Showing titles in Satire

Things like crowns had a troublesome effect on clever folks; it was best to leave all the reigning to the kind of people whose eyebrows met in the middle. Three witches gathered on a lonely heath. A king cruelly murdered, his throne usurped by his ambitious cousin. A child heir and the crown of...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim written by Jonathan Coe, read by John Heffernan. Maxwell Sim seems to have hit rock bottom: separated from his wife and daughter, estranged from his father, and with no one to confide in even though he has 74 friends...

Sweetpea TV series starring Ella Purnell now on Sky Atlantic! She’s back and killing for two… Rhiannon Lewis should be happy. Her cheating fiancé is in jail – framed for the depraved killing spree she committed. Her ex-lover is chopped up and buried where no-one will find him. But...

Brought to you by Penguin. 'What shall we do?' said Twoflower. 'Panic?' said Rincewind hopefully. He always held that panic was the best means of survival. As it moves towards a seemingly inevitable collision with a malevolent red star, the Discworld could do with a hero. What it doesn’t need...

She’s a fashion model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden freeway "accident" leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from being the beautiful center of attention to being an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists. Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from becoming a real woman, who will teach her that reinventing yourself means erasing your past and making up something better. And that salvation hides in the last places you’ll ever want to look.

Alexei Sayle stars in this comical story of Britain's first Communist football team A secret descendant of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, Ricky Lenin is a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist, fervently committed to overthrowing the decadent world of British football. As a midfield maestro, he's perfectly...

“A ‘Bummel,’” I explained, “I should describe as a journey, long or short, without end.” However wonderful this may sound, it is often necessary to arrive back at the starting point. And, for the three fearless friends whose earlier adventures were told in Three Men in a Boat, this...

He’s fine. Totally fine. Panic attacks? Insomnia? Just stress. Probably. Maybe. He’s…totally fine! Meet Charlie King. He’s doing great! Honestly. A fantastic job, two solid best mates and a girlfriend who might just be The One. Life is good. Perfect, even. So why is he waking up in a...

Brought to you by Penguin. The Drones club's in peril. Gussie's in love. Spode's on the war-path. Oh, and His Majesty's Government needs a favour. I say - it's a good thing Bertie's back! One man - and his Gentleman's Personal Gentleman - valiantly set out to save the Drones, thwart Spode and...

For amiable City trader Jimmy Corby money was the new Rock n' Roll. His whole life was a party, adrenalin charged and cocaine fuelled. If he hadn't met Monica he would probably have ended up either dead or in rehab. But Jimmy was as lucky in love as he was at betting on dodgy derivatives, so...

Cambridge, 1994. Professor Don Lamb is a revered art historian at the height of his powers, consumed by the book he is writing about the skies of the Venetian master Tiepolo. However, his academic brilliance belies a deep inexperience of life and love. When an explosive piece of contemporary art is installed on the lawn of his college, it sets in motion Don's abrupt departure from Cambridge to take up a role at a south London museum. There he befriends Ben, a young artist who draws him into the anarchic 1990s British art scene and the nightlife of Soho.

Brought to you by Penguin. From the bestselling, award-winning author of Middle England comes a profoundly moving, brutally funny and brilliantly true portrait of Britain told through four generations of one family 'A wickedly funny, clever, but also tender and lyrical novel about Britain and...

Ricky is joined by Diane Morgan, Danny Wallace, Kerry Godliman, Ben Bailey Smith, Sean McLoughlin, David Baddiel, Mark Watson and Robin Ince.

Jimmy Edwards stars as the irascible Headmaster in this vintage BBC Radio comedy series set in a boys’ public school Starting life on BBC TV, Whack-O! transferred to radio in 1961 and ran for three series on the Light Programme until 1963. Not all of the radio episodes survive, but many from...

When a Republican party wins the General Election, they strip the royal family of everything and send them to live on a housing estate in the Midlands. Exchanging caviar for boiled eggs, servants for a social worker named Trish, the Queen and her family learn what it means to be poor among the...

This summer, on the Greek island of Corfu, sparks will fly as dreams come true... Lydia Broom is living her second-best life. With her dreams of being a chef left in the dust she instead finds solace writing about the dishes she wished she created. When Lydia's sent to Corfu on an assignment...

Retired stage magician turned professional mystic debunker, John Barker, finds his sceptical beliefs under fire when he encounters a strange man who claims to be Merlin. After several unsuccessful attempts to rid himself of his increasingly unpredictable companion, John finally relents and agrees to assist in the man’s crazy mission, to find the true grave of the mythical King Arthur. Following a hidden code contained within the text of a soft porn novel, they gather a growing entourage of hippies, mystic seekers and alien hunters as they leave a trail of chaos across the south west of England.

Ever feel like the whole world is conspiring against you? Jonathon Fairfax can’t even get on the London Underground without bumping into someone he’s desperate to avoid – like Rachel, his first love, who demolished his heart eleven years ago. She tells him that her terrifying uncle (a man...

Can Kerra's Cornish hometown offer the fresh start she needs? When Kerra left the quiet Cornish town of Penvennan Cove for the bright lights of London she didn't look back. But after the death of her mother, she's decided it's time to face her past and return to the place she called home. Her...

Gravedigger John Gascoigne lives in Downfell Hurst with his wife, Florrie, their three children and his mother, Gran. John is a deep thinker but extremely taciturn - a man of few words and many grunts. Which is why everyone is alarmed when he's hit on the head by a cricket ball, and it suddenly seems as if the words won't stop. What's more, he says he is talking to Saint Christopher - only no one else can see the saint, and they're beginning to worry John's not quite right in the head.