Showing results by narrator "Matthew Lloyd Davies" in All Categories

Greta knows two things to be true. The first: Trolls don't venture into the forest, especially during the day. The second: Kings don't save peddlers' daughters from those trolls, and they certainly don't deposit them atop royal horses and personally escort them home. But sometimes, they do. And sometimes afterward, life gets very complicated....

The works of the English political economist David Ricardo (1772-1823), and particularly his most important work, The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, lie at the heart of the laissez faire school of economics, preceded by Adam Smith and followed by John Stuart Mill. Economic growth, economic freedom - free trade rather than mercantilism, or controlled trade - was the fundamental attitude. Having been disowned by his Sephardic Jewish family for marrying outside the faith at the age of 21, Ricardo went on to make his own fortune.

Norfolk, December, 1943. A group of US fighter pilots is camped at an air base; their job is to escort bombers over Germany. Each mission could be their last. Goodbye Mickey Mouse is a vivid evocation of wartime England and a brilliant, multi-dimensional picture of what it is to be at war. At the center of the novel are two young men—Captain Jamie Farebrother, estranged son of a colonel, and cocky Lieutenant Mickey Morse (nicknamed "Mickey Mouse"), well on his way to becoming America's Number One Flying Ace.

Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, award-winning historian Ewan Butler writes, struggled through unions and separations with both outsiders and each other, developing their own personalities and languages yet retaining their ancient connections.

The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.

Hot on the tails of the gumiho who slaughtered her family, YeoWoo instead stumbles over the battered and broken body of a merman who knows just a little bit too much about her quarry. It should be simple to keep Marazul both alive and useful, but although YeoWoo is successful in the former, the latter is a different tail. YeoWoo has always taken what she wanted in blood and force. Athelas has always gained what he needed by deception and manipulation. With their usual methods failing at every turn and the investigation swiftly becoming deadly, it's time to make a few changes.

In London's fashionable Chelsea, a Halloween bash goes terribly wrong. Emmeline Wardle, daughter of a frozen-foods baron, throws a party that results in the demise of two university schoolmates. Handsome golden boy Trevor Parsons is dead. So is pasty computer nerd Clive French. Both died on the Wardle estate within minutes of one another, and both died the same way - an axe to the skull. Given the social connections of all involved, New Scotland Yard sends a real baron to investigate.

The aristocracy abide by a different set of rules...or so it seems to Sam Applewhite when her job brings her to Candlebroke Hall, the stately home. The burglary definitely wasn’t what it appeared to be, and the subsequent accidents suggest that it’s a dangerous place to spend time. Sam is caught up in events as she tries to protect the interests of young Hilde Odinson, part of the local viking family. The Odinsons insist on doing things their own way though, with scant regard for the law.

In this ambitious novel, Phillips creates a dazzling kaleidoscope of historical fiction, one that illuminates the dark legacy of Europe’s obsession with race and blood. At the center of The Nature of Blood is a young woman, a Nazi death camp survivor, devastated by the loss of everyone she loves. Her story is interwoven with a cast of characters from both the present and past: her uncle Stephan, Othello the Moorish general, three Jews in 15th century Venice, and an Ethiopian Jew struggling for acceptance in contemporary Israel.

Dr. Henry Jekyll, fascinated by the dichotomy of good and evil, no longer wants to inhibit his dark side. He concocts a potion to create the alter ego of Mr. Edward Hyde. With the burden of evil placed on Hyde, Jekyll can now take pleasure in his immoral, nefarious fantasies - free of conscience and guilt. It's when Hyde turns to murder that Jekyll realizes how monstrous his impulses are and how hard they are to suppress.

William Finchley carries a secret from childhood which he has never shared with anyone, not even his closest friends. When his brother commits suicide, Finch becomes the new Duke of Sommersby. He attend his first season with no plans to ever wed—until he meets Lady Pemberton, an optimistic, brave widow.

Life at St Cadfan’s is never dull. There’s the cellar full of unexplained corpses. There’s the struggle to find food when the island is placed under quarantine. And there’s that peculiar staircase in the cellar.... Being a demon in Hell has its own problems. There’s the increasingly impossible torture quotas to meet. There’s the entire horde of Hell waiting for you to slip up and make a mistake. And there’s that weird staircase in the service tunnels.

Medusa's Ankles celebrates the very best of A. S. Byatt's short fiction, carefully selected from a lifetime of writing. Peopled by artists, poets, and fabulous creatures, the stories blaze with creativity and color. From ancient myth to a British candy factory, from a Chinese restaurant to a Mediterranean swimming pool, from a Turkish bazaar to a fairy-tale palace, Byatt transports her listeners beyond the veneer of the ordinary - even beyond the gloss of the fantastical - to places rich and strange and wholly unforgettable.

Summer 1764. Alec and Selina anxiously await the birth of their first child at their estate in Kent. It should be a time of family celebration, but the death of a young poacher has Alec investigating murder. And when renovations to his sprawling manor unearth a secret burial chamber, a shocking family secret comes to light. Everything Alec thought he knew about his birth is again called into question, and with it the special bond with his irascible uncle Plantagenet.

Robert Plant: The Voice that Sailed the Zeppelin follows the iconic singer through his heights of fame with classic rock giant Led Zeppelin, his second life as a multi-million-selling solo artist, and his more idiosyncratic pursuits. A wealth of former associates lend their voices and recollections to an account that steps far beyond the tried and tested tales of Zeppelin's life and times.

The stories collected in the twelve volumes of Andrew Lang's Fairy Books of Many Colors have captivated generations of readers. In The Blue Fairy Book, the first in his legendary series, Lang compiled and edited tales from the Brothers Grimm, Madame d’Aulnoy, and French, Scandinavian, and Middle Eastern sources. He captured the folkloric traditions and dark origins of dozens of the world's best-known fairy-tale characters, including Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow-White, Cinderella, and Rumpelstiltskin.

Among his eccentric though strictly principled group of friends, Lord Richard Vane is the confidant on whom everyone depends for advice, moral rectitude, and discreet assistance. Yet when Richard has a problem, he turns to his valet, a fixer of unparalleled genius - and the object of Richard's deepest desires. If there is one rule a gentleman must follow, it is never to dally with servants. But when David is close enough to touch, the rules of class collide with the basest sort of animal instinct: overpowering lust.

When Jeremy Clovenhoof realises that he's become too fond of his creature comforts, he signs on as a roadie for a Danish heavy metal band and goes on tour. A whirlwind adventure of sex, drugs and rock and roll awaits this horny devil. However, things take a turn for the ridiculous when they pick up a band of Morris dancers on their way to a grudge match competition in the North of England.

The Glass Elder wants wishes. Three, to be exact. Athelas wants a way in, and those wishes may well be that way—but giving the Elder what he wants means putting Camellia in harm's way. It also means that YeoWoo will have to choose between trusting Athelas one last time, and taking a bite at suddenly hot revenge that could swiftly go cold if she misses her chance. Now that revenge is within reach of her teeth, will YeoWoo manage to tear out one last, bloody heart? Can Athelas put aside his own ends for long enough to protect all those dearest to him from threats outside—and from himself?

Luluda tells the story of a journey through a strange modern city whose power is sourced from the ghost of a dragon. Ludwich may no longer be at war with its great political rival overseas, but veteran sailor Cady Meade, survivor of many battles, suspects that the hard-won peace is about to break. She promises to deliver a preternatural ten-year old girl to a coming-of-age festival in the heart of Ludwich. But she has been warned by the prophets that dangers lie ahead.