DIGI TA L AU DIOBOOKS NEW RELEASES October – December 2014 Powered by
NEW BROCHURE
Order the latest bestsellers as downloadable eAudiobooks
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Dear Librarian, Welcome to our new digital collection, featuring some of today’s most popular authors! For fans of crime fiction, our Multicap Standing Order Plans sees the return of Detective Roy Grace in Want You Dead by Peter James, Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey is a stunning mystery with an unforgettable main character and Darkness, Darkness by John Harvey is the final DI Charlie Resnick novel. Man Booker Prize nominated History of the Rain by Niall Williams and Joseph O’Connor’s The Thrill Of It All, narrated by Game of Thrones star Ciaran Hinds, are also not to be missed! We’ve welcomed the work of much-loved author Maeve Binchy to Lamplight with Maeve’s Times, a timeless collection of her writing and celebration of her work. Bring Me Home is a captivating family mystery by Alan Titchmarsh and The Lie by popular storyteller Helen Dunmore is an enthralling and heart-wrenching novel of love, memory and devastating loss. Our One User Plans include highlights from our popular new imprint, Avid. Dean Koontz is at the peak of his storytelling powers in his new novel The City, and Half a King is the first in a major new series by bestselling author Joe Abercrombie. Bestselling historian Alison Weir brings all her knowledge of Elizabeth I to vivid life in The Marriage Game and The Murder Bag is the first title in an explosive new crime series by award winner Tony Parsons. In Nudged you’ll find plenty for younger listeners including I am not a Loser, the first title in Jim Smith’s hilarious Barry Loser series, Look Into My Eyes by multi-million-copy bestseller Lauren Child and Spacejackers, an action-packed adventure of one boy’s search for his destiny. We hope you enjoy the brochure, please get in touch with any feedback you have. Best wishes, The Editor
Contents
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Multicap Designed to meet true demand, our simultaneous multi-access Multicap SOPs include a mixture of bestselling and awardwinning titles from across our imprints. This quarter features authors such as Peter James, Hilary Mantel and Santa Montefiore.
Tim Butcher
An exploration of the life of the teenager who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and so triggered the First World War.
“ A remarkable, fascinating book by a courageous and perceptive writer.” ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH ON BLOOD RIVER
“ Quite superb… a masterpiece”
On a summer morning in Sarajevo a hundred years ago, a teenage assassin fired JOHN LE CARRÉ ON BLOOD RIVER not just the opening shots of the First World War but the starting gun for modern history. By killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Gavrilo Princip triggered conflict that would claim millions of lives in battle, and turmoil that would change our world. Tim Butcher uncovers the unreported details of Princip’s life and draws on his own experience, as a war reporter in the Balkans in the 1990s, to face down ghosts of conflicts past and present. The Trigger is a rich and timely work that brings to life both the moment the world first went to war and an extraordinary region with a potent hold over history.
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Tim Butcher · History · DURATION: 8.5 · ISBN 9781471272875
One Night in Italy Lucy Diamond
How do you say ‘I love you’ in Italian? Anna knows the father she’s never met is Italian. Now she’s baking focaccia and learning the language, determined to go and find him. After Catherine’s husband walked out on her, she’s trying to pick up the pieces of her life. But she discovers his deception runs even deeper than infidelity. As their Italian evening class gets underway, friendships form and love affairs blossom; it’s going to be a year that they will never forget.
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
“ Funny, sunny and wise. An absolute treat.” KATIE FFORDE
“ Seamless, engaging, believable, fun and heartfelt.”
NARRATED BY: Geraldine Sharrock · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 12.25 · ISBN 9781471272868
HEAT
OCTOBER
The Trigger
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OCTOBER
Tigerman
Nick Harkaway From the highly acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World and Angelmaker comes Nick Harkaway’s brilliant new novel about excolonies, superheroes and paternal love. Lester Ferris needs a rest. He’s spent his life being shot at, and Afghanistan was the last stop on his road to exhaustion. Mancreu is the ideal place for Lester to relax. A former British colony, soon to be destroyed because of its very special version of toxic pollution. But Lester Ferris makes a friend: a street kid with a comicbook fixation who will need a home – who might, Lester hopes, become an adopted son. But in a place like Mancreu, just what sort of hero will the boy need?
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
“ [O]ne of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in ages… brilliantly entertaining… what a splendid ride.” GUARDIAN ON ANGELMAKER
“ An entertaining tour-deforce that demands to be adored.” INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
NARRATED BY: Matt Bates · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 13.75 · ISBN 9781471272844
Darkness, Darkness John Harvey
The final DI Charlie Resnick novel, from the Cartier Diamond Dagger winner and Sunday Times bestselling author of Cold in Hand. Thirty years ago, the Miners’ Strike threatened to tear the country apart, turning neighbour against neighbour – enmities which smoulder still. Resnick had run an information gathering unit at the heart of the dispute. Now, in retirement, and grieving over the death of his partner, the discovery of the body of a woman who disappeared during the Strike brings Resnick back, and forces him to confront his past.
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
“ If only every series of crime novels could end with such grace and style.” JOHN CONNOLLY
“ Rich in wistful telling, the story holds your heart steady in a tight fist. It doesn’t let you go. It doesn’t let you let go of the man either.” MICHAEL CONNELLY
NARRATED BY: Mike Grady · Crime · DURATION: 8.75 · ISBN 9781471272851
The Ties That Bind Erin Kelly
The new novel from the author of The Burning Air will confirm her as one of Britain’s foremost psychological thriller writers. Joss Grand once ruled the Brighton underworld with his sidekick Jacky Nye – until Jacky washed up by the West Pier in 1968. Though Grand’s alibi seems cast-iron, Luke, a true crime writer, is sure there’s more to the story, and he convinces the criminal-turned-philanthropist to be interviewed for a book about his life. Soon Luke realises that in stirring up secrets from the past, he may be in terrible danger.
“ Kelly’s most accomplished book to date… a gripping tale of secrets, revenge and obsession, masterfully done.” GUARDIAN ON THE BURNING AIR
“ An author in total command of the tensions within dysfunctional families… gripping all the way.” GUARDIAN ON THE BURNING AIR
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Robert Blackwood · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 10.75 · ISBN 9781471272882
Flight to Coorah Creek Janet Gover
What happens when you can fly, but you just can’t hide? Only Jessica Pearson knows the truth about what really happened in her past, but will her new job flying an outback air ambulance help her sleep at night or atone for a lost life? Doctor Adam Gilmore touches the lives of his patients, but he has his own scars. In Coorah Creek, you’re judged by what you do. But when the harshest judge is the one you see in the mirror, there’s nowhere left to hide. Janet Gover is the author of a dozen novels and short stories, and has been awarded the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Elizabeth Goudge Trophy.
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Federay Holmes · Romance · DURATION: 9.25 · ISBN 9781471272936
Multicap
David Jackson Her tattoo wasn’t just a mark for life; it marked her for death too… In New York a young girl is brutally raped and murdered. Detective Callum Doyle has visited the distraught family. Now he wants justice. Doyle is convinced he knows who the killer is; the problem is he can’t prove it. And the more he pushes his prime suspect, the more he learns that the man is capable of pushing back in ways more devious and twisted than Doyle could ever have imagined.
“ Recalls Harlan Coben – though for my money Jackson is the better writer.” GUARDIAN
“ A clever device, adroitly executed and fun to read.” THE TIMES
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Nick Landrum · Crime · DURATION: 11.25 · ISBN 9781471272912
Murder
Sarah Pinborough A gruesome horror story set on the cobbled streets of Victorian London. Dr Thomas Bond, Police Surgeon, is still recovering from when Jack the Ripper haunted the streets of London – and a more malign enemy hid in his shadow. Bond and the others who worked on the gruesome case are still stalked by its legacies, both psychological and tangible. Now the bodies of children are being pulled from the Thames, and Bond is about to become inextricably linked with an uncanny, undying enemy.
“ A compulsively readable story that starts as a conventional murder mystery and morphs, by degrees, into a horrifying supernatural thriller.” GUARDIAN ON MAYHEM
The sequel to Mayhem, the first gripping Dr. Bond mystery.
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Steven Crossley · Crime · DURATION: 10.25 · ISBN 9781471272905
Salt River James Sallis
In the final novel in Sallis’ Turner trilogy, Turner finds himself at the centre of a community that, like so many others, is drying up, disappearing before his eyes. Two years have passed since Turner’s lover, Val Bjorn, was shot as they sat together on the porch of his cabin. Then the sheriff’s long-lost son comes ploughing down Main Street in what appears to be a stolen car. And waiting at Turner’s cabin is his good friend, Eldon Brown. Haunted by his own ghosts, Turner nonetheless goes in search of a truth he’s not sure he can live with.
“ Haunting… Sallis writes poetic rings around the subject.” NEW YORK TIMES
“ Sallis comes as close as humanly possible here to turning a mystery novel into a lyric poem.” BOOKLIST
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Peter Brooke · Crime · DURATION: 3.5 · ISBN 9781471272929
A House of Knives William Shaw
“London in 1968 is an evocative setting and Shaw skilfully re-creates an era of social turmoil and class conflict.” sunday times. Marylebone, November 1968. Detective Sergeant Breen has a death threat and two burned bodies on his hands. One is an un-mourned vagrant; the other the son of a politician. One case suffers the apathy of the police; the other obstructed by a PR-conscious father. Then the potential perpetrator of his death threats is murdered. Banished from a corrupt system, Breen is finally forced to fight fire with fire. A House of Knives is the excellent sequel to A Song From Dead Lips.
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Cameron Stewart · Crime · DURATION: 13.25 · ISBN 9781471272899
“ A first-rate police thriller set amidst the seamy underside of the swinging sixties.” C. J. SAMSON ON A SONG FROM DEAD LIPS
“ Convincing atmosphere, lively dialogue and a fun cop duo unite Beatlemania, English racism and the Biafran war.” THE TIMES ON A SONG FROM DEAD LIPS
OCTOBER
Marked
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NOVEMBER
Elizabeth is Missing Emma Healey
A fast-paced mystery and a moving meditation on memory and identity, all told through Maud’s unforgettable voice. Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn’t remember to drink it. She sometimes thinks her daughter Helen is a total stranger. But there’s one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, Maud will get to the bottom of it. A debut novel about a mind in the grips of dementia.
“ The novel is both a gripping detective yarn and a haunting depiction of mental illness, but also more poignant and blackly comic than you might expect from that description… perhaps Healey’s greatest achievement is the flawless voice she creates for Maud.” OBSERVER
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Anna Bentinck · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 11.5 · ISBN 9781471274039
Want You Dead Peter James
Want You Dead is Peter James’ 10th book in his multi-million-copy selling crime series featuring the definitive detective, Roy Grace. When Red Westwood meets Bryce Laurent through an online dating agency, there is an instant attraction. But as their love blossoms, the truth about his past begins to emerge. Everything he has told Red about himself turns out to be lies, and her infatuation with him gradually turns to terror. But Bryce is obsessed, and he intends to destroy everything and everyone she has ever known – and then her too…
“ Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business.’ KARIN SLAUGHTER
“ James just gets better and better and deserves the success he has achieved with this first-class series.” INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Daniel Weyman · Crime · DURATION: 12.25 · ISBN 9781471273995
Good Morning, Mr Mandela Zelda la Grange
Zelda la Grange served Nelson Mandela in different capacities over nineteen years. She was serving as his Personal Assistant when he passed on in December 2013. Good Morning, Mr Mandela is the journey of an awkward young typist later chosen to become the President’s most loyal servant, spending most of her adult life travelling with, and caring for the man she would come to call ‘Khulu’, or ‘grandfather’. Here Zelda pays tribute to Nelson Mandela as she knew him. A man who forgave and respected all, but who was also frank, teasing and direct. Now she shares his inspiring gifts with the world.
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NARRATED BY: Adjoa Andoh · Biography & Autobiography · DURATION: 14 · ISBN 9781471274015
The Thrill of it All Joseph O’Connor
A captivating novel filled with music, friendship and teenage dreams, from the bestselling author of Ghost Light and Star of the Sea. At college in 1980s, Robbie Goulding, an Irish-born teenager, meets Fran Mulvey, a Vietnamese refugee. Together they form a band. Joined by cellist Sarah-Thérèse Sherlock and her brother Seán on drums, they set out to chase fame. Spanning 25 years, we fast-forward through an evocative soundtrack of struggle and laughter. Infused with blues, New Wave and punk, the tale stretches from the Glastonbury Festival to Long Island, culminating in July 2012, a night that changes everything. A story of loyalties, friendship, the call of the muse, and the beguiling shimmer of teenage dreams, this is a warm-hearted, funny and deeply moving novel for anyone that has ever loved a song.
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NARRATED BY: Ciarán Hinds · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 12.5 · ISBN 9781471274008
Multicap
Lucy Robinson
Laugh out loud and follow your heart with Lucy Robinson’s The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me. Sally is an incredible singer but she’d rather join a nudist colony than sing in public. That is until she ventures to New York where a wild summer of love and loss changes her forever. Sally returns home to London, but as she’s about to embark on her new life, a beautiful man turns up on Sally’s doorstep. Does he hold the truth to what happened in New York? And, with him back on the scene, will she still have the courage to step into the spotlight?
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
“ One of Britain’s most talented rising stars.” HUFFINGTON POST
“ Romantic and laugh-outloud hilarious.” COSMOPOLITAN
NARRATED BY: Stevie Lacey · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 15.5 · ISBN 9781471274022
The Soft Whisper of Dreams Christina Courtenay
Some dreams shouldn’t come true… Maddie Browne thought she’d grown out of the recurring nightmare that plagued her as a child – the swing in the garden, the kind red-haired giant and the arms which grab her from behind and try to take her away… Trying to move on, Maddie travels to Devon, but a disturbing encounter with a gypsy fortune teller, removes all hope of relaxation. And then there’s the fact that Maddie’s dream seems to be coming true. The Soft Whisper of Dreams is the follow-on to Christina Courtenay’s novel The Secret Kiss of Darkness. Christina Courtenay has twice won the Historical Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association. She last won in 2014 with The Gilded Fan.
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Jenny Funnell · Romance · DURATION: 7.25 · ISBN 9781471274053
Arctic Summer Damon Galgut
A fictional exploration of the life and times of one of Britain’s finest novelists, E. M. Forster, from a twice Man Booker shortlisted author. In 1912, the SS Birmingham approaches India. On board is Morgan Forster, novelist and man of letters. It will be another twelve years, and a second time spent in India, before A Passage to India, E. M. Forster’s great work of literature, is published. During these years, Morgan will come to a profound understanding of the infinite subtleties and complexity of human nature.
“ Galgut seems the most likely of the crop of young South African novelists to fill J.M. Coetzee’s shoes.” GUARDIAN
“ Invites comparison with Greene, Conrad and Naipaul.” DAILY TELEGRAPH
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Finlay Robertson · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 11 · ISBN 9781471274077
Last Man Off Matt Lewis
Last Man Off is a first-hand account of an ocean tragedy. Antarctica, June 6th 1998. 23-year-old Matt Lewis has just started his dream job: an observer aboard a deep sea fishing boat. As the crew haul in their lines for the day, the waves seem bigger than usual – they are casting shadows on the deck. A storm is brewing. What follows is an astonishing story of courage and tragedy. Lewis leads the escape onto three life rafts, where the battle for survival begins. This brilliantly written and thrilling account will be enjoyed by fans of A Perfect Storm and Touching the Void.
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Malcolm Hamilton · General Non Fiction · DURATION: 7.5 · ISBN 9781471274084
NOVEMBER
The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me
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The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers Paul Torday
A modern retake on A Tale of Two Cities by the bestselling author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Hector Chetwode-Talbot, also known as Eck, is at a loose end when he is approached by an old army friend to join his investment company. Soon Eck can afford a luxury car and flat, and it is on holiday in France that Eck meets Charlie Summers. Then Charlie appears on Eck’s doorstep, intent on staying and launching his dog food business, and Eck begins to question how different he really is from Charlie Summers…
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
“ Torday is one of the most original voices in modern fiction.” METRO
“ This hugely likeable book subtly highlights the surprising parallels between obvious con men and the rest of us who just want to make a fast buck.” SUNDAY TIMES
NARRATED BY: Simon J. Williamson · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 9 · ISBN 9781471274046
Miami Blues Charles Willeford
A brutal, thrilling ride, Miami Blues is a classic of Florida crime fiction, revealing the sordid side of the Sunshine State. Ex-con Freddy ‘Junior’ Frenger lands in Miami with three stolen wallets and plans for a new life of crime, and leaves the airport with a snatched suitcase and a corpse behind him. Homicide detective Hoke Moseley is soon chasing Junior and his hooker girlfriend through the seedy suburban sprawl of Miami in a game of hide and seek that will leave Hoke beaten and robbed – but determined to get his man.
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
ELMORE LEONARD
“ Pure pleasure… Mr. Willeford never puts a foot wrong.” THE NEW YORKER
NARRATED BY: Paul Birchard · Crime · DURATION: 5.75 · ISBN 9781471274060
DECEMBER
The Giant, O’Brien Hilary Mantel
From the two-time Man Booker winner, The Giant, O’Brien is an unforgettable novel; lyrical, shocking and spliced with black comedy. Charles O’Brien, Irish bard and giant. The cynical are moved by his flights of romance; the craven stirred by his tales of epic deeds. The Surprising Irish Giant may be the sensation of the season but only his compatriots seem to attend to his mythic powers of invention. John Hunter, celebrated surgeon and anatomist, buys dead men from the gallows and babies’ corpses by the inch. Where is a man as unique as The Giant to hide his bones when he is yet alive?
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
“ No one writes a better crime novel than Charles Willeford.”
NARRATED BY: Patrick Moy · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 6.25 · ISBN 9781471275968
“ A novelist of remarkable diversity… she writes with wit, compassion and great elegance. Her books never fail to surprise, nor to delight: in this one she is at her very best – so far.” INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
“ Mantel can out-write most writers of her generation, male and female. What she has done here is disturbing, grievous and extraordinary.” SUNDAY TIMES
The Beekeeper’s Daughter Santa Montefiore
Sometimes you find your destiny on the road you take to avoid it. England, 1932: Grace Hamblin, the beekeeper’s daughter, knows her place and her future, until her father dies. She’s 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, unaware of the secrets that bind them.
“ Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore. Everything she writes, she writes from the heart.” JOJO MOYES
“ A gripping romance… it is as believable as the writing is beautiful.” DAILY TELEGRAPH ON THE SUMMER HOUSE
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Penelope Rawlins · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 12.75 · ISBN 9781471275937
Multicap
Gerald Seymour Vagabond shows Gerald Seymour writing at the top of his powers and returning to the territory of Harry’s Game. Danny Curnow, known in the army family by his call sign, Vagabond, ran agents, informers. Now he lives in quiet isolation and works as a guide to tourists visiting the Normandy D-Day beaches. But violence in Northern Ireland is on the rise again. The covert world was close to destroying Danny. Fifteen years later the stakes are higher, the risks greater, and Danny will have to prove that he is as hard and ruthless as before.
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
“ Once again demonstrating his ability to probe the moral murkiness of the spy trade and create an absorbingly diverse ensemble, Seymour crafts a sophisticated, readerteasing tale.” SUNDAY TIMES ON THE CORPORAL’S WIFE
“ Picking up a novel by Gerald Seymour is like taking a deep breath of fresh air.” INDEPENDENT ON THE CORPORAL’S WIFE
NARRATED BY: John O’Mahony · Thriller · DURATION: 18.5 · ISBN 9781471275920
An Open Marriage Tess Stimson
When you abandon the rules, can you ever go back? Mia Allen has never adjusted to living in England. She misses the States , but her husband Kit loves the sense of community. Like Mia, Kit’s boss Charlie is looking for more excitement in her life. So when she and her husband are invited to dinner, she jumps at the chance to make new friends. The increasing attraction between all of them is intense. Can any of their relationships survive this unconventional arrangement?
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
“ A truly compelling story of family ties and secrets.” DAILY EXPRESS ON THE LYING GAME
NARRATED BY: Laurence Bouvard · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 8 · ISBN 9781471275944
History of the Rain Niall Williams
Nominated for the Man Booker Prize 2014 Bedbound in her attic room beneath the falling rain, Plain Ruth Swain is in search of her father. To find him Ruthie must first trace the jutting jaw lines, narrow faces and gleamy skin of the Swains from the restless Reverend Swain, her great-grandfather, to her father, Virgil – via pole-vaulting, leaping salmon, poetry and the three thousand, nine hundred and fifty eight books piled high beneath the two skylights in her room.
“ Extremely moving, poignantly capturing Ruth’s doomed childhood relationship with her twin brother. By the final chapter I was weeping.” SUNDAY TIMES
“ A rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mytholog y, humour and heartbreak.” KIRKUS
SOP: MultiCap5 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Jennifer McGrath · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 11.5 · ISBN 9781471275951
A Song for Issy Bradley Carys Bray
This is the story of what happens when Issy Bradley dies. This is the story of Ian – husband, father and Mormon bishop – and his unshakeable belief. It is the story of his wife Claire’s lonely wait for a sign from God. And it is the story of seven-year-old Jacob. His faith is bigger than a mustard seed, probably bigger than a toffee bonbon and he’s planning to use it to mend his family with a miracle. In A Song for Issy Bradley Carys Bray explores the outer reaches of doubt and faith.
“ A brilliant debut, compelling and profoundly moving.” NATHAN FILER, AUTHOR OF THE SHOCK OF THE FALL
“ Carys Bray is a strikingly original new voice in fiction. I loved this tender, moving, funny and deeply truthful story about a family and a faith tested to breaking-point.” HELEN DUNMORE
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Emma Gregory · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 10.75 · ISBN 9781471275982
DECEMBER
Vagabond
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The Maid of Milan Beverley Eikli
How much would you pay for a clear conscience? Adelaide Leeson wants to prove herself worthy of her husband, a man who married her when she was at her lowest. Lord Tristan Leeson is a model of diplomacy, curbing the fiery impulses of his youth to preserve his wife’s health. But as Tristan’s political career rises and Adelaide revels in society’s adulation, the secrets of the past are uncovered. And there’s a high price to pay for a life of deception. Beverley Eikli is a writer of historical romance, with eight novels to her name. Her latest, The Reluctant Bride was shortlisted for a Favourite Historical Romance Award by Australian Romance Readers Association.
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Melody Grove · Romance · DURATION: 12.25 · ISBN 9781471276019
The Baklava Club Jason Goodwin
Jason Goodwin’s much-loved Inspector Yashim returns to solve one final mystery – his most thrilling and most colourful case yet. In nineteenth-century Istanbul, a Polish prince has been kidnapped. His assassination has been bungled and he’s held captive in an unused farmhouse. Little do the kidnappers realise that their revolutionary cell has been penetrated by their enemies. Yashim is convinced that the prince is alive. As he draws closer to the prince’s whereabouts, Yashim finds himself in the most treacherous situation of his career.
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“ When you read a historical mystery by Jason Goodwin, you take a magic carpet ride to the most exotic place on earth.” NEW YORK TIMES
NARRATED BY: Jonathan Keeble · Crime · DURATION: 10 · ISBN 9781471276002
The Devil’s Workshop Alex Grecian
The Devil’s Workshop is the third historical thriller in Alex Grecian’s acclaimed Scotland Yard Murder Squad series. April, 1890. London wakes to the shocking news of a mass prison escape. The Scotland Yard Murder Squad now face a desperate race against time: if they don’t re-capture the four convicted murderers before night settles, they’ll vanish into the dark alleys of the London’s criminal underworld forever. And in the midst of this mayhem and fear, the city’s worst nightmare is realised: Jack the Ripper haunts the streets of London once more…
“ Will keep you riveted from page one.” JEFFREY DEAVER
“ Throw in deranged prostitutes, poisonings and throat slittings galore, amidst lashings of London fog. Gory, lurid and tons of guilty fun.” GUARDIAN
SOP: MultiCap10 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Nigel Carrington · Crime · DURATION: 8.5 · ISBN 9781471275975
Boy, Snow, Bird Helen Oyeyemi
The fifth novel from award-winning author Helen Oyeyemi, Boy, Snow, Bird is a deeply moving novel about an unbreakable bond. Boy Novak turns twenty and takes a bus from New York to the end of the line, Flax Hill, Massachusetts. Here she finds Snow, a mild-mannered and deeply cherished girl. Snow displays a certain inscrutability, that’s simply harmless until Boy gives birth to Snow’s sister, Bird. When Bird is born Boy is forced to reevaluate the image Snow’s family have presented to her, and Boy, Snow and Bird are broken apart.
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NARRATED BY: Barbara Barnes · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 9.5 · ISBN 9781471275999
“ A spellbinding, wholly original look at families and the secrets they keep… an absolutely amazing and absorbing read.” MARIE CLAIRE
“ Gloriously unsettling… it’s clearly the book she’s been waiting for… the greatest joy of reading Oyeyemi will always be style: jagged and capricious at moments, lush and rippled at others, always singular, like the voice-over of a fever dream.” NEW YORK TIMES
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PRESENTS
Software Learning
12
One User One User eAudiobooks work just like the physical equivalent, each copy can only be downloaded by one person at a time. Our One User SOPs include a mix of titles from all of our imprints. This quarter features authors such as Tony Parsons, Freya North and Alsion Weir. OCTOBER
The Inheritance Tilly Bagshawe
Welcome to Tilly Bagshawe’s Swell Valley, where the scandal is in a class of its own. Tatiana Flint-Hamilton’s gilded cage is torn away when her father dies. As the beloved family estate slips through her fingers, the ruthless Brett Cranley steps up to take it all away. His wife Angela is the perfect homemaker, and Furlings soon becomes Angela’s lifeline, one she’s not going to give up easily. But losing everything has made Tati realise that her rightful inheritance is all that she lives for… and she is determined to get it back.
“ You’re always guaranteed corking characters and a fast-paced read with a Bagshawe story, and this doesn’t disappoint.” HEAT
“ A cut above the rest… pure, unadulterated escapism.” FABULOUS
SOP: OneUser5 · DOWNLOAD
NARRATED BY: Scarlett Mack · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 16 · ISBN 9780007584277
Skeletons Jane Fallon
Top ten bestselling author Jane Fallon writes of discovered secrets and the price of keeping them in her stunning new novel, Skeletons. Jen has discovered a secret. If she tells her husband Jason, will he forgive her for telling the truth? If she tells someone else in Jason’s family, she’d not only tear them apart but could also find herself on the outside. But if she keeps this to herself, how long can she pretend nothing is wrong? Jen knows the truth – but is she ready for the consequences?
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NARRATED BY: Penelope Rawlins · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 11.75 · ISBN 9781471272806
“ Intelligent, edg y and witty.” GLAMOUR
“ Irresistibly dark… Fallon’s tone is still winningly acerbic.” GUARDIAN
One User
Paul Finch
Get hooked on Heck: the maverick detective who knows no boundaries. DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg is used to bloodbaths. Two years ago, he put the ringleader of The Nice Guys Club – a vicious rape and murder gang – behind bars. But Heck knows that this depraved organisation stretches far beyond UK shores. When brutal murders start happening across the country, it’s clear that the Nice Guys are at work again. And Heck knows it won’t be long before they come for him.
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“ Really terrific, compulsive stuff which was given top marks… definitely a talent to watch.” THE BOOKSELLER ON STALKERS
NARRATED BY: Paul Thornley · Crime · DURATION: 13.5 · ISBN 9780007573851
The Murder Bag Tony Parsons
The Number One Bestseller… If you like crime novels by Ian Rankin and Peter James, you will love this. Twenty years ago seven students became friends at their exclusive private school, Potter’s Field. Now they have started dying in the most violent way imaginable. Detective Max Wolfe follows the bloody trail from the backstreets and bright lights of the city, to the darkest corners of the corridors of power. As the bodies pile up, Max finds he is fighting not only for justice, but for his own life… The gripping first novel in an explosive new crime series by Tony Parsons, bestselling author of Man and Boy.
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NARRATED BY: Colin Mace · Crime · DURATION: 10 · ISBN 9781471272813
Hollow World Michael J. Sullivan
The future is coming… for some, sooner than others. Ellis Rogers is an ordinary man, about to embark on an extraordinary journey. All his life he has played it safe, but faced with a terminal illness he’s willing to take an insane gamble. He’s built a time machine in his garage. If it works, he could find more than a cure for his illness; he might find what everyone has been searching for since time began… A stunning new novel from the 2013 Audie Award for Fantasy finalist. Michael J. Sullivan is the author of the bestselling The Riyria Revelations.
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NARRATED BY: Jonathan Davis · Fantasy & Supernatural · DURATION: 12.5 · ISBN 9781471272820
The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair Joël Dicker
Nothing you’ve read or even felt before can prepare you for the internationally bestselling The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. August 30, 1975. The summer Harry Quebert fell in love with fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan. Thirty-three years later, her body is dug up from his yard along with a manuscript copy of his career-defining novel. Quebert is the only suspect. Marcus Goldman – Quebert’s most gifted protégé – throws off his writer’s block to save his mentor from the electric chair. But with Nola, in death as in life, nothing is ever as it seems. A brilliantly intricate murder mystery, a hymn to the boundless reaches of the imagination, and a love story like no other.
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NARRATED BY: Robert Slade · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 20.5 · ISBN 9781471273544
OCTOBER
The Killing Club
13
14
One User
OCTOBER
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler
Nominated for the Man Booker Prize 2014. Rosemary’s started college, and she’s decided not to tell anyone about her family. Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone – vanished from her life. There was something unique about Rosemary’s sister, Fern. You’ll have to find out for yourself what it is that makes her unhappy family unlike any other.
“ A novel so readably juicy and surreptitiously smart, it deserves all the attention it can get.” BARBARA KINGSOLVER
“ A dark cautionary tale hanging out, incognito-style, in what at first seems a traditional family narrative. It is anything but.” ALICE SEBOLD
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NARRATED BY: Katharine Mangold · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 8.75 · ISBN 9781471273537
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth Chris Hadfield
The vivid and refreshing insights in this book will completely change the way you view life on Earth – especially your own. Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4,000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft, and become a YouTube sensation with his performance of David Bowie’s Space Oddity in space. The secret to Chris Hadfield’s success – and survival – is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst – and enjoy every moment of it.
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“ Hadfield has done more than probably any astronaut since the Apollo missions to transform the image of space exploration… Space has rarely seemed to close, or the world so astonishing.” DAILY TELEGRAPH
“ Houston, we have a superstar.” WASHINGTON POST
NARRATED BY: Chris Hadfield · Biography & Autobiography · DURATION: 8.75 · ISBN 9781471272837
The Book of You Claire Kendal
A terrifying psychological thriller about obsession and power. Clarissa is becoming more and more frightened of her colleague, Rafe. He won’t leave her alone. Being selected for jury service is a relief, the courtroom is a safe haven. But as a violent tale of kidnap and abuse unfolds, Clarissa begins to unravel the twisted fairytale that Rafe has spun – and discovers that the ending he envisions is more terrifying than she could have imagined.
“ Addictive… I literally hardly breathed as I raced to the end. It’s a terrifying thriller” SAMANTHA HAYES, AUTHOR OF UNTIL YOU’RE MINE
“ Creepy and compelling… what happens when the wrong guy won’t take no for an answer?” PAULA DALY, AUTHOR OF JUST WHAT KIND OF MOTHER ARE YOU?
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NARRATED BY: Orlagh Cassidy · Thriller · DURATION: 9.75 · ISBN 9780007581399
Jam
Jake Wallis Simons One of Britain’s most compelling and original voices in fiction. As darkness falls on the M25, the flow of traffic comes to a halt. Time passes. More time passes. Then more. Drivers switch off their engines, then get out of their cars. And so the story begins… In this bold, state-of-the-nation novel, Jake Wallis Simons brings together characters from all walks of life and explores what happens when lives collide on the M25. Jake Wallis Simons is a journalist and features writer for the Sunday Telegraph.
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NARRATED BY: Jake Wallis Simons · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 7.75 · ISBN 9781471272943
“ Fascinating and moving.” MONICA ALI ON THE ENGLISH GERMAN GIRL
Kate Clanchy
A bright book about dark subjects: a tale about kindness and its limits, told with love, nominated for the Costa First Novel Award. “Literary Giant seeks young man to push bathchair. Own room in Hampstead, all found, exciting cultural milieu. Modest wage. Ideal ‘gap year’ opportunity.” So orphan Struan Robertson, leaves his native town of Cuik, and arrives in London. His job is to care for Phillip, paralysed by a massive stroke. Struan finds himself tangled in a midsummer’s dream of mistaken identity and overwhelming passions. For everyone, it is to be a life-changing summer.
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NARRATED BY: Charlotte Strevens · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 7.75 · ISBN 9781471273568
15
“ With wit and zest, Clanchy creates social comedy out of teethclenching situations… Clanchy’s trenchant, often very funny prose also shimmers with sensual pleasures.”
OCTOBER
Meeting the English
One User
GUARDIAN
“ Meeting the English feels like an updated Iris Murdoch novel, with sharper haircuts and more Laura Ashley furnishings.” INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
Astra
Naomi Foyle This is the first book in the Gaia Chronicles from the highly acclaimed poet and playwright, Naomi Foyle. Like every child in Is-Land, all Astra Ordott wants is to do her National Service and defend her Gaian homeland from Non-Lander ‘infiltrators’. But when her Shelter mother tells her that this will limit her chances of becoming a scientist and offers her an alternative, Astra agrees. If she is to survive, Astra must learn to deal with truths about Is-Land, Non-Land and the secret web of adult relationships that surrounds her.
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“ Foyle is effective at building tension and creating villainy all the more sinister for its wellmeaning smile.” SFX
“ Impeccable plotting.” GUARDIAN
NARRATED BY: Penelope Rawlins · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 17.75 · ISBN 9781471273575
Ostrich
Matt Greene Growing up is hard enough without a deadline. Alex has the concerns every 12-year-old has but lately, ever since his brain surgery, everyone in his life is behaving a little mysteriously. He decides it’s time to investigate. So begins the journey that will take him to the limits of his understanding and take you back to the wonder and conviction of your own adolescence, to a time when you understood the world so much better than it understood you.
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“ At once hilarious and heart-wrenching.” DAILY TELEGRAPH
“ ‘Irresistible! I dare you not to laugh, cry and fall wildly in love.” MARIA SEMPLE, AUTHOR OF WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE?
NARRATED BY: Thomas Judd · Humorous · DURATION: 6.75 · ISBN 9781471273599
The Highwayman’s Daughter Henriette Gyland
Is it a crime to steal a heart? Hounslow, 1768. When Jack Blythe, heir to the Earl of Lampton, is held up by a masked woman, brandishing a pistol and dressed as a ‘gentleman’ of the road, he wholly expects to have his purse stolen. And when he senses something strangely familiar about the lovely little bandit, Jack also expects to win his cousin Rupert’s wager by tracking her down first. But as Jack and the highwaywoman enter into a swashbuckling game of cat and mouse, uncovering an intricate web of fiercely guarded family secrets, the last thing Jack expects to have stolen is his heart.
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NARRATED BY: Melody Grove · Romance · DURATION: 10.5 · ISBN 9781471273551
“ Gyland beautifully builds the atmosphere and wisely gives us a budding romance, too.” STAR MAGAZINE ON THE ELEPHANT GIRL
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OCTOBER
All That is Solid Melts into Air Darragh McKeon
An exceptionally moving novel of interwoven lives, set amidst one of the most iconic disasters in living memory. Russia, 1986. In a run-down apartment block in Moscow, a nine-year-old piano prodigy practices silently. In the hospital, a surgeon immerses himself in his work to avoid facing his failed marriage. And in a rural village in Belarus, a teenage boy wakes up to a sky of the deepest crimson. Outside, the ears of his neighbour’s cattle are dripping blood. Ten miles away, at the Chernobyl Power Plant, something unimaginable has happened. Now their lives will change forever.
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“ Daring, ambitious, epic, moving.” COLM TÓIBÍN
“ Exhilarating, thrilling, brilliantly imagined, beautifully written.” COLUM M C CANN
NARRATED BY: Patrick Doherty · Literature · DURATION: 11.5 · ISBN 9781471273582
The Outrageous Belle Marchmain Lucy Ashford
A marriage most inconvenient! Agreeing to a fake betrothal should suit both society dressmaker Belle Marchmain and landowner Adam Davenant fittingly – clearing Belle’s debts and keeping Adam’s husband-hunters at bay. Even if blue-blooded Belle, with her extravagant clothes and razor-sharp tongue, despises the very air that nouveau riche Adam breathes! If Adam wants an agreeable wife he has his work cut out…
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“ Outrageous, interesting and tremendous fun.” FRESH FICTION
NARRATED BY: Jilly Bond · Romance · DURATION: 8.25 · ISBN 9781471273612
When the Hills Ask For Your Blood David Belton
A heartfelt exploration into the heart of a genocide that left a million people dead, from a journalist who experienced it first hand.
“ Belton excavates the truth… to produce a book that is both illuminating and profoundly moving.” INDEPENDENT
“ Brings the story right up to date, confronting the 6th April, 1994. In the skies above Rwanda the President’s plane is shot down in dilemmas and tensions flames. The mass slaughter that follows is one of the bloodiest chapters in history. that lie not far below Twenty years on, BBC Newsnight producer David Belton, one of the first journalists the surface… elegantly into Rwanda, tells of the horrors he experienced. He revisits a country still marked written.” with blood, in search of those who survived and the legacy of those who did not. OBSERVER
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NARRATED BY: Jonathan Slinger · Biography & Autobiography · DURATION: 9.5 · ISBN 9781471273605
Sold to the Enemy Sarah Morgan
Her one bright memory in a lifetime of shadows… Stefan Ziakas might be her father’s most hated business rival, but he’s the only man who has ever made Selene Antaxos feel beautiful. So, needing to make a new life for herself, Selene apprehensively turns to Stefan for help. Except the dark-hearted tycoon is nothing like the white knight she remembers! Selene realises it’s not always better the devil you know… she’s sold her soul – and her heart – to the enemy! Bestselling romance author Sarah Morgan was the recipient of a prestigious RITA award in 2012.
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NARRATED BY: Antonia Beamish · Romance · DURATION: 6.25 · ISBN 9781471273629
One User
Laline Paull
The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut. Born into the lowest class of society, Flora 717 is a sanitation bee. Yet Flora has talents that are not typical. And while mutant bees are usually destroyed, Flora is reassigned to feed the newborns, and then becomes a forager, before finally finding her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum. Enemies roam everywhere, from the fearsome fertility police to the high priestesses. But Flora’s instinct to serve is overshadowed by a desire…
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NARRATED BY: Orlagh Cassidy · Science Fiction · DURATION: 10.25 · ISBN 9780007584451
“ This is a rich, strange book, utterly convincing in its portrayal of the mind-set of a bee and a hive… This is what sets us humans apart from other animals, that our imagination can allow us to create a complete, believable world so different from our own.”
OCTOBER
The Bees
17
TRACY CHEVALIER
Geek Girl Holly Smale
The hilariously funny Geek Girl was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2013. Harriet Manners knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear and a “jiffy” lasts 1/100th of a second. But she doesn’t know why nobody at school likes her. So when Harriet is spotted by a top model agent, she grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Veering from one couture disaster to the next, Harriet’s old life starts to fall apart. Will she be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?
“ I would highly recommend Geek Girl to anyone who likes a good laugh and enjoys a one-of-a-kind story.” GUARDIAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS
“ A smart, sassy and very funny debut.” THE BOOKSELLER
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NARRATED BY: Katy Sobey · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 8 · ISBN 9780007577415
“ Abercrombie writes fantasy like no one else.”
A classic coming-of-age tale set in a vivid and richly-imagined world from Sunday Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie.
“ Joe Abercrombie is fast becoming my favourite writer. Half a King is a remarkable achievement – thrilling, enthralling, and relentless. The action is frenetic, the characters are as sharp as the blades they wield, and the humour is biting.”
Joe Abercrombie
Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty and the waters of the Shattered Sea. And he must do it all with only one good hand. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles. But even with loyal friends, Yarvi’s path may end in tragedy…
GUARDIAN
DEREK LANDY
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NARRATED BY: Ben Elliot · Fantasy & Supernatural · DURATION: 9.5 · ISBN 9780007581672
The Snow Queen
“ Engrossing, imaginative and humane.”
A luminous, compassionate novel from the author of the critically acclaimed The Hours.
“ Intricately conceived, stylishly written and admirably ambitious, this absorbing novel lingers in the mind.”
Michael Cunningham
Barrett Meeks is walking through Central Park when he looks up; in the sky he sees a pale light that regards him in a distinctly godlike way. In Brooklyn, Tyler Meeks is determined to write a song that will be an enduring expression of love. Barrett turns unexpectedly to religion, while Tyler grows convinced that drugs can release his creative powers. The Snow Queen follows the Meeks brothers as each takes a different path in search of transcendence.
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NARRATED BY: Claire Danes · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 6.75 · ISBN 9780007583492
OBSERVER ON THE HOURS
SUNDAY TIMES ON THE HOURS
NOVEMBER
Half a King
18
One User
NOVEMBER
The Nemesis Program Scott Mariani
The explosive, thrilling new Ben Hope adventure from bestselling author, Scott Mariani. American biologist Dr Roberta Ryder receives a strange letter from her friend Claudine and travels to Paris to see her, only to learn of her shocking death. Ben Hope, now trying to retire, finds his life turned upside down by Roberta’s arrival. In a frantic race to Paris to uncover the mystery of Claudine’s research, they uncover a global conspiracy that will claim the lives of millions of people… unless Ben can stop it.
“ Slick, serpentine and very, very entertaining… if you’ve got a pulse, you’ll love Scott Mariani; if you haven’t, then maybe you crossed Ben Hope.” SIMON TOYNE
“ Deadly conspiracies, bone-crunching action and a tormented hero with a heart… Scott Mariani packs a real punch.” ANDY MCDERMOTT
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NARRATED BY: William Rycroft · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 11.75 · ISBN 9780007559114
The Way Back Home Freya North
The new novel from bestselling author Freya North. Brought up in an artists’ commune in Derbyshire, Oriana Taylor had freedom at her fingertips in a home full of extraordinary people. The Bedwell brothers, Malachy and Jed, shared their childhood with Oriana in the rambling old house and tangled ground. Their dreams and desires, taking wing unchecked. But too much freedom comes at a price. Something happened the summer they were fifteen. And now, having been gone eighteen years, Oriana is back.
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“ The novel is peopled by rich and rare characters… a delicious creation.” DAILY EXPRESS ON RUMOURS
“ An addictive read that encompasses the stuff life is made of: love, sex, fidelity and, above all, friendship.” GLAMOUR ON RUMOURS
NARRATED BY: Melody Grove · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 11.75 · ISBN 9780007566396
The Marriage Game Alison Weir
Their affair is the scandal of Europe… Queen Elizabeth cannot resist her dashing but married Master of Horse, Lord Robert Dudley. Many believe them to be lovers. The formidable young Queen is regarded by most as a bastard and a heretic, yet many seek her hand in marriage. Desperately insecure, Elizabeth embarks on a perilous balancing act, using sex and high-powered diplomacy to play what becomes known as ‘the Marriage Game’.
“ Stunning… spinetingling… a richly layered cake of love, sex, danger, death and mystery.” SUNDAY EXPRESS ON A DANGEROUS INHERITANCE
A complex and deeply poignant tale of intrigue, and at its heart is the truth of one of history’s most extraordinary love affairs.
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NARRATED BY: Julia Franklin · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 16.5 · ISBN 9781471275111
Don’t Tell the Boss Anna Bell
The follow up to the bestselling Don’t Tell the Groom is another fun romantic comedy starring Penny, a wedding planner on a budget! When newlywed Penny begins some casual wedding planning, she only wants to help women afford the big day of their dreams. But taming bridezillas turns out to be a full-time occupation, and what began as a hobby becomes a nightmare. Soon Penny is struggling to keep her day job and prevent her own marriage from collapsing: tired, stressed and knee-deep in ivory satin, is Penny’s life and livelihood hanging by a thread?
“ Funny, surprising and touching, this feel-good read has bags of charm.” CLOSER
“ This is a real feel-good story with loads of laughs, twists, tears and miscommunications.” THE CHICKLIT CLUB
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NARRATED BY: Penelope Rawlins · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 8.75 · ISBN 9781471273902
One User
J.A. Kerley
Detective Carson Ryder faces a cunning and inventive adversary in this terrifying thriller. Young men in Miami are being abducted and tortured after their drinks are spiked. Detective Carson Ryder knows the predator’s name, height, age, colouring… everything. It’s impossible for the perpetrator to avoid detection. Yet he does. With each abduction, the violence becomes more horrific, and it’s only a short time until torture turns to murder. But how do you catch an invisible man?
“ Kerley will truly scare the pants off his readers. This one’s another winner from a writer moving towards the top of the thriller heap.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“ A fascinating and frightening take on the genre.”
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NARRATED BY: John Moraitis · Crime · DURATION: 10.5 · ISBN 9780007543823
Death Can’t Take a Joke Anya Lipska
The second Kiszka and Kershaw crime thriller, from the author of Where the Devil Can’t Go. When one of his closest friends is brutally stabbed to death, Janusz Kiszka must dig deep into London’s criminal underbelly to deliver justice. Meanwhile, his old nemesis, police detective Natalie Kershaw is struggling with an apparent suicide that makes no sense. Sparks fly as Kiszka and Kershaw’s paths cross again, but they must call a truce when their separate investigations call for a journey to Poland’s wintry eastern borders…
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
“ Gripping.” VAL M C DERMID
“ Pacy and enthralling, with Janusz already one of the best protagonists in the business.” MALCOLM MCKAY, AUTHOR OF THE NECESSARY DEATH OF LEWIS WINTER
“ Crime fiction at its best – great characters, great plot, great read.” JAMES CRAIG
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NARRATED BY: Michael Fenner · Crime · DURATION: 8.5 · ISBN 9780007565481
Insurgent
Veronica Roth Fighting for survival in a shattered world… the truth is her only hope. Tris has survived a brutal attack on her former home and family. But she has paid a terrible price. Wracked by grief and guilt, she becomes ever more reckless as she struggles to accept her new future. Yet if Tris wants to uncover the truth about her world, she must be stronger than ever… because more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead. The sequel to Divergent, now a major film.
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“ [A] captivating, fascinating book that kept me in constant suspense and was never short on surprises. It will be a long time before I quit thinking about this haunting vision of the future.” JAMES DASHNER ON DIVERGENT
“ Divergent holds its own in the [dystopian] genre, with brisk pacing, lavish flights of imagination and writing that occasionally startles with fine detail.” NEW YORK TIMES
NARRATED BY: Emma Galvin · Fantasy & Supernatural · DURATION: 11.25 · ISBN 9780007579242
Animals
Emma Jane Unsworth “I wish I had written this book… Withnail with girls.” caitlin moran Laura and Tyler are best friends who live together, angrily philosophising and leading each other astray in the pubs and flats of Manchester. But things are set to change. Laura is engaged to teetotal Jim, the wedding is just months away, and Tyler becomes hell-bent on sabotaging her friend’s plans for a different life. Animals is a hilarious, moving and refreshingly honest tale of how a friendship can become the ultimate love story.
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NARRATED BY: Chloe Massey · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 7 · ISBN 9781471273896
“ A gloriously over-thetop account of female friendship.” GUARDIAN
NOVEMBER
The Memory Killer
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One User
NOVEMBER
Bubble
Anders de la Motte Will the conspiracy collapse or conclude with a deadly end-game? Bubble is the concluding part of the Game trilogy. Until now the truth behind The Game has been carefully hidden in a bubble of disinformation and distraction. But all bubbles burst eventually, and as HP and Rebecca battle to uncover the connection between The Game and their father’s shocking past, it looks like it’ll soon be Game Over in the conclusion to the Scandinavian series taking the world by storm. Anders de la Motte’s debut novel, Game, received the First Book Award from the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy and has sold over 100,000 copies in Sweden alone.
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NARRATED BY: Saul Reichlin · Thriller · DURATION: 12.75 · ISBN 9780007556359
The Kills: Sutler Richard House
The first book in the epic The Kills, nominated for the Man Booker Prize 2013. “Listen. There’s a problem and it can’t be solved. You need to disappear.” This is Stephen Lawrence Sutler’s last morning at Camp Liberty, Iraq. In two hours a massive explosion will conceal the theft of $53,000,000. Sutler, shaken by the blast and forced to go the run, is unaware that any money is missing or that he has been set up. His problems are just beginning. The Kills is an epic novel of crime and conspiracy told in four books. It begins with a man on the run and ends with a burned body.
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NARRATED BY: Robert Slade · Thriller · DURATION: 10.25 · ISBN 9781471273919
Bad Blood Mark Sennen
Bad Blood is a twisting blend of thriller and police procedural from bestselling author Mark Sennen. When the body of a six-year-old girl is found buried beneath a patio, nobody is surprised when a local paedophile is murdered shortly afterwards. But when a member of DI Charlotte Savage’s team is abducted and several men are executed in cold blood it becomes apparent that there’s a psychopath on the loose… but what if this man has a message for Charlotte herself? One she won’t forget in a hurry.
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ALEX KAVA
“ A fast-paced serial-killer chiller.” ALEX MARWOOD
NARRATED BY: Stevie Lacey · Crime · DURATION: 13.5 · ISBN 9780007575206
Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer
If J. J. Abrams and Margaret Atwood collaborated on a novel, it might look something like Annihilation, the first in an extraordinary trilogy. For thirty years, Area X has remained behind its border – an environmental disaster zone. Eleven expeditions have been sent in to investigate; all with terrible consequences. Annihilation is the story of the twelfth expedition. Their mission: to take samples and expand their understanding of Area X. But an inexplicable moaning calls in the distance, and an unmapped tunnel is not what it appears. The power of Area X is difficult to resist.
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“ A nail-biting thriller that will keep your pulse racing all the way to the explosive climax.”
NARRATED BY: Carolyn McCormick · Science Fiction · DURATION: 6 · ISBN 9780007584161
“ Immersive, insightful and often deeply bloody creepy, this is a startlingly good novel. If the sequels live up to it, then the Southern Reach series will be a major work.” SFX MAGAZINE
“ A tautly told, selfcontained story, informed and illuminated by the flawed and very human voice of its narrator.” ARC
One User
Will Wiles
The Way Inn takes the polished surfaces of modern life and twists them into a nightmare… ‘The Way Inn’ is a global chain of budget hotels, and Neil Double is a valued member of its loyalty scheme. His life of budget travel would be hell for most, but for Neil it’s a kind of paradise. But then Neil meets a woman he has seen before in unsettling circumstances. As he tries to find the woman again, he is drawn into the appalling secret that lurks behind the fake smiles of the hotel…
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“ This is a terrific first novel, written with a very engaging deadpan wit, and an understated sense of the absurd.” THE TIMES ON CARE OF WOODEN FLOORS
“ [S]trangely compelling… addictive and rather clever, too.” DAILY MAIL ON CARE OF WOODEN FLOORS
NARRATED BY: William Rycroft · Mystery · DURATION: 10 · ISBN 9780007581511
The Ruby Slippers Keir Alexander
The Ruby Slippers is a rare and moving story about the search for meaning, and the meaning of value. Old Rosa the bag lady shuffles along the streets, stinking, silent and shunned. Time and again her nephew, Michael Marcinkus, has tried to help – but Rosa remains unknowable. Then Rosa has a terrible accident. As she lies in a coma, Michael visits her squalid flat and unearths something remarkable from the junk: two glittering pieces of Hollywood history. How on earth has Rosa come to own such treasure? And what is to be done with them now? Bursting with atmosphere, an unforgettable cast of characters, and set against a New York skyline, The Ruby Slippers is a sweeping story of hidden treasures, forgotten histories and lost connections.
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NARRATED BY: Eric Meyers · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 12 · ISBN 9781471275135
Little Cowgirl on his Doorstep Donna Alward
A charming romance from award-winning author Donna Alward. For Avery the sight of rugged and dangerously sexy Callum is enough to set her pulse racing. Too bad she’s only on his ranch to tell him that her adorable baby niece, Nell, is his daughter! But when Callum wants them to stay with him, how can Avery resist the feeling that she has found the place she and Nell truly belong? Donna Alward has been writing romance novels since 2001, and in 2008 she won the Booksellers Best Traditional Romance Award for Hired by the Cowboy.
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NARRATED BY: Kate Turnbull · Romance · DURATION: 5.5 · ISBN 9781471273926
The Cruel Victory Paddy Ashdown
From the bestselling author and winner of the British Army Military History prize for 2013, comes the D-Day story of the Resistance uprising and massacre. As the Allied troops stormed the D-Day beaches, the Vercors rose up to fight in a planned rearguard action. It was to prove not only the largest Resistance action of the war but also the most brutal crushing of resistance forces in Western Europe. The tragedy drew the attention of the Allied war effort and placed the Vercors deep into the history of modern France which resonates still in the country’s daily life and politics.
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“ Paddy Ashdown has sifted the facts from the myths to write a fascinating and very personal account.” INDEPENDENT
“ Ashdown’s insights and his extensive research in an impressive range of archives will ensure that yet another work on the subject will not be required in the foreseeable future.” TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
NARRATED BY: Paddy Ashdown · General Non Fiction · DURATION: 15.75 · ISBN 9780007590346
NOVEMBER
The Way Inn
21
22
One User
NOVEMBER
The Sword Dancer Jeannie Lin
The thief who stole his heart… Sword dancer Li Feng is used to living life on the edge of the law. She will discover the truth about her past, even if that means outwitting the most feared thief-catcher of them all… relentless, handsome and determined, Han sees life, and love, as black and white. Until he finally captures the spirited, courageous Li Feng, who makes him question everything…
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“ Beautifully written, deliciously sensual. Exceptional.” LIBRARY JOURNAL
NARRATED BY: Sarah Lam · Romance · DURATION: 10.25 · ISBN 9781471273933
Falling Apart Jane Lovering
In the mean streets of York, the stakes just got higher – and even pointier. Jessica Grant liaises with Otherworlders for York Council so she knows that falling in love with a vampire takes a leap of faith. But her lover Sil wouldn’t run out on her, he wouldn’t let his demon get the better of him. Or would he? With her loyalties already questioned for defending zombies, the Otherworlders no one cares about, Jess must choose which side she’s on. Whatever she decides, there’s a high price to pay. From the award winning author of Please Don’t Stop The Music.
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NARRATED BY: Geraldine Sharrock · Romance · DURATION: 9 · ISBN 9781471275128
DECEMBER
One Big Damn Puzzler John Harding
Hitting the funny bone and touching the heart, the exuberantly original novel from John Harding. On a remote South Pacific island, the struggles of an elderly tribesman to translate Hamlet into local pidgin English are interrupted by the arrival of an unexpected visitor. William Hardt is an obsessive young American lawyer who has come to help. From that moment on, nothing will ever be the same – for what (and who) William finds on the island will challenge both his and our notions about love, life and even death.
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“ Wonderfully funny, original and moving. Harding has knifesharp observation, immaculate timing and the guts to take his story as far as it will go.” HELEN DUNMORE
“ Harding’s humour is close to hysteria… the novel is that rare thing – painfully funny.” DAILY MAIL
NARRATED BY: Peter Brooke · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 18.75 · ISBN 9781471275807
The City Dean Koontz
Bestselling author Dean Koontz is at the peak of his storytelling powers with this major new novel, a rich, multi-layered story that moves back and forth across decades and generations. There are millions of stories. Some magical, some tragic, others terror-filled or triumphant. Jonah Kirk’s story is all of these things as he introduces his indomitable ‘piano man’ grandfather; his single mother, a beautiful, struggling singer; and every day saints and sinners who will change the course of Jonah’s life. Welcome to The City, a place where enchantment and malice entwine, and the way forward lies buried deep inside the heart.
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NARRATED BY: Korey Jackson · Thriller · DURATION: 13.25 · ISBN 9781471275814
“ Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler.” THE TIMES
“ A terrific pursuit story… clever, up-to-the-minute, and riveting.” GUARDIAN
One User
Pierre Lemaitre There can only be one winner – whoever has the least to lose… For Commandant Verhoeven life is beautiful: he is happily married, expecting his first child with the lovely Irène. But his blissful existence is punctured by a murder of unprecedented savagery. When he discovers that the killer has killed before – and that each murder is a homage to a classic crime novel – the newspapers are quick to coin a nickname – The Novelist. A thrilling crime novel from CWA International Dagger winner, Pierre Lemaitre, author of Alex.
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“ It enthralls at every stage of its unpredictability.” THE TIMES ON ALEX
“ Relentlessly gripping, Lemaitre is worthy of all the fuss.” INDEPENDENT ON ALEX
NARRATED BY: Peter Noble · Crime · DURATION: 12.5 · ISBN 9781471275784
An Act of Kindness
“ A compelling new series.”
Lee Arnold and Mumtaz Hakim run a detective agency in London’s East End. But their latest case could have devastating consequences.
“ A new and original pair of detectives… it has the ring of truth.”
Barbara Nadel
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ON A PRIVATE BUSINESS
INDEPENDENT ON A young Asian couple move into a dilapidated house in Upton Park. The woman, A PRIVATE BUSINESS Nasreen, spends her time working alone on the house, whilst her husband Abdullah goes to work. When a homeless man disappears, Nasreen is reluctant to go to the police and reaches out to the Arnold Detective Agency. Mumtaz Hakim begins to dig into Abdullah’s past and into the house itself which, she finds, holds its own grim secrets.
This is the second Hakim and Arnold mystery from CWA Silver Dagger winner Barbara Nadel, following A Private Business.
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NARRATED BY: Paul Thornley · Crime · DURATION: 10 · ISBN 9781471275791
Avenged Jacqui Rose
You make a deal with the devil; you pay your dues… Franny Doyle has always known that her father Patrick has been up to no good. You don’t become London’s number one gangster without ruffling a few feathers. But when something terrible happens to Patrick, Franny realises that he has some very dangerous enemies. Patrick has taught her to be a fighter and she’s determined to make him proud, even if it means paying the ultimate price – her own life.
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KIMBERLEY CHAMBERS
NARRATED BY: Annie Aldington · Crime · DURATION: 9.75 · ISBN 9780007598038
Broken Monsters Lauren Beukes
A terrifying new thriller from Lauren Beukes, award-winning author of The Shining Girls. Detective Gabi Versado no longer believes in justice. She’s seen too much stupidity, corruption and just plain badness. But never anything like this. Detroit is the decaying corpse of the American Dream. Motor-city. Murder-city. Now a killer with the touch of an artist is turning it into the worst kind of nightmare…
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“ Gritty and gripping.”
NARRATED BY: Laurence Bouvard · Crime · DURATION: 13 · ISBN 9780007566358
“ An ingenious and imaginative thriller… compulsively readable” SUNDAY MIRROR ON THE SHINING GIRLS
“ Confidently written… this dark tale is told inventively and is full of surprises. Keep the lights on.” DAILY MAIL ON THE SHINING GIRLS
DECEMBER
Irène
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One User
DECEMBER
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop David Adam
In this captivating fusion of science and personal memoir, writer David Adam explores the weird thoughts that exist within every mind. David has suffered from OCD for twenty years, and The Man Who Couldn’t Stop is his honest attempt to understand the condition. At what point does a harmless idea become a blinding blizzard of unwanted thoughts? Drawing on the latest research on the brain, as well as historical accounts of patients and their treatments, this is a book that will challenge the way you think about what is normal, and what is mental illness.
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“ Superb… a brave and helpful contribution to deepening our understanding of the intricate complexities of mental ill-health.” THE TIMES
“ Combines a scientific account of OCD from ancient times to the most recent research with passages of tenderly written memoir.” TELEGRAPH
NARRATED BY: Daniel Philpott · Body, Mind & Spirit · DURATION: 8 · ISBN 9781471275838
The Dinosaur Feather Sissel-Jo Gazan
The Dinosaur Feather is the Danish Crime Novel of the Decade. Anna Bella Nor is just two weeks away from revealing her controversial research on the evolutionary origin of birds when her supervisor, Lars Helland, is found dead – his tongue and a copy of her thesis in his lap. As the police investigate the most brutal and calculated case they’ve ever known, Anna remains convinced someone is trying to frame her. She must fight to prove her innocence… and fight for her life.
“ A top-flight thriller – smart and outrageously entertaining.” FINANCIAL TIMES
“ Intelligently plotted and psychologically believable.” THE TIMES
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NARRATED BY: Kristin Milward · Thriller · DURATION: 17.25 · ISBN 9781471275821
What a Girl Wants Lindsey Kelk
A summer bestseller from the immensely popular Lindsey Kelk. Tess Brookes was the girl with a plan. Now she’s the girl with a choice. For the first time, Tess has to choose between the life she always dreamed of and a future she never imagined possible. With her heart and her head pulling her in different directions, Tess has to make a life-changing decision.
“ Outrageous, witty, exciting and romantic, we simply adored this sparkling read.” CLOSER
“ Kelk has a hilarious turn of phrase and a sparkling writing style.” DAILY EXPRESS
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NARRATED BY: Penelope Rawlins · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 12.25 · ISBN 9780007581801
The Road to Reckoning Robert Lautner
The remarkably poignant story of 12-year-old orphan Thomas Walker and his treacherous journey home through the wide open lands of America. Tom Walker cannot believe his luck when he joins his father on the road, selling Samuel Colt’s newly-invented revolver. On the road west the towns get smaller and the path more unforgiving. A devastating encounter cuts their journey short, and leaves Tom alone in the wilderness. Tom’s resolve to survive initiates an unlikely partnership that will be tested by the dangers of the road, where outlaws prowl.
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NARRATED BY: Holter Graham · Literature · DURATION: 6.5 · ISBN 9781471275845
“ It’s a thrilling, violent, dangerous piece of oldfashioned storytelling that is also humane and unshowily moving.” THE TIMES
“ A twisty, gripping first novel from British author Lautner… a robust debut that wears its meticulous research lightly.” KIRKUS REVIEWS
One User
DECEMBER
Low Expectations Elizabeth Aaron
Girls meets The Devil Wears Prada in Dalston. Stuck somewhere between a quarter-life crisis and self-fulfillment, Georgie is determined that this year, everything will be different. Her boss doesn’t know her name, her friends are useless, and she’s been celibate for eighteen months! So, armed with only her sense of humour and some black eyeliner, she’s determined to change her life. But just how long will the new improved Georgie last? Low Expectations is a smart, raunchy, laugh-out-loud novel about what it means to be a ‘Real Woman’ today.
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NARRATED BY: Penelope Rawlins · Humorous · DURATION: 9.75 · ISBN 9781471275876
Wild People Ewart Hutton
The third novel in the Glyn Capaldi series. DS Glyn Capaldi is in hospital recuperating from a car crash. His passenger, a woman whom he was bringing in for questioning, is dead. Was it truly an accident? What could a young woman have possibly done to warrant such retribution?
“ An entertaining debut with more stings in the tail than a bag of scorpions.” VAL MCDERMID ON GOOD PEOPLE
Glyn explores these questions, and, in doing so, unveils a conspiracy of arson, torture, blackmail, and a clutter of bodies that further muddy the already murky waters. Ewart Hutton’s first novel Good People, was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger in 2012.
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NARRATED BY: Iestyn Arwel · Crime · DURATION: 8.75 · ISBN 9780007558902
Red is for Rubies Linda Mitchelmore
What if you had been living a lie for most of your life? In the first flush of love, Jonty promised to buy Lydie a ruby necklace when his art career took off. But the ruby never materialised and Lydie is left heartbroken when the relationship ends. Nearly thirty years later, Lydie still thinks of Jonty, stuck in a marriage to a man she never loved. And then he comes back into the picture, changing her life beyond anything she could have imagined. Linda Mitchelmore is the author of To Turn Full Circle and Emma: There’s No Going Back.
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NARRATED BY: Karen Cass · Romance · DURATION: 9.25 · ISBN 9781471275883
Into a Raging Blaze Andreas Norman
This dizzying thriller anticipated the Edward Snowden revelations and rocked Sweden on publication. Carina Dymek is on fast track for promotion at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when she is approached by a stranger and given a USB stick. Unwittingly, she delivers a time bomb of classified information. Bente Jensen is tasked with investigating how Dymek gained access to the confidential report but he begins to suspect she is a red herring caught in a far wider net: one in which civil rights are sacrificed to national security.
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NARRATED BY: Maggie Mash · Thriller · DURATION: 18.5 · ISBN 9781471275869
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“ Rarely have I read such a well-written debut novel as this… well orchestrated dramaturg y, rich language, and extremely believable characters.” DAGENS NYHETER NEWSPAPER, SWEDEN
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One User
DECEMBER
The Swimmer Joakim Zander
The truth weighs nothing… Klara Walldeen, orphaned as a child and brought up by her grandparents, is now a political aide in Brussels. And she has just seen something she shouldn’t. On the other side of the world, an old spy hides. Once, he was a man so dedicated that he abandoned his daughter. Now the only thing he lives for is swimming. Then Klara is thrown into a terrifying chase through Europe. Only the Swimmer can save her. But time is running out…
“ Guilt and atonement and revenge… The Swimmer is an impressive, fast-paced thriller.” BORÅS TIDNING
“ Elegantly constructed… the language creeps up on you… a remarkable debut novel.” GÖTEBORGS-POSTEN
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NARRATED BY: Multiple Narrators · Thriller · DURATION: 11.25 · ISBN 9781471275890
John the Pupil David Flusfeder
The extraordinary new novel from David Flusfeder chronicles a pilgrimage to Rome made by three young men with a secret burden. John the Pupil is a medieval road movie, recounting the journey taken from Oxford to Viterbo in 1267 by John and his two companions, carrying a secret burden to His Holiness Clement IV. Fighting off ambushes from thieves hungry for the thing of power they are carrying, the holy trio are tried and tempted by all sorts of sins: ambition, pride, lust – and by the sheer hell and heaven of medieval life. Erudite and earthy, horrifying, comic, David Flusfeder’s extraordinary novel reveals to the reader a world very different and all too like the one we live in now.
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NARRATED BY: Lee Maxwell Simpson · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 6.5 · ISBN 9780007585014
Wish You Were Here Lynn Russell and Neil Hanson
Touching true stories from the heyday of the Butlin’s holiday camps. In 1936, Butlin’s holiday camps were bastions of community spirit. Here, mothers were freed from housework, children ran free through the grounds, fathers hung up their work clothes. And, as the sun went down on another happy day, a chorus line was ready to sing holidaymakers back to their beds. Rich in period detail and highly evocative, Wish You Were Here! follows the highs and lows of the holiday season. Funny, moving and heartwarming, they are tales of swimming pools and sing-a-longs, and of a community spirit that burned brightly in a much-loved British institution.
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NARRATED BY: Maggie Mash · General Non Fiction · DURATION: 9.75 · ISBN 9780007581627
A Burnable Book Bruce Holsinger
A stunning debut historical thriller set in the turbulent 14th century. “ Holsinger carries the London, 1385. A kingdom ruled by the headstrong young King Richard II, haunted by the spectre of revolt. For John Gower, part-time poet and full-time trader in information, secrets are his currency. The request is simple: track down a missing book. It should be easy for a man of Gower’s talents. But what Gower does not know is that this book has already caused one murder, and that its contents could destroy his life.
reader to Oxford, Italy and Spain, but the highlight is his description of medieval London with its murky, poverty-stricken streets… enjoyable and intelligent.” DAILY MAIL
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NARRATED BY: Tim Bruce · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 14.25 · ISBN 9780007575107
One User
Peter Liney
“I never thought it would come to this, never in my worst nightmares. No matter how bad things got, how much the government warned us, I still thought we’d be okay.” When the fog comes and the drums start, the inhabitants of the island tremble: for the satellites are blind in the darkness, and the islanders become prey. The inhabitants are the old, the sick, the poor: dumped on the island with the rest of Society’s waste. The island is the end of all hope, until Clancy finds a blind woman living in a secret underground warren, and discovers a reason to fight.
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“ An impressively dark, dystopian piece with much to say about capitalism’s tendency to treat human beings as commodities, disposable when no longer useful.” FINANCIAL TIMES
NARRATED BY: Jeff Harding · Fantasy & Supernatural · DURATION: 11 · ISBN 9781471275906
To Sin With a Viking Michelle Willingham
Caragh O’Brannon defended herself bravely when the enemy landed – only now she finds herself alone with one angry Viking… Styr Hardrata sailed to Ireland intending to trade, never expecting to find himself held captive in chains by a beautiful Irish maiden. The fiercely handsome warrior both terrifies and allures Caragh, but he is forbidden. He is the enemy, and he is married. Yet Styr harbours a secret that might just set them both free…
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“ Willingham employs entertaining plot twists in this thought-provoking tale of love.” ROMANTIC TIMES MAGAZINE
NARRATED BY: Deirdre O’Connell · Romance · DURATION: 8.25 · ISBN 9781471275913
Exclusive to
Digital Standing Order Plans A DIGITAL WORLD OF FUN SPOKEN WORD STORIES BY BESTSELLING AUTHORS, JUST FOR CHILDREN.
DECEMBER
The Detainee
27
28
Lamplight Representing traditional genres such as sagas and mysteries and long established authors such as Maureen Lee, Josephine Cox and Patricia Cornwell.
OCTOBER
My Husband Next Door Catherine Alliott
Step into Alliott country with the fabulously funny and wonderfully heart-warming My Husband Next Door. Separated in every way but distance, Sebastian resides in an outhouse across the lawn from his ex-wife Ella’s ramshackle farmhouse. With a home crowded by hostile teenaged children and gender-confused chickens, Ella finds comfort in the company of the very charming gardener, Ludo. Then Sebastian decides to move on, catching Ella horribly unawares. How much longer can she hide from what really destroyed her marriage… and the secret she continues to keep?
“ I raced through it, completely gripped from start to finish.” DAILY MAIL
“ An entertaining read that’s as light as the summer breeze.” DAILY EXPRESS
“ A captivating and heartwarming tale.” CLOSER
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NARRATED BY: Alison Reid · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 15 · ISBN 9781471269516
Miss Appleby’s Academy Elizabeth Gill
“An enthralling and satisfying novel that will leave you wanting more.” catHerine KinG
Emma Appleby’s arrival in the County Durham village of Tow Law provokes deep suspicion in the locals who want nothing to do with her – except for pub landlord Mick Castle. When Emma opens an academy and sets herself up in competition with the local school, she provokes a savage response from the community. But she will not be deterred – even when her past is revealed and Mick is forced to choose between family and love.
“ Elizabeth Gill writes with a masterful grasp of conflicts and passions hidden among men and women of the wild North Country.” LEAH FLEMING
“ Original and evocative – a born storyteller.” TRISHA ASHLEY
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NARRATED BY: Julia Barrie · Saga · DURATION: 11.25 · ISBN 9781471269493
Lamplight
Jonathan Holt
The Abduction has begun… The teenage daughter of a US soldier disappeared in Venice last night. Now clues are appearing on anonymous website Carnivia.com – and the police are always one step behind. Kat Tapo of the Venice Carabinieri and US intelligence analyst Holly Boland are working together to find the girl, but the race to save her will uncover a conspiracy that powerful men will kill to keep hidden. Jonathan Holt’s first novel The Abomination, was an international bestseller and was translated into fourteen languages.
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“ Impressive… the characters are strong and Venice is a magnificent backdrop for a story of secrets and lies.” DAILY MAIL ON THE ABOMINATION
“ Breathtaking” NEW YORK TIMES ON THE ABOMINATION
NARRATED BY: Michael Fenner · Crime · DURATION: 12 · ISBN 9781471269509
Return to Mandalay Rosanna Ley
Another sweeping history from the bestselling author of The Villa and Bay of Secrets. Eva Gatsby has often wondered about her grandfather Lawrence’s past, and what happened to him in Burma during the Second World War. When Eva’s job requires a trip to Mandalay, Lawrence finally breaks his silence and asks her to return a mysterious artefact – a chinthe – to its rightful owner. But when Eva arrives, her mission proves dangerously complicated and the treasure she is guarding becomes the centre of a scandal.
“ A gorgeous mouth-watering dream of a holiday read!” RED ONLINE ON THE VILLA
“ Romantic, escapist and mouthwatering, it has everything you could wish for in a summer read. Delicious.” VERONICA HENRY ON THE VILLA
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NARRATED BY: Multiple Narrators · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 15.5 · ISBN 9781471269486
The Heroes’ Welcome Louisa Young
The Heroes’ Welcome is the incandescent sequel to the bestselling My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You, evoking a time deeply wounded by the pain of World War One. 1919, and Britain is realising that it is no longer at war. Now, Nadine and Riley, Rose, and Peter and Julia, must try to regain a sense of normality. But shadows cast by the war dim the potential joys of peacetime, and matters of the heart prove arduous and bewildering. Normality doesn’t exist the way it did, and there is no ‘going back’ to anything. What must give, for happiness to stand a chance?
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“ This novel is a triumph.” ELIZABETH JANE HOWARD
“ Every once in a while comes a novel that generates its own success, simply by being loved.” THE TIMES
NARRATED BY: Dan Stevens · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 8.5 · ISBN 9780007568512
Angel of Death Ben Cheetham
Would you break the law to see justice done? In Sheffield, a bankrupt businessman has murdered his family. It seems like an open-and-shut case: a desperate man resorting to desperate measures. In Middlesbrough, a woman named Angel is heading south. She is a woman alone. A prostitute. Now a murderer. And she has only one thing on her mind: revenge. Two crimes, a hundred miles apart, but a terrible secret connects them.
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NARRATED BY: Nigel Carrington · Crime · DURATION: 10.25 · ISBN 9781471269547
“ Fast-moving action and lots of twists make this debut novel a most enjoyable read.” THE TIMES ON BLOOD GUILT
OCTOBER
The Abduction
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OCTOBER
All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr
The epic new novel, set during World War 2, from Sunday Times Short Story Prize-winner Anthony Doerr. Marie-Laure has been blind since the age of six. Her father builds a miniature version of their neighbourhood so she can memorise it. But when the Nazis invade, they flee with a dangerous secret. Werner is a German orphan destined to labour in the mines, until he discovers a knack for engineering. As Europe is engulfed by war and lives collide unpredictably, All the Light We Cannot See is a captivating elegy for innocence.
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“ A tender exploration of this world’s paradoxes; the beauty of the laws of nature and the terrible ends to which war subverts them.” M.L. STEDMAN, AUTHOR OF THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS
“ Doerr has set a new standard for what a story can do.” DAVE EGGERS
NARRATED BY: Julie Teal · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 17 · ISBN 9780007590438
The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay Andrea Gillies
Perhaps romantic love is always a kind of undiagnosed madness… Nina Findlay, always the heroine of her own life, has found an irresistible safety in being adored by two men. But when her sister-in-law becomes gravely ill, the triangle Nina has depended on becomes unstable. The life she’s known begins to unravel, and odd things begin to happen which those around her insist are all in her mind. Can Nina be sure of the truth?
“ Gillies writes magnificently on everything she touches.” SUNDAY TIMES
“ We have a major new talent in our midst.” DAILY EXPRESS
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NARRATED BY: Lucy Paterson · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 14.75 · ISBN 9781471269530
The Winter of Our Discontent John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck’s last great novel focuses on the theme of success and what motivates men towards it. Ethan Hawley has lost the spirit of his wealthy forebears, a long line of proud New England sea captains and Pilgrims. Scarred by failure, Ethan works as a grocery clerk in a store his family once owned. But his wife is restless and his teenage children hungry for the material comforts he cannot provide. Then a series of unusual events reignites Ethan’s ambition, and he is pitched on to a bold course, where all scruples are put aside.
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“ Returns to the high standards of The Grapes of Wrath and to the social themes that made his early work… so powerful.” SAUL BELLOW
NARRATED BY: Jeff Harding · Classics · DURATION: 10.25 · ISBN 9781471269523
The Inheritance Simon Tolkien
A gripping Oxford-based thriller from Simon Tolkien. When an eminent historian is found dead, all the evidence points to his son, Stephen. With five other people in the house at the time, the police soon reveal that Stephen’s father was involved in a hunt for a priceless relic during World War II. As Stephen’s trial unfolds, Inspector Trave decides he must find out what really happened in 1944. What artefact could be so valuable it would be worth killing for?
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NARRATED BY: Leighton Pugh · Thriller · DURATION: 13 · ISBN 9780007584796
“ A fine novel. A thinking person’s Da Vinci Code.” CHICAGO TRIBUNE
“ A very British thriller… a page turner.” DAILY MAIL ON FINAL WITNESS
Lamplight
Helen Dunmore Set during and just after the First World War, The Lie is an enthralling, heart-wrenching novel of love, memory and devastating loss.
“ An electrifying and original talent.”
Cornwall, 1920. A young man stands on a headland, looking out to sea. He is back from the war, homeless and without family. Behind him lies the terror of the trenches. Behind him is also the most intense relationship of his life. Daniel has survived, but will he ever be able to escape the terrible, unforeseen consequences of a lie?
“ Never striking a false note, The Lie is one of those rare and arresting novels that make you think and feel with greater lucidity.”
GUARDIAN
DAILY TELEGRAPH
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NARRATED BY: Darren Benedict · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 7 · ISBN 9781471273353
The Darkest Hour Barbara Erskine
From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes an epic tale of love, passion and heartbreak. Summer 1940, most eyes are on the skies. But young Evie Lucas spends hours sketching endless portraits of a dashing young pilot called Tony. His parents want something to remember him by if it all goes wrong… Seventy years later, art historian Lucy is uncovering the mystery surrounding a painting. But as she stirs up a hornet’s nest of history, Lucy finds herself in danger from people who have no intention of letting the truth surface.
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“ Her forte is mood, atmosphere and the toecurling frisson.” SUNDAY TIMES
“ Barbara Erskine’s storytelling talent is undeniable.” THE TIMES
NARRATED BY: Sandra Duncan · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 20.5 · ISBN 9780007566709
The Curse of the House of Foskett M. R. C. Kasasian
Sidney Grice and March Middleton investigate the murky world of Victorian Death Societies, the second book in the darkly comic Gower Street Detective series. 125 Gower Street, 1882: Sidney Grice was once London’s premier personal detective. But since his last case led an innocent man to the gallows, business has been light. Listless and depressed, Grice has not even gathered the strength to re-insert his glass eye. Then an eccentric member of a Final Death Society has the temerity to die on his study floor. Finally Sidney and March have an investigation, one that will draw them to an eerie house in Kew, and the mysterious Baroness Foskett…
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“ One of the most delightful and original novels of the year.” DAILY MAIL
“ Funny, fresh and sharply plotted… starring a detective duo to rival Holmes and Watson.” GOODREADS
NARRATED BY: Emma Gregory · Crime · DURATION: 12.5 · ISBN 9781471273384
Will You Remember Me? Amanda Prowse
A heart-wrenching new novel from bestselling author Amanda Prowse. “ Captivating, heartPoppy Day is an ordinary woman. She’s a 32 year old stay-at-home mum with two gorgeous children, while her husband Mart tours with the army. Her simplest pleasure is having her family together in a happy home. But Poppy is too busy to notice the fatigue in her body and the menacing lump growing on her breast. If there’s anyone strong enough to defeat cancer it’s Poppy. But does life really work like that?
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NARRATED BY: Melody Grove · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 11.5 · ISBN 9781471273360
breaking and superbly written.” CLOSER ON WHAT HAVE I DONE?
NOVEMBER
The Lie
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32
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NOVEMBER
The Care and Management of Lies Jacqueline Winspear
The Care and Management of Lies is a lyrical drama of love struggling to survive in a damaged, fractured world. July 1914: the ties between Kezia Marchant and Thea Brissenden, friends since girlhood, have become strained – by Thea’s passionate embrace of women’s suffrage, and by the imminent marriage of Kezia to Thea’s brother, Tom, who runs the family farm. When Tom enlists to fight for his country and Thea is drawn reluctantly onto the battlefield, the farm becomes Kezia’s responsibility. They must all find a way to endure the ensuing cataclysm and turmoil. Jacqueline Winspear is the award winning author of the much-loved Maisie Dobbs series which have been bestsellers in both the UK and USA.
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NARRATED BY: Josie Dunn · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 9.25 · ISBN 9781471273377
The Garden of Burning Sand Corban Addison
The Garden Of Burning Sand addresses international human rights issues within the framework of deeply researched and compelling human stories. On a dark night in Lusaka, Zambia, a young girl is brutally assaulted and left for dead. Her identity is a mystery. Zoe Fleming, a human rights lawyer, is determined to find the perpetrator. Also investigating is Joseph Kabuta of the Zambian police. At first they are reluctant to work together, their cultures and upbringings radically different. Their task is not only to help the girl recover, but also to ensure justice doesn’t fail her again.
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“ A compelling novel with a conscience and a heart, gripping in its drama and unique in its insights into a hidden and dangerous world.” RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON
NARRATED BY: Robin Miles · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 13.5 · ISBN 9781471273407
Where I Found You Amanda Brooke
A touching and emotional novel from the author of Richard and Judy Book Club pick Yesterday’s Sun. Maggie Carter is blind; but newly married and expecting her first baby, she isn’t sure if she will cope. Elsie is also expecting her first child, and is terrified that her baby will be taken away. But when Maggie meets Elsie, all is not as it seems. Elsie lost her baby sixty years ago, and now, suffering from Alzheimer’s, she keeps re-living the trauma. Determined, Maggie sets out to bring peace to Elsie’s memories.
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“ Haunting and heartbreaking.” FERN BRITTON
“ Magical and unputdownable.” KATIE FFORDE
NARRATED BY: Juanita McMahon · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 13.5 · ISBN 9780007590384
Horse Under Water Len Deighton
The dead hand of a long-defeated Nazi Third Reich reaches out to Portugal, London and Marrakech in Deighton’s classic second novel. The detail is frightening but unfaultable; the story as up to date as ever it was. The un-named hero of The Ipcress File the same: insolent, fallible, capricious – in other words, human. But he must draw on all his abilities, good and bad, when plunged into a story of murder, betrayal and greed every bit as murky as the waters off the coast of Portugal, where the answers lie buried.
“ A master of fictional espionage.” DAILY MAIL
“ Deighton is so far in the front of other writers in the field that they are not even in sight.” SUNDAY TIMES
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NARRATED BY: James Lailey · Crime · DURATION: 8.75 · ISBN 9780007566020
Lamplight
Graham Masterton “One of the most original and frightening storytellers of our time.” peter james
In a grimy flat in the city of Cork, a man lies dead. His face is unrecognisable: seven gunshots have shattered cartilage and bone. Yet DS Katie Maguire, of the Irish Garda, knows exactly who he is. Amir Xaaji Maxamed, an evil man who trafficked young girls to be sold for sex. When a second pimp is killed, Katie must decide. Are these vigilante murders justified? And can she stop them spiralling out of control? This is Graham Masterton’s third novel featuring Irish detective Katie Maguire.
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“ A natural storyteller with a unique gift for turning the mundane into the terrifyingly real.”
NOVEMBER
Red Light
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NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS
“ One of the few true masters.” JAMES HERBERT
NARRATED BY: Caroline Lennon · Crime · DURATION: 13.25 · ISBN 9781471273391
Otherwise Engaged Amanda Quick
In Amanda Quick’s Ladies of Lantern Street series the lives of the Victorian gentry are filled with secrets – and secret powers… One does not expect to be kidnapped on a London street in broad daylight. Amity Doncaster barely escapes. Her quick thinking, and her secret weapon, save her. But the monster known as the Bridegroom, who has left a trail of female victims in his wake, has survived the wounds she inflicts and will soon be back. As Amity prepares to confront the criminal, she must also face feelings she can’t run away from…
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“ Tautly written, with enough twists to keep readers on their toes, Quick’s novel features a double love story, a bit of gothic flair and a passionate scientist hero to spice up the plot.” RT BOOK REVEIWS
NARRATED BY: Louisa Jane Underwood · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 10.75 · ISBN 9781471273414
Anne Bennett
A heartbreaking tale of love and loss in a time of war. Linda Prosser is just twelve years old when she becomes buried beneath a mass of debris. It is Jenny O’Leary, an ARP warden, who crawls through the wreckage of the house to rescue her. So begins their friendship. But when Linda falls in love with a man that Jenny despises, she is faced with sacrificing her future happiness for the friend who gave her everything…
“ [Anne Bennett is] blessed with a vivid imagination and a natural aptitude for writing.” DAILY POST
“ An affecting story, populated with rich, beautifully drawn characters.” CHOICE
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NARRATED BY: Avita Jay · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 15.25 · ISBN 9780007596911
Maeve’s Times Maeve Binchy
A collection of timeless writing reminds us of why the leading Irish writer was so universally loved. Maeve Binchy is well-known for her bestselling novels but for many years Maeve was a journalist, writing for the Irish Times. Arranged in decades, from the 1960s to the 2000s, and including Maeve’s first and last ever piece of writing for the Irish Times, the columns also give a fascinating insight into the author herself.
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NARRATED BY: Kate Binchy · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 11.75 · ISBN 9781471275661
“ Maeve’s Times is funny and clever and kind, which are excellent qualities in both books and people.” IRISH TIMES
DECEMBER
A Strong Hand to Hold
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DECEMBER
Enemies at Home Lindsey Davis
From renowned author Lindsey Davis comes the second novel in her all-new series set in Ancient Rome. Albia is a remarkable woman in a man’s world: young, widowed and fiercely independent, she lives alone on the Aventine Hill in Rome and makes a living as an investigator. A mysterious death at a local villa may be murder and, as the household slaves are implicated, Albia is forced to involve herself. Her fight is not just for justice; she’s also battling for the lives of people who can’t fight for themselves. In 2011 Lindsey Davis was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement.
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NARRATED BY: Lucy Brown · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 10.75 · ISBN 9781471275685
Bring Me Home Alan Titchmarsh
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Alan Titchmarsh’s new novel takes us to the Scottish Highlands for a bewitching tale of betrayal, mystery and romance.
“ A perfect love story.”
Standing at the door, Charlie Stuart welcomes his guests. Conversation and the clinking of glasses soon fill the air as friends and neighbours come together to toast the laird’s happiness. But Charlie sees the truth behind the façade: the sacrifices made to safeguard the estate. And in a few hours the perfect afternoon will come to an end. The past is about to catch up with him, and it could tear his family apart…
“ The story brims with intrigue.”
KATIE FFORDE
DAILY EXPRESS
NARRATED BY: Alan Titchmarsh · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 8.75 · ISBN 9781471275678
For Better For Worse Pam Weaver
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When Henry Royal is found guilty of bigamy, the seaside town of Worthing is rocked by scandal. But what will become of his wives?
“ A heartrending story.”
July 1948. As Britain recovers from WWII, Annie Royal is looking forward to a future with her husband. But a knock at the door brings Annie’s world crashing down. On her doorstep stands Sarah. She is also Henry’s wife. Struggling, Annie is forced to accept the truth when Henry is arrested. Alone, with no one to support her, Annie must look to the most unlikely of places to find support in her darkest hour…
“ What a terrific read – Saga fans everywhere will love it and be asking for more from this talented new author.”
KITTY NEALE
ANNIE GROVES
NARRATED BY: Jenny Funnell · Saga · DURATION: 12.5 · ISBN 9780007596959
Turning the Stones Debra Daley
A compelling, puzzling and absorbing tale. Young Em Smith is brought up by the Waterland family, where she serves as a companion to their daughter, Eliza. But when she finds herself implicated in a horrific crime, she flees for her life. Her frantic escape takes her onto the high seas, where she is at the mercy of the enigmatic smuggler, Captain McDonagh. But there is a more potent force drawing Emily on. There she will confront the astonishing secret of her origins.
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NARRATED BY: Noreen Leighton · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 13.75 · ISBN 9781471275692
Lamplight
Rosie Garland Rosie Garland’s extraordinary new novel is a story of superstition and devotion in the time of the Black Death. Devon, 1349. In Brauntone, Father Thomas arrives as the new priest, determined to impress his congregation. For Anne, Thomas’s arrival is a great opportunity, and she becomes his housekeeper, but his home is without love or kindness. So when a strange, mute Maid is taken in, Anne is grateful for the company. But soon the plague strikes Brauntone. And as the villagers’ fear turns to anger, Thomas must sacrifice everything to restore their faith in him.
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“ Garland’s lush prose is always a pleasure.” GUARDIAN
“ An alternately brutal and beautiful story about love and belonging.” METRO ON THE PALACE OF CURIOSITIES
NARRATED BY: Multiple Narrators · Historical Fiction · DURATION: 13.25 · ISBN 9780007590179
A Dog’s Life Michael Holroyd
What will happen to them all if the dog dies? Without euphoria, without a touch of sentimentality, with truth and humour and submerged pity, Michael Holroyd reveals twenty-four hours in the life of the Farquhar family revolving, three generations strong, around a dying dog. It is a day like any other, a dog’s life, gathering momentum and working to a climax in which irony and realism are so completely fused that laughter and sadness mingle.
“ A brilliant writer blessed with perfect pitch.” MAIL ON SUNDAY
“ [A]n absolute tour de force of brilliant writing.” DAILY TELEGRAPH ON MOSAIC
Michael Holroyd is an award-winning biographer, and A Dog’s Life is a fictionalised biography of his own family.
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NARRATED BY: Jonathan Keeble · Biography & Autobiography · DURATION: 5.75 · ISBN 9781471275715
The Norfolk Mystery Ian Sansom
The Norfolk Mystery is a must-read for fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. The first in The County Guide series, in which every county is a crime scene! England, 1937. Stephen Sefton’s association with Professor Swanton Morley begins when he answers a mysterious advertisement for a job where ‘intelligence is essential’. Professor Morley’s latest project is a history of traditional England, with a guide to every county. They start in Norfolk, but when the vicar of Blakeney is found hanging from his church’s bellrope, Morley and Sefton find themselves drawn into a rather more fiendish plot…
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“ I laughed more times than I can remember over a novel for years.” OBSERVER
“ Cripplingly funny.” INDEPENDENT ON THE BAD BOOK AFFAIR
NARRATED BY: Mike Grady · Mystery · DURATION: 8.25 · ISBN 9780007533701
The Heather Blazing Colm Tóibín
“If Colm Tóibín were a singer you would say he had perfect pitch.” spectator
Eamon Redmond is a judge in Ireland’s high court, a man remote from his wife, his son and daughter. The life he has built for himself, between his work in Dublin and his family’s retreat by the sea at Cush, is distinguished by order and by achievement. When, like his beloved coastline, it begins to slip away, he is pulled sharply into the present, and finds himself revisiting his past.
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“ Proceeds with stately grace from past to present, incident to incident, slowly forming, as it moves, the full shape of a man’s public and private life.” WASHINGTON POST
NARRATED BY: Tim Gerard Reynolds · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 8.25 · ISBN 9781471275708
DECEMBER
Vixen
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Nudged A world of fun spoken word stories for children aged 2 to 12, including authors such as Dr. Suess, Huw Powell, Jean Ure and Lauren Child. OCTOBER
Hello Kitty: The TV Star and the Big Race Linda Chapman and Michelle Misra
Come join Hello Kitty and her friends in a series all about fun and friendship! Fifi is going to be on TV! But she’s worried about messing it up, and isn’t sure if she wants to go on. Can Hello Kitty help Fifi in time to make her a TV Star? Hello Kitty’s school is holding a sports day, and there’s going to be a big race! Fifi and Dear Daniel are both running, and Hello Kitty will be cheering them on. But can she keep cheering when disaster strikes? The authors of the Hello Kitty Fiction series, Linda Chapman and Michelle Misra have worked in and written children’s books for many years, including My Secret Unicorn and Rainbow Magic.
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NARRATED BY: Jane Collingwood · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 1.25 · ISBN 9780007565689
Hero
Sarah Lean A story about a little dog with the heart of a lion, from the bestselling author of A Dog Called Homeless.
“ [T]ouching, reflective and lyrical.”
Leo dreams about being a hero. In his imagination he is a fearsome gladiator, but he wants to be a hero in real life. When the boys at school dare Leo to do something he knows is wrong, he lets everybody down. How can he make things right again? A little dog called Jack Pepper is missing and it will take a true hero to find him and bring him home…
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NARRATED BY: Huw Parmenter · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 3.5 · ISBN 9780007577514
SUNDAY TIMES
Nudged
Cas Lester
“Hugely original and wildly funny, a true page turner that will delight any child” jacQueline Wilson When Harvey Drew unwittingly responds to an alien signal, he is transported to the Toxic Spew by the ship’s computer, who promptly loses his return address. Even though none of the crew have ever met an Earthling, Harvey becomes Captain of the stroppy, pizza-obsessed crew, and has to save them from poisonous pink maggots, exploding space-rubbish and a multiple spaceship pile-up. Luckily, Harvey is just the boy to save the day! Cas Lester spent many years working in children’s television drama with CBBC. She developed and executive produced lots of programmes including Jackanory, Muddle Earth, Big Kids and The Story of Tracy Beaker.
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NARRATED BY: Julia Barrie · Action & Adventure · DURATION:3 · ISBN 9781471269462
Monster and Chips: Food Fright David O’Connell
Meet the amazing monster customers and try the disgusting food at Fuzzby’s diner – the third in this hilarious series from author, David O’Connell.
“ Lots of wacky monsters [and] slapstick humour.” THE BOOKSELLER
Roll up, roll up...it’s chips for everyone at the Monster Fair! Joe works in a monster diner flipping squashed-frog burgers and serving the best soggy boggy sausage to the monster customers. Now he and his monster friends are off to cook at the monster fair. But has Joe got the stomach for the Big Squeal, and the Splodgem Dodgems? Monsters and revolting recipes - all the right ingredients for a giggle-packed adventure.
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NARRATED BY: Oliver J. Hembrough · Humorous · DURATION: 1.5 · ISBN 9780007561094
Jelly Baby Jean Ure
A humorous and heart-warming story about a little sister, a big sister, a cat, a dad and… a new girlfriend!
“ Funny, funky, feisty – and fantastic reads!” JACQUELINE WILSON
Bitsy, or ‘Jelly Baby’, has been doing just fine living with Dad and big sister Em since Mum died. The housework may not always get done, and dinners might not always be at the table, but none of them ever minded! Until one day Dad brings home a girlfriend – and everything changes. Now it might be down to the Jelly Baby of the family to keep it from falling apart…
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NARRATED BY: Jilly Bond · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 3.25 · ISBN 9780007568703
Harry the Poisonous Centipede’s Big Adventure Lynne Reid Banks
Winner of the Smarties Silver medal, Harry the Poisonous Centipede is the squirmy story of a little centipede’s adventures in the scary world of the dreaded Hoo-Mins!
“ A squirmingly magnificent treat.” IAN WHYBROW
Harry is a poisonous centipede but he’s not very brave. Still, he is the star of this seriously squirmy story. Harry likes to eat things that wriggle and crackle, and things that are juicy and munchy! But there are some things that a poisonous centipede must never try to eat – dangerous things like flying swoopers, belly wrigglers, furry biters and the most dangerous of all… Hoo-Mins! Harry’s adventures sparkle with fun and will be a delightful experience for all young listeners.
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NARRATED BY: Lynne Reid Banks · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 2 · ISBN 9780007588213
OCTOBER
Harvey Drew and the Bin Men From Outer Space
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OCTOBER
Shrunk! Mayhem and Meteorites F. R. Hitchcock
Uniquely written by the author with the help of 2000 children in The Story Adventure, a live online writing project. All is quiet in the seaside town of Bywater-by-Sea - that is until a meteorite falls to earth, landing in the middle of the Field Craft troop’s camp. Now it’s not just Tom with strange powers: trouble-maker Jacob can set things on fire and sensible Eric has the power to put them out. What’s more, the excavation has uncovered a glittering rock, and the dust is making Bywater-by-Sea even more eccentric than usual.
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“ This cleverly structured story will make its readers laugh out loud.” SUNDAY TIMES ON SHRUNK!
NARRATED BY: Ben Allen · Humorous · DURATION: 3.5 · ISBN 9781471269479
Shoutykid: How Harry Riddles Made a Mega-Amazing Zombie Movie Simon Mayle
Meet the funniest kid in fiction. My name is Harry Riddles. My mum says I’m too young to have problems but she is WRONG. My dad lost his job and I need money to make my mega-amazing zombie movie. I tried to go on Dragon’s Den but you have to get to Salford and Western Greyhound doesn’t go there. So I’ve written to everyone who might help, like the Queen, Harry Styles and David Cameron. Simon Mayle is an award-winning screenwriter for film and television. This is his first book for children.
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NARRATED BY: Daniel Coonan · Humorous · DURATION: 3.25 · ISBN 9780007566471
NOVEMBER
Compton Valance: The Most Powerful Boy in the Universe Matt Brown
Things are about to get totally scrambled for Compton Valance… When Compton Valance and his best friend Bryan Nylon discover the world’s first TIME MACHINE (aka a mouldy, thirteen-week-old-cheese-and-pickled-egg sandwich), they become the most powerful boys in the universe. But how will Compton and Bryan decide to use their incredible new time-travelling powers? Will they use them for good or evil? Or will they just focus their efforts on perfecting a formula for the world’s first pair of custard trousers?
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“ Funny, clever, brilliant – I love this book buy it immediately!” DERMOT O’LEARY
NARRATED BY: Jamie Parker · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 3 · ISBN 9781471273438
Sammy Feral’s Diaries of Weird: Hell Hound Curse Eleanor Hawken
Sammy Feral is back for another weird adventure! To make extra money for Feral Zoo, Sammy, Red and Donny decide to promote their cryptozoology business – investigating animals that don’t exist. Then the friends uncover the terrifying legend of the Hell Hound: anyone who is seen by this terrible beast is struck with a death curse. So when Sammy’s friend Mark runs into the deadly dog, Sammy knows he doesn’t have long to save him!
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“ [A] fast-paced fantasy adventure which is both hilarious and hair raising.” WE LOVE THIS BOOK, ON SAMMY FERAL’S DIARIES OF WEIRD
NARRATED BY: Stephen Perring · Fantasy & Supernatural · DURATION: 3.25 · ISBN 9781471273452
Nudged
NOVEMBER
Jumblecat
Archie Kimpton A hilarious adventure from a delightfully quirky debut author. Billy Slipper is a fairly normal boy with a not-so normal family. All he wants to do is add to his ‘Collectabillya’ (an assortment of weird and wonderful objects) in peace, but his cleaning-mad mum and his horrid twin sister have other ideas. However, they don’t bargain on Billy finding his best ever Collectabillya – Jumblecat! Jumblecat is… well, a jumbled-up cat (who talks, by the way), and he’s set to change their lives forever. For fans of Roald Dahl and David Walliams, this story is perfect for both boys and girls.
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NARRATED BY: Thomas Judd · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 3.75 · ISBN 9781471273421
The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories Dr. Seuss
It’s the literary equivalent of buried treasure – seven newlydiscovered stories by Dr. Seuss! These amazing stories are full of Seuss humour, rhyme and rhythm. They include The Bippolo Seed, in which a scheming cat leads an innocent duck to make a bad decision; Gustav the Goldfish, about a fish that grew and grew; and The Great Henry McBride, about a boy whose far-flung career fantasies were bested only by those of Dr. Seuss himself.
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“ A real treat for fans… Timeless fun and frolics.” THE HERALD
NARRATED BY: David Walliams · Humorous · DURATION: 0.5 · ISBN 9780007593743
I am not a Loser Jim Smith
I am not a Loser is the first book in a hilariously madcap must-read series. “I’ve never minded that my name’s Barry Loser because my coolness has always cancelled it out, but ever since Darren Darrenofski joined school with his horrible little crocodile face he’s been completely ruining my life about it.” I am not a Loser is the first of several notebooks belonging to Barry Loser. Follow Barry as he tries to throw off his loserness, take revenge on the terrible Fronkle-burping Darren Darrenofski and finally become a winner. Fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid or David Walliams will love Barry Loser’s stories.
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NARRATED BY: Huw Parmenter · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 1 · ISBN 9781471273445
Time Hunters: Viking Raiders Chris Blake
The third book in a new time-travelling series – perfect for fans of Beast Quest.
“ I thought it was epic. I really enjoyed it. It was really exciting and I loved the adventure.”
When Tom accidentally smashes a statue in a museum he releases Isis, an Egyptian mummy who has been imprisoned for thousands of years. To break an SAM, AGED 8 ancient curse, they must travel back in time to find six hidden amulets - battling Gladiators, Greeks and Egyptian Warriors! On their third journey, Tom and Isis set sail on a Viking longboat. Will they succeed in their treasure hunt before the terrifying Vikings begin their next raid? Join Tom on an incredible treasure hunt through time and battle history’s mightiest warriors!
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NARRATED BY: Oliver J. Hembrough · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 2 · ISBN 9780007587629
40
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NOVEMBER
Sweet
Kathryn Littlewood Take a pinch of charm and magic and lashings of laughter and you have the perfect recipe! Another treat of a story to curl up with from Kathryn Littlewood The Bliss family cook book is a closely guarded secret. Centuries old and filled with magical recipes, it has been used for years. But when it is stolen by renegade Aunt Lily, it falls to eleven-year-old Rose Bliss and her three siblings to try and win back the book and avert disaster!
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“ A heroine with baking in her blood and a zany plot liberally sprinkled with humour blend into fun family adventure… light-hearted bliss” KIRKUS REVIEW
NARRATED BY: Charlie Sanderson · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 7 · ISBN 9780007589821
Stick Dog Wants a Hot Dog Tom Watson
Stick Dog is back in his second hilarious adventure. This time he and his pals are hungry for hot dogs but they need a plan… Everyone’s favourite canine hero, Stick Dog is back! This time he and his friends, Mutt, Stripes, Karen and Poo-Poo are determined to snaffle themselves a delicious snack from the hot dog stand. But they are going to need a plan… especially if they are to outwit their nemesis – a raccoon called Phyllis…
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“ With an adorable fourlegged friend, the story of Stick Dog and his quest for a delicious dinner is destined to be top dog.” LIVERPOOL ECHO
NARRATED BY: Andrew Eiden · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 1.25 · ISBN 9780007588022
DECEMBER
Rosie and the Secret Friend Margaret McNamara
An enchanting new series, featuring Tinker Bell’s little sisters, inspired by the character from Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie. It’s summer time on Sheepskerry Island, which means the Summer People will arrive for their holidays. That’s when the fairies must take great care not to be discovered by humans. But when Rosie the fairy meets a little girl called Louisa it’s hard to stay hidden. Louisa really needs a friend and Rosie trusts her. It’s fun having a human friend, but how can Rosie keep a secret from her own sisters?
“ McNamara… fills the pages with whimsical details of fairy life, and her knowing narration… gives the story its gentle warmth and humour.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Young listeners will love the enchanting stories and characters in this charming series.
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NARRATED BY: Jane Collingwood · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 1.5 · ISBN 9780007587278
Spacejackers Huw Powell
Star Wars meets Pirates of the Caribbean in the first of three swashbuckling space pirate adventures. Abandoned as a baby on the planet Remota, deep in the seventh solar system, Jake Cutler lives a sheltered life. But all that changes when his home is invaded by ruthless space pirates. Soon Jake is on the run with the suspicious-looking crew of a spaceship called the Dark Horse. Forced to contend with zerogravity, shipwrecks and black holes, Jake must discover the truth about his past before he is hunted down and caught. The action-packed first book in the Spacejackers trilogy is full of aliens, space monsters, gadgets, battleships – and one boy’s search for his destiny.
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NARRATED BY: Mike Grady · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 7 · ISBN 9781471275609
Nudged
Emma Shevah
Replying to her little sister’s ‘Dear Dad’ letters was definitely not one of her best ideas… Amber Alessandra Leola Kimiko Miyamoto. As if her name made up for being tiny, half Japanese and half Italian, and starting a new school with a caveman phone. Dream on! But the hardest bit about being Amber is that a part of her is missing. Her dad. He left when she was little and if he isn’t coming back, she’ll have to sort things out another way… Emma Shevah is half-Irish and half-Thai and was born and raised in London. Dream on, Amber is her debut novel.
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NARRATED BY: Laura Kirman · Modern Fiction · DURATION: 4.25 · ISBN 9781471275630
The Story of Antigone Ali Smith
A wonderful retelling of a classic, for young listeners. “The crow crossed the sky, slow-beating her wings. Beat, beat, beat. It was night, not yet morning, and her feathers were so black that she coasted the air invisible above the city wall.”
“ Offers younger readers vivid, accessible first encounters with some literary heavyweights.” METRO
Thus begins Ali Smith’s retelling of Sophocles’ tragedy, about a young Theban princess who decides to bury her dishonoured brother Polynices, against King Creon’s express orders with heart-breaking consequences.
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NARRATED BY: Ali Smith · Classics · DURATION: 1 · ISBN 9781471275647
Valentine Joe Rebecca Stevens
He was 15. Old enough to fight. Too young to die… Rose’s granddad takes her on a trip to Ypres, Belgium to visit the graves of those who died in the Great War. It’s the day before Valentine’s, but Rose can sense the old city beneath the new. And it seems that it can sense her too. When she goes up to her room that night, she hears the sound of marching feet and glimpses from her window a young soldier on his way to the front line.
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NARRATED BY: Rebecca Stevens · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 4.25 · ISBN 9781471275616
The School for Good and Evil Soman Chainani
A dark and enchanting fantasy adventure perfect for girls who prefer their fairytales with a twist. Every four years, two girls are kidnapped from the village of Gavaldon. Legend has it these lost children are sent to the School for Good and Evil, the fabled institution where they become fairytale heroes or villains. Sophie has always dreamed of her place at the School for Good while her friend Agatha seems destined for the School for Evil. But when the two are kidnapped they find their fortunes reversed…
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NARRATED BY: Polly Lee · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 12.5 · ISBN 9780007598649
“ A wild and dangerous fairy-tale ride. I loved this book.” R. L. STINE
DECEMBER
Dream on, Amber
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DECEMBER
Look Into My Eyes Lauren Child
Break out of boredom with Ruby Redfort, the super-awesome teen detective series from multi-million-copy bestseller Lauren Child… Ruby Redfort is a genius code-cracker, a daring detective, and a gadget-laden special agent who just happens to be thirteen-years-old. She and her slick sidekick butler, Hitch, foil crimes and are always ice-cool in a crisis. When an anonymous caller needs her help cracking a code, Ruby finds her way into the HQ of the most secret agency ever – SPECTRUM.
“ Clues, gadgets, secret HQs, a heist, explosions… T-shirts with cool slogans and a supply of jelly doughnuts. What more could adventure-loving girls want?” SUNDAY TIMES
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NARRATED BY: Rachael Stirling · Action & Adventure · DURATION: 7.75 · ISBN 9780007556045
Wednesdays in the Tower Jessica Day George
A magical moving castle sky-high with secrets! Everyone knows Castle Glower only really comes to life on a Tuesday. So when Princess Celie spies a new turret on a Wednesday, she is certain something isn’t right. Inside the tower is hidden a giant egg, and it seems the castle wants Celie to look after it! Caring for this extraordinary new pet is going to be very tricky, especially once Celie and her siblings realise what else the Castle is hiding… This egg-citing sequel to the enchanting adventure Tuesdays at the Castle is out of this world!
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“ A satisfying mix of Hogwarts and Howl’s Moving Castle… adventure stories fans will enjoy this as much as children who wear their wizard cloaks proudly.” SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
NARRATED BY: Suzy Jackson · Fantasy & Supernatural · DURATION: 6.25 · ISBN 9781471275654
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