Audiobooks narrated by Elliot Fitzpatrick

Lady Eleanor Furneaux Smith was born in Birkenhead, Merseyside in England on the 7th August 1902 into a privileged family steeped in titles and politics.Part of her education was at Miss Douglas's school at Queen's Gate. Here she met and befriended several other young women that the British tabloid press would later call the 'Bright Young Things', a group of bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London.Smith's paternal great-grandmother, was said to have been a Gypsy, and this sparked an early and life-long interest with the Romani people, she even went so far as to learn to read and speak the language, which she called 'musical and broken.'Her life was full of adventure and mishaps. A mistaken encounter with a man she thought could help her into the film business turned out to threats of marriage and death from a man wanted for the murder of his father. She was even arrested twice. Once for listing her career as a journalist and another, in Rome, for walking around in a sleeveless dress.Smith began her career writing society gossip columns for various newspapers but later received an offer to write for the newly-formed Great Carmo Circus, with which she travelled for several years and was the source material for many of her books.Her first novel, 'Red Wagon', was published when she was 28 and it was an immediate bestseller. A prolific writer several of her works were also adapted for films.Smith also wrote ghost stories and others flavoured with evil. Her support for the Conservative party may be forgiven but her attributed quote to be a 'warm adherent of General Franco' less so.Lady Eleanor Furneaux Smith died on the 20th October 1945 in Westminster after a long illness. She was 43.

Lady Eleanor Smith (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick (Narrator)

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What Do Bees Think About?

Explore the mind of a bee and learn what drives its behavior. Have you ever observed a bee up close and wondered what was going on inside its head? Like ours, insects' brains take up most of the space in their heads, but their brains are smaller than a grain of rice, only 0.0002% as large as ours. But what purpose does the insect brain serve, and how does that drive their creativity, morality, and emotions? Bees in particular exhibit unexpected and fascinating cognitive skills. In What Do Bees Think About? animal cognition researcher Mathieu Lihoreau examines a century of research into insect evolution and behavior. He explains recent scientific discoveries, recounts researchers' anecdotes, and reflects on the cognition of these fascinating creatures. Lihoreau's and other scientists' research on insects reinforces the importance of protecting and preserving insects such as bees: after all, our survival on the planet is deeply dependent on theirs. This book provides an eye-opening window into the world of insect cognition and echoes an important ecological message about bees-they are intelligent creatures sharing the same fragile ecosystem as us.

Mathieu Lihoreau (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick (Narrator)

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Was It An Illusion - The Parson's Story

Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards was born on 7th June 1831 in Islington, London. She was educated at home by her mother and showed early promise as a writer, publishing her first poem at the age of 7 and her first story at 12. Thereafter several popular periodicals published her poetry, stories and articles.In addition she also illustrated some of her own writings and painted scenes from books she had read. This talent was not supported by her parents, who saw an artist's life as scandalous. Undeterred Amelia took up composing and performing music until a bout of typhus caused throat damage. Other interests soon followed until, early in the 1850s, Amelia focused exclusively on writing. Her early novels were well received, and with 'Barbara's History' in 1864, a work revolving around bigamy, her reputation was established. Amelia's pen was also the purveyor of ghost stories for magazines and are still anthologized as classic tales to this day.In January 1851, Amelia became engaged, apparently to please her parents, but she quickly broke it off. In reality her emotional attachments were almost exclusively with women. From the early 1860s she lived with Ellen Drew Braysher, a widow 27 years her senior, until both women died in early 1892. During this relationship other women also entered and left her life. Her frequent travelling companion, Lucy Renshaw, accompanied her to Egypt in the winter of 1873 and there she found a life-changing interest in Egyptology. Aware of increasing threats from tourism and modern development she became an advocate for their research and preservation. To advance the work Amelia largely abandoned much of her writing in favour of Egyptology and even took on strenuous lecture tours to raise funds.After catching influenza, Amelia Edwards, 'the Godmother of Egyptology' died on 15th April 1892 at Weston-super-Mare. She was 60. In this rural story a man is inspecting schools in the district of an old and now fabulously rich university friend. When they finally meet a dark secret is revealed to both of them.

Amelia B. Edwards, Edward Thomas (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick (Narrator)

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True Grit

Brought to you by Penguin. True Grit by Bear Grylls is read by Eliot Fitzpatrick, with an introduction read by the author. Bear Grylls knows what it takes to survive. But he's not the first. Take the American bombardier Louis Zamperini, who survived 47 days stranded at sea by catching and killing hungry sharks and drinking the warm blood of albatrosses - only to be captured by the Japanese and horrifically tortured for years in their most brutal POW camps... Or Marcus Luttrell, a Navy SEAL who single-handedly took on a Taliban regiment before dragging his bleeding, bullet-ridden body for days through the harsh mountains of Afghanistan... Or Nando Parrado, one of the survivors of a horrific air-crash high in the ice-bound Andes, who only lived because he was willing to eat the flesh of his dead companions... In this gripping new book, Bear tells the stories of the adventurers, explorers, soldiers and spies whose refusal to quit in the most extreme situations has inspired him throughout his life. Some of them make uncomfortable reading - survival is rarely pretty. But all of them are tales of eye-watering bravery, death-defying resilience and extraordinary mental toughness by men and women who have one thing in common: true grit.

Bear Grylls (Author), Bear Grylls, Elliot Fitzpatrick (Narrator)

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The Story of Salome

Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards was born on 7th June 1831 in Islington, London. She was educated at home by her mother and showed early promise as a writer, publishing her first poem at the age of 7 and her first story at 12. Thereafter several popular periodicals published her poetry, stories and articles.In addition she also illustrated some of her own writings and painted scenes from books she had read. This talent was not supported by her parents, who saw an artist's life as scandalous. Undeterred Amelia took up composing and performing music until a bout of typhus caused throat damage. Other interests soon followed until, early in the 1850s, Amelia focused exclusively on writing. Her early novels were well received, and with 'Barbara's History' in 1864, a work revolving around bigamy, her reputation was established. Amelia's pen was also the purveyor of ghost stories for magazines and are still anthologized as classic tales to this day.In January 1851, Amelia became engaged, apparently to please her parents, but she quickly broke it off. In reality her emotional attachments were almost exclusively with women. From the early 1860s she lived with Ellen Drew Braysher, a widow 27 years her senior, until both women died in early 1892. During this relationship other women also entered and left her life. Her frequent travelling companion, Lucy Renshaw, accompanied her to Egypt in the winter of 1873 and there she found a life-changing interest in Egyptology. Aware of increasing threats from tourism and modern development she became an advocate for their research and preservation. To advance the work Amelia largely abandoned much of her writing in favour of Egyptology and even took on strenuous lecture tours to raise funds.After catching influenza, Amelia Edwards, 'the Godmother of Egyptology' died on 15th April 1892 at Weston-super-Mare. She was 60. In this Venetian set story Edwards follows the trail of a man who, after the briefest of meetings, falls in love with a young Jewish girl, who has but one request of him.

Amelia B. Edwards, Christina Georgina Rossetti (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Red Mark

Israel Zangwill was born in London on 21st January 1864, to a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. Zangwill was initially educated in Plymouth and Bristol. At age 9 he was enrolled in the Jews' Free School in Spitalfields in east London. Zangwill excelled here. He began to teach part-time at the school and eventually full time. Whilst teaching he also studied with the University of London and by 1884 had earned his BA with triple honours in philosophy, history, and the sciences.His writing earned him the sobriquet "the Dickens of the Ghetto" primarily based on his much lauded novel 'Children of the Ghetto: A Study of a Peculiar People' in 1892 and its glimpse of the poverty-stricken life in London's Jewish quarter.As a writer he was keen to reflect on his political and social outlooks. His simulation of Yiddish sentence structure in English aroused great interest. His mystery work, 'The Big Bow Mystery' (1892) was the first locked room mystery novel. Zangwill was also involved with narrowly focused Jewish issues as an assimilationist, an early Zionist, and later a territorialist. In the early 1890s he joined the Lovers of Zion movement in England. In 1897 he joined Theodor Herzl (considered the father of modern political Zionism) in founding the World Zionist Organization. Zangwill quit the established philosophy of Zionism when his plan for a homeland in Uganda was rejected and founded his own organisation; the Jewish Territorialist Organization. Its stated goal was to create a Jewish homeland in whatever territory in the world could be found for them. Amongst the challenges in his life he found time to write poetry. He had translated a medieval Jewish poet in 1903 and his volume 'Blind Children' in 1908 was well received. 'The Melting Pot' in 1909 made Zangwill's name as an admired playwright. When the play opened in Washington D.C., former President Theodore Roosevelt leaned over the edge of his box and shouted, "That's a great play, Mr. Zangwill, that's a great play." Israel Zangwill died on 1st August 1926 in Midhurst, West Sussex.

Israel Zangwill (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Philistine

Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture, and more commonly known as E M Delafield, was born in Steyning, Sussex on 9th June 1890. Raised in the fading years of the Victorian era with its Empire and strict moral codes Delafield, not yet married at twenty-one, joined a French religious order, in Belgium, but soon decided that this was a totally wrong choice for her. Her next challenge was her work during the horror of the First World War. Delafield decided to take up a position as a nurse in a Voluntary Aid Detachment in Exeter. It was whilst here that she managed to write her first novel, 'Zella Sees Herself'. With the end of the war new opportunities were sought and she now took up a position for the South-West Region of the Ministry of National Service in Bristol. With it came enough time to write two more novels: 'The War Workers' (1918) and 'The Pelicans' (1918). On 17th July 1919, she married Colonel Arthur Paul Dashwood, OBE, an engineer responsible for building the massive docks at Hong Kong Harbour. The marriage produced two children; Lionel and Rosamund. That same year her fourth novel, 'Consequences', was published. The couple spent their early years in Malaya but returned to England to live in Croyle, an old house in Kentisbeare, Devon. Delafield continued to collect responsibilities and organise whatever she could. At the initial meeting of the Kentisbeare Women's Institute, Delafield was unanimously elected president, and also became a Justice of the Peace, raised the children and, of course, continued to write her best-selling novels. Her greatest work is undoubtedly the largely autobiographical 'Diary of a Provincial Lady', which is a simply structured journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman, living mostly in a Devon village of the 1930s. It spawned several best-selling sequels. Her works also includes stage and radio plays, film scripts and short stories. After the death of her son in 1940, her health began to markedly decline. E M Delafield died on 2nd December 1943 after collapsing whilst giving a lecture in Oxford. She was 53.

E M Delafield (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Open Door

'Caleb Field'|1897.Despite the short time she lived in Scotland|Frank Wilson Oliphant|Frank developed tuberculosis and so they moved in January 1859 to Florence|Glasgow and Liverpool. She wrote from a young age and in 1849 had her first novel about the Scottish Free Church movement|London. Together they had six children but tragically three died in infancy. Unfortunately|Margaret Oliphant Wilson was born on 4th April 1828 in East Lothian in Scotland but spent her childhood in Midlothian|a cause her parents sympathized with|a couple of years later|an artist working in stained glass|and settled in Camden|and then south to Rome|financial ruin for her alcoholic brother and unfulfilled ambitions for her two sons followed by their deaths in 1890 and 1894. She had settled in Windsor near Eton where her sons had been educated in 1866 and was buried there following her death on 25th June|her family life continued to be fraught with tragedies due to the further death of her one remaining daughter|led to a lifelong association with Blackwood Magazine to which she contributed more than a 100 articles and reviews.In May 1852|much of her writing displays strong connections in terms of settings|provided a sense of comfort to those grieving. In this story a family's return from India to Scotland is soon brought to a state of tension when their fragile son experiences hallucinations. The pursuit of the truth brings many consequences.|published. Her next|she married her cousin|themes and its oral tradition. Margaret was admired for her range of supernatural tales|where he died. Margaret was devastated and was left with the burden of supporting herself and their three children. She returned to England and with her prolific literary work increased her commercial reputation and the size of her reading audience. Margaret worked tirelessly to sustain her popularity with her supernatural tales and historical fiction.Unfortunately|which resonated with her fascination for the afterlife and given her own experience

Margaret Oliphant (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick (Narrator)

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The Midnight Man: The gripping, chilling new thriller from the #1 bestselling author

A CHILLING NEW SERIES FROM NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER CAROLINE MITCHELL 'If you love early Stephen King, you'll love The Midnight Man.' - ROBERT DUGONI 'The perfect Halloween read!' - TERESA DRISCOLL If you open your door to the Midnight Man Hide with a candle wherever you can Try not to scream as he draws near Because one of you won't be leaving here... On Halloween night in Slayton, five girls go to Blackhall Manor to play the Midnight Game. They write their names on a piece of paper and prick their fingers to soak it in blood. At exactly midnight they knock on the door twenty-two times - they have invited the Midnight Man in. It was supposed to be a game, but only four girls come home. Detective Sarah Noble has just returned to the force, and no one knows more about Blackhall Manor than her. It's a case that will shake Sarah to the core. Will she be ready to meet the Midnight Man? A gripping and twisty thriller, perfect for fans of C. J. Tudor and Stephen King. PRAISE FOR THE MIDNIGHT MAN 'Caroline Mitchell at her dark and twisty best' - Teresa Driscoll 'I read it with the doors locked and the lights on' - Robert Dugoni 'Creepy and intense' - Mel Sherratt 'A spine tingling, creepy book that you'll struggle to put down' - John Marrs 'Terrifying, mysterious and suspenseful' - Patricia Gibney 'A tense and deliciously creepy read' - D.S. Butler 'A spooky, twisty mystery with a spine-chillingly creepy ending' - Susi Holliday 'Twisty, tense and creepy as hell... I loved it!' - K.L. Slater

Caroline Mitchell (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick, Emma Gregory (Narrator)

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The Influence: Understand it, Use it, Resist it

One of the government’s former behavioural scientists reveals how you can do what you want, whilst everybody tries to influence you into doing what they want. Influence makes you think what you think and do as you do. You use it to change the thoughts and behaviours of others – just as others use it change yours. We have been perfecting our influence for millions of years, but in the last 20 years digital technologies have revolutionised how influence works. We are now connected to old school friends and niche interest groups – but unwittingly also to organised criminals, terrorists and hostile states who infiltrate our societies. The course of history is being shaped: elections have been hijacked, lies spread about pandemics and the rapidly heating climate, and information has become as important as bullets and bombs to winning wars. More than ever, influence has become the crucial currency for commercial and political gain: If you don’t understand it, you will likely become its victim. Written by a former government behavioural scientist working at the cutting edge of this field, Influence is a groundbreaking guide to the chaotic and murky world we live in. Through examining five key factors we are taken on a tour from the past to our real-world present, to build a picture of the major role influence plays in everyday life. Influence provides a simple personal plan illustrating how you can use influence to achieve your goals – whether gaining that promotion, getting your friends to a music festival, or your children to eat their greens. But by understanding the nature of influence, you will also see how it is changing in the information age, enabling dangerous adversaries to gain power, leaving our societies in peril. Most importantly, by using the tools of influence you will be empowered to play your part in protecting us – it will be down to you and everyone you know. Influence is a fascinating guide to how you can help by understanding it, using it and resisting it.

Justin Hempson-Jones (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick, TBD (Narrator)

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The Hard Yards: A Season in the Championship, England's Toughest League

'Gus Poyet declared it to be the toughest league in England. Neil Warnock went further, believing it to be the tightest division in Europe. Norwich boss Daniel Farke went further still: "The Championship, without any doubt, is the toughest league in the world."' On the final day of the 2019/20 season, only four clubs in the Championship, England's second tier of soccer, had nothing to play for, everyone else was fighting for promotion or survival. It's stats like this that give the league its well-deserved reputation as the most exciting league in football. Anything can happen, and often does. In The Hard Yards, Nige Tassell tells the Championship's stories, uncovers its hidden gems and takes the reader on an entertaining and eye-opening tour of the 2020/21 season. Following three clubs in particular - newly promoted Wycombe Wanderers, newly relegated Bournemouth and stalwarts Sheffield Wednesday, who start the season on 12-point deficit - he'll dip into the seasons of clubs across the league, interviewing managers, fans, kit men and chairmen. A world away from the glamour and melodrama of the Premiership, the Championship is the heart and soul of football and in The Hard Yards Nige Tassell will take it back to basics. Praise for The Bottom Corner: 'Warm and celebratory but also sharp and insightful, The Bottom Corner is a love letter to non-league football that is also a vivid snapshot of its place in our national life' -- Stuart Maconie 'A wonderful journey through life in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. A fascinating tale of a very different world of football from that of the overpaid stars of the television age' -- Barry Davies

Nige Tassell (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick (Narrator)

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The Five Days Missing

‘A twisty-turny thriller that kept me gripped until the fantastic shock ending!’ – bestselling author Jackie Kabler ‘I did this. The most awful thing…’ Romilly disappeared hours after giving birth, leaving behind her baby. Now, those closest to her rally around to look after the little girl, and to figure out what drove Romilly to do such a thing. Her husband Marc has an explanation that makes total sense. But is the easiest solution always the right one? And does someone in Romilly’s tight circle know more than they are letting on? As secrets spill out and old ties are tested to their limits, one thing is clear: the truth will come out. The question is, who will still be alive to hear it? A twist-filled, emotional tale of dark pasts and even darker secrets – perfect for fans of Adele Parks and Heidi Perks. ‘Deliciously twisted’ – Red ’A tense thriller… The mystery you’ve been waiting for’ – Stylist Readers are obsessed with Five Days Missing! ‘I highly recommend this book and would love to see the BBC turn it into a drama.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Five Days Missing was everything I could have wanted in a psychological thriller and much more.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Good grief – this one really keeps you guessing!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The ending was superb. Highly recommended.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Five Days Missing is a wild ride. With its twists and turns and you will be shocked right into the ending.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A gripping story and a page turner.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Fantastic book! It was impossible to put down.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Caroline Corcoran (Author), Elliot Fitzpatrick, Georgia Maguire, Hayley Doyle (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Elliot Fitzpatrick