After completing work on Visconti's Death in Venice, the celebrated actor seeks a refuge from 20 years of 'continual motion'. This dream of a peaceful retreat materialises itself in the form of a neglected farmhouse in the South of France. However, before he is rewarded with the calm he craves, he is forced to...

Filling the gaps left between his previous memoirs, as well as highlighting new episodes, Backcloth explores the patterns of pleasure and pain that have made up Bogarde's extraordinary life. Based on personal letters, notebooks and diaries and covering many aspects of a celebrated life, we share experiences...

We have spent decades optimizing our waking hours, but what about the precious hours after we doze off (or try to)? As the most active time for our brains and the most important element to a calmer, happier life, sleep has become the topic of our times. Drawing on the success of Calm, the #1 app for sleep...

Mitch is a 25-year-old with commitment issues. Leonard is a five-year-old kid with asthma and vision problems, who captivates everyone he meets. Pearl is Leonard's teenage mother, who's trying to hide a violent secret from her past. Life has given Pearl every reason to mistrust people, but circumstances force...

These six cassettes contain a Radio 4 dramatization of Dickens's darkly comic novel. Jonas and Martin Chuzzlewit are cousins whose characters and destinies form a stark contrast. Jonas descends into a life of unrelenting evil, while Martin, by sheer good fortune, escapes a similar fate.

David Beckham is one of the world's foremost media icons, his popularity transcending sport and cultural divides. This is his own in-depth account of his career to date, for Manchester United and England, and of his childhood, family and personal life.

Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century drama. Described by its author as a chronical play, it presents the memorable story of the Maid of Orleans. This Bernard Shaw at his very best!

When a close colleague is brutally attacked, Inspector John Rebus is drawn into a case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body, and a long forgotten night of terror and murder. Pursued by dangerous ghosts and tormented by the coded secrets of his colleague's notebook, Rebus must piece together the most complex and confusing of jigsaws. But not everyone wants the puzzle solved - perhaps not even Rebus himself...

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER. YOU DON'T KNOW HER. BUT SHE KNOWS YOU. Rear Window meets Gone Girl, in this exceptional and startling psychological thriller Gripping, enthralling - a top-notch thriller and a compulsive read' S J WATSON, bestselling author of Before I Go To Sleep.

A house of sin, a house of murder… Lonely, ageing and chronically ill, Ned Jones is found dead on sweltering summer afternoon in his rooms. Everyone assumes he died of natural causes. But after the post-mortem suggests otherwise, Detective Chief Inspector Michael McKenna and his team become involved. In search of Ned's killer, McKenna visits the house of Edith Harris, where Ned lodged. But fragile...

When a childhood friend unexpectedly attempts to murder him in Switzerland, an American investment banker begins to unravel a mystery involving his famous financier father and a mysterious OSS case code-named Sigma.

The story of the Nile, from the Mountains of the Moon to the Mediterranean. The tale starts with Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke setting out to find the sources of the Nile. It continues with Baker of the Nile and his wife struggling with malaria, and of the famous greeting between Stanley and Livingstone. The book examines the results of their discoveries: the building of the Suez canal; the Khedive Ismail's appointment of Gordon as Governor-General of Sudan; and the story of the last days of Khartoum. The book concludes with Kitchener's military success at Omdurman which made Queen Victoria the ruler of the huge area from Alexandria to the highlands of Uganda and which resulted in the Nile being, for the first tiem, an open highway from Central Africa to the sea.

The third gripping novel in the Jessica Daniel series. Someone has left a severed hand in the centre of Manchester and the only clue Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel has to go on is CCTV footage of a woman in a long black robe placing it carefully on the ground. With a lengthy missing persons list and frantic families wondering if the body part could belong to their absent loved ones, she has plenty to deal with...

Roald Dahl - the grand master of the short story - turns his pen to anything, twisting everyday life into powerful, and sometimes terrifying fantasies. Seven superb stories, full of Roald Dahl's usual magic, mystery and suspense: meet the boy who can talk to animals, the man who can see with his eyes closed, and find out about the treasure, buried...

A deadly blizzard has hit a small township in Maine. Power, fuel, water and communications are giving out and the storm has stripped social and moral conventions, down to the basic, selfish instinct of survival. This is a dramatic, page-turning novel from a master story-teller. Allegory or melodrama, this story of fear will not fail to excite

He was a vicar to die for - and he did! Agatha is going through a man-hating phase and so is unmoved by news of the captivating new curate. But when she meets the golden-haired, blue-eyed Tristan Delon, she is swept off her feet . . . along with every other female in the village. She is positively ecstatic when he invites her to dine with him but the next day Agatha is left with a hangover from hell - and his cold...

Whether you're looking to relive those treasured moments of your childhood or hoping to share some of your old favourites with your own little ones, there's no storybook world more pleasant than that of Beatrix Potter. Meet again the famous characters that children love and adore: Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, the Flopsy Bunnies, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, Tom Kitten, Jeremy Fisher, Jemima Puddle-Duck and many more.

Walk your Way to Health and Well-Being Regardless of your level of fitness, you can improve your cardiovascular health, weight control, stress management, and overall well-being through a simple walking program. In the American Heart Association's Healthy Heart Walking CD, the leading crusader in the fight...

Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather have decided to create the best catering company in Dublin. They have the perfect premises, heaps of talent, and even a few contacts - but not everyone seems as pleased by the idea of Scarlet Feather as they are. Tom's parents are disappointed that he has turned his back on the...

Winner of the Booker Prize, 1982. During the Holocaust at the German concentration camp near Plaszow, thousands of Jews lost their lives at the hands of the Nazis. More than a thousand others were spared thanks to a womanizing, heavy-drinking, German-Catholic industrialist and Nazi Party member named Oskar Schindler. One of the most remarkable narratives of the Holocaust, Schindler's List masterfully...

The third story in Enid Blyton's much loved Magic Faraway Tree series - read by Kate Winslet. The Folk of the Faraway Tree is the third enchanting story in the Faraway Tree series by the world's best-loved children's author, Enid Blyton. When Joe, Beth and Frannie move to a new home, they discover an Enchanted Wood just outside their doorstep.

This Sceptred Isle is a BBC radio series, written by historian Christopher Lee, about the story of the lands and peoples of Britain. It was produced by Pete Atkin and broadcast in 1995 twice each day – in the morning and late at night – on Radio 4. The series comprised 216 episodes, each 12–14 minutes long, and had a total duration of 46 hours. A 29-hour-long abridged version of the programmes has been issued...

Otto isn't an ordinary penguin: he is the first penguin chick to be born that year, which means that it is his job to look after all the other young penguins. But out in the snow and ice of Antarctica, there is an awful lot to learn, and Otto has to discover for himself how to swim, dive, and catch fish before he can teach anyone else. And how will he do that when all the grown-ups are too busy to help?

After her "stand-in mother," a bold black woman named Rosaleen, insults the three biggest racists in town, fourteen-year-old Lily Owens, whose life has been defined by the tragic death of her mother, joins Rosaleen on a journey to Tiburon, South Carolina in 1964, where they are taken in by three black, bee-keeping sisters who show them the...

This unusual and special production by two of the most important brand names in classical music includes more than 150 musical excerpts. The fourth CD has an additional CD-ROM element with text, pictures of composers, sheet music and quizzes.

Like her sisters Emily and Charlotte, Anne Brontë published under a male pseudonym, yet still this novel was scorned by many for its exposure of the abusive male chauvinism that was concealed, like all things sexual, during the Victorian Era.

Perhaps the most brilliantly successful ghost story ever written, The Turn of the Screw creates a terrifyingly believable impression of children so corrupted by evil that they remain deceptive pictures of innocent beauty. Their governess must struggle alone to confront and exorcise the demons which she believes...

Covering the period from 1087 to 1327, this is part of a major Radio 4 series telling the history of Britain from the Roman invasion to the death of Victoria. Narrated by Anna Massey, the series draws on Churchill's "A History of the English-speaking Peoples", with extracts read by Paul Eddington.

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 'Wonderful...This Sceptred Isle has provided one of the greatest treats for listeners in recent years.' Paul Donovan, Sunday Times. Christopher Lee's history of Britain provides the definitive radio account of the events and personalities that have shaped our nation. From foreign invasions and war to...

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Christopher Lee's history of Britain provides the definitive radio account of the events and personalities that have shaped our nation. From foreign invasions and war to economic crises and social revolution, this is a compelling journey through centuries of dramatic change. Volume 4, covering the...

Covering the period from 1660 to 1702, this is part of a major Radio 4 series telling the history of Britain from the Roman invasion to the death of Victoria. It includes extracts from Churchill's "A History of the English-speaking Peoples", read by Peter Jeffrey.

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Christopher Lee's history of Britain provides the definitive radio account of the events and personalities that have shaped our nation. From foreign invasions and war to economic crises and social revolution, this is a compelling journey through centuries of dramatic change. Volume 6, covering the...

Covering the period from 1760 to 1792, this is part of a major Radio 4 series telling the history of Britain from the Roman invasion to the death of Victoria. It includes extracts from Churchill's "A History of the English-speaking Peoples", read by Peter Jeffrey.

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Christopher Lee's history of Britain provides the definitive radio account of the events and personalities that have shaped our nation. From foreign invasions and war to economic crises and social revolution, this is a compelling journey through centuries of dramatic change. Volume 8 covers the...

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Christopher Lee's history of Britain provides the definitive radio account of the events and personalities that have shaped our nation. From foreign invasions and war to economic crises and social revolution, this is a compelling journey through centuries of dramatic change. Volume 9, covering the...

The award-winning story of Britain, from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Christopher Lee's history of Britain provides the definitive radio account of the events and personalities that have shaped our nation. From foreign invasions and war to economic crises and social revolution, this is a compelling journey through centuries of dramatic change. Volume 10, the last in...

Covering the period up to 1087, this is part of a major Radio 4 series telling the history of Britain from the Roman invasion to the death of Victoria. Narrated by Anna Massey, the series draws on Churchill's "A History of the English-speaking Peoples", with extracts read by Paul Eddington.

When young Jim Hawkins comes into possession of a treasure map, he and his companions find themselves in a dangerous race against a crew of ruthless pirates to find the treasure.

Fresh from Los Angeles, Mrs Pearl Collingwood and her daughter Rona arrive in the frenzied no-man's-land of Heathrow airport: from the nearby village of Bedmansworth, Edward Richardson jets in and out of it faster than his marriage can tolerate. Yet precisely where village and airport overlap, there exists a world bubbling with intrigues and assignations, with wit, pathos and excitement, that all readers of...

A master of characterisation, Charles Dickens introduces us to yet another memorable creation in the form of David Copperfield, the undisputed favourite of all his fictional children.

When David Copperfield escapes from the cruelty of his childhood home, he embarks on a journey to adulthood which leads him through comedy and tragedy, love and heartbreak, and friendship and betrayal.

This tragicomedy of missed connections and people too well-mannered to speak about what is in their hearts revolves around the upper-middle class Nettleship family

It's the trial of the decade Dominick Cavallo, the modern-day Godfather, has finally been put in the dock, and there's enough evidence to make it certain he'll be convicted. Heavy security surrounds the courtroom, and Nick Pellisante, the FBI agent who helped to nail Cavallo, keeps a close eye on proceedings. But things quickly start to go wrong. Faced with anonymous threats, the jury is sequestered.

New Year's Eve, 1856. As Captain Rodney Savage of the 13th Rifles, Bengal Native Infantry, celebrates the start of 1857 with his wife and friends in the isolated cantonment of Bhowani, news comes of a crisis that will have terrifying and widespread repercussions: the Rajah of the neighbouring native state of Kishanpur has been assassinated, and the Rani has had thirty-five of the culprits garrotted. With unrest...

Melvyn Bragg's highly acclaimed, bestselling historical novel, the story behind one of the 19th century's greatest scandals. This is the story of an impostor and bigamist, a self-styled Colonel Hope, who travels to the North, where eventually he marries "The Maid of Buttermere", a young woman whose natural beauty inspired the dreams and confirmed the theories of various early nineteenth-century writers . . . It is a fine...

At a derelict port in Stockholm, two brutally murdered men are found by a security guard. In the same area a young woman, Aida, is on the run from a deranged gunman. Meanwhile, journalist Annika Bengtzon is approached by a woman wanting her story published in the Evening Post. She claims to have founded an organization to erase people's pasts - giving vulnerable individuals a completely new identity.

Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales star in Ladies of Letters and Ladies of More Letters, the two popular BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour series. Patricia Routledge is Vera Small and Prunella Scales is her friend (or maybe enemy), Irene Spencer. The two pass their time in regular correspondence and not an event goes by that is left unrecorded by the ladies of letters. Firstly there are the usual family problems to...

In the winter of 1873, a small band of prospectors lost their way in the frozen wilderness of the Colorado Rockies. Months later, when the snow finally melted, only one of them emerged. His name was Alfred G. Packer, though he would soon become infamous throughout the country under a different name: 'the Man-Eater.' After the butchered remains of his five traveling companions were discovered in a secluded...

From Snuff: 'Vimes looked at the cover. The title was The World of Poo. When his wife was out of eyeshot he carefully leafed through it. Well, okay, you had to accept that the world had moved on and these days fairy stories were probably not going to be about twinkly little things with wings. As he turned page after page, it dawned on him that whoever had written this book, they certainly knew what would make kids...

It is August in Edinburgh and the Festival is in full swing. A brutally tortured body is discovered in one of the city's ancient subterranean streets and marks on the corpse cause Rebus to suspect the involvement of sectarian activists. The prospect of a terrorist atrocity in a city heaving with tourists is almost unthinkable. When the victim turns out to...

Read by the inimitable Christopher Lee, this audio-book contains four short stories from the great detective’s case book. Four demanding, even life-threatening, adventures for the much-loved amateur detective, who, with the faithful Watson by his side, has earned his place in our national life and social history. This collection of short stories, taken from The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, sees Baker Street’s most...

The Battle of Britain paints a stirring picture of an extraordinary summer when the fate of the world hung by a thread. Historian James Holland has now written the definitive account of those months based on extensive new research from around the world, including thousands of new interviews with people on both sides of the battle.If Britain's defenses collapsed, Hitler would have dominated all of Europe.

When Jules Bright hears a knock on the door, the last person she expects to find is a detective bringing her the news she's feared for the last three years. Amelia Quentin is being released from prison. Jules' life is very different now from the one she'd known before Amelia shattered it completely. Knowing the girl is coming back, she needs to decide what to do. Friends and family gather round, fearing for Jules' safety.

In a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success there always lurk the shameful secret of his past and a personality prone to self-destructive pride and temper.

Shipwrecked on a remote island in the Dutch East Indies, Captain Aubrey, surgeon and secret intelligence agent Stephen Maturin, and the crew of the Diane fashion a schooner from the wreck. A vicious attack by Malay pirates is repulsed, but the makeshift vessel burns, and they are truly marooned. Their escape from this predicament is one that only the whimsy and ingenuity of Patrick O Brian or Stephen Maturin...

It was the most renowned and respected shrine in the Roman Empire, the object of veneration by Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Octavian, and a host of other luminaries. It stood for centuries within a sacred precinct the size of a large town at the heart of the greatest Greek city in the world. Yet it disappeared without a trace, creating the greatest archaeological enigma of the ancient world. What became of the tomb of...

1553. Hannah Green, the young daughter of a Jewish bookseller, is forced out of Spain by the Inquisition, and becomes an unlikely player at the fractious Tudor Court. Her gifts of foresight mean that she is given as a Holy Fool to the newly crowned Mary I. But as Mary’s grip on the throne loosens, threatened by the ambitions of her sister, Elizabeth, Hannah is trapped in the deadly rivalry between the daughters of Henry VIII.

One fine day, A.D. 70, Sosia Camillina quite literally runs into Marcus Didius Falco on the steps of the Forum. It seems Sosia is on the run from a couple of street toughs, and after a quick and dirty rescue, P.I. Falco wants to know why. Falco finds out that Sosia, the niece of a highly placed senator, holds the secret to a stockpile of silver pigs, ingots intended for no good use. Hoping for future favors from Sosia's powerful...

Sara Linton, medical examiner in the small town of Heartsdale, is called out to an apparent suicide on the local college campus. The mutilated body provides little in the way of clues - and the college authorities are keen to avoid a scandal - but for Sara and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, things don't add up. Two more suspicious suicides follow, and a young woman is brutally attacked. For Sara, the violence strikes far too close...

A warm, witty, important story about being a young woman today and what it's like to find a real connection amid all the noise. Perfect for fans of Holly Bourne and Laura Steven's The Exact Opposite of Okay. Vetty's family is moving back to London, and all she can think about is seeing Pez again. They were inseparable when they were small - roaming the city in the long summers, sharing everything.

Spring, 2010. When Charlie and Ros inherit Ashenden from their aunt Reggie, a decision must be made. The beautiful 18th-century house, set in acres of English countryside, is in need of serious repair. Do they try to keep it in the family, or will they have to sell? Moving back in time, in an interwoven narrative spanning two and a half centuries, we witness the house from its beginnings through to the present day.

Tim Ekaterin's merchant bank, like all banks, only invests in sure things. Now he's about to involve it in ₤5 million of prime horseflesh, a stallion called Sandcastle. Top breeders reckon it's the safest bet in racing. But racing doesn't just attract the money men of the city. It's riddled with all kinds of dubious dealmakers. People who don't think twice about breaking bones.

Danny lives in a gipsy caravan with his father, the most marvellous and exciting father any boy ever had. All the land around them belongs to Mr Victor Hazell, a rich snob with a great glistening beery face and tiny piggy eyes. Nobody likes him, not one-little bit.

Edward Trencom has bumbled through life, relying on his trusty nose to turn the family cheese shop into the most celebrated fromagerie in England. But his world is turned upside down when he stumbles across a crate of family papers. To his horror, Edward discovers that nine previous generations of his family have come to sticky ends because of their noses. When he investigates further, Edward finds himself caught...

When Atlanta housewife Abigail Campano comes home unexpectedly one afternoon, she walks into a nightmare. A broken window, a bloody footprint on the stairs and, most devastating of all, the horrifying sight of her teenage daughter lying dead on the landing, a man standing over her with a bloody knife. The struggle which follows changes Abigail's life forever. When the local police make a misjudgement which not...

When medical examiner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver take a trip away from the small town of Heartsdale, it should be a straightforward weekend at the beach. But they decide to take a detour via Jeffrey's hometown, and things go violently wrong when Jeffrey's best friend Robert shoots dead an intruder who breaks into his home. Jeffrey and Sara are first on the scene and Jeffrey's keen to clear his...

It's an offer you can't refuse. Who would not wish to be the man in charge of Ankh-Morpork's Royal Mint and the bank next door? It's a job for life. But, as former con-man Moist von Lipwig is learning, the life is not necessarily for long. The Chief Cashier is almost certainly a vampire. There's something nameless in the cellar (and the cellar itself is pretty nameless), it turns out that the Royal Mintruns at a loss.

Childhood sweethearts Matthew and Katy agree they must never see each other again after they end up in bed together following a school re-union. So all is forgotten... until eight months later when a shock meeting at an antenatal class forces them to confront the fact that Matthew could be the father of Katy's baby…

“A gripping and atmospheric contemporary thriller.” —Kirkus Reviews “Complex, captivating, and gorgeously written.” —Karen M. McManus, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying We Were Liars meets Goodbye Days in this thrilling debut novel that sweeps readers away as they try to solve the mystery of what happened then to make Ellory so broken now. It’s hard to find the truth beneath the lies you...

The new novel from David Baddiel, comedian, columnist and author of the critically-praised The Secret Purposes. As Eli Gold, a famous old writer lies dying in a hospital in New York, his family gather around his bed. His first wife Violet is too old to travel from London but Harvey, their son, who has never emerged from the shadow of his overpowering father, makes the journey. And there is Colette, a six-year old...

You do not know me yet. My son Thomas, who is publishing this book, tells me, it is customary at this place in a novel to give the reader a little taste of the story that is held within these pages. As your storyteller, I am to convey that this tale is set in Jamaica during the last turbulent years of slavery and the early years of freedom that followed.

An impossible murder behind a locked door. Can DCI Oldroyd find the key to the mystery? Lord Redmire’s gambling habit has placed him in serious debt. Determined to salvage his fortune by putting Redmire Hall on the map, the aristocrat performs an impossible locked-door illusion on live TV. But as the cameras roll, his spectacular trick goes fatally wrong.... Special guest DCI Jim Oldroyd has a front-row seat, but in all...

Clear and Present Danger:The sudden and surprising assassination of three American officials in Colombia.Many people in many places, moving off on missions they all mistakenly thought they understood. The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected finish lines were things that, once decided, were better left unseen. Tom Clancy's thriller is based on America's war on drugs . . . and the covert ...

Once a blacksmith, now famous and respected as a newspaperman, Valentine Clark knows everyone who is anyone in the racing world. Aged, confused, blind and dying, he harbours a daunting secret that he is desperate to be rid of. He makes last confession to his visiting film-director friend, Thomas Lyon, whom in his delirium he mistakes for a priest. Unburdened and at peace, Valentine passes away, yet his...

"How are your lectures going?" asked Kitty of Joseph, a kind of desperate intentness in her voice and face. This was her style of the moment with the male sex. "Very well, thank you," said Jospeh and added: "We heard about the practices of the Minoan Islanders upon reaching the age of puberty at the last one." He started snapping up his cutlet."Oh really, how terribly interesting!" said Kitty."Yes, very. Like to hear...

An exciting crime caper as police and criminals team up for the first time to tell the inside story of the notorious Security Express Robbery. On Easter Monday 1983 armed robbers got into the supposedly impregnable Security Express depot in Shoreditch, neatly capturing the guards and holding them hostage. They hauled away 5 tons of cash, worth [pound]6 million then ([pound]26 million in today's currency).

Lily Savage was absolutely the most exciting comedy star in of her time!
This extraordinary show, recorded in London's glittering West-End, captures the outrageous brilliance of Lily Savage. From Bob Down's guest appearance as Christopher Dean, opposite Lily's Jayne Torvill, to Lily dancing in the chorus with the Tiller girls, the originality and excitement of Lily Savage's humour dominates this night of nights.

Against unimaginable odds, Tracy Edwards captained the first all woman crew to victory in the Whitbread Round-the-World Cup in 1989. Her autobiography takes the reader through her Whitbread victory and her attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy in 1998. Her personal life is also examined.Against unimaginable odds, Tracy Edwards captained the first all woman crew to victory in the Whitbread Round-the-World Cup in 1989. Her autobiography takes the reader through her Whitbread victory and her attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy in 1998. Her personal life is also examined.

Naked Radio was a groundbreaking satirical comedy sketch show on BBC Radio Scotland which ran from 1981 to 2000. The remit of the show was to provide topical gags from a Scottish perspective

A full-cast dramatisation of Wilde's gothic masterpiece. When Dorian Gray gazes at his portrait he is struck by his own youth and beauty and wishes they will last forever. The portrait becomes a point of transference for his life of debauchery - corrupting and becoming vile as he remains beautiful.

The story of a woman's struggle for independence from an abusive husband. Helen 'Graham' has returned to Wildfell Hall in flight from a disastrous marriage and to protect her young son from the influence of his father. Exiled to the desolate moorland mansion, she adopts an assumed name and earns her living as a painter. Gilbert Markham, a local man intrigued by the beautiful young 'widow' offers his friendship...

Artist Alexander Kinloch has worked out a good pattern for his life. His home is a small bothy on a remote mountain in Scotland; he paints on commission, from which he derives both pleasure and a decent income; he lives alone and likes it. One day, however, Alexander's peace is violently shattered when he returns home to find a group of strangers waiting for him. After a scuffle, he is left for dead with only...

Randall Drew is prevented from carrying on with his career in steeplechasing by poor eyesight. Restless and unsure of his future but pursuing an ardent love affair, he does not welcome an invitation to go to Moscow on a delicate investigation, but irresistible pressure is hard to refuse. A mysterious entity, "Alyosha", is threatening a royally-connected candidate for the Moscow Olympic Games; the candidate may...

**** Now Includes a FREE Audio Transfer onto Audio CD **** Throughout these unabridged short stories Maupassant examines the vices and passions of ordinary people with great insight. BOULE DE SUIF is a shocking depiction of bourgeois hypocrisy, while the other stories explore avarice, adultery, marriage, prostitution,murder and war. Included are: BOULE DE SUIF THE JEWELS THE HAND A RUSE THE SIGNAL THE DEVIL

This programme focuses on the largest sea-borne invasion in modern history and one of the world's most tightly kept secrets. It brings together despatches from the BBC War Correspondents who brought up-to-the-minute, graphic descriptions of the events to the listening public. This is a unique collection, a chance to hear history in the making: the day and the hour of D-Day June 1944.

"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and...

From the late nineteenth century to the 1920's, from Kwangtung, China to Wellington and Dunedin and the Battlefields of the Western Front - a story of two families.Yung faces a new land that does not welcome the Chinese. Alone, Katherine struggles to raise her children and find her place in the world.In a climate of hostility towards the foreign newcomers, Katherine and Yung embark on a poignant and far-reaching love affair.

"For those who have vision and the courage to follow it, there is no law and no crime and no punishment, only a revaluation of all values." So declares Rodya Raskolnikov the young Russian intellectual living in ugly poverty. In order to eat, he is forced to pawn precious possessions for a few roubles to the greedy "cockroach", Alyona. If he kills her, Rodya argues, he commits no crime: rather he will rid the world of...

Fate - the second installment in the My Blood Approves series... Alice Bonham thinks she''s finally found a balance in her life between the supernatural and real life with her brother Milo. Jack - her sorta vampire boyfriend - keeps her at arm''s length to keep her safe. As for his brother Peter... she''s not sure where he''s at, or what he wants with her. Worse still, she''s not even sure what she wants with Peter.

Flutter - the third book in the My Blood Approves series... Being undead doesn't make life any easier for Alice Bonham. Her younger brother's love life is heating up, while hers is... more complicated. Mae is falling apart, her best friend, Jane, is addicted to vampire bites, and if Alice doesn't get her bloodlust under control, someone will end up dead. Alice volunteers for a rescue mission with Ezra. But going up against a...

Once, in the desert country of Miraji, there was a Sultan without an heir. The heir had been killed by his own brother, the treacherous Rebel Prince, who was consumed by jealousy and sought the throne for himself. Or so it was said by some. There were others who said that the Rebel Prince was not a traitor but a hero...In the final battle for the throne, Amani must fight for everything she believes in, but with...

Shamelessly engaging, effortlessly scholarly, utterly refreshing history of the Irish soul and its huge contribution to Western culture' Thomas Keneally Ireland played the central role in maintaining European culture when the dark ages settled on Europe in the fifth century: as Rome was sacked by Visigoths and its empire collapsed, Ireland became 'the isle of saints and scholars' that enabled the classical and religious...

Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene of the biggest case he's ever been part of. The President's son and daughter have been abducted from their school - an impossible crime, but somehow the kidnapper has done it.

A collection of broadcasts by an award-winning Radio 4 correspondent, together with some new writing. The pieces include Keane's message addressed to his newborn son, and reflections on Ireland, family and friends, Africa and Asia, and the Hong Kong handover.

To his friends, his foes and even to himself it looks as though Tom Thorne's career is on the skids. On his last case he had seriously over-stepped the mark, and now gardening leave has been suggested and all he has to tend is a window box. So when it appears someone is targeting London's homeless ....

Charlie and Lola, first seen in I Will Not Ever NEVER Eat a Tomato, are stars of the screen, page, and now audio. First aired on prime time children’s BBC in October 2005 and now available on DVD, Charlie and Lola are enjoying superstardom!

A hundred years after an ancient demonic being is found by workers digging the Panama Canal, linguist Andrew Dennison is called in to communicate with the newly reawakened creature, teach it English, and learn its secrets.

Hello Possums! I have always loved music and I'm not ashamed to say that music rather loves me Although I'm not a trained singer, internationally acclaimed conductors and music buffs the world over always put me up there with Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame Kiri and any other dame ....

The acclaimed best-selling classic of Holocaust literature, winner of the Booker Prize and the inspiration for the classic film Schindler's List. In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German industrialist grew into a living legend to the Jews of Cracow. He was a womaniser, a heavy drinker and a bon viveur, but to them he became a saviour. A stunning novel based on the extraordinary true story of German war profiteer...

Sharpe’s Havoc brings Sharpe to Portugal, and reunites him with Harper. It is 1809 and Lieutenant Sharpe, who belongs to a small British army that has a precarious foothold in Portugal, is sent to look for Kate Savage, the daughter of an English wine shipper. But before he can discover the missing girl, the French onslaught on Portugal begins and the city of Oporto falls. Sharpe is stranded behind enemy lines, but he...

Emily's dad is accused of murdering a teenage girl in the woods behind her house, the place she played in as a child. She's sure he's innocent, but what did happen? Determined to find out, and afraid of what she might discover, Emily seeks out the boyfriend of the murdered girl. He also knows these woods. Maybe they could help each other. But Damon Hillary has his own secrets about the dangerous games that are....