Laurence Kennedy has narrated 13 audiobooks on Listento.it by 8 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 175 ratings. The most-rated is A Ladder to the Sky.
A Ladder to the Sky
Summary
"A satire of writerly ambition wrapped in a psychological thriller... An homage to Patricia Highsmith, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe, but its execution is entirely Boyne’s own." (Ron Charles, The Washington Post) Named one of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post and Minneapolis Star Tribune Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent - but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful - but desperately lonely - older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel. Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall.... Sweeping across the late 20th century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso. Praise for A Ladder to the Sky "Boyne's mastery of perspective, last seen in The Heart's Invisible Furies, works beautifully here.... Boyne understands that it's far more interesting and satisfying for a reader to see that narcissist in action than to be told a catchall phrase. Each step Maurice Swift takes skyward reveals a new layer of calumny he's willing to engage in, and the desperation behind it...so dark it seems almost impossible to enjoy reading A Ladder to the Sky as much as you definitely will enjoy reading it." (NPR) "Delicious...spins out over several decades with thrilling unpredictability, following Maurice as he masters the art of co-opting the stories of others in increasingly dubious ways. And while the book reads as a thriller with a body count that would make Highsmith proud, it is also an exploration of morality and art: Where is the line between inspiration and thievery? To whom does a story belong?" (Vanity Fair)
©2018 John Boyne (P)2018 Random House Audio
This Time Next Year
Summary
Instant New York Times Best Seller A Good Morning America Book Club Pick Their lives began together, but their worlds couldn't be more different. After 30 years of missed connections, they're about to meet again.... Minnie Cooper knows two things with certainty: that her New Year's birthday is unlucky, and that it's all because of Quinn Hamilton, a man she's never met. Their mothers gave birth to them at the same hospital just after midnight on New Year's Day, but Quinn was given the cash prize for being the first baby born in London in 1990 - and the name Minnie was meant to have, as well. With luck like that, it's no wonder each of her birthdays has been more of a disaster than the one before. When Minnie unexpectedly runs into Quinn at a New Year's party on their mutual 30th birthday, she sees only more evidence that fortune has continued to favor him. The gorgeous, charming business owner truly seems to have it all - while Minnie's on the brink of losing her pie-making company and her home. But if Quinn and Minnie are from different worlds, why do they keep bumping into each other? And why is it that each fraught encounter leaves them both wanting more? A moving, joyful love story, This Time Next Year explores the way fate leads us to the people we least expect - no matter what the odds.
©2020 Sophie Cousens (P)2020 Penguin Audio
The Secret World
Summary
The history of espionage is far older than any of today's intelligence agencies, yet the long history of intelligence operations has been largely forgotten. The codebreakers at Bletchley Park, the most successful World War II intelligence agency, were completely unaware that their predecessors in earlier moments of national crisis had broken the codes of Napoleon during the Napoleonic wars and those of Spain before the Spanish Armada. Those who do not understand past mistakes are likely to repeat them. Intelligence is a prime example. At the outbreak of World War I, the grasp of intelligence shown by US President Woodrow Wilson and British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was not in the same class as that of George Washington during the Revolutionary War and leading 18th-century British statesmen. In this book, distinguished historian Christopher Andrew recovers much of the lost intelligence history of the past three millennia - and shows its relevance today.
©2018 Christopher Andrew (P)2018 Audible, Ltd
The Socratic Dialogues Middle Period, Volume 2
Summary
The remarkable range of Plato's Dialogues is vividly demonstrated by these three works. It opens with Phaedrus, a highly personal discussion between Socrates (David Rintoul) and the young, love-struck Phaedrus (Gunnar Cauthery). They go for a walk outside the walls of Athens and, under a plane tree by the banks of the Ilissus, talk about love - erotic and 'Platonic'. Socrates endeavours to steer Phaedrus away from infatuation and show him that real love is based on concern for the beloved while also delivering a pointed criticism against lack of clarity in thought and expression! The subject of Cratylus is the meaning and etymology of names and words - a Dialogue unlike any other. Why is Zeus called Zeus? What is the origin of the names of Pallas Athene, Poseidon, Uranus? And how did psuche come to mean 'soul' and soma body? Attic Greek, the Greek of Plato's day, is prominent here, and care has been taken in the appropriate pronunciation for this recording. Finally, there is Parmenides, often regarded as the most challenging of all the Dialogues. Cephalus (Laurence Kennedy) repeats a discussion he heard between Socrates, Zeno and Parmenides as Socrates defends pluralist views and the theory of forms against monism. Translation by Benjamin Jowett.
Public Domain (P)2017 Ukemi Productions Ltd
The Laws
Summary
The Laws is the longest of Plato’s Dialogues and actually doesn’t feature Socrates at all - the principal figure taking the lead is the ‘Athenian Stranger’ who engages two older men in the discussion, Cleinias (from Crete) and Megillus (from Sparta). The Dialogue is set in Crete, and the three men embark on a pilgrimage from Knossus to the cave of Dicte, where, legend reports, Zeus was born. The topic under examination is the making of laws appropriate for a well-ordered city: having considered this in The Republic many years earlier, Plato is now taking a less idealistic view and presenting more practical and earthbound proposals, based on law rather than the philosopher-king. It is significant that each of the participants comes from a city with a different system of government: a democracy (Athenian Stranger), a monarchy (Crete) and an oligarchy (Sparta). The Laws is divided into 12 books. Though Socrates is not involved, it can be counted a Socratic Dialogue in terms of form and structure. The Athenian Stranger is played by Laurence Kennedy, with Hayward Morse as Cleinias and Sam Dale as Megillus. The translation is by Benjamin Jowett.
Public Domain (P)2018 Ukemi Productions Ltd
Arabian Sands
Summary
Arabian Sands is Wilfred Thesiger’s stunning account of five years spent crossing the Arabian Peninsula by foot and on camels, with nomadic Bedouin tribesmen as guides. Travelling between 1945 and 1950, the British explorer treks through Yemen, the Empty Quarter, Oman, and parts of the then Trucial States, crossing and re-crossing around 250,000 miles of this most inhospitable terrain. He was the first European ever to set eyes on the dunes and wadis of these deserts. Faced with constant challenges and trials beneath the punishing sun, his journey is also spiritual and enriching, as it requires the utmost courage, patience, generosity, and humor. In clear and evocative prose, Thesiger documents a journey of unimaginable hardship and startling beauty, as well as a time, place, and people on the cusp of change. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©1959 Wilfred Thesiger (P)2018 Naxos AudioBooks
The Testimony of the Hanged Man
Summary
Victorian London is brought vividly to life in Ann Granger's fifth historical crime novel to feature Scotland Yard's Inspector Ben Ross and his wife, Lizzie. A hanged man would say anything to save his life. But what if his testimony is true? When Inspector Ben Ross is called to Newgate Prison by a man condemned to die by the hangman's noose, he isn't expecting to give any credence to the man's testimony. But the account of a murder he witnessed over 17 years ago is so utterly believeable that Ben can't help wondering if what he's heard is true. It's too late to save the man's life, but it's not too late to investigate a murder that has gone undetected for all these years.
©2014 Ann Granger (P)2014 Headline Digital
Secrets of the Last Nazi
Summary
The greatest discovery of the 20th century. Kept secret. Until now. Berlin, 2015 - a well-connected SS commander is found dead, having protected the last secret of the Nazi empire for 70 years. A discovery by Nazi scientists so potent it could change the balance of world power - forever. Led by misfit military historian Myles Munro, an international team begin to piece together the complex puzzle left by SS Captain Werner Stolz. As their hunt across Europe gathers pace, the brutal killing of one of the group signals that they are not the only ones chasing the answer. Plunged into a world of international espionage, Myles has only his intellect and instincts to keep him alive. As the team edge closer to an explosive truth, it becomes clear to him that there is a traitor amongst them. Who can Myles trust? And can he unravel the clues of the past in time to save the future?
©2015 Iain King (P)2015 Audible, Ltd.
A Better Quality of Murder
Summary
London, 1867. As Inspector Ben Ross of Scotland Yard walks homeward one Saturday night, the fog that swirls around him is like a living beast. After it has lifted a woman lies murdered in Green Park. Allegra Benedict was the beautiful Italian wife of an art dealer. As Ben begins his investigation, his wife Lizzie looks into Allegra's private life and uncovers more than one reason why someone might want her dead...
©2010 Ann Granger (P)2012 W F Howes Ltd
A Particular Eye for Villainy
Summary
When Mr Thomas Tapley, a respectable but down-at-heel gentleman, is found bludgeoned to death in his sitting room, his neighbour Inspector Benjamin Ross of Scotland Yard rushes to the scene. Little is known about the elusive man until his cousin, Mr Jonathan Tapley, QC, comes forward and exposes the truth of Thomas’s tragic past. As the list of suspects begins to mount, Ben can't help wondering how much of the truth is really being revealed....
©2012 Ann Granger (P)2012 W F Howes Ltd
A Mortal Curiosity
Summary
Lizzie Martin, lady's companion, has been sent from London to the New Forest to comfort a young woman whose baby has tragically died. A sad enough task, but things take an even darker turn when a rat-catcher is found murdered, and the young woman is discovered beside the body, crying and covered in blood. Not knowing where else to turn, Lizzie calls upon her friend Inspector Ben Ross to solve the horrific crime.
©2008 Ann Granger (P)2011 W F Howes Ltd
The Marsh Arabs
Summary
For a period of seven years, Wilfred Thesiger canoed through the marshes at the confluence of Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates rivers, living among the native Madan tribes and their islands made of reeds. Now extinct, their ancient way of life is speculated to have existed for 5,000 years, going back to the days of ancient Sumer, and possessed a unique culture found nowhere else in the Middle East. Thesiger documents the tribes' conflicts, traditions, cuisine, relationships, justice systems, and art, and reveals how they built their unique water-borne society, with its beautiful canoes (taradas) and stately guest houses (mudhifs) - it is a remarkable familiarity gained through Thesiger's innate understanding of tribal ritual and etiquette, and the trust he earned through the use of a basic medical supply kit that he brought along with him. Poetic and immersing, The Marsh Arabs brings alive the sights, sounds, and smells of the marshes, and a culture that has now vanished forever. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©1964 Wilfred Thesiger (P)2019 Naxos Audiobooks
The Silk Roads
Summary
“This is history on a grand scale, with a sweep and ambition that is rare... A proper historical epic of dazzling range and achievement.” (William Dalrymple, The Guardian) The epic history of the crossroads of the world - the meeting place of East and West and the birthplace of civilization It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures, and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the 20th century - this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East. Peter Frankopan realigns our understanding of the world, pointing us eastward. He vividly re-creates the emergence of the first cities in Mesopotamia and the birth of empires in Persia, Rome, and Constantinople, as well as the depredations by the Mongols, the transmission of the Black Death, and the violent struggles over Western imperialism. Throughout the millennia, it was the appetite for foreign goods that brought East and West together, driving economies and the growth of nations. From the Middle East and its political instability to China and its economic rise, the vast region stretching eastward from the Balkans across the steppe and South Asia has been thrust into the global spotlight in recent years. Frankopan teaches us that to understand what is at stake for the cities and nations built on these intricate trade routes, we must first understand their astounding pasts. Far more than a history of the Silk Roads, this book is truly a revelatory new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come from and where we are headed next.
©2016 Peter Frankopan (P)2021 Random House Audio