Showing results by narrator "Matt Addis" in All Categories

Pretty Celia Mardham should have been a success in her London Season, but a near fatal riding accident has left her with a pronounced limp which means she cannot even make a good curtsy, let alone dance. There can be no expectation of marriage, but her mama makes one last effort. She draws up a list of guests for a country house sojourn, picking only young ladies she feels will not be rivals, and some potential suitors. Among the well-bred gentlemen is Lord Levedale.

The Guards established an ascendancy in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo, and in the words of the military historian, Allan Mallinson, ‘They have never truly faltered since.’ They have done so by changing when change was needed. His Majesty's Household Division is a national institution, admired by the public through its mastery of ceremonial and pageantry, and the magnificent hour that is Trooping the Colour.

In this comprehensive anthology, former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion has gathered together exceptional poems from the 14th century through to the present day, creating an extraordinary poetic journey for the listener. From the love poems of Shelley and Keats to the grim war elegies of Owen and Sassoon, there is a poem here for every sentiment, each with something different to offer.

At three o'clock in the morning, Emergency receives a call. 'This is Zara Fanshawe. Always lost and never found.' An hour later, the wayward celebrity's Rolls Royce Phantom is found abandoned in dingy Becket Street. The paparazzi go wild. For some reason, news of Zara's disappearance prompts homeless woman Lena Wójcik to search the camps, nervously, for the bad-tempered vagrant known as 'Waitrose', a familiar sight in Oxford pushing his trolley of possessions. But he's nowhere to be found either.

All Hallow’s Eve, 1144. The savaged body of Durand Wuduweard, the solitary and unpopular keeper of the King’s Forest of Feckenham, is discovered beside his hearth, his corpse rendered barely identifiable by sharp teeth. Whispers of a wolf on the prowl grow louder, and Sheriff William de Beauchamp’s men, Hugh Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll, are tasked with cutting through the clamour....

August 1144. Osbern de Lench is known far and wide as a hard master whose temper is perpetually frayed. After his daily ride to survey his land, his horse returns to the hall riderless, and the lifeless body of the lord is found soon after. Was it the work of thieves or something closer to home? With an heir who is cast in the same hot-tempered mould, sworn enemies for neighbours and something amiss in the relationship between Osbern and his wife, Undersheriff Hugh Bradecote, the wily Serjeant Catchpoll and apprentice Walkelin have suspects aplenty.

A dangerous snake attacks Prince Tamino in the forest but three noble ladies protect him. Together with the bird catcher Papageno, Tamino is supposed to free Princess Pamina because the dreaded Sarastro has imprisoned her in his castle. Tamino and Papageno receive a magic flute and a glockenspiel from Pamina's mother, the Queen of the Night. The brave rescuers must overcome difficult tests, but the daring rescue plan succeeds. In the end, Tamino and Pamina, Papageno and his new girlfriend Papagena are happily in each other's arms.

'I have gone to look for a lion.' In a world where lions have become extinct, the map-maker Jachin-Boaz nevertheless abandons his wife and son to find one, leaving just this note. But his decision has unexpected consequences. He will be pursued by his son, Boaz-Jachin, and by something else: a tawny-skinned, amber-eyed beast from another place and time, a bringer of life and death. 

On a quiet seafront in the middle of the afternoon the sun sets, the clouds part and something like a pale, elongated human figure appears on the horizon. For Maria, watching from the beach, it’s proof that she should never have dared to return. Five years earlier, her life shattered by the arrival of the Stone Man, she’d fled the country. But now she can’t escape: suddenly, there are news reports of ‘Empty Men’ materialising all around the coast, and the roads are gridlocked. The Empty Men are killers, and they’re heading inland.

Mark lives next door to Freya. When her husband dies tragically, he determines to be her saviour, come what may. Whether that means walking the dog, minding the house or taking her on day trips. However, her neighbours on the other side keep getting in the way, as do her two lumpen brothers-in-law....  

A nurse sits by herself in the hospital cafeteria. A businessman misses his train. These two young strangers are destined to meet, if the job is done right. Three onlookers play cupid in this romantic story, told from afar.

Jeremy Summers, a British banker with a secret that could reveal MI6 intelligence sources involved in the war against drug-funded terrorism, has been seized at gunpoint, in broad daylight, on the streets of west London. An old contact, Raglan - an Englishman who served in the French Foreign Legion - is on his trail. Raglan's pursuit will lead him to the winter-ravaged wasteland of a remote Russian penal colony. A place that holds Russia's most brutal murderers. A place of death and retribution. How will he get in? More importantly, how will he get out...alive?

Shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year Arrest Me, for I Have Run Away is a stunning short story collection on human nature and identity. Stevie Davies' latest work, it is bound to captivate and charm the listener.

Hugh Bradecote does not want his betrothed heading off on pilgrimage to the shrine of St Eadgyth at Polesworth, but the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy and his entourage of monks seem Heaven sent as escorts, right up until they are captured by a renegade who wants his forger out of the lord Sheriff's cells; a renegade who loathes the Benedictines and kills for pleasure. 

Sebastian has long been haunted by the disappearance of his father, Jack Messenger: celebrated travel writer, potential spy and murder victim, his absent presence and equivocal past continue to cast inescapable shadows over his son, who must also contend with his ageing mother's fragmented memory and his own dereliction of a partner. So who is the stranger that buttonholes Sebastian at an academic conference on the Welsh coast, and reveals lies and transgressions neither outgrown nor comprehended? How does he know Sebastian, and what are his connections to Jack Messenger?

It's 1983 in Thatcher's Britain. Alec Johnston has left his comfortable family home in Cardiff and taken a flat with bikers Minto, Stobes and Black. There he meets Sindy, Minto’s strange and vulnerable young girlfriend. When she starts to view Alec as a possible saviour from her abusive relationship, it earns Alec a big target on his back. Hide takes us on a dark, unsettling journey: one that begins in a small town in Wales and continues through the vast Australian outback. As the threats get closer, Alec fears this is one journey from which he may never return. 

On a bright Sunday morning in Hawaii, Japanese planes swoop down and attack the US naval base at Pearl Harbour. America enters the war and Britain no longer stands alone against Hitler. The country can dare to hope again, although a long hard struggle still clearly lies ahead. Conditions on the home front remain bleak, and for Scotland Yard detective Frank Merlin, life is as arduous as ever. 

Over a century after Cézanne’s death his art still obsesses and enraptures. And for the characters in this multifaceted novel, the painter’s work is of crucial significance. In Hong Kong, will billionaire art collector Walter and his son ever be reconciled? In Liverpool, will artist Nick find peace? In New York, can Joel and Sophie mend their relationship with the help of Cézanne’s work in the Metropolitan Museum? Through these multiple narratives Michael Langan deftly explores human relationships and asks: can art ever save us?

Archaeologist Clare Hills is struggling to finance her recently established university research institute along with her long-time friend, Dr David Barbrook. When Professor Margaret Bockford finds the Hart Unit work with a housing developer in the Cotswolds, the pair are hardly in a position to refuse. There is just one catch: the previous site director, Beth Kinsella, was found hanged on-site, surrounded by mutilated wildlife. 

On a deserted road in Calabria, Greek aid worker Anastasia Cristakos is driving alone to visit one of the new refugee centres funded by billionaire Denis Hisami, whom she has recently married. She slows down to greet two African migrants she recognises. Too late she realises they are not her friends. This is an ambush. She manages a desperate phone call to Hisami before her Mafia kidnappers silence her with a powerful drug. Hours later she wakes up in the pitch dark on a container ship powering eastwards across the Mediterranean.