Showing results by narrator "Derek Perkins" in All Categories

Émile Zola was the leader of the literary movement known as "naturalism" and is one of the great figures of the novel. In his monumental Les Rougon-Macquart (1871-93), he explored the social and cultural landscape of the late 19th century in ways that scandalized bourgeois society. Zola opened the novel up to a new realm of subjects, including the realities of working-class life, class relations, and questions of gender and sexuality, and his writing embodied a new freedom of expression, with his bold, outspoken voice often inviting controversy.

Soothe your soul at bedtime as you listen to some of the world's most beautifully written classic stories, exquisitely read by Alison Larkin and Virginia McKenna. Alison's AudioFile Earphones award-winning reading of Peter Pan is followed by Through the Looking Glass and The Snow Queen. How the Elephant Got Its Trunk is read by Virginia McKenna, OBE, the iconic English actress best known for the films Born Free, A Town Like Alice, and Ring of Bright Water.

The Gutmanns, as they were known, rose from a small Bohemian hamlet to become one of Germany's most powerful banking families. They also amassed a magnificent, world-class art collection that included works by Degas, Renoir, Botticelli, Guardi, and many, many others. But the Nazi regime snatched from them everything they had worked to build: their remarkable art, their immense wealth, their prominent social standing, and their very lives.

Lucy Durmast waits patiently in front of the judge at her own murder trial, refusing to utter a single word. Kenneth Carline, an employee of her father's, was found poisoned to death after eating a meal that Lucy herself had prepared. Kenneth was set to marry another, and Lucy, it seems, was jealous. But what should have been an open-and-shut case of envy-driven murder becomes complicated when primary detective Trevor Porritt suffers permanent brain damage. C. D. Sloan inherits the file - and immediately begins poking holes in what looked like an airtight case.

Midlan has awoken. Soldiers pour from between the gates, and monsters descend upon the kingdom. When Midlan turns its eye to Copperdock, Kael quickly discovers that no realm is safe from the wrath of the king. But while he fights to keep Crevan's soldiers away from his friends, other powers rise up behind him - including an army so terrible that it threatens to devour everything.

Contains two stand-alone books from Benedict Patrick’s Yarnsworld series: They Mostly Come out at Night and From the Shadows of the Owl Queen's Court....

An indomitable governess a brooding Highlander a forbidden affair An ill-fated elopement cost English-born governess Bernadette Holly her reputation, her unsuitable lover and any chance of a future match. She has nothing left to fear not even the bitter, dangerously handsome Scot due to...

A professional pickpocket and accomplished thief ignores his wife's warnings and embarks on an adventure that will change his life - perhaps for the better. A technological marvel of a sports car kills a pedestrian, but no one was at the wheel. A local lunatic admits to murder, but is he crazy - or crazy smart? The life of a researcher with ties to a British spy agency is thrown into chaos when his research goes missing. Injury Time delivers captivating tales of intrigue wrapped in Catherine Aird's tightly woven logic, sealed with the bow of enigma.

Peril and passion on enemy seas… Lottie Livingstone bears the weight of an island on her shoulders. Under threat of losing their home, she and her clan take to the seas to sell a shipload of illegal whiskey. When an attack leaves them vulnerable, she transforms from a maiden daughter to a...

After the fall of France in the mid-1940s, Adolf Hitler faced a British Empire that refused to negotiate for peace. With total war looming, he ordered the Abwehr, Germany's defense and intelligence organization, to carry out Operation Lena - a program to place information-gathering spies within Britain. Quickly, a network of secret agents spread within the United Kingdom and across the British Empire. The stunning truth, though, was that every last one of these German spies had been captured and turned by the British.

Roderick MacDonald is on a secret mission for his chieftain when he finds a lass near death on a barren hillside and is forced to take her with him. Though this mysterious Sassenach may have the gift his clan needs - and he burns with passion for her - he's determined to resist the enchantment she weaves on his scarred heart.

Fourteen centuries ago, Irish saints brought the Word of God to the Hebrides and Scotland's Atlantic shore. These "white martyrs" sought solitude, remoteness, even harshness, in places apart from the world where they could fast, pray, and move closer to an understanding of God: places where they could see angels. Columba, who founded the famous monastery at Iona, was the most well-known of these courageous men who rowed their curraghs towards danger and uncertainty in a pagan land, but the many others are now largely forgotten by history.

Gravedigger John Gascoigne lives in Downfell Hurst with his wife, Florrie, their three children and his mother, Gran. John is a deep thinker but extremely taciturn - a man of few words and many grunts. Which is why everyone is alarmed when he's hit on the head by a cricket ball, and it suddenly seems as if the words won't stop. What's more, he says he is talking to Saint Christopher - only no one else can see the saint, and they're beginning to worry John's not quite right in the head.

The intentional killing of a woman's dog unleashes a torrent of rage. In her desire for revenge, the woman curses the dog's killer: All that the murderer loves most, he will lose. This haunting tale brilliantly demonstrates Elizabeth Gaskell's understanding of the tensions between Catholics and Protestants and the harsh realities of class society.

Jonathan Swift's world-famous books - from Gulliver's Travels to A Modest Proposal - are unparalleled in their piercing critique of modern society. Half-orphaned, a Dubliner by birth, but a man who would always insist he was English, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was a figure of great contradictions.

A dark evil threatens Morgana de Moray's Highland home. The Druid Princess is left with no choice but to strike a deadly bargain with the dangerous Berserker and risk all to unleash the beast from within the man.

Here is the compelling story of the launching of Prometheus - Earth's first true spaceship - and of the men who made it happen. Dirk Alexson, chronicler of the greatest space adventure of all time: He was chosen to immortalize the incredible story of the men and their heroic mission. Sir Robert Derwent, Direct-General of Interplanetary-London Headquarters for the International Space-Flight Project: He was the man who got the mission off the ground and into the pages of history. Professor Maxton, the world's leading atomic engineer: He designed the huge ship's drive units....

A surprising, enlightening series of conversations that shed new light on the music and career of “our greatest living composer” (New York Times) Steve Reich is a living legend in the world of contemporary classical music. As a leader of the minimalist movement in the 1960s, his works have...

China's Civilian Army charts China's transformation from an isolated and impoverished communist state to a global superpower from the perspective of those on the front line: China's diplomats. They give a rare perspective on the greatest geopolitical drama of the last half century.

Led by convict-captain Prentice Ash, the Duchess’s army has driven off the invaders from the west and Prentice has won his freedom. But the Reach is far from safe. Rats are lurking in the Duchess’s capital and they mean to destroy her. Merchants and noblemen plot to rob Amelia of her province’s wealth while criminals and mercenaries prowl through the streets. Meanwhile, the new prince, Daven Marcus, comes west with foolish plans that threaten to rip the Reach out of Amelia’s hands.