Audiobooks narrated by Leighton Pugh

Ferment: The Life-Changing Power of Microbes

"Brought to you by Penguin. From the world-leading gut scientist and no. 1 bestselling author of Food for Life, comes an introduction to the life-changing benefits of fermentation Of all the ways to prepare food, fermenting is surely the most mysterious, miraculous and misunderstood. As Tim Spector shows in this groundbreaking book, the science is now clear that adding fermented foods to our diets brings an astonishing range of benefits for our health. Drawing on his own cutting-edge research, and including practical tips for buying and making fermented foods, Tim demystifies the world of ferments, and introduces us to some of his favourites – from homemade kombucha and kefir, to sourdough, miso and coffee. He explores the extraordinary science of fermentation and the transformative role of microbes, in our kitchens and in our guts – and reveals why fermenting is the key to good food and good health. © Tim Spector 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Tim Spector (Author), Leighton Pugh, Tim Spector (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Turing Protocol: Discover a past you never thought possible in this gripping, high-stakes histor

"'An incredible debut' DON WINSLOW, New York Times bestselling author of The Cartel 'The Time Machine meets The Da Vinci Code' CHRIS HAMMER, internationally bestselling author of Scrublands Humanity's best kept secret may be its best hope for survival. In the midst of World War Two, Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing finds himself on the brink of a discovery that will change the world: a way to send a message back into the recent past. But when his invention successfully averts disaster on D-Day, the danger it poses in the wrong hands becomes terrifyingly clear. As Turing's enemies close in, only one decision is possible: Nautilus must be kept hidden from the world, safe in the care of the only person he can trust. Seventy-five years later, Annabelle McIntosh's life is upended when she learns she will become the latest custodian of the greatest secret of the modern age - Turing's Nautilus machine. Following in her family's footsteps, and bound by Turing's strict principles governing the use of his creation, Annabelle is soon faced with the same impossible choices. Nautilus has the power to prevent catastrophe, but the wrong decision could have devastating consequences. When the stakes are at their highest, will using the machine save the world - or destroy it? 'A smart, gripping thriller with an amazing big idea behind it. I loved it' T.J. NEWMAN, internationally bestselling author of Falling 'A fascinating alternative history with an intriguing "what if" at its core' DERVLA McTIERNAN, internationally bestselling author of What Happened to Nina? 'A ripping tale of past-careens-into-present fiction. Urgent morse code message to my past self: READ THE TURING PROTOCOL NOW' TRENT DALTON, internationally bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe "

Nick Croydon (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Deals of Warren Buffett Volume 4: Making the World's Most Respected Company

"In this fourth volume of The Deals of Warren Buffett, we trace Buffett's journey as he made Berkshire Hathaway the most respected company in the world. When we left Buffett at the end of Volume 3 towards the end of the 1990s, he was leading the largest corporation in America and his personal fortune had reached $40 billion. In this enthralling next instalment, we follow Buffett's investment deals over the first few years of the 21st century, as Berkshire grew to become a giant with annual profits north of $4 billion. Buffett, then in his early 70s, was still tap dancing to work, thoroughly enjoying analysing companies, finding bargains and interacting with his growing team of managers. By studying the decision-making that went into his investment deals and the successful and unsuccessful outcomes, we can learn from Buffett and become better investors ourselves. During this period, exploiting the low prices following the dot-com crash, Buffett made investments in the following companies: MidAmerican Energy, CORT, Moody's, H&R Block, Shaw Industries, Star Furniture, Jordan's Furniture, Ben Bridge Jeweler, Justin Boot, Acme Brick, Benjamin Moore and CTB. For each of these deals, investing expert and Buffett historian Glen Arnold dives into unprecedented detail to analyse the investment rationale, the stories of the individuals involved and, where possible, the profits Buffett made."

Glen Arnold (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

Bird School: A Beginner in the Wood

"‘A feast for mind and soul, a treasure trove of insights into the enigmatic and enchanting world of the birds we share our lives with but barely notice. I have learnt so much. Every page is a thrill. Bird School has opened my eyes' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding Step into the hide for a glorious new encounter with the British wild Close to Adam Nicolson’s home in Sussex, there is a forgotten field overrun by bracken and thicketed by brambles. It is the haunt of deer and many birds – nightingales, the occasional cuckoo, ravens, robins, owls and in summer the sweet-singing warblers that come north from Africa to breed in English woods. This gorgeous book charts his attempt to encounter birds, to engage with a marvellous layer of life he had previously almost ignored. He wanted to look and listen, to return to ‘bird school’ and see what it might teach him. He built a small shed amongst the trees with nesting boxes and bird feeders. Cocooned inside, season after season, he got to know the birds: where they nest, how they sing, how they mate and fight, what preys on them, what they are like as living things. Beautifully written and woven through with philosophy, literature, science and a sense of wonder, always conscious that that this is an age in which the natural world is under siege, Bird School pulls back the curtain on seemingly ordinary birds, taking a long, careful and concerned look at our relationship with the wild. 'Golden threads of literary, philosophical and scientific insight run through Nicolson’s book, along with a sense that we are embarking on an adventure with him into a realm that we cannot hope to fully understand' THE TIMES 'A worthy addition to a literary lineage that stretches back to the 18th-century writer and naturalist Gilbert White…Bird School, then, is a fitting title: we should learn to rekindle our enduring love affair with birds, before they vanish from our sight' DAILY TELEGRAPH"

Adam Nicolson (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Spy in the Family: An Incredible True Story of Espionage and Betrayal

"A Spy in the Family: An Incredible True Story of Espionage and Betrayal is the first audiobook to reveal the full, astonishing story of ‘Václav Jelínek’, aka Erwin van Haarlem, using previously unseen documents from the UK, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic Fascinating tale of how the authors helped Johanna, now 99, find her real son, living close to the orphanage in Bohemia where she left him in 1945 Johanna van Haarlem looks across the Old Bailey courtroom to the hawk-featured man in the dock. There is no expression on his face. No remorse. And certainly no love. For over 10 years, she had believed he was Erwin van Haarlem, the son she gave up for adoption as a baby in the chaos of Europe in World War Two. She’d embraced him into her family and showered him with all the love he’d missed as a child. Then she lost her son a second time when the police told her the man she now faced in court was an imposter. Apparently his real name was Václav Jelínek. But Special Branch, MI5 and even the judge who sentenced Erwin van Haarlem to prison in 1989 as the last Soviet Bloc agent of the Cold War had no clue to his real identity – he was the spy with no name. Using the name Erwin van Haarlem, he was ordered by his masters to spy on the Royal Family and the Labour Party, to infiltrate Jewish groups and plunder the West’s nuclear secrets. But his biggest betrayal was to the woman he tricked into believing she was his mother for more than a decade. It was only after British intelligence caught the spy red-handed sending coded messages to Prague from his London flat that Johanna was finally forced to accept that the charming art dealer that she thought was Erwin was a professional liar. She had wanted so much to believe that he was her son that she had ignored one crucial clue that gave him away – his eyes were brown, and her baby’s eyes were blue. In A Spy In The Family, investigative journalists Paul Henderson and David Gardner reveal the incredible untold story of the mother who lost her son twice."

David Gardner, Paul Henderson (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

Mr. Weston's Good Wine

"Mr. Weston is a mysterious character - a wealthy man who has a reputation for selling a special kind of wine that has a unique and almost magical quality. The wine seems to bring out the hidden desires and darker sides of those who consume it, leading them to act in mysterious ways. Exploring ideas of greed, temptation, and the corrupting influence of power, Mr. Weston's Good Wine is a darkly comedic novel which critiques the fragility of human conciousness and explores the consequences of giving into our most base temptations."

T. F. Powys (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Kill

"A French hunting term, denoting the portion of game thrown to the hounds who killed it, the novel’s original title La Curée (1872) neatly foreshadows Zola’s exploration of the rapacious, animalistic greed of the newly rich bourgeoisie during the Second Empire of Napoleon III. The main protagonist, Saccard, takes his own spoils from corrupt property speculation in the wake of Baron Haussmann’s radical reconstruction of Paris. Against a backdrop of modernisation, extravagant luxury, political intrigue and sexual immorality, Saccard treats close relationships as money-making opportunities and loved ones as mere commodities. As one character puts it: ‘You see, everything is fine, as long as you make money from it.’"

Émile Zola (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

Out: How Brexit Got Done and the Tories Were Undone

"The hotly anticipated final book of bestselling author Tim Shipman’s Brexit quartet. The Johnson Years to Rishi Sunak 'Magnificent… Pacy and packed with delicious details… Shipman puts you in the room… His analysis is sharp and full of insight… For those seeking a moment-by-moment insider history it will not be topped' FT How did Boris Johnson supersede Theresa May to become Britain's Prime Minister? How did he pursue his promise to Get Brexit Done amidst multiple Brexit secretaries, repeated coup attempts and reshuffles, and an extraordinarily terse relationship with Brussels? What really happened in Downing Street – from the political choices to the party place settings – as the pandemic took the world in its grip? Out follows from May's resignation through to the tussles over the final Brexit deal, the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and our shortest serving PM ever. If pre-Theresa May Westminster was largely obsessed with the clever idealism of The West Wing, marinated in the farce of The Thick of It, the parable of these years became Game of Thrones, the pseudo-medieval swords and shagging epic pitching warring factions against each other in the quest for the iron throne. At the centre of the action was Tim Shipman, chief political commentator for the Sunday Times, taking notes on the guts and gore and tears. Out is a riveting, rambunctious account of the most dramatic years in modern British politics."

Tim Shipman (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

Chernobyl Roulette: A War Story

"Brought to you by Penguin. What if Chernobyl was just the beginning? The acclaimed winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize returns to Chernobyl to tell the gripping story of thirty-five days of war On 24 February 2022, the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, armoured vehicles approached the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. It was the most direct way for them to reach the capital - and an extraordinarily reckless plan after the disaster that had taken place there three decades earlier. Russian occupation of the plant had begun. It would last thirty-five days. Closely reported and narrated from multiple perspectives, this is the story of the Ukrainians who were held hostage and worked shifts for weeks instead of days to spare the world a new nuclear accident. We meet Valentyn Heiko, the foreman who had also been there for the clean-up of the Chernobyl accident in 1986 and turned sixty during the occupation; plant workers who found a way to celebrate International Women’s Day despite all odds; Russian officers who had no knowledge of nuclear reactors; and four stalkers who were caught in the middle and stood in for the overworked cook. Gripping and unforgettable, Chernobyl Roulette sounds the alarm about the dangers of nuclear sites in an unprecedented time, when plant workers are left to fight on their own while the world holds its breath. In a book that reads like a thriller, Serhii Plokhy tells a remarkable story about human nature, uncertainty and courage. 'A necessary book – and I can think of no writer better qualified to write it' Cal Flyn © Serhii Plokhy 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024"

Serhii Plokhy (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich

"Brought to you by Penguin. Why did so many Germans take part in the crimes of Nazi Germany? How did they come to support Hitler and follow him almost to the very end? For too long, the Nazis have been presented as little more than psychopaths or criminals. In his major new work, renowned historian Richard J. Evans makes use of a mass of recently unearthed new evidence to strip away the veneer of myth and legend from the faces of the Third Reich and present a more realistic view of Nazi perpetrators as human beings who were disturbingly like us. Evans offers rounded, fresh and often startling new portraits of the men and women who created and served Nazi Germany, beginning with Hitler himself and going on to encompass leading figures like Göring, Goebbels and Himmler, enforcers of Hitler’s orders such as Eichmann and Heydrich, propagandists like Leni Riefenstahl, low-level perpetrators such as the notorious Irma Grese and unknown sympathizers and fellow-travellers who helped the regime in myriad ways. Hitler’s People is a chilling, brilliantly written work which allows the reader to understand the texture and values of the Third Reich and just how far individuals will go when so many normal moral constraints have disappeared. ©2024 Richard J. Evans (P)2024 Penguin Audio"

Richard J. Evans (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

Money

"Zola's Money (L'Argent, 1891) shows the corrupting effect of untrammelled stock-market speculation. While some seek redemption through philanthropic and evangelical ventures, others - such as the main protagonist, Saccard - embrace their own avarice. Speculators illegally push up share prices so that ordinary citizens are feverishly swept up in an epidemic of small-scale investment. After unsustainable growth, there follows the inevitable crash, unleashing widespread misery and playing out against a backdrop of looming European conflict, colonialism, economic instability and political revolution. As Saccard tries to keep ahead of the financial authorities, he finds himself increasingly haunted by a serious crime from his past."

émile Zola (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blood on the Snow: The Russian Revolution 1914-1924

"'A terrific book about a terrifying subject by the best historian of Russia working today' - Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich 'This work of a lifetime presents high-octane, high-politcal drama' - Guardian In Blood on the Snow, Robert Service returns to the subject that has formed the backbone of his long and distinguished career: the Russian Revolution. For Service, the great unanswered question is how to reconcile the two vital narratives that underpin the extraordinary but troubled events of 1917. One puts the blame squarely on Tsar Nicholas II and on Alexander Kerensky's provisional government that deposed him. The other is the view from the bottom, that of the workers and peasants who wanted democratic socialism, not the Bolshevik dictatorship imposed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and his successors. Service's vivid and revisionist account spans the period from the outbreak of the First World War to Lenin's death in 1924. In it, he reveals that key seeds of the revolution were sown by the Tsar's decision to join the war against Germany in 1914. He shows with brutal clarity how those events played out, eventually leading to the establishment of the totalitarian Soviet regime, which would endure for the next seven decades. Nicholas II, Kerensky and Lenin are to the fore, but Service enriches his narrative by drawing on little-known diaries of those such as the Vologda peasant Alexander Zamaraev, the NCO Alexei Shtukaturov and the Moscow accounts clerk Nikita Okunev. Through the testimony of these 'ordinary' people, Service traces the tortuous path that Russia took through war, revolution and civil war. 'This authoritative, detailed account shows how Lenin won control of Russia and caused untold misery . . . ' - The Times"

Robert Service (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Leighton Pugh