Showing results by narrator "NICHOLAS BOULTON" in All Categories

Justine is the first volume in the Alexandria Quartet, four interlinked novels set in the sensuous, hot environment of Alexandria just before the Second World War. Within this polyglot setting of richly idiosyncratic characters is Justine, wild and intense, wife to the wealthy businessman Nessim, a Mari complaisant. Her emotional and sexual wildness fuels a highly charged atmosphere.

Once the golden boy of the English literary scene, now a clinically depressed writer of pulp crime fiction, Ash Winters has given up on hope, happiness, and—most of all—himself. He lives his life between the cycles of his illness, haunted by the ghosts of other people’s expectations. Then a chance encounter throws him into the path of Essex-born Darian Taylor. By his own admission, Darian isn’t the crispest lettuce in the fridge, but he makes Ash laugh, reminding him of what it’s like to step beyond the boundaries of anxiety.

Set in the court of Urbino in 1507, Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier presents an invaluable look at court life and culture during the Renaissance. Over four nights of dialogue, the book explores the key question, ‘What should a courtier be like?’ and presents a deep and timeless discussion that is reminiscent of Plato’s Symposium and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and invites comparisons with Machiavelli’s The Prince.

1989: The Cold War will soon be over, but for BOX 88, a top secret spying agency, the espionage game is heating up. Lachlan Kite, recruited from an elite boarding school, is sent to France, tasked with gathering intelligence on an enigmatic Iranian businessman implicated in the Lockerbie bombing. But what Kite uncovers is more terrifying than anyone expected…

Oscar Wilde's first play confronts the hypocrisy of public "morality" compared with genuine, private kindness. The reasons for its continued popularity are not difficult to identify: the play's witty dialogue contains many of Wilde's most quoted aphorisms, its stylish setting provides opportunities for elegant presentation, and its cast of memorable characters play out a story which is genuinely moving. This new audio production brings together a full cast worthy of Wilde's creative genius.

In Balthazar, the second volume in Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet, the story and the characters come more clearly into focus. Darley, the reflective Englishman, receives from Balthazar, the pathologist, a mass of notes that attempt to explain what really happened between the tempestuous Justine, her husband, Nessim, Clea the artist, and Pursewarden the writer; new figures emerge and play key roles.

The collected BBC Radio 4 crime dramas featuring Inspector Coleman and Sergeant Astor Like his actor namesake, Ronald Coleman is a suave, well-spoken English gentleman. But although he's a movie buff, Coleman is no film star - he's a copper, and a Detective Inspector to boot. Together with his...

Love, be it wild or tender, often defies logic. In fact, at times, the only rationale behind the instant connection of two souls is plain magic. Bibiña Aranda, runaway bride, wakes up in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao still wearing her wedding dress, draped in the loving arms of a naked man whose name she doesn’t know. She and the man with no clothes, Indar Zubieta, attempt to explain to the authorities how they got there. It’s a story of love at first sight and experience beyond compare, one that involves a dreamlike journey through the museum.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is known universally for the gentle charm of Le Petit Prince, but it is this book, Land of Men - known originally in English as Wind, Sand and Stars - which is his masterpiece. First published in 1939, it documents Saint-Exupéry's life as a pilot in the pioneering days of long-distance flying and in particular his experiences as a pilot transporting mail across countries, across continents.

Against Nature was one of the most shocking French novels of the 19th century. When it was published in 1884, it thrilled the aesthetes, the poets, and the intellectuals of Europe on both sides of the Channel (notably Oscar Wilde) because for all its lofty tone, it had, as its core, an unbridled decadence, and it was this same character that challenged, even horrified, established bourgeois society.

In this charming, witty, and weird fantasy novel, Alexis Hall pays homage to Sherlock Holmes with a new twist on those renowned characters. Upon returning to the city of Khelathra-Ven after five years fighting a war in another universe, Captain John Wyndham finds himself looking for somewhere to...

Praised by Chekhov as his favorite writer, Nikolai Leskov occupies a unique place in Russian literature. His original stories often seem like folk-tales, their larger-than-life characters including soldiers, Tsars, priests and gypsies. Leskov's storytelling, simple in its style, combines a deep religious spirit with comic absurdity. The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Leskov's best-known work, is a realist account of a young woman who escapes from her loveless marriage through adultery, leading to violence and murder

Ethan Dove’s family has moved to a new home in a safe community, and it’s exactly the fresh start they need. Not only is his marriage to Emma hanging by a thread, but his son, Dylan, and twelve-year-old daughter, Rose, deserve to have a happy childhood. After Rose is bullied by the boys across the road, Ethan is relieved when the woman who lives next door steps in. Fiona Smith has come into their lives at just the right moment, and when she offers to look after Rose during the school holidays, Ethan and Emma can’t believe their luck.

An unbelievable table of greed, looted treasures and stolen history in the world's biggest art heist. In the shattered aftermath of Cambodia’s civil war, temples that had stood for centuries were found ransacked - sacred sculptures hacked from pedestals, towering statues of Hindu gods and...

Father Brown, a modest, mild-mannered priest with a sharp intellect and even sharper sense of the human condition, is thrown into a series of mysteries which often baffle both his peers and the authorities. Despite his humble appearance, Father Brown can easily detect falsehoods, see through disguises and defy tampered logic to get to the truth. From cases of theft, fraud and murders with no apparent weapon, Brown remains calm in the face of evil time and time again, utilising compassion, empathy and keen intuition.

Originally published in 1927, The Secret of Father Brown sees our wise and moral amateur detective navigate more tales of crime and violence. Although quiet and unassuming, Father Brown has sharp skills of deduction and – most importantly – a deep, empathetic understanding of human nature, putting himself into the minds of the criminals he faces. From a mistaken suicide and a potential culprit with two faces, to a missing aristocrat and a remorseful killer, this brilliantly unique collection of short stories cement G.K. Chesterton as a master of the mystery genre.

Spy. Liar. Scoundrel. Redcoat. Provocateur and spy for His Majesty, Captain John Carlisle returns to Fort Niagara with the secrets he learned in the arms of his lover, Dellis McKesson. Determined to complete his mission and clear his name, John will see justice done—and damn the consequences. Now, he finds himself drawn into political intrigue as the British prepare to launch a three-pronged attack that will bring the Rebels and the Mohawk River Valley to its knees. Meanwhile, a dangerous revelation finds Dellis as whispers of intrigue insinuate her beloved is not all that he seems.

Published in 1923, My Universities is the final instalment in the autobiographical trilogy by five-time Nobel Prize-nominee Maxim Gorky. Despite his failed attempts to enter the university at Kazan, Gorky forges an education of his own as he encounters an unusual array of characters–revolutionaries, religious fanatics, theological students and eccentric schoolteachers. Snatching cherished moments for reading books, a relief from the drudgery of his work in a bakery, Gorky comes to see the superficiality of a formal education.

Cat should be afraid of Brigan—the devastatingly gorgeous stranger at a Halloween party whose very presence makes everyone else fall at his feet. But while his supernatural allure drives others to mindless obsession, Cat somehow keeps her wits…even as she surrenders to temptation. When this cursed being realizes she alone can see his true nature, one night of searing passion could break a centuries-old spell—or doom them both.

Completed six years after Dostoyevsky's own term as a convict, The House of the Dead is a semi-autobiographical account of life in a Siberian prison camp, and the physical and mental effects it has on those who are sentenced to inhabit it. Alexandr Petrovitch Goryanchikov, a gentleman of the noble class, has been condemned to 10 years of hard labor for murdering his wife.