Jackdaws
Summary
It is May, 1944: a time of international tension in which nothing is certain. Two weeks before D-Day, the French Resistance attack a chateau containing a telephone exchange vital to German communications. But the building is heavily guarded, and the attack fails disastrously. Flick Clairet, a young British secret agent, proposes a daring new plan: she will parachute into France with an all-woman team known as the "Jackdaws", and they will penetrate the chateau in disguise. But, unknown to Flick, Rommel has assigned a brilliant, ruthless Intelligence colonel, Dieter Franck, to crush the Resistance. And Dieter is on Flick's trail.
©Ken Follett; (P)Macmillan Publishers Ltd
Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition
Summary
The go-to resource - now fully revised and updated - for building a healthy body image and making peace with food, once and for all. When it was first published, Intuitive Eating was revolutionary in its anti-dieting approach. The authors, both prominent health professionals in the field of nutrition and eating disorders, urge listeners to embrace the goal of developing body positivity and reconnecting with oneâs internal wisdom about eating - to unlearn everything they were taught about calorie-counting and other aspects of diet culture and to learn about the harm of weight stigma. Today, their message is more relevant and pressing than ever. With this updated edition of the classic best seller, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch teach listeners how to: Follow the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating to achieve a new and trusting relationship with food Fight against diet culture and reject diet mentality forever Find satisfaction in their food choices Exercise kindness toward their feelings, their bodies, and themselves Prevent or heal the wounds of an eating disorder Respect their bodies and make peace with food - at any age, weight, or stage of development Follow body positive feeds for inspiration and validation â¦and more easy-to-follow suggestions that can lead listeners to integrate Intuitive Eating into their everyday lives and feel the freedom that comes with trusting their inner wisdom - for life. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©1995 Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, FAND (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Summary
Bridget Jones, the iconic character who sold 15 million books worldwide, inspired a major motion picture franchise, and became beloved as a Chardonnay-swilling everywoman, is back in this hotly anticipated third installment. Set in contemporary London, the new novel brings us Bridget in a new phase of life.
©2013 Helen Fielding (P)2013 Random House
Don't You Forget About Me
Summary
You always remember your first love. Don't you? It began with four words. I love your laugh. x But that was 12 years ago. It really began the day Georgina was fired from The Worst Restaurant in Sheffield (TripAdvisor) and found The Worst Boyfriend in the World (Georgina's best friends) in bed with someone else. So when her new boss, Lucas McCarthy, turns out to be the boy who wrote those words to her all that time ago, it feels like the start of something. The only problem? He doesn't seem to remember Georgina at all.
©2019 Mhairi McFarlane (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Audible Theatre Collection: Oedipus
Summary
The three Theban plays by Sophocles - Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone - are great landmarks of Western theatre. They tell the story of Oedipus, King of Thebes, who was destined to suffer a terrible fate - to kill his father, marry his mother, and beget children of the incestuous union. He does this unknowingly but still has to suffer terrible consequences, which also tragically affect the next generation. These three plays were written around 450 BC, with the playwright following the established convention of presenting the story through main characters but using a chorus - sometimes one voice, sometimes more - as an independent commentator that also occasionally participates in the drama. When the audiences of ancient Athens went to the amphitheatres to see the plays, they would have known the basic story of poor Oedipus. Nevertheless, the power of Sophocles' retelling made the Theban plays deeply horrifying and affecting - and this is still true now, some 2,500 years later. There is also a strong contemporary resonance for us, for in the 20th century the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud famously adopted the story to illustrate his Oedipus complex, which, he argued, was a condition of the unconscious mind in boys - that they want to sleep with their mothers. It is interesting that through the character of the queen, Jocasta, in Oedipus the King, Sophocles states this unequivocally. Oedipus the King is well known. The other two are less so: Oedipus at Colonus, which deals with his last days, and Antigone, which casts the spotlight on his daughter, who, as part of the accursed bloodline, chooses to act in a way she believes is right, whatever the consequences. Yet they are equally powerful and moving. This audio production, with Jamie Glover as Oedipus and Hayley Atwell as his daughter, Antigone, is a world premiere audio recording of all three plays. With the authoritative but modern translation by Ian Johnston, specially commissioned new music from the English composer Roger Marsh, and a cast of outstanding actors, this Audible Original presentation of Sophocles' Theban plays will be listened to not once but many times. This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all 3 episodes to your Library now.
©2016 Audible, Ltd. (P)2016 Audible, Ltd.
Magpie Murders
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of Moriarty and Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery. When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the best-selling crime writer for years, she's intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan's traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job. Conway's latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she's convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder. Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the listener becomes the detective.
©2017 Stormbreaker Productions Ltd. (P)2017 Orion UK
Audible Theatre Collection: Chekhov
Summary
Despite his early death from tuberculosis at the age of 44, Chekhov was a prolific writer and produced more than 250 short stories in addition to several novellas and a novel. The Russian was also a practicing doctor. A celebrated playwright, Anton Chekhov is often recognised as an influential figure of early modernism of the theatre in addition to being held in high esteem by the likes of George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf, although much praise was not as forthcoming until after his death in 1904. This collection features three plays. Dark comedy The Seagull, is the first of what are considered his 'major plays'. Three Sisters tells the story of a trio of sisters lonely after their father dies and The Cherry Orchard has a dual comedy and tragedy narrative. The Seagull Written in 1895 and a master class in the art and power of subtext, The Seagull follows the romantic and artistic conflicts between its four main characters, all dissatisfied with life. Some desire love. Some desire success. Some desire artistic genius. No one seems able to attain happiness. Tragic and often darkly comic, The Seagull is a timeless classic and an early exercise in addressing the pitfalls of depression and lack of satisfaction in life and purpose. Full cast: Samantha Bond, Catrin Stewart, Freddie Fox, Anthony Howell, Katherine Kingsley, John Rowe, Rachel Atkins, Hugh Ross, Nick Boulton, Stephen Critchlow. Three Sisters After the death of their father, his three daughters find it very hard to live in a drab Russian provincial town. The presence of a company of army officers is the only thing that makes their existence bearable, though inevitable drama, competition and failure lead to confusion and pain, as life doesn't turn out quite to plan for the sisters. Full cast: Samatha Bond, Freddie Fox, Katherine Kingsley, Alison Pettitt, Catrin Stewart, Clare Corbett, Nick Boulton, Stephen Critchlow, Anthony Howell, Richard Reed, Hugh Ross, John Rowe. The Cherry Orchard In Chekhov's last play, a widowed landowner returns home more or less insolvent after five years abroad. Everything appears just as she remembers it, but hers is a diminishing world. The vast and beautiful cherry orchard is soon to be sold off against her mounting debts. The insistent warnings of a peasant's son turned wealthy businessman go unheeded, and more than the family estate is sacrificed. Full cast: Samatha Bond, Freddie Fox, Hugh Ross, Georgie Grier, Clare Corbett, Richard Reed, Stephen Critchlow, Katherine Kingsley, Nick Boulton, Anthony Howell, Alison Pettitt, John Rowe. This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all 3 episodes to your Library now.
Public Domain (P)2016 Audible, Ltd.
Black Beauty
Summary
Framed as a first-person narrative from the eponymous horse, this much-loved family classic follows Black Beauty's journey from a well-born colt to a painfully overworked cab horse. Brimming with vivid detail and relatable characters, each chapter of Black Beauty's long and varied life communicates an important message about kindness, sympathy and understanding. Following the success of the double Audie award-winning Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book: The Mowgli Stories, Audible Originals UK are excited to announce this reimagination of Sewell's unique concept as an animal-based audio drama for all the family. Black Beauty features lead performances from Samuel West (BAFTA nominated; Mr Selfridge, Howards End), Samantha Bond (SAG nominated; Downton Abbey, James Bond), Paul Thornley (Harry Potter & the Cursed Child, Les Misérables) and Tamzin Outhwaite (EastEnders, Great Expectations, Foyle's War) as well as the original theme music 'Galloping Home' by Denis King.
Public Domain (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde
Summary
Here is a collection of the Oscar Wilde's famous fairy tales, read by a cast of leading British actors. Additional narrators include Geoffrey Palmer O.B.E., Sir Donald Sinden, and Elaine Stritch. Music: 'Reverie De Sebastian' by Steve Davies.
©2010 WHITEROOM MUSIC LTD (P)2010 WHITEROOM MUSIC LTD
Love in Recovery: Series 1 & 2
Summary
Sue Johnston, John Hannah and Eddie Marsan are among the stars of this spellbinding, hilarious and uplifting comedy drama. Set entirely at a series of weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, these 13 episodes also feature Rebecca Front, Paul Kaye, Julia Deakin and Samantha Bond.
Love in Recovery follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Eddie Marsan is Andy, the sweet but simple group leader. Sue Johnston is Julie, who's been known to have the odd relapse here and there - and everywhere. John Hannah is Simon, a snide journalist with a big secret. Rebecca Front is the snobby and guarded Fiona, who used to be a banker who had it all and then lost the lot. Paul Kaye is Danno, a dodgy geezer with no front teeth but a lot of heart.
During the course of two series and a special Christmas episode, we hear them get to know each other, get on each other's nerves, laugh, argue, fall apart, fall in love and, most importantly, tell their stories.
Written and created by Pete Jackson, Love in Recovery is inspired by his own road to recovery.
©2016 Pete Jackson (P)2016 BBC Worldwide Ltd.
Love's Labor's Lost: The Arkangel Shakespeare
Summary
A play replete with puns and double-entendres, this is one of Shakespeare's earliest and most lighthearted. The young king of Navarre and three of his courtiers have vowed to lock themselves away for three years of study and fasting, and to forswear the company of women for this period. No sooner is their vow made than it is tested, however, as the princess of France and three of her ladies arrive in Navarre on a diplomatic mission. The young men fall instantly and hopelessly in love, and the tension between their vow and their passion forms the subject of this charming and sparkling early comedy. Berowne is played by Alex Jennings and Rosaline by Emma Fielding. Samantha Bond is the princess, and Greg Wise the king of Navarre. Alan Howard plays Don Armado.
Public Domain (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Lollipop Shoes
Summary
Seeking refuge and anonymity in the cobbled streets of Montmartre, Yanne and her daughters, Rosette and Annie, live peacefully, if not happily, above their little chocolate shop. Nothing unusual marks them out; no red sachets hang by the door. The wind has stopped, at least for a while. Then into their lives blows Zozie de l'Alba, the lady with the lollipop shoes, and everything begins to change. But this new friendship is not what it seems. Ruthless, devious, and seductive, Zozie de l'Alba has plans of her own, plans that will shake their world to pieces. And with everything she loves at stake, Yanne must face a difficult choice: to flee, as she has done so many times before, or to confront her most dangerous enemy...herself.
©2007 Frogspawn Ltd (P)2007 Corgi Audiobooks
The Constant Princess
Summary
As a little girl Katherine of Aragon was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Henry VII of England, and was raised in the palace of the Alhambra, knowing that she would be queen of England.   In 1501, the teenage Spanish princess arrives in her new kingdom, but the future is turned upside down with the death of her handsome young husband - only six months after the wedding.   Transformed from beloved bride to superfluous widow, Katherine endures hardship and loneliness as the Tudor court slowly squeezes her out of royal circles. But Katherine never forgets her promise to her young husband that she would be a good Queen of England; and Katherine is determined not to fail, even if it means the greatest lie in English royal history.... With an exclusive afterword written and read by Philippa Gregory, exploring the inspiration behind The Constant Princess. Â
©2005 Philippa Gregory (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, London UK
Jump!
Summary
Etta Bancroft - sweet, kind, still beautiful - adores racing and harbours a crush on one of its stars, the handsome high-handed owner-trainer Rupert Campbell-Black. When her bullying husband dies, Ettaâs selfish, ambitious children drag her from her lovely Dorset house to live in a hideous modern bungalow in the Cotswold village of Willowwood and to act as an unpaid Nanny to their children. Her neighbour, powerful tycoon and ex-footballer Valent Edwards, has bought the big house next door. One night Etta finds a horribly mutilated filly in the snow in Valentâs woods and persuades the outraged Valent to take her in. Miraculously she pulls through and, by now called Mrs Wilkinson, captivates everyone in the village. DNA Tests reveal her to be a spectacularly well-bred racehorse. After a nail-biting court case, Mrs Wilkinson is awarded to Etta, thus ensuring the lasting and vengeful enmity of her evil former trainer and owner. Etta forms a village syndicate to put the filly into training. The syndicate is a riotous mix of village characters, which set off to the races in a minibus clanking with bottles. From wild parties at Newbury and Ludlow, to an overnight of musical beds at Stratford, to the thrills and spills of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, one fling leads to another and another. Mrs Wilkinson become a star â nicknamed âthe Peopleâs Ponyâ, she is beloved by the crowds as she progresses from point-to-points to the major meetings and brings fame and fortune to the syndicate. After her terrible injuries she will only run for a female jockey, giving the delectable Amber Lloyd-Foxe, Rupertâs god-daughter, her big breakthrough in the manâs world of jump racing. But Etta is horrified when Valent cooks up a plot with Rupert to enter Mrs Wilkinson for the Grand National. Can she be the first mare in thirty years, and Amber the first woman ever, to conquer this mighty race? In JUMP! you will meet rich capricious owners, obsessive trainers and gallant stable lads and lasses; you will get to know the tough, brave jockeys; and you will fall in love with the horses, and above all with Mrs Wilkinson herself - hilarious , heroic and so gutsy she will gallop into your heart forever.
©2010 Jilly Cooper (P)2010 Random House Audio
That Woman
Summary
Here is the first full-scale biography of Wallis Simpson to be written by a woman, exploring the mind of one of the most glamorous and reviled figures of the 20th century, a character who figured prominently in the blockbuster film The Kingâs Speech. This is the story of the American divorcée notorious for allegedly seducing a British king off his throne. "That woman", so called by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was born Bessie Wallis Warfield in 1896 in Baltimore. Neither beautiful nor brilliant, she endured an impoverished childhood, which fostered in her a burning desire to rise above her circumstances. Acclaimed biographer Anne Sebba offers an eye-opening account of one of the most talked about women of her generation. It explores the obsessive nature of Simpsonâs relationship with Prince Edward, the suggestion that she may have had a disorder of sexual development, and new evidence showing she may never have wanted to marry Edward at all. Since her death, Simpson has become a symbol of female empowerment as well as a style icon. But her psychology remains an enigma. Drawing from interviews and newly discovered letters, That Woman shines a light on this captivating and complex figure, an object of fascination who has only grown more compelling with the years.
©2011 Anne Sebba (P)2012 Orion Publishing Group Ltd
The Creakers (Musical Edition)
Summary
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Creakers: The Musical Edition, by Tom Fletcher. This new edition is read by Tom Fletcher and Samantha Bond with original songs by Tom Fletcher. The music is performed by Tom Fletcher and Carrie Hope Fletcher and Chapter 13. What would you do if you woke up to find all the grown-ups had disappeared? If you're like Lucy Dungston, you'll do anything to get to the bottom of it.  With no grown-ups, chaos descends on Lucy's town. Kids are running wild, building roads of trampolines and eating cereal for every meal - but Lucy wants her mum back, and nothing is going to stop her.  Not even the monsters who live in the upside-down world beneath her bed.... Tom Fletcher's best-selling story is packed with fun songs that brings a new level of creepy, spooky and disgusting fun to the story, perfect for kids to listen to independently or together with a grown-up!Â
©2019 Tom Fletcher and Shane Devries (P)2019 Penguin Books Ltd
An Unsuitable Match
Summary
An Unsuitable Match, by number one best-selling author Joanna Trollope, is an uplifting story of love, family and second chances. Dealing with one's own emotions is one thing. Facing a parent's roller coaster of a love life is quite another.... Rose Woodrowe is getting married to Tyler Masson - a wonderful, sensitive man who is head over heels in love with her. The only problem? This isn't the first time for either of them, and their five grown-up children have strong opinions on the matter.... Who to listen to? Who to please? Rose and Tyler are determined to get it right this time, but in trying to make everyone happy, can they ever be happy themselves?
©2018 Joanna Trollope (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio
Amy's View (Classic Radio Theatre)
Summary
Judi Dench, Samantha Bond and Ronald Pickup star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast drama from 2000 - which features many of the original West End and Broadway stage cast.
Esme Allen is a middle-aged West End actor and is in control of her life: sheâs financially secure and successful. However, Amy, her grown-up daughter is pregnant by Dominic, an ambitious media-man who believes that theatre is dead. Esme and Dominic, unsurprisingly, loathe each other. But this leaves Amy - whose âviewâ is that love conquers all - right in the middle of things. Then Dominicâs star begins to rise, just as Esme starts to lose everything: the comforts of home, money. Even her daughter, Amy...Among the star cast in this recording are Dame Judi Dench, who won a Tony Award for her Broadway performance in âAmyâs Viewâ and Samantha Bond (BBC TVâs âOutnumberedâ and Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films).The Classic Radio Theatre range presents notable radio productions of much-loved plays by some of the most renowned playwrights, and starring some of our finest actors.
©2000 David Hare (P)2011 AudioGO Ltd
A Woman's War
Summary
In Britain's darkest hour, an extraordinary community of women strives to protect the Home Front.
©2019 Simon Block (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd