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...

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...

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....

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 uncle, Falco embarks on an intricate case of smuggling, murder, and treason that reaches into the palace itself. And if he does not tread lightly, the treacherous puzzle of the silver pigs could buy him a one-way ticket to his own funeral pyre.

The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, home to djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, are at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings:Doctor...

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning is the moving follow-up to Laurie Lee's acclaimed Cider with Rosie Abandoning the Cotswolds village that raised him, the young Laurie Lee walks to London. There he makes a living labouring and playing the violin. But, deciding to travel further a field and knowing only the Spanish phrase for 'Will you please give me a glass of water?', he heads for Spain. With just a blanket...

15 years into his papacy, and on the eve of a new millennium, John Paul II brings to an accessible level the great theological questions of our lives. He goes to the heart of his personal beliefs and speaks with passion about the existence of God; about the dignity of man; about pain, suffering and evil; about eternal life and the meaning of salvation; about hope; and about the relationship of Christianity to other...

Sir Peter Ustinov's beautifully crafted autobiography is told with exquisite wit and insight. From his birth in April 1921, it spans his extraordinary career as actor, playwright, film star and director, confirming his early belief that he is 'irrevocably betrothed to laughter'. Ustinov's renowned gift for mimicry is exploited to the full in Dear Me. Eccentric relatives, school masters, sergeant majors and manic Hollywood moguls...

A Genius Performance by David Rintoul! Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was the foremost scientist of his day. His inventions and discoveries were heralded around the world. His telescopes allowed him to reveal a new reality in the heavens and to defend the astounding proposition that the earth actually moves around the Sun. For this belief was tried for heresy and threatened with torture. Galileo is brought to life here as...

This is the hilarious sequel to the bestselling "Grumpy Old Men", with a specially-written foreword by Arthur Smith. To everything, there is a season - a time to be born, a time to die...and a time to have a bloody good moan.

Compiled by his son Barry, this is a retrospective of Brian Johnston's 48 years with the BBC. The programmes featured range from "In Town Tonight" to "Test Match Special", "Down Your Way", "Today", quiz shows, royal occasions and children's television.

‘Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again,’ writes author Richard Bach in this allegory about a unique bird named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. ‘For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.’ Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes this story soar. This bestselling...

"Good clue, don't you think?" "I'm afraid I'm not very hot on crosswords, sir". "Do you think I'm wasting your time, Lewis?" Lewis was nobody's fool and was a man of some honesty and integrity. "Yes, sir." An engaging smile crept across Morse's mouth. He thought they would get on well together...'The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail.

Crime sleuth Hercule Poirot returns in a thrilling BBC Radio 4 dramatisation. Amy Leatheran has never felt the lure of the mysterious East, but when she travels to an ancient site deep in the Iraqi desert to nurse the wife of a celebrated archaeologist; events prove stranger than she could ever have imagined. Her patient's bizzarre visions and nervous terror seem unfounded, but as the oppressive tension in the air...

Caroline Cliburn was to be married next Tuesday, and yet she suspected that gratitude was the wrong reason to become a bride. Perhaps that was why she and her younger brother Jody had taken the long drive north to Scotland in search of her missing brother Angus...

This BBC Radio adaptation of John Galsworthy's classic family drama features a star cast including Dirk Bogarde, Sir Michael Hordern, Diana Quick, Michael Williams, and Amanda Redman. Galsworthy's epic story chronicles the decline and fall of the Forsytes through almost fifty years of material triumph, emotional disaster, and a terrible feud that splits them asunder.

Best of Thriller Playhouse: "Eyes of Max Carrados" by Ernest Bramah & "Killer Conquest" by Berkeley Gray. Brilliantly adapted by Bert Coules for Punch Audio Ltd. 

The two-hundred-year-old cottages known as Tyler’s Row, with charming leaded-glass windows and an arched thorn hedge over the gateway, are supposed to provide a haven of peace for their new owners, Peter and Diana Hale. They plan to convert the middle two cottages into one, to create their own rural refuge. But beset by carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and bills, as well as their neighbouring tenants...

In A Christmas Carol we meet some of Dickens' most famous creations in the characters of Scrooge, the three Ghosts of Christmas and of course Tiny Tim. The story of how the extraordinary events of Christmas Eve change the miserly Scrooge forever have made A Christmas Carol one of the greatest of all Christmas stories.

Brutal acts of firestarting have ravaged the Peak District, and now a new wave of moorland infernos sweeps across the national park. For DS Ben Cooper, the blazes are best left to the firefighters, even with the arsonists still at large.

Talented by obstinate, Dr Goldblatt has almost destroyed his career before it has properly begun. It increasingly appears that his inability to temper idealism with pragmatism means that his new but temporary position at a London hospital represents his last chance in the NHS. Yet this hospital is depressingly similar to all those he has temped in before - dysfunctional and bureaucratic, a place in which a concern...

Chronicles the 1519 arrival of Hernando Cortes in Mexico, his discovery of an advanced civilization replete with gold and headed by the emperor Montezuma, and his victory over Montezuma and the Aztec empire, effectively annexing the territory for Spain.

Let’s be real for a sec. Most of us don’t have time for an hour of yoga or 30 minutes of meditation every day. We’re overwhelmed as it is. Our spiritual practice shouldn’t add to that. That’s why I’ve handpicked 108 simple techniques to combat our most common problems - stress, burnout, frustration, jealousy, resentment. The stuff we have to deal with on a daily basis. This audiobook is designed so that you can...

A riotous collection of memoirs which explores the absurd hilarity of modern life and creates a wickedly incisive portrait of an all-too-familiar world. It takes Sedaris from his humiliating bout with obsessive behaviour in 'A Plague of Tics' to the title story, where he is finally forced to face his naked self in the company of lunatics. At this soulful and moving moment, he brushes cigarette ashes from his pubic hair...

"A tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that does more than catalog her achievements; it conveys her spirit, one that will leave readers in awe."* This New York Times bestselling version of the acclaimed biography Notorious RBG is an excellent way to share with middle grade readers just why Justice Ginsburg was such a powerful role model. This entertaining and insightful full-color 200-page young readers’...

The Pax Britannica trilogy is Jan Morriss magnificent history of the British Empire from 1837 to 1965. Huge in scope and ambition, it is always personal and immediate, bringing the story vividly to life. Pax Britannica, the second volume, is a snapshot of the Empire at the Diamond Jubilee of 1897. It looks at what made up the Empire from adventurers and politicians to communications and infrastructure,...

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...

Read by Roald Dahl, himself. The Enormous Crocodile grinned, showing hundreds of sharp white teeth. “I’m going to fill my hungry empty tummy with something yummy yummy yummy yummy!” The Enormous Crocodile boasts that he is going to eat a child for lunch and he sets out to trick all the children in his attempts for food. But his plots and disguises are foiled by the animals in the jungle – especially by Trunky...

In the remote village of Mandryn, Tessia serves as assistant to her father, the village Healer - much to the frustration of her mother, who would rather she found a husband. But her life is about to take a very unexpected turn. When treating a patient at the residence of the local magician, Lord Dakon, Tessia is forced to fight off the advances of a visiting Sachakan mage - and instinctively uses magic.

Tiffany Aching leaps into a dance - and suddenly the spirit of winter is in love with her. He's showering her with snowflakes and offering her a crown of ice - which is creepy, but also just a little bit . . . cool.

Two detective stories featuring gentleman detective Roderick Alleyn, adapted for BBC Radio. In A Man Lay Dead, a game of murders at Sir Hubert Handesley’s country house party becomes far too realistic for anyone’s liking. First a guest arrives with a dangerously lethal dagger and then, when the gong sounds to announce the start of the game, the victim plays dead in a very convincing manner.

Ruby Lennox was conceived grudgingly by Bunty and born while her father, George, was in the Dog and Hare in Doncaster telling a woman in an emerald dress and a D-cup that he wasn't married. Bunty had never wanted to marry George, but here she was, stuck in a flat above the pet shop in an ancient street beneath York Minster, with sensible and sardonic Patrica aged five, greedy cross-patch Gillian who refused...

Highlights from Richard Burton’s finest BBC radio performances from the 1940s to the 1980s. Richard Burton was one of the most famous British actors of the twentieth century, renowned for his magical, mellifluous voice. Before Hollywood tempted him away, he worked frequently for the BBC and many of his most electrifying performances were recorded there. This classic compilation features some of the...

The next Agatha Raisin mystery from 23 million copy-selling author M. C. Beaton, the Queen of Cosy Crime, about an eccentric Cotswolds-based detective with an erratic love life and a penchant for G and Ts . . . Agatha and her assistant, Toni, are driving to their friend Bill Wong's wedding, thinking of nothing more than what the beautiful bride will be wearing when a terrified young man comes running down the...

Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden star as Hamish and Dougal, with Alison Steadman as Mrs Naughtie, and Jeremy Hardy as the local Laird. "Gambling Fever" sees Hamish becoming addicted to gambling after winning a Sporran Cosy in the Glen MacLottery, while in "There's Something About Mrs Naughtie", the lady comes into an inheritance and attracts the advances of Hamish, Dougal and the Laird.

Read and Learn with Howard Berg at … Maximum Speed! Absorb all of the material you need to read with unbelievable speed, comprehension, and recall! Are you overwhelmed by the amount of written material you’re faced with each day? Do you find you spend most of your day slogging through the memos, reports, articles, books, and websites that are critical to your success, but that drain away your time and energy?

An extraordinary new novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, number one New York Times best-selling author of Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton. Olive, Again follows the blunt, contradictory yet deeply loveable Olive Kitteridge as she grows older, navigating the second half of her life as she comes to terms with the changes - sometimes welcome, sometimes not - in her own existence and in those around her.

Inspector Rebus initially feels sorry for MP Gregor Jack, a rising star of the political arena. After all, it's sheer bad luck that Gregor happened to be in a brothel during a police raid. At least, it looks that way to begin with. However, when Jack's wife also seems to have disappeared, Rebus begins to suspect that someone is maliciously trying to destroy the young man for reasons only known to themselves...

‘Death and honour are thought to be the same, but today I have learned that sometimes they are not.’ Set in frontier America in the midst of the French-Indian war, as the French are attempting to overthrow an English fort, Cooper’s story follows Alice and Cora Munro, pioneer sisters who are trying to find their way back to their father, an English commander. Guided by an army major and Magua, an Indian from...

A misfit at an exclusive New England college, Richard finds kindred spirits in the five eccentric students of his ancient Greek class. But his new friends have a horrific secret. When blackmail and violence threaten to blow their privileged lives apart, they drag Richard into the nightmare that engulfs them.