Showing results by narrator "Helen Johns" in All Categories

A clever reimagining of Jane Austen's novella Lady Susan by acclaimed filmmaker Whit Stillman. Jane Austen's funniest novel is also her least known - until now. A sharp comedy of manners set in the 1790s, Love & Friendship centres on Lady Susan Vernon: impossibly beautiful, charming, witty and completely self-absorbed. Recently widowed, Lady Susan arrives unannounced at her brother-in-law's estate to wait out colourful rumours about her dalliances circulating through polite society.

When Sofia Bianchi’s father, Aldo, dies, it makes her stop and look at things afresh. Having been his carer for so many years, she knows it’s time for her to live her own life—and to fulfil some promises she made to Aldo in his final days. So there’s nothing for it but to escape to Italy’s Umbrian mountains where, tucked away in a sleepy Italian village, lie plenty of family secrets waiting to be discovered. There, Sofia also finds Amy, who is desperately trying to find her way in life after discovering her dad isn’t her biological father.

At her dying mother's bedside, Rebecca Bayliss is shattered to learn of a family she never knew existed. Determined to find them, Rebecca journeys to Boscarva, a beautiful mansion in Cornwall, to meet a family torn by passion and greed. From her grandfather Grenville Bayliss, who is hiding an explosive secret, to a handsome cousin whose kisses are dangerously seductive, to sensual craftsman Joss Gardner, whose past hints of intrigue, Rebecca becomes entangled in a family mystery.

Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers a masterclass on the art and craft of songwriting. He writes over 60 essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyses what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose.

Perfect for Janeites everywhere, this enticing collection brings together for the first time six special recordings that offer a glimpse behind the scenes at the life of the celebrated author. Taking us on a journey from her earliest teenage writings, to her love affair aged 20, to the scandalous arrest of her aunt which shook her family, these fascinating programmes offer a closer look at Jane Austen and those around her, as seen through her letters, writings and final home.

Welcome to Prague, 1970: ground zero in a Cold War of spies and sorcerers. The streets are a deadly chessboard on which the CIA and KGB make their moves, little dreaming that a deeper game is being played between the Consortium of Ice and the Acolytes of Flame, ancient organizations that seek to harness elemental magic. Tanya Morozova is a KGB officer and the latest in a long of Ice sorceresses; Gabe Pritchard is a CIA officer and reluctant Ice recruit. Enemies at one turn, but forced into alliances at the next, their relationship is as explosive as the Cold War itself.

After saving King Aodren with her newfound Channeler powers, Britta only wants to live a peaceful life in her childhood home. Unfortunately, saving the king has created a tether between them she cannot sever - no matter how much she'd like to - and now he's insisting on making her a noble lady. On top of that, there are those who want to use Britta's power for evil designs. If she cannot find a way to harness her new magical ability, her life - as well as her country - may be lost.

After a long hard journey up the Chisholm Trail, Kate Kerrigan is in Dodge City, facing a mystery of murder. A cowboy she hired, a man with a notorious past, has been accused of killing a prostitute and sentenced to hang. Kate still trusts Hank Lowry. And when a hired killer comes after her, she knows she has struck a nerve. Someone has framed Hank for murder - in order to cover up a more sinister and deadly crime spawned in the musty backrooms of the Kansas boomtown....

Zoe and Ollie Morley tried for years to have a baby and couldn't. They turned to adoption and their dreams came true when they were approved to adopt a little girl from birth. They named her Evie. In the days following Evie's birth the new parents watch anxiously as their precious daughter struggles - she is battling the severe effects of the drugs her birth mother was addicted to. Seven years later, the family has moved to Zoe's native Yorkshire and grown in number: a wonderful surprise in the form of baby Ben.

Lorna is a talented gardener, and Philly is a plantswoman. Together they work in the grounds of a beautiful manor house in the Cotswolds. They enjoy their jobs and are surrounded by family and friends. But for them both, the door to true love remains resolutely closed. So when Lorna is introduced to Jack at a dinner party and Lucien catches Philly's eye at the local farmers market, it seems that dreams really can come true, and happy endings lie just around the corner.... But do they?

As the Second World War rages, the Japanese Imperial Army enters Burma, and the British rulers prepare to flee. But the human legacy of the British Empire will be left behind in the shape of 62 Anglo-Burmese children, born to local women after affairs with foreign men. Half castes, they are not acknowledged by either side, and they are to be abandoned with no one to protect them.

A modern-day Sleeping Beauty story of love and hope, for fans of Jojo Moyes. Elsa has been in a coma for five months. With all hope of reviving her gone, her family and doctors are having to face the devastating fact that it might be time to turn off her life support.... They don't realise that in the past few weeks, Elsa has regained partial consciousness; she knows where she is and can hear everyone talking around her bed, but she has no way of telling them she's there.

A collection of fairy tales and other classic children's stories by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.

Prue is intelligent, artistic, independent - and bored. Pressured by her mother to make a conventional and dull marriage, she is delighted to escape London and seek retreat with her eccentric and bohemian aunt in Cornwall. A chance encounter with an attractive young artist on the seashore leads to day after idyllic summer's day of exploring the Cornish countryside and coast. But there is something troubling Daniel, and Prue - now deeply entangled - feels compelled to discover what it is.

When Sofia Bianchi’s father, Aldo, dies, it makes her stop and look at things afresh. Having been his carer for so many years, she knows it’s time for her to live her own life - and to fulfil some promises she made to Aldo in his final days. So there’s nothing for it but to escape to Italy’s Umbrian mountains, where, tucked away in a sleepy Italian village, lie plenty of family secrets waiting to be discovered.

Helen Johns reads some fascinating early writings by Jane Austen from the fictionalised A Collection of Letters. A prolific letter writer herself, in this collection we see how the budding writer is experimenting, and starting to explore the medium as a literary convention.

The city is under attack by three dastardly villains! Evil cracker monster Crackerdile is back, a robo–ghost haunts the streets and . . . does that man have a snake arm? Even worse – on top of this crime wave comes. . . an actual wave! A huge flood threatens the city, and the InvestiGators are wrongly blamed for making this big splash. To clear their names Mango and Brash flush themselves down the toilet to find the real culprit! They’ll have to be extra sneaky to solve this mission or they’ll end up in deep water. . .

Mango and Brash are alligators - who investigate! Join the crime-fighting duo as they flush themselves down toilets to surf the sewers and fight the forces of evil. This collection includes two laugh-out-loud audio adventures InvestiGators and InvestiGators: Take the Plunge. Listen out for the sounds of the Batter Down bakery, S.U.I.T. Headquarters, Crackerdile's Lair, and the Robotics Lab at the Science Factory!

Mango and Brash are alligators – who investigate! In their first adventure the crime fighting duo need to go undercover . . . in a bakery? Armed with a moustache and a rolling pin, the Investigators are on a mission to discover who has kidnapped top chef Gustavo, and stop his recipes from getting into the wrong hands! This case isn’t going to be a piece of cake.

Irina McGovern's destiny hinges on a single kiss. Whether she gives into its temptation will determine whether she stays with her reliable partner, Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player. Employing a parallel universe structure, Shriver spins Irina's competing futures with two drastically different men. An intellectual and fellow American, Lawrence is clever and supportive but rigid and emotionally withdrawn. A British celebrity, Ramsey is passionate and spontaneous but jealous and undereducated.