This audiobook narrated by Ric Jerrom traces the panoramic history of the Muslim world from the age of the Prophet Muḥammad to the the dawn of the modern eraThis book describes and explains the major events, personalities, conflicts, and convergences that have shaped the history of the Muslim world. The body of the work takes readers from the origins of Islam to the eve of the nineteenth century, and an epilogue continues the story to the present day. Michael Cook t...

The hunter becomes the hunted in Gridlinked, the first sci-fi thriller in Neal Asher's compelling Agent Cormac series.When a portal to other planets explodes on Samarkand, thousands are killed and a terraforming project is obliterated. Earth Central Security suspects sabotage – and assigns a legendary investigator. But Agent Ian Cormac has his own problems. Years spent mentally linked to the Polity’s AI network have eroded his humanity, and this gridlink h...

When a Turkish laborer is stabbed to death in Frankfurt's red light district, the local police see no need to work overtime. But wisecracking private detective Kemel Kayankaya, a Turkish immigrant himself, smells a rat. The dead man wasn't the kind of guy who spent time with prostitutes. What gives? The deeper he digs, the more Kayankaya finds that the victim was a good guy, a poor immigrant just trying to look out for his family. So who wanted him dead, and why?On the way to findi...

Jim, the first mate aboard a small steamer named the Patna, travels from port to port in the Pacific Ocean. When the ship hits floating wreckage, Jim and the crew are forced to abandon it, leaving hundreds of ethnic travellers on board. However, Jim’s reprehensible actions are soon discovered by the court and he is compelled to face his guilt and redeem himself a journey that leads him to a remote exotic location where he is revered as Lord Jim (‘Tuan Jim’). Through beautifully evocative d...

This audiobook narrated by Ric Jerrom reveals how Enlightenment Europe rediscovered its identity by measuring itself against the great civilizations of AsiaDuring the long eighteenth century, Europe's travelers, scholars, and intellectuals looked to Asia in a spirit of puzzlement, irony, and openness. In this panoramic and colorful book, Jürgen Osterhammel tells the story of the European Enlightenment's nuanced encounter with the great civilizations of the East, fro...

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen breathes new life into the political tales first published in British workers' magazinesWith additional narration by Lisa Coleman, Ric Jerrom, Peter Kenny, Miriam Margolyes, John Telfer, and Samuel WestIn the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, unique tales inspired by traditional literary forms appeared frequently in socialist-leaning British periodicals, such as the Clarion

In his dialogues the Stoic philosopher Seneca outlines his thoughts on how to live in a troubled world. Tutor to the young emperor Nero, Seneca wrote practical philosophical exercises that draw upon contemporary Roman life and illuminate the intellectual concerns of the day. The dialogues also have much to say to the modern reader, as they range widely across subjects such as the shortness of life, tranquillity of mind, anger, mercy, happiness, and grief at the loss of a loved one. Seneca’...

BBC Radio dramatisations and readings of the great Welsh writer's worksA novelist, playwright, broadcaster and raconteur, Gwyn Thomas was celebrated as one of Wales’s finest writers in the English language. He wrote countless novels, short stories and plays for stage, radio, and television, and he frequently contributed to Punch magazine. This BBC collection features a selection of his finest works, showcasing his engaging storytelling, dark humour and abi...

No one can outrun the past in Brass Man, is the third novel in Neal Asher's popular Agent Cormac series.Imperfectly resurrected by Jain technology, Mr Crane is back from the dead. The brass killing machine is haunted by a violent past he can’t fully forget or truly remember. He seeks to heal his shattered mind as his new master, an old biophysicist enemy of Agent Cormac, sets him on an improbable mission: to hunt a dragon on the frontier world of Cull....

No one can outrun the past in Brass Man, is the third novel in Neal Asher's popular Agent Cormac series.Imperfectly resurrected by Jain technology, Mr Crane is back from the dead. The brass killing machine is haunted by a violent past he can’t fully forget or truly remember. He seeks to heal his shattered mind as his new master, an old biophysicist enemy of Agent Cormac, sets him on an improbable mission: to hunt a dragon on the frontier world of Cull....

The potent and murky impulses of desire, greed, obsession and fear combine with deadly results in this compelling psychological thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. Perfect for readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon.'A fine novel of suspense' -- Financial Times'Rendell's psychological insights are so absorbing, it's eas...

Barbara Taylor Bradford introduced the illustrious Harte family in her blockbuster A Woman of Substance. Now she has created an unforgettable new dynasty: the Deravenels.On a bitterly cold day in 1904, the Deravenel family's future changes forever. When Cecily Deravenel tells her eighteen-year-old son Edward of the death of his father, brother, uncle, and cousin in a fire, a part of him dies as well. Edward and his cousin Neville Watkins are suspicious of the deaths. They ...