Showing results by publisher "Two Roads" in All Categories

The Words in my Hand is the reimagined true story of Helena, a 17th-century Dutch maid desperate to educate herself and use her mind in an era when women were kept firmly in their place. Helena works in the Amsterdam lodging house of an English bookseller who rents out a room to the mysterious 'Monsieur', who turns out to be René Descartes. Always trying to keep one step ahead of the authorities desperate to suppress his free thinking, Descartes and Helena form an unlikely bond which turns from teaching into an affair.

Every child in Leith knows the legend of Shelly Rock, home to a gigantic fiend who stalks the North Sands at night and wreaks lethal havoc. When the body of Englishman Richard Sawyer is found in the early hours of Christmas Day under the shadow of Shelly Rock, locals are quick to blame the mysterious creature. Was it a tragic accident? Or is there a sinister, supernatural reason for the lawyer's death? Inspector McLevy is determined to uncover the truth.

When the body of Thomas Forsythe, tobacco merchant and lay preacher, is discovered near the waters of Leith, Inspector James McLevy is called to investigate. As Christmas approaches, McLevy's investigations lead him to the dockside taverns of Edinburgh and deep into the belly of the beast himself.

New Year celebrations are underway in Edinburgh, and the Hogmanay crowd is baying for blood at an illegal boxing match at the Foul Anchor tavern. When ruthless Moneylender Donny Lapsley is found murdered after the fight, suspicions immediately turn to Boxer Rab Donnachie, whose unconscious body is found next to the victim. But Inspector McLevy is not convinced.

The inspirational and colourful memoir of Michael Volpe, the general manager of Opera Holland Park. The son of Italian immigrants, he and his brothers were raised by his mother on a council estate in West London before he attended Woolverstone Hall, a prestigious state boarding school designed to give bright inner-city boys the opportunity of a public school education.

1815, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia Mount Tambora explodes in a cataclysmic eruption, killing thousands. Sent to investigate, ship surgeon Henry Hogg can barely believe his eyes. Once a paradise, the island is now solid ash, the surrounding sea turned to stone. But worse is yet to come: as the ash cloud rises and covers the sun, the seasons will fail. 1816. In Switzerland, Mary Shelley finds dark inspiration. Confined inside by the unseasonable weather, thousands of famine refugees stream past her door.

A thrilling short story featuring Inspector James McLevy and Jean Brash, available exclusively in audio. Suspected of poisoning her husband, a prominent judge, Judith Pearson writes to Inspector James McLevy begging for his help. With the evidence pointing overwhelmingly to the victim's wife and investigating Inspector Adam Dunsmore ready to make an arrest, McLevy is in a race against time to uncover the truth. You can enjoy more from the world of James McLevy with the Inspector McLevy series and the Jean Brash Mysteries, narrated by David Ashton and Siobhan Redmond.

At the Old Ship in Edinburgh, New Year's Day celebrations are well underway. Nobody pays attention when Dutchman Isaac Caspar enters the tavern - until he collapses in the doorway, dead. Newly arrived in Leith on the good ship St Elmo, Caspar is a stranger in town. A search of his cabin reveals a curious item: a picture of the famous Hartjammer pearl, stolen in Amsterdam some months before. Is there a connection between the robbery and the murder? Inspector McLevy is determined to find out.

It's 1978. Ponte, a small community in Northern Italy: peaceful woods, discarded rubbish, a closed-down factory. An unbearably hot summer like many others, wilted flowers and trips to the waterfalls. Elia Furenti is 16, living in a secluded house with his parents, a life so unremarkable that even its moderate unhappiness has been accepted as normal. That is until the day the beautiful, damaged Anna returns to Ponte and firmly propels Elia to the edge of adulthood. But then everything starts to unravel.

The secret stories of what leaves mean - and what they mean to us. Leaves are one of nature's marvels. We watch them turn red in Autumn, make medicine from them, invent folklore around them, and mark the passing of time by them. But how do they grow? Why are they the shapes they are? What makes...