Audiobooks Narrated by Bert Franzke

LoveReading Top 10

1. People of Abandoned Character

   'Astonishing ... I'd be amazed if it isn't dominating the shortlists come next year's awards season' M.W. CRAVEN Marry in haste... Murder at leisure? London, 1888: Susannah rushes into marriage to a young and wealthy surgeon. After a passionate honeymoon, she returns home with her new husband wrapped around her little finger. But then everything changes. Thomas's behaviour becomes increasingly volatile and violent. He stays out all night, returning home bloodied and full of secrets. The gentle caresses she enjoyed on her wedding night are now just a honeyed memory. When the first woman is murdered in Whitechapel, Susannah's interest is piqued. But as she follows the reports of the ongoing hunt for the killer, her mind takes her down the darkest path imaginable. Every time Thomas stays out late, another victim is found dead. Is it coincidence? Or is her husband the man they call Jack the Ripper? 2020 Head of Zeus Ltd

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2. Box 88

   An organisation that doesn’t exist. A spy that can’t be caught. Years ago, a spy was born… 1989: The Cold War will soon be over, but for BOX 88, a top secret spying agency, the espionage game is heating up. Lachlan Kite, recruited from an elite boarding school, is sent to France, tasked with gathering intelligence on an enigmatic Iranian businessman implicated in the Lockerbie bombing. But what Kite uncovers is more terrifying than anyone expected… Now he faces the deadliest decision of his life… 2020: MI5 hear rumours of BOX 88’s existence and go after Kite – but Iranian intelligence have got to him first. Taken captive and brutally tortured, Kite has a choice: reveal the truth about what happened in France thirty years earlier – or watch his family die. In a battle unlike anything he has faced before, Kite must use all his skills to stay alive. ‘Charles Cumming is up there with the very best espionage writers’ Ian Rankin, bestselling author of the Rebus novels ‘BOX 88 is a wonderful spy novel; Charles Cumming’s most ambitious – and his best – yet’ Mick Herron, bestselling author of the Jackson Lamb series ‘Great work from Charles Cumming with a multi-layered plotline and an engaging hero’ James Swallow, bestselling author of Nomad ‘A layered and seamlessly constructed story with all the hallmarks of the finest spy thriller’ Charlotte Philby, acclaimed author of A Double Life ‘An enviably sharp-eyed and satisfying read. Great!’ Henry Porter, author of Firefly ‘A fast-paced story that moves seamlessly between the glamour of the South of France in the late eighties and present day London’ Holly Watt, award-winning author of To the Lions ‘Utterly gripping.  A great new spy hero is born’ Amanda Craig, author of The Golden Rule ‘Charles Cumming has breathed new life into the spy novel’ Ben Macintyre, bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor

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3. Help Yourself: Three scalding stories from the bestselling author of AMERICAN WIFE

   Brought to you by Penguin. Sittenfeld's wryly hilarious and insightful new collection, HELP YOURSELF, illuminates human experience and gracefully upends our assumptions about class and race, envy and disappointment, gender dynamics and celebrity. Suburban friends fall out after a racist encounter at a birthday party is caught on video and posted on Facebook; an illustrious Manhattan film crew are victims of their own snobbery when they underestimate a pre-school teacher from the Mid-West; and a group of young writers fight about love and narrative style as they compete for a prestigious bursary. Connecting each of these three stories is Sittenfeld's truthful yet merciless eye, as her characters stagger from awkwardness, to humiliation and, if they're lucky, to reconciliation. Full of tenderness and compassion, this dazzling collection celebrates our humanity in all its pettiness and glory. Praise for CURTIS SITTENFELD: 'Nobody else writes with such precison and amusement about the absolute inability of men and women to understand each other' RED MAGAZINE 'You won't want these stories to end' REESE WITHERSPOON 'Perfect miniatures in deadpan prose' GUARDIAN 'Clear-eyed and compulsive' MAIL ON SUNDAY © Curtis Sittenfeld 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

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4. A Nurse's Story: My Life in A&E During the Covid Crisis

   Moving, honest and inspiring – this is a nurse’s story of life in a busy A&E department during the Covid-19 crisis. Working in A&E is a challenging job but nurse Louise Curtis loves it. She was newly qualified as an advanced clinical practitioner, responsible for life or death decisions about the patients she saw, when the unthinkable happened and the country was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The stress on the NHS was huge and for the first time in her life, the job was going to take a toll on Louise herself. In A Nurse’s Story she describes what happened next, as the trickle of Covid patients became a flood. And just as tragically, staff in A&E were faced with the effects of lockdown on society. They worried about their regulars, now missing, and saw an increase in domestic abuse victims and suicide attempts as loneliness hit people hard. By turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, this book shines a light on the compassion and dedication of hospital staff during such dark times

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5. Mantel Pieces: Royal Bodies and Other Writing from the London Review of Books

   A stunning collection of essays and memoir from twice Booker Prize winner and international bestseller Hilary Mantel, author of The Mirror and the Light In 1987, when Hilary Mantel was first published in the London Review of Books, she wrote to the editor, Karl Miller, ‘I have no critical training whatsoever, so I am forced to be more brisk and breezy than scholarly.’ This collection of twenty reviews, essays and pieces of memoir from the next three decades, tells the story of what happened next. Her subjects range far and wide: Robespierre and Danton, the Hite report, Saudi Arabia where she lived for four years in the 1980s, the Bulger case, John Osborne, the Virgin Mary as well as the pop icon Madonna, a brilliant examination of Helen Duncan, Britain’s last witch. There are essays about Jane Boleyn, Charles Brandon, Christopher Marlowe and Margaret Pole, which display the astonishing insight into the Tudor mind we are familiar with from the bestselling Wolf Hall Trilogy. Her famous lecture, ‘Royal Bodies’, which caused a media frenzy, explores the place of royal women in society and our imagination. Here too are some of her LRB diaries, including her first meeting with her stepfather and a confrontation with a circus strongman. Constantly illuminating, always penetrating and often very funny, interleaved with letters and other ephemera gathered from the archive, Mantel Pieces is an irresistible selection from one of our greatest living writers.

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6. A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and A Vision for the Future

   Brought to you by Penguin. See the world. Then make it better. I am 93. I've had an extraordinary life. It's only now that I appreciate how extraordinary. As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world - but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable from day to day - the loss of our planet's wild places, its biodiversity. I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet contains my witness statement, and my vision for the future - the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake, and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. We have the opportunity to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited. All we need is the will to do so. © David Attenborough 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

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7. The Thursday Murder Club: The Record-Breaking Sunday Times Number One Bestseller

   Brought to you by Penguin. Read by Lesley Manville and featuring an exclusive Q&A between Richard Osman and Marian Keyes. THE FIRST BOOK IN THE GRIPPING THURSDAY MURDER CLUB SERIES BY TV PRESENTER RICHARD OSMAN. In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings. But when a local property developer shows up dead, 'The Thursday Murder Club' find themselves in the middle of their first live case. The four friends, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron, might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late? 'A little beacon of pleasure...SUCH FUN!' KATE ATKINSON 'What a great read this book is. Brimming with fascinating characters, humour, intrigue and warmth. And of course a brilliant whodunnit' Lesley Manville 'Compelling. Mystery fans are going to be enthralled' Harlan Coben 'Smart, compassionate, warm, moving and so VERY funny. I smiled a million times. This book will make a lot of people very, very happy' Marian Keyes © Richard Osman 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

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8. The Boy from the Woods: New from the #1 bestselling creator of the hit Netflix series The Stranger

   Brought to you by Penguin. THE LATEST BOOK FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND CREATOR OF THE HIT NETFLIX DRAMA THE STRANGER A brilliant new thriller from the international bestselling author described by Dan Brown as 'the modern master of the hook and twist' Thirty years ago, a child was found in the New Jersey backwoods. He had been living a feral existence, with no memory of how he got there or even who he is. Everyone just calls him Wilde. Now a former soldier and security expert, he lives off the grid, shunned by the community – until they need him. A child has gone missing. With her family suspecting she’s just playing a disappearing game, nobody seems concerned except for criminal attorney Hester Crimstein. She contacts Wilde, asking him to use his unique skills to find the girl. But even he can find no trace of her. One day passes, then a second, then a third. On the fourth, a human finger shows up in the mail. And now Wilde knows this is no game. It’s a race against time to save the girl’s life – and expose the town’s dark trove of secrets… 'One of the world’s finest thriller writers is at the very top of his game' PETER JAMES 'Coben never, ever lets you down' LEE CHILD 'Coben is a phenomenon - the most reliable of American thriller-writers, the least likely to disappoint ... the true mystery is Coben's extraordinary capacity to keep writing such wonderful thrillers' THE TIMES 'Coben remains one of the most reliable thriller writers around' - CRIME REVIEW 'Coben is simply one of the all-time greats—pick up any one of his thrillers and you’ll find a riveting, twisty, surprising story with a big, beating heart at its core' GILLIAN FLYNN © Harlan Coben 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

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9. Us Three

   Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Us Three written and read by Ruth Jones, co-creator of Gavin & Stacey and author of the smash-hit, number one bestselling debut, Never Greener. Friends forever is a difficult promise to keep... Meet Lana, Judith and Catrin. Best friends since primary school when they swore an oath on a Curly Wurly wrapper that they would always be there for each other, come what may. After the trip of a lifetime, the three girls are closer than ever. But an unexpected turn of events shakes the foundation of their friendship to its core, leaving their future in doubt - there's simply too much to forgive, let alone forget. An innocent childhood promise they once made now seems impossible to keep.... Packed with all the heart and empathy that made Ruth's name as a screenwriter and now author, Us Three is a funny, moving and uplifting novel about life's complications, the power of friendship and how it defines us all. Prepare to meet characters you'll feel you've known all your life - prepare to meet Us Three. Praise for Ruth Jones: 'Ruth Jones is excellent on human nature and why we make the mistakes we do. I felt for every character. Unputdownable.' Jojo Moyes, bestselling author of ME BEFORE YOU 'I love books about gnarly, messy relationships and this one kept me gripped from the beginning. A great read.' Jane Fallon, bestselling author of TELL ME A SECRET 'Thought-provoking, compelling and ultimately redemptive' Sunday Express © Ruth Jones 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

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10. Grown-Ups

    The brand-new book from the bestselling author of The Break and The Woman Who Stole My Life They're a glamorous family, the Caseys. Johnny Casey, his two brothers Ed and Liam, their beautiful, talented wives and all their kids spend a lot of time together - birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, weekends away. And they're a happy family. Johnny's wife, Jessie - who has the most money - insists on it. Under the surface, though, conditions are murkier. While some people clash, other people like each other far too much...Everything stays under control until Ed's wife Cara, gets concussion and can't keep her thoughts to herself. One careless remark at Johnny's birthday party, with the entire family present, starts Cara spilling out all their secrets. In the subsequent unravelling, every one of the adults finds themselves wondering if it's time - finally - to grow up? 'Marian Keyes is back with a witty and dramatic story about the Caseys, a family who seem perfect on the surface but hold some big secrets between them. When one of them starts to spill the truth after suffering concussion, things start to unravel in hilarious ways.' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING Praise for Marian Keyes: "Clever, hilarious, poignant...Gloriously funny." SUNDAY TIMES 'Everything this woman touches turns to comic gold.' COSMOPOLITAN 'Full of brilliantly funny characters, genuine emotion and heaps of charm.' HEAT 'Classic Marian Keyes: a blizzard of wit and wisecracks.' THE TIMES 'Keyes is an international treasure. The ultimate choice for a binge read.' STYLIST 'When it comes to writing page-turners that put a smile on your face and make you think, Keyes is in a class of her own.' DAILY EXPRESS

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