When the miserly Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley, he decides to change his ways - for Christmas and for ever. Marley's ghost sends down three spirits to Scrooge: Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future.

Agatha Raisin is lonely. Busy as she is with her detective agency and the meetings of the Carsely Ladies' Society, she still misses her ex-husband, James Lacey. So when he suddenly resurfaces and invites her on holiday at a surprise location, she's ready to go yesterday.

A Genius performance by Penelope Keith!

Drowned brides are like buses: nothing for ages, then two come along at the same time . . . ! Abandoned by husband James, Agatha hops on a plane to the South Pacific, hoping to mend her broken heart. 

Can the feisty Agatha cut it as a private investigator? She soon learns that running her own detective agency in the Cotswolds is not quite like starring in a Raymond Chandler movie. But then walks in wealthy divorcee Catherine Laggat - Brown, and Agatha is given her first real case. Death threats, blackmail and physical attack soon follow, and once again Agatha is off scouring the Cotswolds for clues and showing...

A Genius performance by Penelope Keith!

No happily ever after for her! Recently married to neighbour James Lacey, Agatha quickly finds that love is not all it's cracked up to be - soon the newly-weds are living in separate cottages and accusing each other of infidelity.

The third episode in the epic fantasy series by Anthony Horowitz. Nevada, USA. Fourteen-year-old twins Jamie and Scott Tyler are performing a mind-reading act in a dingy theatre. But when a sinister multinational corporation, Nightrise, kidnaps Scott, Jamie is left alone – and wanted for murder. He becomes embroiled in a corrupt presidential campaign and breaks into the American prison system before being propelled 10,000 years into the past, where he encounters...

For over half a century, Henry Blofeld has conveyed his unfailing enthusiasm for the game of cricket as a much loved broadcaster and journalist. His characteristically patrician tones, overlaid with those of the bon viveur, have delighted listeners to the BBC's Test Match Special where the personality of the...

From Queen of Tarts to the nation's heart, Mary Berry shares her Recipe for Life. Read by the actress Patricia Hodge. In the words of my father, my birth caused no end of trouble...' From the moment she came into the world - two weeks early, throwing her parents' lives into disarray - Mary has gracefully but...

This omnibus audio edition of CALL THE MIDWIFE, SHADOWS OF THE WORKHOUSE and FAREWELL TO THE EAST END chronicles Jennifer Worth's career as a midwife, from her arrival in the war-scarred Docklands as a wide-eyed trainee, to the demolition of the tenements. It provides a fascinating snapshot of ...

Thirteen years ago, Moab is my Washpot, Stephen Fry’s autobiography of his early years, was published to rave reviews and was a huge bestseller. In those thirteen years since, Stephen Fry has moved into a completely new stratosphere, both as a public figure, and a private man. Now he is not just a multi-...

The Great Railway Bazaar is Paul Theroux's account of his epic journey by rail through Asia. Filled with evocative names of legendary train routes; the Direct-Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Delhi Mail from Jaipur, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Hikari Super Express to Kyoto and the...

Even the arrival of her baby can't hold Mma Makutsi back from success in the workplace, and so no sooner does she becomes a full partner in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - in spite of Mma Ramotswe's belated claims that she is only 'an assistant full partner' - than she also launches a new enterprise of...

Little Nell lives with her grandfather in the old curiosity shop. After her grandfather builds up gambling debts in the hope of giving her a better life, the pair flee to seek the happiness which always eludes them.

Separated from his regiment during a retreat, Rifleman Matthew Dodd of Wellington's army engaged the French single-handedly and eventually causes their retreat. If you liked "The Gun," you will love this book.

Described by ‘The Daily Telegraph’ as 'the wizard of the talking book', Martin Jarvis has made the voices of William and his gang of Outlaws his own in these marvellous readings. Roar with laughter as the loveable rogue, hampered by the loathsome Violet Elizabeth Bott, wreaks havoc in this ever-popular series of stories. The stories on this volume are ‘William Goes Shopping’; ‘Violet Elizabeth Runs Away'; ‘William and...

Whether a long-standing fan or a first time listener, this collection of stories is the ultimate Just William audio experience. With over four hours of laugh-out-loud stories, including two stories performed to a live audience, Just William’s Greatest Hits! is the perfect entertainment for the whole family. Boring car journeys are a thing of the past! Along with the live stories are Martin Jarvis's personal reflections of recording...

John Finney is in trouble. The kidnapper locked him in a basement, a place stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. With him, in his subterranean cell, is an antique phone, long since disconnected... but it rings at night, anyway, with calls from the dead... Meet John, and half a dozen more, in the second part of one of the most praised collections this century. 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS...

As Britain stands alone against a monstrous enemy, the inhabitants of Pearl Street face hardship and heartbreak with courage and humour. The war touches each of them in a different way: for Annie Poulson, a widow, it means never-ending worry when her twin boys are called up and sent to France; Sheila Reilly's husband, Cal, faces the terror of U-Boat attacks; Eileen Costello is liberated from a bitter, loveless...

Guided by an experienced meditator, these nine meditations provide a comprehensive introduction for beginners. The three meditations for relaxation are forms of breathing meditation that help to calm the mind, reduce stress, and give rise to an experience of inner peace and well-being. The three meditations for a clear mind help us to experience mental clarity and inner peace by meditating on our mind itself.

After surviving a terrible shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe discovers he is the only human on an island far from any shipping routes or rescue. At first he is devastated, but slowly, with patience and imagination, he transforms his dismal island into a tropical paradise. For twenty-four years he lives with no human companionship - until one fateful day, when he discovers he is not alone...

Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. But that changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiancé, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws...

The Italian Chapel is a story of forbidden love, lifelong friendships torn apart, despair and hope, set against the backdrop of the creation of a symbol that is known around the world. Amidst strikes, conflicts and untold hardships, the Italian prisoners of war sent to a tiny Orkney island during World War II create a monument to the human spirit’s ability to lift itself above great adversity. One artist falls in love with a...

A #1 New York Times best-selling author, Po Bronson spent three years researching this deeply moving examination of modern families. While many believe the golden age of family is behind us, Bronson feels it is now. By sharing the riveting tales of real people, he offers encouragement and guidance to those whose families are troubled. ". the integrity of his prose style as well as the incredible sweetness of those he...

This title includes fourteen stories read by Martin Jarvis. "There's nothing to touch them." - "Independent on Sunday". Stories included are "What Delayed the Great Man", "The Native Protege", "The Cure", "Just William's Luck", "That Boy", "The Great Detective", "William the Reformer", "The Circus", "Not Much", "William Sells the Twins", "William and the White Cat", "William's Helping Hand", "William's Secret Society", and...

With the versatile voice talent of William Gaminara, acclaimed novelist Kim Newman explores the darkest depths of a reinvented Victorian London. It is 1888, and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. Peppered with familiar characters from Victorian history and fiction, the novel tells the story of vampire Geneviève Dieudonné and...

Four of Richard Rohr's popular talks on Scripture. Talk One: "Faith in Exile: Biblical Spirituality for Our Times". Attempting to find meaning in a secular culture leads only to dead ends. Rohr reviews what Scripture teaches about the challenge of living a life of faith and finding meaning “in exile.” Talk Two: "Hearing the Wisdom of Jesus". To follow the intention and the teaching of Jesus as presented in Scripture, we are...

Wickedly funny topical comedy from the BBC Radio 4 series. Impressionist Alistair McGowan leads a talented cast taking satirical digs at subjects that range from newsworthy to naughty. There's Alan Bennett having tea with Thora Hird (and talking about a lot more than Earl Grey and fondant fancies), Doctor Who confusing the local tradesmen and even good old Radio 4 isn't exempt from a gentle mocking, with...

Guy Fawkes’s son must join his father’s plot to kill the king in this magical retelling of the Gunpowder Plot that will sweep you back in time to a divided England where plagues turn victims to stone. In 17th-century London two forces rule the people: the color powers and the Stone Plague. Brown masks can manipulate wood. Black masks control the night. And red masks . . . Well, red is the color of blood.

Thad Roberts, a fellow in a prestigious NASA program had an idea - a romantic, albeit crazy, idea. He wanted to give his girlfriend the moon. Literally. Thad convinced his girlfriend and another female accomplice, both NASA interns, to break into an impregnable laboratory at NASA's headquarters—past security checkpoints, an electronically-locked door with cipher security codes and camera-lined hallways—and help...

The Banner of the Passing Clouds depicts life under the totalitarian communist regime in Georgia from the 50s to 90s, when Georgia gained independence from the USSR. Its narrator, born on the day Stalin dies, is given Stalin's name by hospital nurses - Iosif Dzhugashvili. When Iosif learns of his link to the 'man of steel', he becomes convinced that Stalin has found a new dwelling place within his chest, a burden he...

Ranging from urgently contemporary London and Dublin to New York's Lower East Side in the nineteenth century, from dark comedy to poignancy, from the wryly provocative to the quietly beautiful, these stories - Joseph O'Connor's first collection in more than twenty years - offer a gathering of dreamers and lost souls who contend with the confusions of living. Here are men without women, children parenting...

"I know my own mind. I am able to assess others in a fair and accurate way." These self-perceptions are challenged by leading psychologists Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald as they explore the hidden biases we all carry from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes about age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status, and nationality. Blindspot is the authors metaphor for...

For Judith Dunbar, her first glimpse of Nancherrow, her friend Loveday's beautiful family estate on the Cornish coast, is love at first sight - after the rigours of boarding school it spells luxury. She falls in love, too, with all Loveday's family. They treat Judith as one of them. With their generosity and kindness, Judith grows from naive girl to confident young woman basking in the warmth of a surrogate family whose...

Over half a century since The Spy Who came in from the Cold made John le Carré a worldwide, bestselling sensation, David Cornwell, the man behind the pseudonym, remains an enigma. He has consistently quarried his life for his writing, and his novels seem to offer tantalizing glimpses of their author - but in the narrative of his life fact and fiction have become intertwined, and little is really known of one of...

In one of the first novels in the English language, we follow the picaresque adventures of Joseph Andrews, a virtuous young man who is keen to maintain his innocence, despite being coerced into bed by nearly every woman he encounters. The episodic journey sees him head home to London with his tutor, Parson Adams, with the aim of finding his sweetheart, Fanny. Much mayhem ensues along the way as they...

Television and sport is the ultimate marriage of convenience. The two circled each other warily for a while - sport anxious the sofa-bound might spurn the live product, TV reluctant in a limited channel world to hand over too much screen time to flannelled fools and muddied oafs.

God is in pursuit of you. The Pursuit of God is the enduring Christian classic by renowned pastor and theologian A.W. Tozer. More than 65 years later, the words Tozer penned on a train from Illinois to Texas echo across the decades to resonate with power in the heart of anyone longing for a deeper experience with God. This devotional masterpiece is at once thought-provoking and spirit-enlivening, an invitation to...

The promise of a longer life has captivated humans for centuries, even before the first person set out to find the Fountain of Youth. But promises of life extension have long reeked of snake oil, and despite our wishful thinking, most of us regard it as an impossible dream. In The Youth Pill, science writer David Stipp explores the history of efforts to slow aging, which have been plagued by fits and starts that have led...

Describes the harrowing youth of Emannuel Jal, who was conscripted at the age of seven into the Christian Sudanese Liberation Army and who as a young man rose to become a hip-hop music star in Kenya and a spokesperson for Amnesty International.

This set includes complete unabridged performances of Pride and Prejudice performed by Irene Sutcliffe also Sense and Sensibility performed by Sarah Badel and Emma performed by Jenny Agutter.

He had fled from the terrors of his past, finding refuge in the quietness of the island. And for a time he lived in peace. Until the 'sightings' began, visions of horror seeping into his mind like poisonous tendrils, violent acts that were hideously macabre, the thoughts becoming intense. He witnessed the grotesque acts of another thing, a thing that glorified in murder and mutilation, a monster that soon became aware...

A Genius Performance by Edward Petherbridge! In this autobiographical work Edward Petherbridge recounts his time at the National Theatre and his life as a jobbing actor. Wonderfully whitty and full of real life insights, this book will take you back to the great days of The Master (Olivier) ....

The jet was a solid eighteen-inch column, a pillar of brown mud and yellow gravel and sea water that beat against the steel plates of the hull with a hollow drumming roar. In the few seconds since the explosion the cyclone was already half-filled with a slimy shifting porridge that rushed from wall to wall ...

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them all they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is...

One of the best-known stories in American culture, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has stirred the imagination of young and old alike for over 100 years. Academy Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables, Rachel Getting Married) lends her voice to this uniquely American fairy tale. Follow the...

A Genius Performance by Martin Jarvis!

Great Expectations is Charles Dickens's thirteenth novel. It tracks the story of Pip who from youth through the various stages of his life. It was said to be Dickens favorite novel and has been taught very widely in the classroom. 

In Madame Bovary, one of the great novels of nineteenth-century France, Flaubert draws a deeply-felt but sympathetic portrait of a woman who, having married a country doctor, finds herself unhappy in a rural, genteel existence and longs for love and excitement. Her aspirations and her desires lead her ...

Bill Bryson’s first travel book opened with the immortal line, ‘I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.’

In this deeply funny and personal memoir, he ...

After her award-winning trilogy of Victorian novels, Sarah Waters turned to the 1940s and wrote THE NIGHT WATCH, a tender and tragic novel set against the backdrop of wartime Britain. Shortlisted for both the Orange and the Man Booker, it went straight to number one in the bestseller chart. In a dusty post-war...

Read by Lesley Manville and featuring an exclusive Q&A between Richard Osman and Marian Keyes. The first book in the gripping Thursday Murder Club series by TV presenter Richard Osman. In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings. But when...