Showing results by narrator "Martin Jarvis" in All Categories

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle, read by Martin Jarvis. This is a life told back to front. This is a man who has lied all his life. Roy is a conman living in a small English town, about to pull off his final con. He is going to meet and woo a beautiful woman and slip away with her life savings. But who is the man behind the con, and what has he had to do to survive this life of lies? And why is this beautiful woman so willing to be his next victim?

In the quiet cul-de-sac where Keith and Stephen live, the only immediate signs of the Second World War are the blackouts at night and a single random bomb-site. But the two boys suspect that the ordinary houses in the Close and their inhabitants are not what they seem.

Six unabridged stories from Richmal Crompton read by Martin Jarvis as the lovable scamp William Brown, detailing a whole host of scrapes, mistakes, misunderstandings, and straight-forward naughtiness. Kids will love this download, and adults will find themselves laughing out loud too!

The story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (based on Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky, and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman....

Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find he has been transformed into a gigantic insect. This extraordinary tale of imagination was written by Kafka against the backdrop of increasing turmoil in central Europe and remains not just an affecting tale but a disturbing allegory.

The conned: an Oxford don, a revered society physician, a chic French art dealer, and a charming English lord. They have one thing in common. Overnight, each novice investor lost his life's fortune to one man. The con: Harvey Metcalfe. A brilliant, self-made guru of deceit. A very dangerous individual. And now, a hunted man. With nothing left to lose, four strangers are about to come together—each expert in their own field. Their plan: find Harvey, shadow him, trap him, and penny-for-penny, destroy him.

Young Julien Sorel, one of the greatest characters in European literature, tries to rise above his humble peasant origins through a combination of talent and hard work - but also seduction, deception, and hypocrisy. The story is set in 19th-century France and is filled with sex, violence, romance, and humour.

The Forsyte Saga initially centres on Soames Forsyte - a successful solicitor living in London with his beautiful wife Irene. A pillar of the late Victorian upper middle class, materially wealthy, his appears to be a golden existence endowed with all the necessary possessions for a 'Man of Property' but beneath this very proper exterior lies a core of unhappiness and brutal relationships. When The Forsyte Saga was shown on television in 1967 it was hugely successful.

Sid Halley, a private investigator, has a new left hand, having had a transplant since his last appearance in Refusal. After receiving death threats, an ex-jockey trainer friend calls Sid to ask for his help, but Sid has his own problems to deal with, like recovering from surgery and saving his crumbling marriage. When his friend’s stable yard is torched, horses killed and the friend is found dead, Sid can only blame himself for not helping sooner. The police think it’s suicide, but Sid is not convinced after his friend’s terrified phone calls.

Donald Cameron, a young Scotsman, is commissioned to write a book on the outsider's view of the English. He sets about his task with enthusiasm, encountering along the way an array of richly comical characters including civil servants, newspaper editors, minor poets, a glamourous movie star, politicians, and many more. This satire of English eccentricity has become a classic of 20th century literature.

Jimmy Crocker, a.k.a. Piccadilly Jim is a lively young American ex-newspaper man who meets Ann Chester, the girl of his dreams, in London. Problem is Jim once wrote a bad review of her first book of poetry. They set sail to New York together with Ann still not knowing he's the dastardly critic!

When a Martian spacecraft lands on Woking Common, mankind is terrorised by aliens in tall, armoured capsules which stalk the countryside on three legs. The machines wreak havoc on London and the Southern Counties, and survivors are driven underground. Scientist John Nicholson (Paul Daneman) tells how he was plunged into a paralysing nightmare of stark terror, savage madness and utter destruction.

Nicholas Nickleby is at once a moving and funny novel following the fortunes and misfortunes of an impetuous and high-spirited hero. Left penniless by his father's death, and protector of his sister Kate, Nicholas Nickleby becomes a true champion of the weak. Always equal to the wild adventures thrust upon him, young Nicholas has to constantly pit himself against Ralph, his devious and unscrupulous uncle, in order to survive. Includes music extracts from Mozart's 'Clarinet Quartet in E Flat'.

Simon Kerslake's father sacrificed everything to make sure his son's dreams come true. Now it is Simon's chance to rise as high as those dreams allow...Ray Gould was born to the back streets but raised with pride-a quality matched by a sharp intellect and the desire to attain the impossible...Andrew Fraser was raised by a soccer hero turned politician. Now it's his turn for heroics, whatever the cost. From strangers to rivals, four men embark on a journey for the highest stakes of all—the keys to No. 10 Downing Street.

This collection of 12 short stories will draw the listener into each story, whether it is "Old Love", the tale of two undergraduates at Oxford in the 30s and their bitter rivalry, which ends in a memorable love story; or "Broken Routine", which tells of an insurance claim advisor and his surprising encounter on the train home to Sevenoaks; or "Henry's Hiccup", the story of the Grand Pasha and how his plans for the most perfect honeymoon go awry.

Martin Jarvis performs two full-length William stories, 'The Lost Tourist' and 'The Leopard Hunter', recorded live on stage at the Cheltenham Festival in 2003. Described by the Daily Telegraph as 'the wizard of the talking book', Martin Jarvis has made the voices of William and his gang of outlaws his own.

There is no shortage of humour in Broadway, Jeeves?, an elegantly observed journal of a year in the life of the musical play by Jeeves, written and directed by Sir Alan Ayckbourn and composed by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, in which Jarvis starred in America.

Beginning in January 2001, the listener can enjoy a detailed account of this acclaimed production as it moves from Pittsburgh to Toronto and....Will it ever get to Broadway?

On 18th February 1895, the Marquess of Queensberry left a visiting card at the Albemarle Club on which he had written: "To Oscar Wilde posing as a sodomite." The accusation led to a series of three trials and the imprisonment of Wilde. This compelling dramatic recreation has been carefully compiled from the original trial transcripts.

From international bestselling author Dick Francis and his son Felix comes a gripping new racing thriller. Captain Thomas Forsyth’s tour of Afghanistan is cut brutally short when he’s badly wounded by a roadside bomb. Tom’s world is torn apart by the injury - the Army is his life. Six months of recuperation leave is a daunting prospect - but not as bleak as the probability of never rejoining his regiment. Tom returns to Lambourn, to his childhood home, where his mother is a racehorse trainer and the ‘First Lady’ of racing.

Four clergymen seek to make sense of their mission while being torn in all directions by the Church of England. After a critically-lauded debut in 1990 at London’s National Theatre, Racing Demon went on to earn universal acclaim. More than 20 years later, David Hare’s bold and moving revelations on gay ordination and the doctrine of the priesthood ring more resoundingly than ever.