Showing results by narrator "James Lailey Lailey" in All Categories

Severian is a torturer, born to the guild and with an exceptionally promising career ahead of him...until he falls in love with one of his victims, a beautiful young noblewoman. Her excruciations are delayed for some months and, out of love, Severian helps her commit suicide and escape her fate. For a torturer, there is no more unforgivable act. In punishment he is exiled from the guild and his home city to the distant metropolis of Thrax with little more than Terminus Est, a fabled sword, to his name.

It is 1941, and Germany has won the war. Britain is occupied, Churchill executed and the king imprisoned in the Tower of London. At Scotland Yard, Detective Inspector Archer tries to do his job and keep his head down. But when a body is found in a Mayfair flat, what at first appears to be a routine murder investigation sends him into a world of espionage, deceit and betrayal.

1963 Berlin is dark and dangerous. The anonymous hero of The IPCRESS File has been sent to help arrange the defection - in an elaborate mock coffin - of a leading Soviet scientist. But, as he soon discovers, this deception hides an even deadlier truth. One of the first novels written after the construction of the Berlin Wall, Funeral in Berlin revels in the murky, chilling atmosphere of a divided city.

Bernard Samson is a spy on the run. But in the murky streets of Berlin, he knows where to hide. Wanted for an act of treachery he has not committed, he must not only escape the grasp of London Central but get to the bottom of a tangled conspiracy that is about to change everything. In the thrilling penultimate instalment of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy, Bernard's personal and professional life collide with devastating consequences.

Set a thousand years before the events of Williams' The Dragonbone Chair, the tale of Ineluki's tragic boast and what it brings is told by Pamon Kes, Hakatri's faithful servant. Kes is not one of the Sithi but a member of the enslaved Changeling race and his loyalty has never before been tested. Now he must face the terrible black dragon at his master's side, then see his own life changed forever in a mere instant by Ineluki's rash, selfish promise.

Two years ago, Alexander Blix was the lead investigator in a missing person's case where a young mother, Elisabeth Eie, had been kidnapped. The case came to a standstill when Blix's own daughter was killed and he was arrested for avenging her. Blix is a now free man again, but Elisabeth's kidnapper has found him, leaving evidence of her murder in Blix's mailbox.

An ex-soldier and recovering alcoholic living quietly in Somerset, Stephen Rose has just begun to form a bond with the daughter he barely knows when he receives a summons - to an inquiry into an incident during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It is the return of what Stephen hoped he had outdistanced. Above all, to testify would jeopardise the fragile relationship with his daughter. And if he loses her, he loses everything. Instead, he decides to write her an account of his life: a confession, a defence, a love letter. Also a means of buying time.

Bosnia, 1993. A small army of Serbs, Muslims and Croats, formed to defend the isolated mountain town of Zavik and under the command of Reeve, a renegade Briton, has begun mounting raids further afield in search of food, fuel and medical supplies. All sides in the civil war are enraged by its exploits; even UN mediators recognise the need for its suppression. But there are only two people Reeve will listen to: his ex-wife and an ex-comrade in the SAS.

From a snowbound inn, high in the Alps, four unlikely allies will turn against the might of Byzantium to secure the English throne for Richard, duke of Gloucester, and make him Richard III. A noble Byzantine mercenary. A female Florentine physician. An ageless Welsh wizard. And Sforza, an uncanny duke. Together, they will alter the fate of millions.

The BBC radio adaptations of Judith Kerr's internationally acclaimed trilogy - plus bonus documentary. Based on her own childhood experiences, Judith Kerr's When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is a timeless classic loved by children and adults alike. This story of a Jewish family that escapes Germany just as the Nazis come to power is seen through the eyes of their young daughter, Anna, and traces their perilous journey. Also includes adaptations of Bombs on Aunt Dainty and A Small Person Far Away.

An accessible, practical guide to preventing and managing children's allergies and improving their immune systems, from leading gastroenterologist Dr Vincent Ho. Childhood allergies are booming, but what if there was a way to prevent allergies in the first place? What if simple lifestyle changes in the critical first 1,000 days could change your baby's life? For families across the world, eczema, asthma, hay fever and food allergies are constant anxieties, sometimes with devastating consequences.

Guy Mayfield was the Station Chaplain at RAF Duxford during the Battle of Britain. His diary is a moving account of the war fought by the young pilots during that summer of 1940, providing a unique and intimate insight into one of the most pivotal moments in British history. Mayfield frequently spoke to pilots who knew they may not survive the next 24 hours, and his diary provides a vivid account of the fears and hopes of the young men who risked their lives daily for the defence of Britain.

A group of archaeologists are excavating a Bronze Age burial site in the grounds of Trusloe Hall, a minor stately home in Wiltshire. Excited that their dig is being filmed for a TV documentary, the group are camping onsite and having the time of their lives. In the blink of an eye, one of the party disappears: a young woman called Nazma Kirmani. An extensive police investigation fails to find any trace of her, and the case goes cold for over twenty years....

A brand new BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of a classic Raymond Chandler mystery featuring private eye, Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is now married, living in the resort town of Poodle Springs. Once again, he sets himself up as an investigator and soon finds himself in the middle of blackmail and murder....

In The Insect Crisis, acclaimed journalist Oliver Milman dives into the torrent of recent evidence that suggests this kaleidoscopic group of creatures is suffering the greatest existential crisis in its remarkable 400-million-year history. What is causing the collapse of the insect world?

Ultimate soldier. Ultimate mission. But can the SAS prevent British Task Force being destroyed by exocet missiles? It is 1982, and a brutal, bloody war is being waged as British forces try to battle the Argentinians into surrendering the Falkland Islands. As the fighting continues, it becomes clear to British Task Force commanders that they will need to call upon the help of the legendary Special Air Service - the SAS!

Bennett Driscoll is a Turner Prize nominated artist who was a Bright Young Thing. Now, aged 55, his wife has left him, the reviews have dried up and his gallery wants to stop selling his paintings, saying they'll have more value retrospectively...when he's dead. So, left with a large West London home and no income, he moves into his painting studio in the back garden and rents out the house, soon reaching status as a Super Host on AirBed.

At 11.02 am on an August morning in 1945, America dropped the world's most powerful atomic bomb on the Japanese port city of Nagasaki. The city was flattened, and more than 70,000 Japanese citizens were killed. Among the horrific scenes were also hundreds of Allied British, Australian, American and Dutch prisoners of war, working as forced labourers in the shipyards and factories of Nagasaki. This book tells their remarkable untold stories

This audiobook examines the media and cultural responses to the awful crimes of Brady and Hindley, whose murders provided a template for future media reporting on serial killers. It discusses the nature of evil and psychopaths and how they are represented in film, drama, novels and art. It also questions the ethics of the 'serial killing industry' and how the modern cultural fixation on celebrity has extended to serial killers and it explores the impact on the journalists and police officers from being involved in such cases including some interviews with them.

This is the story of the battle between appeasers and anti-appeasers in the period before - and just after - the start of the Second World War, and the formation of the 1940 coalition government which, like the election of 2010, abruptly ruptured all previous political alignments. Based on real events, this is a fascinating and little known tale of idealism, blackmail, and political skulduggery.