Showing results by narrator "Ric Jerrom" in All Categories

Every generation has looked up from the Earth and wondered at the beauty of the moon. 50 years ago, a few Americans became the first to do the reverse - with the whole world watching through their eyes. In this short but wide-ranging book, Oliver Morton explores the history and future of humankind's relationship with the moon. A counterpoint in the sky, it has shaped our understanding of the Earth from Galileo to Apollo. Its gentle light has spoken of love and loneliness; its battered surface of death and the cosmic.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa was one of Japan’s great writers - author of the stories Rashomon and In a Bamboo Grove, most famously - who lived through Japan’s turbulent Taisho period of 1912 to 1926, including the devastating 1923 Earthquake, only to take his own life at the age of just 34 in 1927. These are the stories of Patient X in one of our iron castles. He will tell his tales to anyone with the ears and the time to listen. Inspired and informed by Akutagawa’s stories, essays and letters, David Peace has fashioned a most extraordinary novel of tales.

When a light aircraft crashes into the Thames at Shepperton, the young pilot who struggles to the surface minutes later seems to have come back from the dead. Within hours everything in the dormitory suburb is surreally transformed into a reality more akin to a dreamscape. Vultures invade the rooftops, luxuriant tropical vegetation overruns the quiet avenues, and the local inhabitants are propelled by the young man’s urgent visions through ecstatic sexual celebrations towards an apocalyptic climax.

Wapping, London: March 1799. A sunken lugger in the Pool of London at last reveals its shocking secret. River Surveyor Tom Pascoe of the Marine Police finds the bodies of two men entombed in the crew's cabin. Suspicion falls on a third member of the crew seen fleeing the scene. He had a known motive for murder. Against the background of a nation at war with Napoleon, Tom Pascoe finds his own life under threat as he digs deeper into the case.

Taking a chronological approach, The War on Paper tells the story of the most destructive war in history through 20 key documents held in the IWM archives. Ranging from high-level iconic records including the signed order to invade Poland on August 1939 and Hitler's final will and testament, to more personal items such as Kindertransport identity papers and the ration book of Queen Mary, the Queen Mother. 

Rook Henderson is an award-winning photographer still carrying the hidden scars of war. Now, suddenly, he is also a widower. Leaving his son, Ralph, to pick up the pieces, Rook flies to Vietnam for the first time in 50 years, escaping to the landscape of a place he once knew so well. But when Ralph follows him out there, seeking answers from the father he barely knows, Rook is forced to unwind his past - his childhood in Yorkshire, his life in London in the 1960s and his marriage to the unforgettable June.

Charles II returns from exile bringing with him unease to the Spanish Main. In this vivid description of seventeenth-century buccaneers, Ned Yorke, the leader and hero of the swashbuckling band are depended upon for the defense of Jamaica, fighting with captured Spanish guns. Daring raids on the Spanish seem inevitable, as Yorke sets out on the high seas to distant adventures on behalf of the King and his own honor.

As England falls under a blanket of peace with the restoration of Charles II, in distant Jamaica all is not well. Though there is peace with Spain, there is no peace "beyond the line". It seems that the West Indies have become the private estate of the King of Spain. But Ned Yorke, Admiral of the Brethren and leader of the Buccaneers will not kowtow to the new Governor in Jamaica who is bent on weakening the Island’s defences and destroying its currency. The Buccaneers must not remain idle.

In the dark and slimy streets of Wapping a prostitute is beaten half to death, a not uncommon fate in late 18th century London. So begins this gripping tale set in 1798 in the Port of London. A cruel villain holds sway over the underworld. His name is Boylin. His face is scarred by lime and his back by the two hundred lashes he received following a naval court martial. He holds Captain Tom Pascoe responsible for his suffering.

In honour of H.R.F Keating's 80th Birthday, his fellow Detection Club Members and the leading lights in crime fiction serve up a new selection of tantalising conundrums. Edited by Peter Lovesey. Foreword by Dick Francis. Stories include: Lionel Davidson's Tuesday's Child; Len Deighton's Sherlock Holmes and the Titanic Swindle; Reginal Hill's Uncle Harry; P.D. James' Hearing Ghote; H.R.F Keating's Arkady Nikolaivich and many others.

Harry Leslie Smith is a great British stalwart. A survivor of the Great Depression, a Second World War veteran, a lifelong Labour supporter and a proud Yorkshire man, Harry's life has straddled two centuries. As a young man, he witnessed a country in crisis with no healthcare, no relief for the poor, and a huge economic gulf between the North and South. Now in his 90s, Harry wanders through the streets of his youth and wonders whether anything has actually changed.

1072 AD. The Normans have captured England. The Turks have captured a Norman knight. And in order to free him, a Frank warrior named Vallon must capture four rare white hawks. In the company of a Sicilian scholar and an English falconer, Vallon sets off a heart-stopping odyssey to the far ends of the earth - from Greenland to Russia to Constantinople, across raging Arctic seas and blood-drenched battlefields.

Juggling all the tasks and resources you need to make a project run smoothly can seem like an onerous task—from engaging with stakeholders and scoping out the full specification of the project, through to keeping a rein on costs and sticking to schedules. Manage Projects Successfully offers calm and practical advice to help you with setting priorities, communicating with others, monitoring progress and dealing with unexpected events.

While it's sometimes said that a little stress is good for you, too much can damage your health, jeopardise your performance at work and affect your relationships. With the rise of remote and hybrid working, such issues are only becoming more common and it's too easy to feel worn down and exhausted by stress and worry. Deal with Stress will help you to identify and understand the causes of stress, recognise the symptoms and find the right answers to put you back in control.