Showing results by narrator "Barnaby Edwards" in All Categories

AD 652. After surviving dark intrigues at the Merovingian court of Frankia, Beobrand is finally able to undertake the mission his queen set him: to escort a party of pilgrims to the holy city of Rome. But Beobrand's life is never easy. His party includes a scheming novice churchman whose ambition is boundless, and a mysterious envoy from Frankia. Entering the lands of the Langobards, Beobrand discovers unexpected similarities to his native Northumbria in their speech and customs... and their willingness to spill blood.

Three years ago, Julian Norwood was the rising star of the political universe. As the co-founder of a wildly successful London-based political consultancy, Norwood and his colleagues used controversial tactics to help win the election for the American President and played a decisive role propping up odious governments around the world. But after a scandal broke, the company's reputation was shredded. All of a sudden, Norwood was toxic. People stopped returning his calls. Nobody wanted to work with him. In desperation, he fled to the Seychelles to escape the media spotlight.

September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war's outcome is far from certain. An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world's smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. Here Hugh brings together an unlikely band of friends to hide the vulnerable under the noses of the enemy. But Hauptmann's net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical.

In 1959, Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, was commissioned by the Sunday Times to explore 14 of the world’s most exotic cities. Fleming saw it all with a thriller writer’s eye. From Hong Kong to Honolulu, New York to Naples, he left the bright main streets for the back alleys. The result is a series of vivid snapshots of a mysterious, vanished world.

In a vivid depiction of Ancient Greece and its legendary heroes, The Mask of Apollo tells the story of Nikeratos, the gifted tragic actor at the centre of political and cultural activity in Athens, 400 B. C. Wherever he goes, Nikeratos carries a golden mask of Apollo, a relic and reminder of an age when the theatre was at the height of its greatness and talent. Only a mascot at first, the mask gradually turns into Nikeratos' conscience as he encounters famous thinkers, actors, and philosophers, including the famous Plato himself.

If the end of the war was supposed to have brought 'freedom' to countries that suffered under Nazi occupation, then for millions it did not really end until the fall of communism. In the summer of 1945 many of the countries in Eastern Europe simply swapped the rule of one tyrant, Adolf Hitler, for that of another: Joseph Stalin. Why this happened has remained one of the most troubling questions of the entire conflict and is at the heart of Laurence Rees' dramatic book.

After controlling Ebenezer Tweezer for 511 years and trying to eat Bethany twice, the beast is safely locked up…for about five minutes. Soon the world’s most despicable creature is out of its cage and back in Ebenezer’s attic. But there’s something different about the beast now—it’s calling everyone its bestie and vomiting up lovely gifts for the neighbours. In the most disturbing turn of events yet, has the beast turned…nice?

The famous D-Day landings of 6 June, 1944, marked the beginning of Operation Overlord, the battle for the liberation of Europe. Republished as part of the Pan Military Classics series, Max Hastings’ acclaimed account overturns many traditional legends in this memorable study. Drawing together the eyewitness accounts of survivors from both sides, plus a wealth of previously untapped sources and documents, Overlord provides a brilliant, controversial perspective on the devastating battle.

Graham Hancock, an expert in ancient civilisations and author of the nine million selling Fingerprints of the Gods, and expert, too, on the use of hallucinogens to achieve higher states of consciousness, brings these two interests together in the final volume of the War God trilogy.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adapted by Richard Dinnick. Young Dr. Mortimer ventures from Devonshire to Baker Street with news of the death of his friend, Sir Charles Baskerville. Can it really be that the grisly legend of the hound of the Baskervilles might have something to do with the case? Holmes will have none of it, but even he must accept that dark forces are at work. Dark forces that, it seems, Dr. Watson must face alone...afoot!

In 1933, Robert Byron set off from Venice with his friend Christopher Sykes to explore the architecture of the Middle East. Their long and arduous journey took them from Cyprus and Jerusalem to Syria, Iraq, Persia, Afghanistan, and finally, Oxiana, a tiny country around the river Oxus, which snakes down from Russia into Afghanistan. They travel by any means necessary (truck, camel, horses, and foot), and encounter several setbacks, but their risks are rewarded as they encounter some of the greatest examples of Eastern art and architecture, many of which have now vanished forever.

When the ghosts of two young children start to haunt a local school, trainee ghost hunters Eve, Clovis and Tom are invited to help investigate the case. But before long, they realise there is more to this haunting than they first realised. Could it be that the ghost children are victims of Jack the Ripper? And is the evil Ripper of Whitechapel about to unleash a new campaign of terror from beyond the grave?

Preeminent military historian Max Hastings presents Winston Churchill as he has never been seen before. Winston Churchill was the greatest war leader Britain ever had. In 1940, the nation rallied behind him in an extraordinary fashion. But thereafter, argues Max Hastings, there was a deep divide between what Churchill wanted from the British people and their army, and what they were capable of delivering.

When Clovis, Eve and Tom decide to play with a ouija board in an old abandoned house on Halloween, none of them foresees the horrors they’re about to unleash. What starts out as a bit of fun soon transcends into something far more terrifying when a distressed and determined spirit follows them home. Before long, the friends are caught up in a series of events beyond their wildest imaginings and their journey as ghost hunters begins.

Ebenezer Tweezer has spent the best part of 512 years doing whatever he wanted, but that all changed when he met Bethany – a rude, snotty-nosed prankster. Ebenezer has come to care for this strange, slightly smelly little scowler more than he has cared about anyone or anything before. It’s just as well, because when this story begins, Bethany needs a friend. She has just discovered that her parents Augustus and Gemima were dreadful criminals before they died in an only slightly more dreadful fire. Except – it seems her father did NOT die at all.

Taking its title from a chilling warning made by the United Nations that the world’s soils could be lost within a lifetime, Sixty Harvests Left uncovers how the food industry is threatening the planet. Put simply, without soils there will be no food: game over. And time is running out.

Oswald is now King of Northumbria. However, his plans for further alliances and conquests are quickly thrown into disarray when his wedding to a princess of Wessex is interrupted by news of a Pictish uprising. Rushing north, Oswald leaves Beobrand to escort the young queen to her new home. Their path is fraught with danger and uncertainty, Beobrand must try to unravel secrets and lies if they are to survive. Meanwhile, old enemies are closing in, seeking brutal revenge.

1890. Lieutenant Gabriel Stokes of the British Army left behind the horrors of war in Afghanistan for a role in the Metropolitan Police. Though he rose quickly through the ranks, the squalid violence of London’s East End proved just as dark and oppressive as the battlefield. With his life falling apart, and longing for peace and meaning, Gabriel leaves the grime of London behind and heads for the wilderness and wide open spaces of the American West.

When his village is hit with a desperate drought, adventure-loving Tom volunteers to travel to the City, to ask for the King’s help, only to discover an amazing secret about his home kingdom. In the deepest, most secret corners of the kingdom are six Good Beasts, sworn to protect the people, but now under the spell of the Evil Wizard Malvel. Brave Tom volunteers to undertake the dangerous Quest to restore the magical balance of the kingdom, making friends a girl called Elenna—a wanderer with a sharp-shot and a brave wolf companion.

The Land of Mist is a novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1926. Although this is a Professor Challenger story, it centres more on his daughter Enid and her colleague. Heavily influenced by Doyle’s growing belief in Spiritualism after the death of his son, brother, and two nephews in World War I, the book focuses on Edward Malone’s at first professional, and later personal interest in Spiritualism.