Showing results by narrator "Sophie Aldred" in All Categories

We’ve given the planet a hard time over the last couple of centuries, and she’s showing the wear and tear of her least considerate offspring. We asked our authors: Where are the signs of renewal? Are there signs of regrowth? Have we pushed nature too far? What if it’s already too late? This audiobook presents poems and stories from the brink, responding to the floods and droughts and fires all around the globe with tenderness, compassion, fear, grief, and rage.

In Yorkshire, the Potter family are preparing to celebrate Elizabeth II’s arrival on the throne. Its three youngest members, however, are preoccupied with other matters. Stephanie has grown tired of their overbearing father and resolves to marry the local curate. Anxious teenager Marcus gains a new teacher and suffers increasingly disturbing visions. Then there is Frederica. On the brink of adulthood, a love affair with a young playwright may offer the freedom she desperately desires.

Three new adventures for glamorous bounty hunter Vienna Salvatori, including 'Self Improvement' by Ian Potter. Doctor Ludovic Glospan has a secret. He has made a scientific discovery that could change the galaxy forever, which is why he wants to keep it out of the wrong hands. Vienna Salvatori and Jexie Reagan have been hired to keep Glospan's secret safe. On a good day that will be an easy job, but this is anything but a good day.

The brigadier escapes from peril in an ancient Russian forest with the help of an obliging bison. Eurasian mobsters, intent on human sacrifice using the world’s oldest tree, are in pursuit. As his enemies ride after him full-throttle, and with guns blazing, he relays a dizzying array of stories focused on astounding encounters with the animal kingdom. These unlikely anecdotes result in the firm conclusion that the brigadier’s luck is finally about to run out.

Smith’s gentle interrogations continue, and the young brigadier reveals his contribution to the fall of communism through a series of Elton John impersonations. His astonishing achievements don’t stop there. When his accidental discoveries aboard a Swedish science research ship lead to the invention of a secret formula, the world is at his feet. The world kicks back, however, and after a desperate climb up Notre Dame, he finds himself pursued by the police, an old friend and two well-known figures of darkness.

It is 1968, and Frederica Potter is surprised to find herself embarking on a new career in television. While she endeavours to navigate this fast-paced and occasionally bewildering industry, her lover John takes up a post working with a pair of unusual scientists. Yet in Frederica’s home county of Yorkshire, tumultuous events are unfolding. Soon her future, and that of the people closest to her, begins to look rather different.

One marriage. Three people. Proud king. Loving wife. Infamous mistress. 1362. Philippa of Hainault selects a young orphan from a convent. Alice Perrers, a girl born with nothing but ambition. The Queen has a role waiting for her at court. ‘I have lifted you from nothing Alice. Now you repay me.' Led down the corridors of the royal palace, the young virgin is secretly delivered to King Edward III - to perform the wifely duties of which ailing Philippa is no longer capable. Power has a price, and Alice Perrers will pay it.

Frederica Potter arrives at Cambridge University greedy for knowledge, sex and love. It isn’t long before she becomes infatuated with a mysterious and controlling poet. Back in Yorkshire, her sister Stephanie abandons academia and is confronted with the boredom and frustrations of motherhood. Meanwhile, their younger brother Marcus begins to recover from a nervous breakdown. Each sibling is desperate to shape their own future, but a horrifying event will soon change their lives forever.

This book was written at a time when foot-and-mouth was very much in the news, as farmers across the UK fell victim to an outbreak that was to leave potent images of blazing carcasses deeply embedded in many minds.

Danger. Deportation. Death. These are just some of the fates facing the inmates at Huntercombe prison. Some have fled their homeland in fear of their lives. Others are being sent to a country they left decades ago. But Dr Amanda Brown is doing all she can for each patient stuck in no-man’s land. They have little or no idea of what awaits them outside, but she treats them with kindness and respect. Whatever their crime, and whatever their future holds, she is still their doctor.

In this second series, the Brigadier returns for more extraordinary adventures with Smith, his kind but sceptical publisher. Fresh from having shot himself out of a cannon, the Brigadier suddenly discovers he has the rather annoying ability to travel through time...but this rather unusual power comes at a high cost. Whether it will be enough to save himself, save the planet and save his only friend though is another matter altogether. The fateful clock is ticking, and time is surely running out....

Zed and her family move unwillingly from London to Cornwall in an attempt to support her mother’s mental health. Gradually, the family fall apart, and it is only when Zed realizes that the local cormorants are playing a part in the disasters that consume them in revenge for an ancient wrong, that she and her sister, Amy, start working together to find a solution and call a truce.

Home alone with her eccentric home-brewing father and a Jack Russell, she is just getting her life back on track when her job at the local museum is threatened by her first love and nemesis, Councillor David Barton, who intends to sell the beautiful old building to a pub chain. But help is at hand from her colleagues: Jackie, a former Greenham Common warrior; Tish, a flamboyant historian; and Carol, mega-flirt. Plus newcomer and former campaigner Tom. Who happens to be a widower. And quite sexy.

Step inside Marietta's Magic Dress Shop! There are hundreds of beautiful dresses in every colour of the rainbow, sewn with magic thread. Take a look, try one on, and wait for the magic to whisk you away on an amazing adventure! When Ava puts on a sparkling trapeze outfit with a dazzling butterfly tiara, she is transported back in time to a travelling circus. Ava loves the clever circus stunts and the beautiful costumes, but she's worried about a baby elephant that is meant to perform tricks.

An ancient artifact buried deep within the TARDIS leads the Doctor back to London, where a deadly predator prowls the tunnels beneath the city. As the Time Lord and her friends investigate, they uncover a mystery that will take them from a secret mountain base to the depths of the ocean - and if they cannot solve it, one of them will perish. In order to save her friend, the Doctor must solve the riddle of...the Maze of Doom!

Nelson’s Bar is the perfect little seaside village. Tucked away against the Norfolk coast, this is just the place to come when you want to get away from it all: no phone signal, no wifi, no problems. So when Clancy Moss’s life falls apart, it’s the ideal escape–and she revels at the prospect of a summer filled with blue skies and beachside walks. But try as she might to avoid them, Clancy’s problems just seem to follow her. Added to which, it seems that not all the villagers are happy to welcome their newest resident.

Life at the Heart of Power is a very personal portrait of life as a woman at the centre of power. As Brexit discussions rail on, Fall offers an intimate account of the preceding seminal political years from the viewpoint of the ‘staffer’ rather than the more traditional memoirs of the ‘principals’- David Cameron and George Osborne whom she worked alongside. Fall takes us through 11 years of the Cameron project. From its inception and battle to win the soul of the Conservative party, through to life at No 10 during the coalition years.

Here are two of a series of stories about the riotous children who live in Paradise House.

Step inside Marietta’s Magic Dress Shop! There are hundreds of beautiful dresses in every colour of the rainbow, sewn with magic thread. Take a look, try one on and wait for the magic to whisk you away... Ava is looking for her cat when she finds Marietta’s mysterious shop. She tries on a perfectly-fitting gold and emerald princess dress and whizzes through a secret mirror - to fairyland! Will she get there in time to be a bridesmaid at Cinderella’s wedding?

Cosmo has always wanted to be a witch-cat so he's delighted when he passes the test. Now he'll be able to help Sybil with her spells. But Cosmo is suspicious when he discovers that Sybil has a magic recipe for making statues in the shape of kittens.