Showing results by narrator "David Rintoul" in All Categories

Patrick O’Brian is acclaimed as one of the greatest historical novelists of the twentieth century, celebrated throughout the world for his masterful roman fleuve, the Aubrey‒Maturin series. But he was also a prolific writer of short stories, and it is in this form that he first made his mark. Encompassing stories written in his unvarnished youth to tales told by a seasoned traveller, this is the most comprehensive collection of O’Brian’s short fiction ever published. It is a treasure chest, containing more than sixty tales, including rarities, uncollected works, and forgotten jewels.

Nathaniel Starbuck is a rebel, a young Yankee fighting for the South against the North in the American Civil War. It is the summer of 1861 when Nate arrives in Richmond, Virginia, suddenly to be rescued from a lynch mob by Washington Faulconer, who is raising his own Legion in the interests of the Confederacy.

The year is 2070. Reclusive prodigy Memphis Garrick turned tragedy into a tech empire. Heading up the ultimate immersive experience not only brings him worldwide success, it allows him to visit the family he lost during childhood. But when a tyrant from a parallel universe hacks his virtual paradise and merges it with reality, Memphis is loaded into a battle to stop the coded spread of terror. Plunged into an archaic Tudor world, Memphis partners with an enigmatic beauty to reverse the cruel program turning their fear into fuel.

In his final novel, Sick Heart River, John Buchan predicted that with the outbreak of a second world war Richard Hannay and all his companions of old would be going back into action. In The Thirty-One Kings, the tale of their adventures is finally told. June 1940. As German troops pour across France, the veteran soldier and adventurer Richard Hannay is called back into service. In Paris an agent, codenamed 'Roland', has disappeared and is assumed to be in the hands of the Nazis.

A mysterious homicide case leads to Constable Karl Guber to seek out psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud for the first time. The daughter of the director of the Wiener Burgtheater has been murdered under gruesome circumstances: the corpse has been drained of all its blood. Detective Gruber suspects that a vampire is on the loose in Vienna.

When Derek and his partner Maggie decide to escape to the country, they don’t opt for the simple life. Instead they set about converting an old Cotswold stables in Stow-on-the-Wold into their dream home. Over the next two years, they wage guerrilla war on the Planning Office, are cursed by everything from collapsing walls to poison gas, run out of money, and meet some very strange characters - till in its final stages of construction, the place unaccountably floods.

The battle for control of Richmond, the Confederate capital, continues through the hot summer of 1862. Captain Nate Starbuck, a Yankee fighting for the Southern cause, has to survive and win with his ragged Company in the bitter struggle not only against the formidable Northern army, but equally in opposition to his own superiors who would like nothing better than to see Nate Starbuck dead and dishonoured.

Bob Harris first became known as the face of the 1970s live music TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test and his infectious enthusiasm for music and ability to discover new talent has seen him become a national treasure. He continues to be a household name today and his velvety voice can be heard on Radio 2's The Bob Harris Show and Bob Harris Country. In this fully revised and updated autobiography, with a forward by Robert Plant, Bob tells his story of over 40 years of broadcasting.

During his lifetime, world renowned psychiatrist and Auschwitz survivor Viktor Frankl had an unshakably optimistic outlook on life. He believed that regardless of circumstance, we can all find meaning and fulfilment in our lives, even in the face of great adversity. But how much influence do we have on shaping our own lives? How do we seize opportunities and create a meaningful life? And in doing so, can we still respect the dignity of others and tolerate all views?

London chiropractor David “Stitch” Stichell is desperate to hold onto his adopted daughter. Already struggling with deteriorating health, his heart breaks when her birth father returns to take her away. But his life spirals into chaos when the other man is suddenly murdered. As his experimental cancer treatment mysteriously self-destructs, the people around Stitch start dying - leaving him as the prime suspect.

Harry Caldecote is the most charming man you'll ever meet, a convivial academic who devotes his life to others. He is on call when his alcoholic niece falls into strange hands, when his brother threatens to emulate Wordsworth, when his son's lesbian lodger is beaten up by her girlfriend. He endures misplaced seductions, swindles and aggressive dogs just to keep the peace at the King's pub in Shepherd's Hill.

It is said that a picture may be worth a thousand words, but an old photograph can inspire many more. In this beguiling book, Alexander McCall Smith casts his eye over five chanced-upon photographs from the era of black-and-white photography and imagines the stories behind them. Who were those people, what were their stories, why were they smiling, what made them sad? What emerges are surprising and poignant tales of love and friendship in a variety of settings.

A Moment of Grace is the searing, tender account of Patrick’s life with Nicola and her illness, and his life after her loss. But it is more than a story of illness and unbearable grief: it is a book of memory, of home, of family. It is a tale of the transfiguring power of love. Heartbreaking, life-affirming and truly unforgettable, A Moment of Grace is one man’s journey to find life after his wife’s death.

Hame, n. Scottish form of 'home': a valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin. In the wake of the breakdown of her relationship, Mhairi McPhail dismantles her life in New York and moves with her nine-year-old daughter, Agnes, to the remote Scottish island of Fascaray. Mhairi has been commissioned to write a biography of the late Bard of Fascaray, Grigor McWatt, a cantankerous poet with an international reputation. But who was Grigor McWatt?

Sigmund Freud is suspected of having raped one of his patients. The young woman is in a vegetative state and unable to communicate. The Public Prosecutor investigates Freud, and there is no shortage of witnesses willing to testify against the Professor. Anna starts to suspect that her father is the victim of a conspiracy.

Shots echo through Vienna's streets at dawn. A sniper has holed up in a church tower and threatens to shoot anyone who dares to show themselves on the square below. Constable Karl Gruber can persuade Freud to help him find a diplomatic solution to the situation. Under time pressure and against strong resistance from Karl's police colleagues, Freud negotiates with the man who - just like Karl - fought in the front lines in World War I.

William Topaz McGonagall is widely renowned as one of the world's worst-ever published poets. Yet his discordant muse is hugely popular all over the world - no less a figure than Spike Milligan was obsessed with him. But how do we account for this morbid fascination with verse of little or no discernible merit whatsoever?

Gunder Jomann, a quiet, middle-aged man from a peaceful Norwegian community, thinks his life has been made complete when he returns from a trip to India a married man. But on the day his Indian bride is due to join him, he is called to the hospital to his sister's bedside. The local taxi driver sent instead to meet the bride at the airport returns without her. Then the town is shocked by the news of an Indian woman found bludgeoned to death in a nearby meadow.

Amidst strikes, conflicts and untold hardships, the Italian prisoners of war sent to a tiny Orkney island during World War Two create a monument to the human spirit’s ability to lift itself above great adversity. One artist falls in love with a local Orkney woman and leaves a token of his love in the chapel. It is still there today and, until now, no-one has ever known its true meaning.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell lead the three Darling children over the rooftops of London and away to Neverland - the island where the lost boys play. Magic and mischief is in the air, but if villainous Captain Hook has his way, before long someone will be swimming with the crocodiles.