Showing results by narrator "Gareth Armstrong" in All Categories

Three soldiers, bound together by a single terrible event in the final days of the First World War, and a scheme to stun an entire country. Wounded and traumatised by their wartime experience, Albert Maillard and Édouard Péricourt return from the fighting on the Western Front and find themselves struggling in a society where reverence for the dead can never erase the revulsion for those who survived.

The magnificent sequel to the worldwide best seller Duncton Wood. When Tryfan, son of Bracken and Rebecca, returns to the sacred Burrows of Uffington, he finds dreadful signs of death and destruction. For out of the chilly North have swarmed the grikes, a fanatical tribe of warrior moles bent on destroying all believers in the powers of the Stone. Tryfan’s duty is clear - to muster and protect the few remaining Stone followers from the evil that seems certain to engulf them. With only a frail and timid mole named Spindle for company, he sets off on an epic journey....

For anyone who loves sailing and adventure, Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons series stands alone. Originally published over a half-century ago, the twelve books are still eagerly read by children and adults alike – by all those captivated by the world of adventure and imagination. Such longevity is not only due to Ransome’s unparalleled gift of storytelling, but also his championing of qualities such as independence and initiative; virtues that appeal to every generation, whether young or old.

For anyone who loves sailing and adventure, Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons series stands alone. Originally published over a half-century ago, the 12 books are still eagerly read by children and adults alike - by all those captivated by the world of adventure and imagination. Such longevity is not only due to Ransome’s unparalleled gift of storytelling, but also his championing of qualities such as independence and initiative; virtues that appeal to every generation, whether young or old.

Great Northern? is the 12th, and final, book in Arthur Ransome's acclaimed series. Once again, the children set out on an adventure (this one off the coast of Scotland) with a minimum of parental advice and interference. Here, the story centers on a desperate race to thwart the efforts of pernicious egg collectors threatening the survival of a pair of rare birds not previously known to nest in British waters.

For anyone who loves sailing and adventure, Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons series stands alone. Originally published over a half-century ago, the twelve books are still eagerly read by children and adults alike – by all those captivated by the world of adventure and imagination. Such longevity is not only due to Ransome’s unparalleled gift of storytelling, but also his championing of qualities such as independence and initiative; virtues that appeal to every generation, whether young or old.

For anyone who loves sailing and adventure, Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons series stands alone. Originally published over a half-century ago, the twelve books are still eagerly read by children and adults alike - by all those captivated by the world of adventure and imagination. Such longevity is not only due to Ransome's unparalleled gift of storytelling, but also his championing of qualities such as independence and initiative; virtues that appeal to every generation, whether young or old.

In this (more or less) sequel to the adventures of Coot Club, Arthur Ransome returns once more to his beloved Norfolk Broads where trouble is again brewing for Joe, Bill, and Pete, the three boatbuilders' sons who live aboard the Death and Glory, and the three Coots, Tom, Dorothea and Dick. The problem seems to be that boats are constantly being set adrift and all the evidence points squarely at the three Death and Glories. In a clever bit of detective work, the Big Six manage to exonerate themselves and catch the villains.

For anyone who loves sailing and adventure, Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons series stands alone. Originally published over a half-century ago, the twelve books are still eagerly read by children and adults alike - by all those captivated by the world of adventure and imagination. Such longevity is not only due to Ransome’s unparalleled gift of storytelling, but also his championing of qualities such as independence and initiative; virtues that appeal to every generation, whether young or old.

Laos, 1972. The Communist Pathet Lao has taken over. Most of the educated class has fled, but 72-year-old Dr Siri Paiboun, a Paris-trained doctor, remains and is appointed state coroner. When three bodies are recovered from a reservoir, Dr.Siri establishes the cause of death was not drowning - they seem to have been electrocuted. And then there is the inexplicable death of a Party bigwig's wife at a banquet. Dr.Siri doesn't think her death was from natural causes.

Terry Walton has kept an allotment for over 50 years - man and boy - in the Rhondda valley in South Wales. He started when he was 4, helping on his dad's plot on the side of the mountain, when he was sent to cut bracken and collect sheep manure by the bucketful to feed the rows of vegetables. By the time he was 11 he had his own plot - the youngest ever to do so - and while still in his teens established an allotment empire to grow the vegetables and flowers he sold to local customers.

Eva Gatsby has often wondered about her grandfather Lawrence's past, and exactly what happened to him in Burma during the Second World War. But it is only when Eva's job as an antiques dealer suddenly requires a trip to Mandalay that Lawrence finally breaks his silence and asks her to return a mysterious artefact of his own - a chinthe - to its rightful owner. As Eva arrives in Burma her mission soon proves dangerously complicated, and the treasure she is guarding becomes the centre of a scandal that will have far-reaching consequences.

The moles of Duncton Wood live in the shadow of Mandrake, a cruel tyrant corrupted by absolute power. A solitary young mole, Bracken, is thrown into leading the fight to free Duncton Wood. Only by putting his trust in the ancient Stone, forgotten symbol of a great spiritual past, can he find the strength to challenge Mandrake's darkness.

Dawn French, number one bestelling author of A Tiny Bit Marvellous and one of Britain's best loved comic writers, returns with Oh Dear Silvia, a darkly comic pageturner that will have you hanging on her every word. Who is in Coma Suite Number 5? A matchless lover? A supreme egotist? A selfless...

When Francis Armstrong moves into his fussily designed Victorian house in the heart of the Vale of York, his August stretches before him in a haze of leisurely house refurbishment. His decision to move a pile of rubble, however, brings DCI Hennessey and Sergeant Yellich springing to the scene at the double. Louise D'Acre helps them with the examination of the skeleton that has been uncovered, and everything seems to point to the murder of a woman who was reported missing 19 years previously.

The charismatic Great Harlequin, Duruthiel, leads his troupe on a daring raid of an ork settlement. Urging them forth with bold eccentricity, the Red Swan proclaims fate as the guiding hand for the Masque of the Fading Dawn. But as Skyweaver jetbikes invade the night skies, his attempts to overthrow the great warlord become increasingly reckless. It soon becomes apparent that this is more than just another performance for Duruthiel but a battle for honour and freedom.

The Coffee House was a warm, brightly lit place. The serving girls were pretty and the men who visited the rooms seemed polite enough. But still there were whispers, ugly disquieting rumours about what happened at night when the big oak door was closed. The young doctor had never been inside the Coffee House - and indeed had no wish to - until he met the frail, shabbily dressed girl on the Newmarket coach.

Plying the stars and forgotten backwaters of the Imperium, Rogue Trader Captain Athene Santiago and her eclectic crew are chasing pirates when their quarry inexplicably vanishes, only to return a moment later. Unwilling to let her bounty go unclaimed, Santiago ventures aboard the now stricken vessel, but what she finds defies reason and leads to a discovery of something ancient and terrifying that could threaten not only her crew and her ship but the entire sector.

Oll Persson stands apart from the rest of mankind. He is one of the old ones, one of the undying. One of the Perpetuals. Now, fleeing from the ruins of Calth with his band of fellow refugees, the vagaries of the warp have brought him through the backways of time and space to a city that rests on the edge of oblivion...and no further. The path has ended abruptly, and Oll's enemies are finally closing in. Will his immortality be enough to save him this time?

As war continues to ravage the galaxy, the new Age of Darkness sees whole systems simply lost and countless battles forgotten. Surely there can be no hope for peace, forgiveness or respite in such times, and all that will be left are the dying warp-echoes of supreme galactic ruin....