Showing results by narrator "Callum" in All Categories

A dashing Regency romance from the legendary Georgette Heyer, founder of the genre. Captain John Staple's exploits against Napoleon's armies in the Iberian Peninsula have earned him the nickname 'Crazy Jack' amongst his comrades in the Dragoon Guards - but once the Battle of Waterloo brings the curtain down once and for all on the Napoleonic Wars, the boisterous, adventure-loving captain finds life in peacetime intolerably dull. 

Renowned novelist and poet Thomas Hardy is best known for his fatalistic, often tragic novels set in the 'realistic dream-country' of Wessex, in south and south-west England. Drawing on his own life, he created some of the most memorable characters and stories in Victorian literature—many of which are included here. In five dramas taken from Radio 4's 'Hardy's Women' season, we meet a few of Thomas Hardy's most compelling female protagonists.

The Honourable Christopher Fancot, on leave from the diplomatic service in the summer of 1817, is startled to find his entrancing but incorrigibly extravagant mother on the brink of financial and social ruin - and more than alarmed to find that his twin, Evelyn, has disappeared without trace. Christopher - Kit - is forced into an outrageous masquerade by the tangled affairs of his wayward family: his rigid uncle, Lord Brumby; the surprisingly wily Sir Bonamy Ripple; the formidable old Lady Stavely and Evelyn's betrothed, Cressy.  

Some families pass down money. Some pass down secrets. The Briggs family passes down both, along with enemies you never knew you had. When Nathan Briggs flies home to New England after his grandfather's disappearance, he expects grief and family tension. What he doesn't expect is a locked room, a letter written in a language he somehow understands, and a power igniting in his blood that has no business existing in the modern world.

Malcolm George Galbraith is a large, somewhat clumsy Scotsman. He’s being forced to leave the woman he loves behind and needs to explain why. So he leaves her a note on the kitchen table Malcolm decides to start from the beginning and tell the whole story of his long life, something he’s never dared do before. Because Malcolm isn’t what he seems. As it gathers pace, Malcolm’s story combines tragedy, comedy, mystery, a touch of leprosy, several murders, a massacre, a ritual sacrifice, an insane tyrant, two great romances, a landslide, a fire, and a talking fish.

Brought to you by Puffin. A heartwarming story about family, friendship and finding your inner fire. Between bullies at school and changes at home, Charlie Challinor finds life a bit scary. And when he's made guardian of a furry fox cub called Cadno, things get a whole lot scarier. Because Cadno...

'I would be most unhappy to think that any part of this memoir should be cut on grounds of 'decency', for those bits are essential....' So begins the lively true story of aristocrat and travel writer Roderic Fenwick Owen. Born in 1921, Fenwick Owen had an extraordinary life, which careered between some of the biggest moments in history and took him to the ends of the earth, meeting (and even living with) some of the 20th century's most well-known people along the way, including Eisenhower, Jackson Pollock, Christopher Lee and Sean Connery. 

Brought to you by Penguin. All legends start somewhere . . . After defeating the evil Grendilock and saving Cadno, the last firefox, Charlie Challinor is looking forward to a well-earned rest. But when a familiar face appears from the realm of Fargone, Charlie's family is once again swept up...

Brought to you by Puffin. The third magical adventure in the Last Firefox series. When out-of-control weather brings danger to his home town, Charlie Challinor suspects that more than climate change might be to blame. Heading back to Fargone with Cadno the firefox, Lippy and Roo, Charlie...

Oregon, summer 1983. A series of mysterious deaths shakes the coastal town of Harmony Bay from its peaceful sleep. Shortly after the death of his wife, Sheriff Cody is called upon to investigate numerous murders which all exhibit strange puncture wounds. Cody and his team expect the murders are committed by a serial killer, but it soon becomes clear something more sinister lurks behind this idyllic town, which becomes his worst nightmare.

England's most famous date, 1066: At the monastery of De'Ath's Dingle, during a completely pointless theological debate, there is a mysterious death. Routine business for the average investigative medieval monk. Unfortunately, this isn’t a tale of average monks. Anyone who would put the idiot Brother Simon in charge of a murder investigation is either one chant short of a plainsong or is up to something. When Brother Hermitage, innocent in every way, including bystanding, is lined up for execution, he begins to wonder if something might be going on.

When Sir Reginald Sinclair, one of Britain's greatest actors, is found dead at his country estate along with his housekeeper and the local vicar, the pressure is on Detective Inspector Malcolm Goode and his team to solve the case quickly. But with very few clues and no obvious suspects, the investigation just seems to uncover the many secrets hidden away by the Sinclair family. With every new line of inquiry leading to another dead end and no motive to be found, finding a solution seems impossible.

It's been said that, after 9/11, the 2008 financial crash and the COVID-19 pandemic, we're a more fearful society than ever before. Yet fear, and the panic it produces, have long been driving forces - perhaps the driving force - of world history: fear of God, of famine, war, disease, poverty, and other people. In Fear: An Alternative History of the World, Robert Peckham considers the impact of fear in history, as both a coercive tool of power and as a catalyst for social change.

Brought to you by Penguin. WINNER OF THE INDIE BOOK AWARD 2025 FOR NON-FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2024 Ingrained is a love letter to trees, timber and craftsmanship – and to finding your own voice. The eldest son of a Master...

Using our past as a basis for a new understanding of our future, Hanno Sauer traces humanity's fundamental moral transformations from our earliest ancestors through to the present day, when it seems we have never disagreed more over what it means to be good. Our current political disagreements may feel like the end of the world, but where will the evolution of morality take us next?

In a modest little tale for the season, Brother Hermitage heads for London. William Duke of Normandy is to be crowned King of England on Christmas day 1066 and he expects presents. For reasons beyond reason, the monastery of De'Ath's Dingle is invited to the ceremony and the only ones who can be let out on their own are Brother Hermitage and Wat the Weaver. But it will be a rush to get there. With only 7 days to travel over 100 miles, the pair must cross a frozen and largely lawless country if they are to make it to Westminster alive.

Set entirely on a London bus travelling from Hoxton to Highbury and taking place over just 36 minutes, the events of The 392 unfold through a cast of charismatic characters coming from very different worlds. On the 392 are all the familiar faces you might expect to see on any bus ride through inner-city London in the grip of gentrification; delinquent school kids, the high-flyers, the weird, the wonderful and the homeless. These Londoners share two things: a bus journey and a threat. A threat which is ready to blow apart everything they know.

A DARK WARNING. A DANGEROUS SEDUCTION. The first in the Gothic romance series Shadows of Pemberley, a seductive modern-day reimagining of Jane Austen’s most daring worlds, from USA Today bestselling author Zoe Blake. Aristocratic scandal. Murder. A legacy cursed by Northanger Abbey. Jane...

The shocking truth about Calling has been revealed – the magical ability to conjure something out of thin air actually steals resources from another place. While Quin looks for answers on Evantra, his sister Davinia is assigned to investigate and plant false evidence at the heart of the rebellion on Elipsom. Davinia has always maintained calm under pressure from her mother, but as she goes deeper undercover, her loyalties begin to waver. This thrilling sequel to The Callers shows the power of standing up and fighting for a better tomorrow.

Humanity can make short work of the oceans' creatures. In 1741, hungry explorers discovered herds of Steller's sea cow in the Bering Strait, and in less than thirty years, the amiable beast had been harpooned into extinction. It's a classic story, but a key fact is often omitted. Bering Island was the last redoubt of a species that had been decimated by hunting and habitat loss years before the explorers set sail.