Showing results by narrator "John Sackville" in All Categories

From the build-up to the fighting, through to the reverberations still felt in the aftermath, this is a compelling, accessible and immediate history of the war, perhaps the most complex, frightening and destructive event in world history. Discover how deep-seated local fears and hatreds escalated into one vast global conflict that was fought out to the bitter end - from the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party to Pearl Harbour, the D-Day landings and Hiroshima.

The car jolts to a halt at the pavement's edge, the driver waving through the windscreen to attract Richard's attention. He starts with astonishment. The driver is Gemma, his ex-wife. He has not seen or spoken to her for several years. They have, she memorably assured him the last time they met, nothing to say to each other. But something has changed her mind - something urgent.

A brutal massacre at a theme park leaves eight dead and triggers a wave of extremist violence across Britain. On the trail of the killer is Detective Superintendent Sophie Gabriel, who must confront her past as she races to stop rival Islamist and neo-Nazi terror groups bringing a deadly campaign of violence to Britain's streets. As community tensions rise, the Coalition Government appear to be exploiting the crisis for their own ends. In the midst of a political and media whirlwind, Gabriel and her team must stop a ruthless terrorist attack that could leave hundreds dead.

A hundred thousand dragons lie, underneath an Arabian sky. How do a few lines of poetry, a chance encounter in a London hotel, and a death in Sussex lead to a lost city of Arabia, and to the tombs of the Whispering Dead? Jack Haldean has evaded the truth for years, but now, enmeshed in the web of murder, theft and deception, he must find the answer and face up to the truth – a truth as deadly as any dragon...

Chinese writer Fan Wen manages to weave a fable of love, dreams, sacrifice, and spirituality, starting from the conflict between two prominent families - beneath the snow mountain of a picturesque Eastern Tibet - and ending with a journey in pursuit of personal salvation, self-esteem, and enlightenment. Steep in the magical lore of Tibetan Buddhism or Lamaism, Fan Wen brings his listeners into a world of magic and mystery, where no limitation of human capability is part of belief, and where legend turns often into myth and myth into history.

Everything in the universe is made of them, including you. Like you, the elements have personalities, attitudes, talents, shortcomings, stories rich with meaning. Here you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens and noble gases that light the way to vice. You'll learn how lead can tell your future while zinc may one day line your coffin. You'll discover what connects the bones in your body with the Whitehouse in Washington, the glow of a streetlamp with the salt on your dinner table.

What is it really like to be a racer? What is it like to be swept along at 60kmh in the middle of the pack? How does it feel to be reeled in from a solo breakaway metres from the line? What happens to the body during a high-speed chute? What tactics must teams employ to win the day, the jersey, the grand tour? How does a domestique keep going to the end of a stage once his job is done and his body exhausted?

In 2014 it is possible that Israel, backed by the United States, will launch an attack on Iran. This would be a catastrophic event, risking war, bloodshed, and global economic collapse. In this passionate, but rationally argued essay, the author's attempt to avert a potential global catastrophe by showing that the grounds for war do not exist, that there are no Iranian nuclear weapons, and that Iran would happily come to a table and strike a deal.

In Baron Bagge, a cavalry officer stationed in Eastern Europe during the First World War receives orders to ride into a platoon of Russian machine guns. But instead of meeting certain death, he and his brigade pass, unscathed, into a strangely peaceful land where festivities are in full swing. In Count Luna, Alexander Jessiersky, Austrian aristocrat and shipping magnate, finds the Nazis distasteful - but in war and in business, distaste can lead to negligence.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Mindfulness by Christopher Andre, read by John Sackville. Mindfulness is a uniquely beautiful work that draws upon art as a source of inspiration. Expert practitioner Christophe Andre invites us to consider paintings while practising mindfulness techniques. With stunning simplicity and clarity, he sets out 25 lessons that could change your life - from understanding what it means to live mindfully to useful tips for everyday situations.

Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of Turner by Franny Moyle, read by John Sackville. J. M. W. Turner is Britain's most famous landscape painter. Yet beyond his artistic achievements, little is known of the man himself and the events of his life: the tragic committal of his mother to a lunatic asylum, the personal sacrifices he made to effect his stratospheric rise and the bizarre double life he chose to lead in the last years of his life.

The Dalai Lama’s message of peace and compassion resonates with people of all faiths and none. Yet, for all his worldwide fame, he remains personally elusive. Now, Alexander Norman, acclaimed Oxford-trained scholar of the history of Tibet, delivers the definitive biography - unique, multi-layered and at times even shocking. The Dalai Lama illuminates an astonishing odyssey from isolated Tibetan village to worldwide standing as spiritual and political leader of one of the world’s most profound and complex cultural traditions.

Margot Lewis is the agony aunt for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, Dear Amy, gets all kinds of letters - but none like the one she's just received: 'Dear Amy, I don't know where I am. I've been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I'm afraid he'll kill me. Please help me soon, Bethan Avery.' Bethan Avery has been missing for nearly two decades. This is surely some cruel hoax. But as more letters arrive, they contain information that was never made public.

One winter morning, Lorimer Black - young, good-looking, but with a somewhat troubled expression - goes to keep a perfectly routine business appointment and finds a hanged man. A bad start to the day by anyone's standards and an ominous portent. For Lorimer works in the only-slightly corrupt business of financial adjusting, and he is about to learn that it is much uglier - and even more crooked - than he ever imagined. Suddenly, he's being unfairly blamed for all kinds of irregularities. Next, his life is threatened.

Our modern-day cities might seem to represent our separation from the natural world. In fact, as Ben Wilson reveals in this captivating re-examination of urban landscapes around the world, nature has always been at the heart of the city. Wilson explores the wild side of cities, past, present and future: the middens, abandoned sites and strips of land alongside railway lines.

In this enlightening series world-renowned spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh shares the essential foundations of mindful practise and mediation. From unlocking the connection to our inner self, forging deeper and more meaningful bonds with those around us to discovering a true sense of oneness with our natural world, this is the essential guide to help you master the art of connection.

Our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. It will be shaped by novel technologies and the logic of globalisation, by geopolitical tensions and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo - pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate and ecological crises - and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. It will be shaped by the meat paradox.

Everyone craves retirement from the Civil Service, don’t they? That time for an ageing patriarch to enjoy the fruits of a well-earned pension and the respect of his family; maybe even to indulge in a love of music halls and metropolitan life. If only people would listen and do as they were told… His fourth son William, the long-suffering narrator, is the constant butt of his father’s jokes and victim of his brother’s indifference. But as death, divorce and other darker dramas follow, father and son slowly establish a strange harmony.

Just when Stanley Duke thinks it safe to sink into middle age, his son goes insane. As if that wasn't terrible enough, Stanley finds himself beset on all sides by women - neurotic, cantankerous, half-baked or just plain capricious. As one by one they gnaw away at his composure, Stanley wonders whether insanity is not something with which all women are intimately acquainted.

Ten years ago, Sebastian Croll was found not guilty of murdering his playmate. Criminal solicitor Daniel Hunter defended the 11-year-old in a trial that gripped the nation, but the past is unearthed when Daniel gets a call from his old client. Sebastian's university professor has been brutally murdered, and everyone who knew her is in the frame. As Daniel steps in to represent Sebastian for the second time, rumour of his client's identity spreads like wildfire.