lion hinged entirely on the destruction of the RAF and the Royal Navy, but even as Hitler's plans swung into action and England, barely recovered from Dunkirk, rallied her defences, the Battle of Britain began and in just a few months Germany had lost all hope of dominating...

When something precious is stolen from sixteen-year-old Mina Grime, she will do anything in her power to get it back, even if it means traveling to the dangerous Fae plane and battling one of the strongest fairy tale villains yet.However, nothing can prepare Mina for the dangerous obstacles she will face in the Fae world-or the choices she must make when love and life are on the line.

When a family camping trip takes a dark turn, how far will one mother go to keep her family safe? Struggling with working-mother guilt, Marlene Greene hopes a camping trip in the forest will provide quality time with her three young children—until they see fires in the distance, columns of smoke distorting the sweeping view. Overnight, all communication with the outside world is lost. Knowing something terrible has...

After ten years in England, expatriate American Bill Bryson was gripped by an urge to return to the land of his youth. Borrowing his mother's old Chevrolet, Bryson travelled 13,978 miles through thirty-eight states, seeing pretty much what he wanted to see, and a good deal that he didn't. He visited Mark Twain's birthplace and the place where Roosevelt died. He glimpsed the Grand Canyon through a thick fog and failed to...

Oscar Hopkins, the hydrophobic, noisy-kneed son of a preacher, renounces his father's stern religion in favour of the Anglican Church. Lucinda Leplastrier, a frizzy-haired heiress, impulsively buys a glass factory with the inheritance forced on her by a well-intentioned adviser. When the two finally meet, on board a ship to New South Wales, Australia they are bound by their affinity for gambling and risk, their loneliness...

Ellie married her Prince Charming when she was young, naive, and willing to sign a one-sided pre-nup in the name of true love. But seven years and one toddler later, her happily-ever-after has come to a screeching halt. When Jen married Eric, he knew she wasn't head-over-heels, but he insisted that they were perfect together. But when her successful career puts her marriage in jeopardy, she realizes she doesn't...

When Dave Heyhoe was sent to Afghanistan to help detect the Taliban's murderous roadside bombs, he knew he'd need a special dog by his side. Luckily for him, his closest pal, Treo, a staggeringly brave ball of energy and mischief was with him every step of the way. The two friends had a miraculous understanding that helped them save countless lives but, as they embarked on a roller-coaster emotional ride...

A compelling novel of desire, secrecy, and sexual identity, In One Person is a story of unfulfilled love — tormented, funny, and affecting — and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a ‘sexual suspect’, a phrase used by John Irving in 1978 — in his landmark novel The World According to Garp.

From empty cliche to meaningless jargon, dangling participle to sentences without verbs, the English language is reeling. It is under attack from all sides. Politicians dupe us with deliberately evasive language. Bosses worry about impacting the bottom line while they think out of the box. Academics talk obscure mumbo jumbo. Journalists and broadcasters, who should know better, lazily collaborate.

In the sweltering summer of 1911, suffragette Connie Callaway is introduced to Will Maitland, cricketer and rising star of his county. Despite parting on uncertain terms, they are destined to meet again, their lives inextricably entangled. Combining national drama and private tragedy, this is a story of love, sacrifice, suffrage and county cricket, projected against a vivid backdrop of England in an extraordinary age of...

May 1940. Hitler invades France, a move that threatens all of Europe, and three lives intersect at Wickwythe Hall, an opulent estate in the English countryside-a beautiful French refugee, a take-charge American heiress, and a charming champagne vendeur with ties to Roosevelt and Churchill, who isn't what he seems. There, secrets and unexpected liaisons unfold, until a shocking tragedy in a far-off Algerian port binds...

May 1940. Hitler invades France, a move that threatens all of Europe, and three lives intersect at Wickwythe Hall, an opulent estate in the English countryside-a beautiful French refugee, a take-charge American heiress, and a charming champagne vendeur with ties to Roosevelt and Churchill, who isn't what he seems. There, secrets and unexpected liaisons unfold, until a shocking tragedy in a far-off Algerian port binds...

A glimpse of life inside the world’s most secretive country, as told by Britain’s best-loved travel writer. In May 2018, former Monty Python stalwart and intrepid globetrotter Michael Palin spent two weeks in the notoriously secretive Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a cut-off land without internet or phone signal, where the countryside has barely moved beyond a centuries-old peasant economy but where the...

When I agreed to stand by my best friend, Basia, on her big day, I had no idea what I was in for. Bouquets and unflattering evening wear I can handle. But between disgruntled dates, a beach venue and suspicious packages, what else can go wrong? Oh, right-my parents don't know I've moved in with Slash. Oops?Thankfully, I've got everything semi under control, at least as far as Basia and Xavier know. They can leave for...

Sebastian Rudd is not your typical street lawyer. He works out of a customized bulletproof van, complete with Wi-Fi, a bar, a small fridge, fine leather chairs, a hidden gun compartment, and a heavily armed driver. He has no firm, no partners, no associates, and only one employee, his driver, who’s also his bodyguard, law clerk, confidant, and golf caddy. He lives alone in a small but extremely safe penthouse apartment, and...

Over the years, the magnificent Keep in Devon has provided a bolt hole for the Chadwick family. Now the five young cousins who grew up there have left home and their grandmother Freddie wonders anxiously whether she will live to see the arrival of the next generation. No matter what happens to them...

As Christmas approaches, everything seems to be falling into place for Dossie. Her son Clem and his adorable five-year-old son Jakey have moved to Cornwall to be closer to her. She runs her own successful catering business. All she needs now is for the run of bad luck in her romantic life to end. Forming a slightly...

July 1940, and Holly learns that her fiancé, Martin, has been killed at Dunkirk. Working as a nurse on Nazi-occupied Jersey, and forced to work alongside the race responsible for Martin’s death, she struggles to cope with her grief. Peter, a German doctor, befriends her as they work in the hospital’s operating...

A couple of books bought from a jumble sale with the name Johnnie Bearsden in the front is all it takes for rumours to begin swirling again: Rumours about little Izzy Haddon, whose mother has kept the identity of her daughter's father a secret.

"A Christmas Carol" is the best-known and best-loved of Dickens' 'Christmas Books', and the story of the miser Scrooge's redemption has become as much part of the Christmas tradition as plum pudding and carols themselves. Will Tiny Tim live to see another Christmas? Naxos

A Room with a View portrays the love of a British woman for an expatriate living in Italy, a country which to Forster represents the forces of true passion. Caught up in a world of social snobbery, Forster's heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, finds herself constrained by the claustrophobic influence ...

Arguably Charlotte Bronte's most deeply felt work, Villette draws on her own profound loneliness following the deaths of her three siblings. Left to fend for herself after a family tragedy, Lucy Snowe flees from her unhappy past in England to begin a new life as a teacher at a French boarding school in the...

When Mrs Dashwood is forced by an avaricious daughter-in-law to leave the family home in Sussex, she takes her three daughters to live in a modest cottage in Devon. For Elinor, the eldest daughter, the move means a painful separation from the man she loves...

One of the greatest love stories ever written, Jane Eyre is the tale of a young woman entangled with the powerful Mr Rochester. What lurks in the attic at Thornfield, the ancestral home of the surly Mr Rochester? Will the governess Jane Eyre discover his secret - and having discovered it, live to regret that...

A Genius Performance by Anton Lesser!

This wonderful production of one of Shakespeare's most extraordinary tragedies is both true to the text and maintains the tempo of the piece. In every classically trained actors life there is a deep desire to play Hamlet. Lesser does a brilliant job with this performance. Personal and magestic - a must listen! Naxos

A Genius Performance by Anton Lesser! The three characters - Othello (Hugh Quarshie), Iago (Anton Lesser) and Desdemona (Emma Fielding) come together in this wonderful tragedy. Dealing with issues from racism to lust, revenge to prejudice. Naxos