Showing results by narrator "Rupert Degas" in All Categories

Even the dead like to keep their secrets.... When William Gove, a dying millionaire and patriarch of a vast estate in Essex, asks Daniel Connell to execute his will, Daniel has no idea what he's getting himself into. Rather than leave his fortune to his three children, Gove has chosen 10 names at random from the phone book. When he dies, Daniel sets out to track down the recipients.

After narrowly escaping Nazi terror, Rowland Sinclair and his companions land in London, believing they are safe. But they are wrong. A bizarre murder plunges the hapless Australians into a queer world of British aristocracy, fascist Blackshirts, illicit love, scandal and spies. A world where gentlemen are not always what they are dressed up to be....

For nearly 14 years, Rowland has tried to forget, but now the past has returned. A newly discovered gun casts light on a family secret long kept...a murder the Sinclairs would prefer stayed unsolved. As old wounds tear open, the dogged loyalty of Rowland’s inappropriate companions is all that stands between him and the consequences of a brutal murder...one he simply failed to mention.

The Parade's End tetralogy privileges not the conflict of World War I itself, but the impact the war had on its participants and upon society writ large. It is often referred to as one of the greatest 20th century novels, and one of the best depictions of war in literature.

Albert Maltz’s novel captures the racial tension of America and the failure of the American dream. As time ticks along with indifference, the inmates of Washington’s District Jail now spend their lives numbed by a daily routine behind bars, shut out of society. Each prisoner has a story: some are charged with assault, murder and manslaughter, others with forgery, robbery and larceny; others still were simply born to certain parents at a certain time in a certain country.

A terrifying ghost is haunting the ancient mansion of Canterville Chase, complete with creaking floorboards, clanking chains and gruesome disguises - but the new occupants seem strangely undisturbed by his presence. Deftly contrasting the conventional gothic ghost story with the pragmatism of the modern world, Wilde creates a gently comic fable of the conflict between old and new. Rupert Degas's hilarious reading brings the absurdity and theatricality of the story to life.

In early 1933, Rowland Sinclair and his companions are ensconced in the superlative luxury of The Hydro Majestic; trouble seems very distant indeed...until Harry Simpson vanishes. Croquet and pre-dinner cocktails are abandoned as Rowland begins the hunt. Stockmen, gangsters and a belligerent writer all gather to the fray, as the investigation becomes embroiled with a much darker conspiracy.

It's 1933, and Eric Campbell, the man who would be Australia's Fuehrer, is on a fascist tour of the continent seeking allegiances. Yet the Australian way of life is not undefended. The clandestine armies of the Establishment have mobilised to undermine Campbell's ambitions. But when the Establishment's man in Munich is killed, desperate measures are necessary. Rowland Sinclair must travel to Germany to defend Australian democracy from the relentless march of Fascism.

Titus Awakes is the fourth and last novel in the Gormenghast series and was finished by Peake’s widow, Maeve Gilmore. In this last novel, Titus has left the world of Gormenghast behind, but he remains haunted by memories of his former life. Journeying from snow-covered mountains to archipelagos strewn with coral reefs, he awakens his senses but fails to conquer his aching sense of solitude.

With a horse between his thighs and a weapon in his grip, the dashing Brigadier Etienne Gerard, Colonel of the Hussars of Conflans, gallops through the Napoleonic campaigns on secret missions for his beloved Emperor and his country. He encounters danger and hair-breadth escapes but never loses his bravado, his eye for a pretty girl, his boastfulness or his enormous vanity.

The Ragpicker—a man, bonded into a mysterious 'secondskin' that has prolonged his life after the digital apocalypse—wanders the lush, deserted Earth, haunted by failing avatars and fragmented texts. He’s searching for traces of his long-dead husband but his journey is interrupted by a girl, Ysmany, fleeing her remote village in order to save a baby orphaned by a military-grade secondskin, ‘The Server,’ the fanatical ruler of their town. Together they cross the flourishing, treacherous landscape towards sanctuary.

Set sail with pirates, look out for dinosaurs and conquer galactic worlds in this almighty collection from award-winning children’s author Jonny Duddle! The Johnny Duddle Extravaganza features the following adventures: 'The Pirate Cruncher': A mysterious old pirate tells a tavern of salty seadogs about an island bursting with hidden treasure. But once they set sail, he also mentions that it is guarded by the terrible Pirate Cruncher....

Billie B Brown's best friend, Jack, finally gets to be the star of the show in this first collection of five stories from the popular Hey Jack! series. Join Jack in his first collection of crazy adventures - he might be shy, but he shines in his school musical, builds excellent Lego castles and even makes his own robot costumes out of cardboard boxes!

Titus Groan has fled the rambling, ruined and ruinous castle of Gormenghast, desperate for a view of the world beyond. But he wasn’t prepared for this! Satellites, death-rays, sinister policemen and underworld outcasts live in a nightmarish contemporary city that feels like something by Wells, Burroughs or Philip K. Dick. Threatened and lost, he begins to miss the home he left; but surely he won’t be tempted back?

After a tragic accident resulting in the death of his mother, and the disappearance of his father, young Davie flees his hometown of Blackburn, unsure of what the future holds. Devastated, he must escape the vicious rumours about his mother as well as his memories of her. With nothing more than the shirt on his back, he sets off to find his father, a livelihood, and maybe a glimpse of happiness.

A spirited yoga teacher teams up with a dark horse partner (determined to right wrongs); and together they seek closure on the sudden and mysterious death of a friend.

Having walked into the middle of the real reason the Hen Harriers are being shot down, Ben and Annie are captured as intruders and taken to a secure unit on a deserted area of the camp. These birds are just helpless victims in a much bigger operation - they attract too many visitors to the area and there's a top-secret piece of warfare technology being developed that needs to be kept quiet. If this weapon gets into the wrong hands it could have catastrophic worldwide effects.

A charming, quirky memoir from British author Arthur Calder-Marshall, recalling his youth in 1920s England. The title needs to be taken quite literally as much of the narrative revolves around the shadowy figure of occultist Aleister Crowley, at the height of his dubious powers during this era. As boys growing up in a small country town, Arthur and his brother befriend an eccentric poet, whom they dub Vicky Bird—in fact a fairly well-known literary figure called Victor Neuberg. He is haunted by some romantic tragedy in his past, in which Crowley may be implicated.

After the huge success of Rumble with the Romans!, celebrated author and illustrator Gary Northfield creates another brilliantly fast-paced, funny and utterly bonkers adventure for Julius Zebra and his hapless pals to go on. Emperor Hadrian has one last favour to ask of the gladiator animals before he will grant them their greatest wish - freedom. They must go to the far-off and strange land of Britain to win over the crowds of his empire. But this will be no happy-go-lucky holiday....

In this new collection, Richard Thomas has crafted 14 stories that push the boundaries of dark fiction in an intoxicating, piercing blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Equally provocative and profound, each story is masterfully woven with transgressive themes that burrow beneath the skin.