This, the third volume of the The Cazalet Chronicles, takes up the story of the Cazalet family in the spring of 1942 and follows them through the war to VE Day. Polly and Clary have left Home Place for London where Archie Lestrange keeps a close eye on them; Louise, surprisingly, has married; Polly makes a painful discovery; Zoe, despairing of Rupert's return, stumbles on solace; and Edward's duplicity demands a reckoning.

Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli is on the case of a big game hunter found dead in his apartment, alone with the body of a beautiful white snow leopard he had recently been commissioned to procure and stuff for a high-profile museum in the area. Medical examiner Maura Isles connects the case to a number of seemingly unrelated deaths where the victims have all been found hanging upside down, the hallmark of...

Captain Christiannsen had a prejudice against having women on his ship - but in the case of Wren Mary Lou, his prejudice was misplaced. Mary Lou, as well as being young, beautiful, and with a natural gift for what she called "having fun", was a girl of resource who could face reality. Resourceful when the Gangerwolf was torpedoed and its survivors mercilessly machine-gunned. Realistic when she and her companions faced...

Timed for the critical presidential election season, New York Times bestselling author and noted political commentator Dick Morris provides a strategy and position on the issues for Republicans to attract crucial new voters to the party in order to win back the White House in 2016 and put an end to the Obama agenda of ruinous socialism. By using new issues, attracting new voters, and offering new alternatives...

Ludo helps other people. It’s how he was brought up.

When Dad is elected to Federal Parliament, Ludo grabs the chance to make Australia an even better place.

But he soon discovers it’s not the homeless of the national capital who most need his help – it’s the rich and powerful.

A dramatic crime thriller from the best-selling author of Without Consent.

For pathologist and forensic physician Dr Anya Crichton, the death of a gang rape victim hours before she is due to give evidence at trial is more than only a tragedy. The psychotic Harbourn brothers, the girl's accused attackers, now look like they're getting away with two horrific crimes.

This audiobook alone will not change your life, but you can, especially after listening to this first. Have you ever heard someone say, ‘If only life came with a set of instructions’? Success coach Lisa Stephenson has - hundreds of times. Almost every client utters this at some point in some form. Read Me First is the book she now gives them. It is also the book she wishes someone had given her when she found herself...

Stanley Yelnats' family has a history of bad luck, so when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre (which isn't green and doesn't have a lake), he is not surprised. Every day he and the other inmates are told to dig a hole, five feet wide by five feet deep, reporting anything they find. The evil warden claims that it is character building, but this is a lie, and Stanley must dig up the truth.

There were many reasons Moby was never going to make it as a DJ and musician in the New York club scene. This was the New York of Palladium; of Mars, Limelight, and Twilo; of unchecked, drug-fueled hedonism in pumping clubs where dance music was still largely underground, popular chiefly among working-class African Americans and Latinos. And then there was Moby - not just a poor, skinny white kid...

Nothing's as fun as other people's secrets. A regency romp both on and off the London stage. Laura Edwards, a French émigré fallen on hard times, took to the stage to support her brother's medical career. Now that he's established, he wants her to turn respectable, landing her in the country hiding in plain sight from one of her biggest admirers, Jasper Rushford, the care-for-nothing son of the local viscount.

During the colonial rule in India, fate throws together a diverse cast onto the San Souci Theatre stage - Esther Leech, the Kohinoor of Bengal theatre; James Barry, the theatre manager facing bankruptcy; Alice Anderson, the enchanting English woman estranged from her husband, Thomas Anderson; and Baboo Bustomchurn Addy, the dark Bengali actor infatuated with Alice and ready to kill for her.

A tense, gripping psychological thriller, with Hitchcockian overtones, perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn's GONE GIRL and Sophie Hannah. Lara Finch is living a lie. Everyone thinks she has a happy life in Cornwall, married to the devoted Sam, but in fact she is desperately bored. When she is offered a new job that involves commuting to London by sleeper train, she meets Guy and starts an illicit affair. But then Lara...

With guest season about to start at the ranch, Krista Skye needs to track down a new head wrangler fast. Unfortunately, the best man for the job is the last person Krista wants to see-Wyatt Webb, the college sweetheart who left her behind. Wyatt has major reservations about working with Krista as well, but he has his own reasons for wanting to stay in town. Although Krista and Wyatt are all business at first, sparks...

A pilot stranded in the desert awakes one morning to see, standing before him, the most extraordinary little fellow. 'Please,' asks the stranger, 'draw me a sheep.' And the pilot realises that when life's events are too difficult to understand, there is no choice but to succumb to their mysteries. He pulls out pencil and paper... And thus begins this wise and enchanting fable that, in teaching the secret of what is really important...

Darkus is miserable. His dad has disappeared and now he is living next door to the most disgusting neighbours ever. A giant beetle called Baxter comes to his rescue. But can the two solve the mystery of his dad's disappearance, especially when links emerge to cruel Lucretia Cutter and her penchant for beetle jewellery? A coffee-mug mountain, home to a million insects, could provide the answer - if Darkus and Baxter...

This collection of abridged books follows the theme of classic Crime titles. The titles in this collection are The Moonstone performed by Steven Pacey and The Hound of the Baskervilles performed by Peter Egan. Finishing with The Thirty Nine Steps performed by James Fox.

In the house of a Roman Catholic bishop a man lies in a pool of blood. Out in the bishop's diocese the quiet life of parish priest Father Vincent Ross is about to be thrown into turmoil by a terrifying revelation. There are ugly scandals being hidden by the church, and a murderer is on the prowl. The police and the authorities are groping in the dark, but Father Ross has been given special information that he cannot disclose...

How do you catch a killer who thinks murder is art? Michael Fisher sees himself as an artist rather than a killer and poses his victims to resemble famous paintings. Detective Nick Kelly is called to attend the latest crime scene and finds himself at the centre of a media storm. But while the rest of the police department feels under pressure, Nick relishes the attention. Karen Kelly, Nick&;s soon to be ex-wife, watches in...

It's been 10 months since Jack died, and Sandra, a tightly wound academic, copes with her grief by immersing herself in the history of textiles. When she and Martha, a gifted knitter, meet over an unconscious body on the footpath, the unlikely threads of their lives tangle into each other. Sandra invites Martha to join her in a professional collaboration, but what begins as a working relationship becomes something...

The incredible, harrowing account of how American democracy was hacked by Moscow as part of a covert operation to influence the US election and help Donald Trump gain the presidency.

Craig Taylor, an acclaimed journalist, playwright and writer, spent five years exploring the city and listening to its residents to create this amazingly rich portrait of London. Here are the voices of London - rich and poor, native and immigrant, women and men. From the woman whose voice announces the stations on the London Underground to the man who plants the trees along Oxford Street; from a Pakistani ...

The Dashing Duke A story of romance and passion from a best-selling author - Miss Lenore Lester was perfectly content with her quiet country life, so she took steps to remain inconspicuous when managing her brothers' house parties – but to no avail! Though Lenore hid behind glasses and pulled-back hair, she couldn't disguise her beauty. The notoriously charming Jason Montgomery, Duke of Eversleigh, easily...

A sweltering Seville is recovering from the shock of a terrorist attack and Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon is struggling to fulfil his promise to its citizens: that he would find the real perpetrators of the outrage."

On a summer's evening, Robert and Greta Gerdner are shot dead at their isolated home in the Devon countryside. DI Wesley Peterson suspects the execution-style murders might be linked to Robert's past career in the police - until Robert's name is found on a list of people who've been sent tickets anonymously for a tour of Darkhole Grange, a former asylum on Dartmoor. When his friend, archaeologist Neil Watson...

Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and amateur solver of other people's problems, meets an old foe, Minty Auchterlonie, at a birthday party attended by their young children. Ambitious Minty, now the head of a small investment bank, is in trouble with her shareholders. Isabel becomes involved, and is drawn into a murky world of financial concealment. Minty is not the only high-flier in Isabel's life; her niece Cat has just...

Maggie Perowne is head of Old Masters at Klinsky's auction house in London. Ben Glazier is an art expert. Ben, not as young as he was, is inescapably in love with Maggie, but she has an unfortunate taste for such dubious men as the Hooray Henry in the wine department. Together Ben and Maggie form a crack team that blends integrity and professionalism with a keen eye for uncovering the mysterious...

A man-made plague has swept the Earth, but a small group survives, along with the green-eyed Crakers - a gentle species bio-engineered to replace humans. Toby, one-time member of the Gods Gardeners and expert in mushrooms and bees, is still in love with street-smart Zeb, who has an interesting past. The Crakers’ reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy, is hallucinating; Amanda is in shock from a Painballer...

Topical and timely, Booker Prize-winning author Ben Okri's new collection of short stories blur parallel realities and walk the line between darkness and magic. Is what you see all there is? Look again. Playful, frightening, even shocking the stories in this collection blur the lines between illusion and reality. This is a writer at the height of his power, making the reader think, making them laugh, and sometimes...

It's 1938 and Maisie Dobbs is back in England. The German government has agreed to release a British subject from prison, but only if he is handed over to a family member. Because the man's wife is bedridden and his daughter has been killed in an accident, the Secret Service wants Maisie - who bears a striking resemblance to the daughter - to retrieve him. However, the man she holds responsible for her...

The news is everywhere. We can’t stop constantly checking it on our computer screens, but what is this doing to our minds? We are never really taught how to make sense of the torrent of news we face every day, writes Alain de Botton (author of the best-selling The Architecture of Happiness), but this has a huge impact on our sense of what matters and of how we should lead our lives. In his dazzling new audiobook...

She is the perfect assassin. A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers. Ruthlessly trained. Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits. Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her, and the one she answers to. She is Villanelle. Without conscience. Without guilt.

Dirty Bertie—the boy with nose-pickingly disgusting habits—is back for another helping of comic chaos, ever-increasing madcap schemes and crazy capers. A collection of stories to delight everyone who revels in his revolting ways.
The Dirty Bertie Audio Collection 10 CDs Box Set Pack By David Roberts & Alan Macdonald Titles in the CDs Worms, Fleas, Pants, Burp, Yuck, Bogeys, Mud, Germs, Loo, Fetch.

Timothy West, Julia McKenzie and Oliver Peace star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Charles Kingsley’s classic tale of a chimney sweep who becomes a water baby. Forced up the chimneys of Hartover Hall by his cruel master, Grimes, young Tom gets lost and comes down the wrong one, frightening little Miss Ellie. In the chase that follows, he is rescued by the fairies and taken to be a water baby under the waves.

The Meaning of Everything is a scintillating account of the creation of the greatest monument ever erected to a living language, the Oxford English Dictionary. Simon Winchester's supple, vigorous prose illuminates this dauntingly ambitious project: a seventy-year odyssey to create the grandfather of all word-books.

The best of the golden age crime writers, praised by all the top modern writers in the field including P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, Dorothy L. Sayers created the immortal Lord Peter Wimsey. The 11th book featuring Lord Peter, set in a country church, is often named as the best detective story ever written.

Steven Scott is relatively new to horses. A successful, wealthy inventor, he takes up horse racing as a hobby – a hobby that soon brings him winner after winner under the inspired guidance of his trainer, Jody Leeds. Currently both their reputations are wrapped up in a beautiful black hurdler named Energise.

With two years experience behind him, James Herriot still feels privileged working on the beautiful Yorkshire moors as assistant vet at the Darrowby practice. Time to meet yet more unwilling patients and a rich cast of supporting owners. Full of hilarious tales of his unpredictable boss Siegfreid Farnon, his charming student brother Tristan, the joys of spring lambing, a vicious cat called Boris...

NOW, what I want is, Facts. One of Dickenss most famous opening lines sets the scene for this powerful novel which questions the harsh, rational attitudes predominating in a world of fierce industrial growth. Naxos

Do You Mind If I Smoke? is the astonishing and often hilarious life story of a national treasure, told for the first time in a special edition hardback book to be published on the eve of actress Fenella Fielding's 90th birthday this November.

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.

The Castle of Otranto is regarded as the first Gothic novel. The son of Manfred, Prince of Otranto, is mysteriously killed on his wedding day by a huge helmet. The event leads to a fast-paced story of jealous passion, intrigue, murder and supernatural phenomena unfolding ...

One of Dickens's earlier novels, dating from 1839, it charts the fortunes of an honourable young man, Nicholas Nickleby, who has set out to make his way in the world. Dickens presents his remarkably vivid display of Victorian characters and the life they lead, from the generous to the fated to the crushed.

Three complete radio dramas featuring writer-cum-amateur detective Paul Temple, plus bonus archive material. When it comes to classic crime partnerships, Paul Temple and his wife, Steve, are the crème de la crème. Between 1938 and 1968, their glamorous exploits enthralled generations of radio listeners around the world.

Dickens' first historical novel is set in 1780s England at the time of the Gordon Riots. In a case of mistaken identification, Barnaby Rudge, a pale half-wit with long red hair who dresses all in green and carries a large raven on his back, is arrested as the leader of a mob of anti-Catholic rioters. Naxos

In post-war East Midlands, in a home dominated by their difficult grandmother and aunt, Yvette and Lucille are two sisters struggling to bring joy into their lives. Their mother, having run off in scandal, leaves the two to suffer a dysfunctional family life and oppressive domesticity. But one day, Yvette meets a free-spirited gypsy and his family, awakening her sexual desires and compounding her disenchantment.

Lady Chatterley's Lover, written in 1928, tells the story of a passionate love affair between an upper-class woman and her husband's gamekeeper, which was thought to be so shocking in its content and its straightforward use of explicit sexual terms, that it was not officially published until 1960.

Vanity Fair, with its rich cast of characters, takes place on the snakes-and-ladders board of life. Amelia Sedley, daughter of a wealthy merchant, has a loving mother to supervise her courtship. Becky Sharp, an orphan, has to use her wit, charm, and resourcefulness to escape from her destiny as a governess.

Clarke's masterful evocation of the far future of humanity, considered his finest novel Men had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar. For millennia its protective dome shut out the creeping decay and danger of the world outside.

In an 18th-Century England of wit, womanising and powdered wigs, provincial Philip Jettan runs the risk of irreproachability. Cleone Charteris stands in no such danger. The golden-haired, headstrong despair of men, she seeks a husband who can duel and dice with the best of them.

The Curzon Case is a gripping story of kidnapping, intrigue and sudden death. Boys disappear from a public school, an aeroplane crashes nearby, and a murder occurs. Paul Temple has his work cut out trying to find out if all the events are connected and tracking down the mysterious Curzon.

While on patrol outside Oxford, two policemen notice a stolen car parked in a layby. On further investigation, they discover the dead body of a young woman huddled in the boot, strangled with a headscarf. Planning a trip to Paris, Paul and Steve Temple have no intention of becoming .......

The great radio detective lives again in a brand new reading by Anthony Head. Returning from an author tour in America, Paul is met at the dockside by his publisher Scott Reed, who wants him to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Alfred Kelby. Reed had entrusted Kelby with a sensational diary written by Margaret Spender, the mistress of...

Ian Carmichael stars as Lord Peter Wimsey in these definitive BBC radio dramatisations of Dorothy L Sayers' classic crime novels Aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey was the master creation of Dorothy L Sayers, widely acknowledged as one of the four original ‘Queens of Crime’. These full-cast...

Meet Agatha Raisin, high-flying public relations boss turned village sleuth. After her many years of bullying and cajoling others, her early retirement to a picture-perfect village in the Cotswolds is a dream come true.

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 ...

In the delightful Cotswold village of Carsely, the air is heady with romance. Agatha Raisin is convinced that the new vet has taken a shine to her. But before she can get anywhere, handsome Dr Paul Bladen is accidentally killed while attending to Lord Pendlebury's horse. So was it really an accident? All the evidence points that way, but the circumstances are decidedly suspicious.

England, 1932: Grace Hamblin, the beekeeper's daughter, knows her place and her future, until her father dies. Shes alone, except for one man who she just can't shake from her thoughts Massachusetts, 1973: Grace's daughter Trixie Valentine is in love. But when he has to go home to England, he promises to come back, if she will wait for him. Both mother and daughter are searching for love and happiness...

Arthur C. Clarke is without question the world's best-known and most celebrated science fiction writer. His career, spanning more than sixty years, is one of unequalled success. Clarke has always been celebrated for his clear prophetic vision, which is fully on display in this audiobook. This collection features...

A Genius Performance by Simon Callow, Edward Petherbridge and Prunella Scales! These wonderful BBC Radio 4 productions are of exceptional quality. Includes 2 plays - An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution. Brilliant work by all of the actors!

The man who had died was Ismay's stepfather, Guy. Nine years on, she and her sister, Heather, still live in the same house in Clapham. But it has been divided into two self-contained flats. Their mother lives upstairs with her sister, Pamela. And the bathroom, where Guy drowned, has disappeared.

Thrice-married film director Rey Robles informs Lauren, his much younger wife, that he's going for a drive -- and proceeds to travel all the way from the New England coast to the Manhattan apartment of his first wife, where he shoots himself.

A collection of short stories featuring the redoubtable ‘heart specialist’, Parker Pyne. This volume, in its contemporary Agatha Christie Collection livery, perfectly illustrates Agatha Christie’s critically–acclaimed foray into light-hearted, romantic mysteries. Mrs Packington felt alone, helpless and utterly forlorn.

Michael Maloney stars in this dark, brooding dramatisation of Mary Shelley's famous novel. "Frankenstein", first published in 1818, is widely recognised as being one of the first 'science fiction' novels. Starring Michael Maloney as Frankenstein and John Wood as the Creature, this spine-tingling dramatisation perfectly conveys the book's pervasive...

Wells' thrilling story of an inventor who travels in time and discovers a nightmarish dystopian future has been adapted several times for TV and film. This first ever UK radio adaptation, starring Robert Glenister as the Time Traveler and William Gaunt as H. G. Wells, brings Wells' fascinating ideas and extraordinary...

Simon Ward and Tessa Peake-Jones star in this suspenseful BBC Radio dramatisation of Karel Capek's play. Fired by a passionate enthusiasm to improve on Nature, old Rossum spends a decade trying to create humans. The experiments fail, until Rossum's engineer nephew takes over and manages to invent artificial beings.

When psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives at the scientific research station hovering high above the surface of Solaris, he finds the place deserted except for two scientists, who have been driven mad by some unknown horror. The researchers had been trying to investigate the ocean planet, and probe the secrets of...

Carleton Hobbs and Gerald Harper star in this thrilling BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous dinosaur tale. It's London, 1907. Journalist Edward Malone, rejected by the woman he loves because he is too prosaic, decides to go in search of adventure and fame to prove himself worthy of her. Soon after, he meets...

Maurice Denham is the famous French detective Maigret, and Michael Gough is his creator, Georges Simenon, in these five classic radio dramatisations. Parisian detective Jules Maigret first appeared in print in 1931 and went on to feature in 76 novels and 28 short stories. An enduringly popular character, his adventures have been adapted on radio...

The Diary of a Nobody is so unassuming a work that even its author, George Grossmith, seemed unaware that he had produced a masterpiece. For more than a century this wonderfully comic portrayal of suburban life and values has remained in print, a source of delight to generations of readers, and a major literary influence, much imitated but never equalled. If you don’t recognise yourself at some point...

A second collection of humorous short stories which revolve around the fictional American Midwestern town of Lake Wobegon.

The American film industry has much to thank the Mafia for but the true story of the violent rise and rise of the worl's most powerful crime organisation is far more fantastic than even Scorcese and Coppola's acclaimed celluloid depictions.

Delmore Schwartz, the most influential critic in postwar America, wrote of Patrick O'Brian's first novel Testimonies: "A triumph . . . drawn forward by lyric eloquence and the story's fascination, [the reader] discovers in the end that he has encountered in a new way the sphinx and the riddle of existence itself." Schwartz' imagination was fired by this sinister tale of love and death set in Wales, a timeless story with echoes...

These four stories are recordings made from stories that appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. The stories are The Last Day by Rob Kanter, Roomer Has It by Nancy C. Swoboda, The Undertaker's Wedding by Chet Williamson and The Dog by Pauline C. Smith.

One of the most famous of all literary dogs, Flush was the golden cocker spaniel belonging to Elizabeth Barrett. In this charming and heartfelt biography, Virginia Woolf tells his story: his early days as Miss Mitford's puppy running across the fields in wild abandon and fathering another, the years spent in his invalid mistress' bedroom in Wimpole Street, the terror of his kidnap by a Whitechapel gang, the excitement of...

One of the most famous of all literary dogs, Flush was the golden cocker spaniel belonging to Elizabeth Barrett. In this charming and heartfelt biography, Virginia Woolf tells his story: his early days as Miss Mitford's puppy running across the fields in wild abandon and fathering another, the years spent in his invalid mistress' bedroom in Wimpole Street, the terror of his kidnap by a Whitechapel gang, the excitement of...

On 25 April 1915, Allied forces landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in present-day Turkey to secure the sea route between Britain and France in the west and Russia in the east. After eight months of terrible fighting, they would fail... To this day, Turkey regards the victory as a defining moment in its history, a heroic last stand in the defence of the Ottoman Empire. But, counter-intuitively, it would come to signify...

After the death of leading haematologist Professor Anstruther, antiquarian book dealer Anthony Sparrow is tasked with clearing out his mansion of its books and papers. He soon begins to question the real circumstances of the old man's death: was he in fact murdered, and if so, who was responsible? The answer might be found in the personal diaries and letters which Sparrow unearths. But as he closes in on...

Two years after Titanic came another ship disaster of equal magnitude

"The most comprehensive and impressive account of the investigation of a shipwreck I've ever read. Kevin McMurray has revealed the secrets of the Empress of Ireland in a spellbinding read." (Clive Cussler, best-selling author of Night Probe!)

Vanity Fair, with its rich cast of characters, takes place on the snakes-and-ladders board of life. Amelia Sedley, daughter of a wealthy merchant, has a loving mother to supervise her courtship. Becky Sharp, an orphan, has to use her wit, charm, and resourcefulness to escape from her destiny as a governess. This she does ruthlessly, musing: I think I could become a good woman, if I had £5000 a year'. Thackeray's story...

Ted Wallace is an old, sour, womanising, cantankerous, whisky-sodden beast of a failed poet and drama critic, but he has his faults too. Fired from his newspaper, months behind on his alimony payments and disgusted with a world that undervalues him, Ted seeks a few months repose and free drink at Swafford Hall, the country mansion of his old friend Lord Logan. But strange things have been going on at Swafford.

Georges Simenon's French detective has four more cases to solve in this these BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations. The stories are The Yellow Dog , Inspector Cadaver , Maigret's Little Joke and Maigret and the Burglar's Wife

Thomas More's Utopia stands out as one of the most striking political works ever written. Composed specifically as a response to Henry VIII's break with Rome, the book meditates on the perfect society, while indirectly critiquing the political and social ills of Tudor England. Containing thoughts on religious pluralism, a welfare state and women's rights, More's book was well ahead of its time, already hinting at...

Dinah moves in with the Hunter family and starts going to the same school as her foster-brothers Lloyd and harvey. It's not easy, as they seem to hate her, and school is really strange. Pupils suddenly talk like robots and do weird things - even Dinah finds herself acting oddly.

After the death of her former husband, her priority has been to provide for her two young children. But the world of horseracing is often rife with treachery and corruption. Having been betrayed by a family of owners and lost seven horses as a result, Jan is desperate. When Gary West, an Australian billionaire, asks her to find and train eight premium National Hunt horses - it seems too good to be true. But just as...

The Wind in the Willows is a book for those "who keep the spirit of youth alive in them; of life, sunshine, running water, woodlands, dusty roads, winter firesides." So wrote Kenneth Grahame of his timeless tale of Rat, Mole, Badger, and Toad, in their lyrical world of gurgling rivers and whispering reeds, a world that is both beautiful and benevolently ordered. But it is also a world threatened by dark forces: "the Terror of...

Many think of 1776 as the most defining year of American history, the year we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self-government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as crucial to our nation's identity, a year when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded Cuba and then the Philippines, becoming...

An inspiring true story of love, hope, and victory—and of one woman who was determined to make a difference in the wake of a crime. On August 6, 1993, twenty-year-old Natasha Alexenko was assaulted at gunpoint. After nearly a decade, her backlogged rape kit was finally tested and her rapist, who roamed free for ten years, was brought to justice. On the day he was sentenced, Alexenko vowed that she would...

Their lives are ones of quiet contemplation—and brutal murder. Christmas Eve, 1176. Brother Maurice, monk of Fairmore Abbey, awaits the night prayer bell. But there is only silence. Cursing his fellow brother Cuthbert’s idleness, he seeks him out—and in the darkness, finds him brutally murdered. Summoned from London to the isolated monastery on the Yorkshire Moors, Aelred Barling, clerk to the King’s justices...

When you want to buy or rent your dream home, you go to an estate agent. When you want to learn to cook, you buy a recipe book from TV's latest celebrity chef. But who is there for you when you want to learn about having great sex? Or when you want to revive a flagging sex life? How to Have Great Sex is the answer. This step-by-step guide takes you from the underrated pleasures of a good snog through to the...

Few films have been so keenly awaited or the subject of so much internet debate as the twelfth Star Trek movie -- the first since 2002 -- which is scheduled to be released in May 2009. Directed by J.J. Abrams, creator of cutting-edge cult television shows Lost and Alias, the film is expected to launch the Star Trek franchise into a new stellar era. Going back to the very beginnings of the classic Star Trek, the film tells...

August in Edinburgh, and thousands of performers of all stripes have flocked to the Fringe Festival. Among them is Charles Paris filling in at the last minute after a student actress breaks a leg and has to drop out. Showcasing an earnest one-man show in a sea of stand-up comics is a bit of a gamble, but at least he's acting, and with a Charles Paris production, what could possibly go wrong? Charles is sharing a venue with...

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Simon Brett's entertaining crime novel, starring Bill Nighy. Charles Paris has been 'resting' for quite a while, so he's relieved when he is cast as the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father and First Gravedigger in a touring production of Hamlet. But rehearsals are a little tense – the lead roles of Hamlet and Ophelia are played by a reality TV contestant and TV talent show winner respectively, and...

All cultures are different, and have different ways of thinking. In How the World Thinks, Julian Baggini travels the globe to provide a hugely wide-ranging map of human thought. He shows us how distinct branches of philosophy flowered simultaneously in China, India and Ancient Greece, growing from local myths and stories - and how contemporary cultural attitudes, with particular attention to the West, East Asia...

The untold story behind one of the most sensational chapters in the history of the House of Windsor. Paul Burrell fought to clear his own name. Now he reveals new truths about Princess Diana - and presents for the first time as faithful an account of her thoughts as we can ever hope to read. He was the favourite footman who formed a unique relationship with the Queen. He was the butler who the Princess of Wales...

A dark comedy about putting yourself in unexpected places, reaching for your dreams, and believing in second chances. Thirtysomething Page was content with her life in New York City&;until it went to the dogs. Unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of four years and fired from her art gallery job in the same week, she flees to Washington, DC, and moves in with her big brother. She hopes the new setting and...

Gervase Phinn is back with his tales of life as a schools inspector in Yorkshire. His colourful cast of characters have now become firm favourites - the eccentric staff at County Hall as well as the children themselves who find ways of embarrassing the school inspectors with innocent ease. We reconvene with Christine Bentley, head teacher of Winnery Nook School, the well-named Mrs Savage and not forgetting the...

Comedian and star of The Office and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ellie Kemper delivers a hilarious, refreshing, and inspiring collection of essays “teeming with energy and full of laugh-out-loud moments” (Associated Press). “A pleasure. Ellie Kemper is the kind of stable, intelligent, funny, healthy woman that usually only exists in yogurt commercials. But she’s real and she’s all ours!” —Tina Fey “Ellie is a hilarious...

Romulus Gaita fled Yugoslavia aged thirteen, and came to Australia with his wife and their son soon after World War II. Tragic events were to overtake the boy’s life, but Raimond Gaita has an extraordinary and moving tale to tell of growing up with his father in country Victoria. Romulus, My Father is the much-loved story of how a compassionate, honest man taught his son the meaning of living a decent life.

Wings From one of Britain's bestselling historians comes a compelling narrative history of the Royal Air Force. Studded with eye-witness accounts of the epic actions of twentieth-century aerial warfare, Wings marks the centenary of this great British institution