Showing results by narrator "William Rycroft"

Oblivious to the bizarre ways in which their lives intersect, nine characters - a terrorist in Okinawa, a record-shop clerk in Tokyo, a money-laundering British financier in Hong Kong, an old woman running a tea shack in China, a transmigrating "noncorpum" entity seeking a human host in Mongolia, a gallery-attendant-cum-art-thief in Petersburg, a drummer in London, a female physicist in Ireland, and a radio deejay in New York - hurtle toward a shared destiny of astonishing impact.

In outward form, Number9Dream is a Dickensian coming-of-age journey: Young dreamer Eiji Miyake, from remote rural Japan, thrust out on his own by his sister's death and his mother's breakdown, comes to Tokyo in pursuit of the father who abandoned him. Stumbling around this strange, awesome city, he trips over and crosses - through a hidden destiny or just monstrously bad luck - a number of its secret power centers. Suddenly, the riddle of his father's identity becomes just one of the increasingly urgent questions Eiji must answer.

In 1983, Ma Jian turned 30 and was overwhelmed by the desire to escape the confines of his life in Beijing. Deng Xiaoping was clamping down on 'Spiritual Pollution'; young people were rebelling. With his long hair, jeans and artistic friends, Ma Jian was under surveillance. One day he bought a train ticket to the westernmost border of China and set off in search of himself.

As Eiji Miyake's 20th birthday nears, he sets out for the seething metropolis of Tokyo to find the father he has never met. There, he begins a thrilling journey where dreams, memories and reality collide as Eiji is caught up in a feverish succession of encounters by turn bizarre, hilarious, and shockingly dangerous. But until Eiji has fallen in love and exorcised his childhood demons, the belonging he craves will remain just beyond his grasp.

15th-century Europe: a time of warring states and ruthless growing empires, divided churches and dynamic traders. In the midst of growing unrest, rivals battle for this treasure, each desperate to secure its power for their own nations. But no-one can discover its whereabouts; nor even knows if it is still in the possession of those born to guard it.... Four remarkable characters from four leading families provide the story as their crossed allegiances, plots and passions are played out on this epic scale.

An apocalyptic cult member, a jazz buff in Tokyo, a woman on a holy mountain, a burnt-out lawyer, a Mongolian gangster, a redundant spy, a despondent "zookeeper", a nuclear scientist, a ghostwriter, a ghost, and a New York DJ are all tenuously connected. All of them have tales to tell, and all must play their part as they are caught up in the inescapable forces of cause and effect.

Nell Golightly is living out her widowhood in Cambridgeshire when she receives a strange request. A Tahitian woman, claiming to be the daughter of the poet Rupert Brooke, writes to ask what he was like. How did he sound, what did he smell like, how did it feel to wrap your arms around him?

Caught up in his decadent lifestyle, 20-something Gabriel Brockwell decides to kill himself. But before he does, he embarks on a quest for Wonderland—a bacchanal to end all bacchanals. His journey takes him around the globe, from London to Tokyo to Berlin, to taste all of life’s wildest pleasures, only to emerge with a renewed spirit and a desire to make up for some of the terrible things he’s done.

When one evening in December 1948, Jon Heather's mother leaves him at Chapeltown Boys' Home of the Children's Crusade, he is certain she will come back. But just weeks later, he finds himself on a boat set for Australia. Promised paradise, Jon soon realises the reality of the vast Australian outback is very different. So begins an odyssey that will last a lifetime, as Jon and his group of unlikely friends battle to make their way back home.

A taut and gripping thriller: King Edward VIII is on the throne and keen to broker peace at any cost - WWII could turn out very differently.... As the storm clouds gather over Europe and German troops are amassing, a clandestine 'King's Party' of fascist peace campaigners is stealthily undermining the war effort. Back from Ceylon to work on a newly founded literary magazine, Cynthia Kirkpatrick finds herself at the centre of a web of intrigue. London shivers with uncertainty. As Hitler's troops encroach further into Europe, Cynthia soon discovers that taking sides can be a very dangerous business.

A gripping biography of the early life of Prince Philip, published to coincide with his 90th birthday. Married for more than 60 years to the most famous woman in the world, Prince Philip is the longest-serving royal consort in British history. Yet while he is still one of the most recognisable figures in public life, his origins remain curiously shrouded in obscurity.

The Hero Foundation is a shadow of its former self and Lord Eon - the most terrible supervillain ever - is still at large. Worse, he has hatched a plan to tear apart time. Toby and his superhero friends should be able to stop him- but in the struggle that will follow, friendships will be tested as time runs out for the world... literally...

From the Man Booker Prize-winning author of Vernon God Litle. Gabriel Brockwell wants to die, and his destination is Wonderland. The nature and style of the journey is all that's to be decided. Taking in London, Tokyo, Berlin and the Galapagos Islands, and committed to the pursuit of pleasure, Gabriel's adventure include a spell in rehab, a near-death experience with fugu ovaries, and an orgiastic feast in the bowels of Berlin's majestic Tempelhof Airport.

Nate and his sister, Sandy, are fake mediums and don't believe in the ghosts they pretend to see. That is, until the real ghost of a serial killer's victim appears with a message for Sandy.

Bird flu has arrived in the UK. Most of the population is dead or dying so fast that there's not enough time to bury them. Norman's survived - so far, and when his grandfather gets sick he knows that there can only be one outcome - but not before some secrets are revealed that will change Norman's life forever....

Jane Martin is overjoyed to finally move into a place of her own. But when a mysterious man appears outside her door she is quickly unnerved and turns to her friends and the police for protection. But Jane is determined not to live in fear and will do anything to feel safe.