Showing results by narrator "Ben Allen" in All Categories

The Professor is Charlotte Brontës first novel. Our protagonist is William Crimsworth and, like Jane Eyre, he is parentless; like Lucy Snowe in Villette he leaves the familiar surroundings of England to forge a life in Brussels. Brontë explores the relationship between power and sexual desire through William's first person narration.

In the aptly named borough of Foulsham, Grandfather Umbitt Iremonger has found a way of making everyday objects assume human shape, and turning real people into objects. Lucy Pennant has been discarded as a clay button, abandoned in the Heaps. Meanwhile, Clod has been turned into a gold coin and is being passed as currency through the town. Everywhere people are searching for Clod, who, it is believed, has the power to bring the mighty Umbitt down.

Ancient powers are waking. The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself broken in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past. Meanwhile, the powerful Wasp Empress is regaining control over those imperial cities that refused to bow to her.

When Joe tells a local news reporter exactly what he would do if he were leader of the country, the video goes viral, and Joe's speech becomes famous all over the world! Before long people are calling for the current leader to resign and give someone else a go...and that's how an ordinary boy like Joe ends up with the most extraordinary job. Now the fun can really start!

The Brothers Grimm collected some 200 traditional tales of Northern Europe that might very well otherwise have been lost to us. This collection contains 60 of the most famous, including ‘Rumpelstiltskin’, 'Snow White', ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and ‘Rupunzel’.

A priceless gem, a diamond from India imbued with religious significance, is stolen on the very night it is given as an eighteenth birthday present to a captivating heiress; and so the mystery begins. The rules for the golden age of crime novels are formed in The Moonstone – an English country house, a complex cast of characters, the bungling local constabulary, a celebrated sleuth and the reconstruction of the crime.

The Wealth of Nations is an economics book like no other. First published in 1776, Adam Smith's groundbreaking theories provide a recipe for national prosperity that has not been bettered since. It assumes no prior knowledge of its subject, and over 200 years on, still provides valuable lessons on the fundamentals of economics.

Is the information they bring worth the cost of protecting them for the rest of their lives? Is it even genuine? Might they be double agents? These are some of the questions facing MI6 when a Russian agent hands himself in to them in Denmark. As a team begins to assess his value, his former employers in the Kremlin develop a brutal plan to show that no defector will ever be safe. And they know where to find him. Which means there must be a mole in MI6.

1916. Young artist Sam Burke is spared death by firing squad on the battlefields of France and brought to a remote castle by the Irish Sea. At the ‘Tin Nose Shop’, he is tasked with creating intricate masks to hide the mutilated faces of his fellow soldiers from the Front. While he tries to come to terms with the death of his best friend and the promise he failed to keep, Sam and the disfigured soldiers struggle to return to their former lives and their loved ones.

Renaissance Venice is a furnace of ideas and ambition. Artists flock here, not just for wealth and fame, but for revolutionary colour. Yet artist Giorgione 'Zorzo' Barbarelli's career hangs in the balance. Competition is fierce, and his debts are piling up. When Zorzo hears a rumour of a mysterious, other-worldly new pigment, brought to Venice by the richest man in Europe, he sets out to acquire the colour and secure his name in history. Winning a commission to paint a portrait of the man's wife, Sybille, Zorzo thinks he has found a way into the merchant's favour.

Set in a walled garden, whose inhabitants live an eternal and unblemished life, Eden opens with a summons. The gardeners of Eden are called by their masters, the angels, to see a dead body. It is that of a bird, a creature who has strayed beyond the garden walls. Outside, where there is poverty and sickness and death, this bird has met a fate that couldn’t have befallen it within the safe haven of the garden. And why would anyone want to leave? Eden is a place of immortality and plenty—bountiful fields and orchards and lakes, a place where the lord’s bidding is done.

When Otto and Xavier Shin declare their love, an aunt gifts them a trip on a sleeper train to mark their new commitment - and to get them out of her house. Setting off with their pet mongoose, Otto and Xavier arrive at their sleepy local train station, but quickly deduce that The Lucky Day is no ordinary locomotive. Their trip on this former tea-smuggling train has been curated beyond their wildest imaginations, complete with mysterious and welcoming touches, like ingredients for their favourite breakfast.

The Empire’s mighty imperial armies are marching on Collegium once more. They’ve learnt from past failures and this time their Empress will brook no weakness. Stenwold Maker’s aviators still dominate the skies, but their rule will soon be over. For the Empire has developed a terrifying aerial weapon to level the battlefield. Yet victory may be decided elsewhere. In an ancient forest, where Mantis clans pursue their own civil war, Empress Seda is seeking a lost power from the old world.

All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, spies eye one another and ready their knives – while the people of Myna watch troops gather at its borders. Emotions run high as old fears reawaken. And in Collegium students argue politics, too late to turn the tide. At the heart of the Empire, new pilots complete their secretive training, generals are recalled to service and armies are readied to march. Their Empress, heir to two worlds, intends to claim her birthright. For nothing – either within the Empire or beyond it – will stand in her way.

Tynisa is on the run, but she cannot escape the demons of her own mind. Amidst the fragmenting provinces of the Dragonfly Commonweal, her past will at last catch up with her. Her father's ghost is hunting her down. At the same time, the Wasp Empire seeks to conquer the city of Khanaphes, the fallen jewel of the ancient world. Whilst Empress Seda's soldiers seek only conquest and prestige, she sees herself as the heir to all the old powers of history, and has her eyes on a far greater prize.

A shadow is falling over Collegium. Despite the tenuous peace, Stenwold Maker knows that the Empire will return for his city. Even as he tries to prepare for the resurgence of the black-and-gold army, a hidden threat is working against his people. Ships that sail from Collegium's harbour are being attacked, sunk by pirates. Some just go missing.

Jago is a kid from a rough part of London who has worked hard to get a job in a bank. Marcantonio is a member of the 'Ndrangheta crime families from Southern Italy. He is in Germany to learn how to channel their illicit millions towards legitimate businesses. When Jago witnesses Marcantonio commit a vicious assault, he is drawn into the middle of a delicate surveillance operation.

Shakespearean is a rich, brilliant and superbly drawn portrait of an extraordinary artist, one of the greatest writers who ever lived. Through an enthralling narrative, ranging widely in time and space, McCrum seeks to understand Shakespeare within his historical context while also exploring the secrets of literary inspiration and examining the nature of creativity itself.

In the office at MI5 where he works, they call Jonas Merrick 'the eternal flame'. It isn't a compliment. It's because he never goes out. He never goes undercover, never does surveillance, never goes with the teams that kick down the doors or seize the suspects off the street. He commutes into work and sits at his desk and then he goes home. But Jonas has qualities the hot-shots fail to notice: a steely concentration, a ruthless ability to focus and find the enemy hiding in plain sight.

How far can you go before you're in too deep? A dark, chilling psychological thriller from number one best-selling author Conn Iggulden. Davey has always lived in the shadow of his older brother, a smiling sociopath who will stop at nothing to protect himself and his family. But when the shadowy figure of Denis Tanter comes into Davey's life, how far will the bond of brotherhood reach?