Audiobooks narrated by Meera Syal

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows Audiobook

Reese Witherspoon's March Book Club Pick! 'Big-hearted, earthy and funny... A rattlingly good story' Deborah Moggach, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Every woman has a secret life... When Nikki takes a creative writing job at her local temple, with visions of emancipating the women of the community she left behind as a self-important teenager, she's shocked to discover a group of barely literate women who have no interest in her ideals. Yet to her surprise, the white dupatta of the widow hides more than just their modesty - these are women who have spent their lives in the shadows of fathers, brothers and husbands; being dutiful, raising children and going to temple, but whose inner lives are as rich and fruitful as their untold stories. But as they begin to open up to each other about womanhood, sexuality, and the dark secrets within the community, Nikki realises that the illicit nature of the class may place them all in danger. East meets west and tradition clashes with modernity in a thought-provoking cross-cultural novel that might make you look again at the women in your life...

Balli Kaur Jaswal (Author), Meera Syal (Narrator)

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The House of Hidden Mothers

'Dazzling. Intense and gritty at times, sparkling and hilarious at others. I found it absorbing, witty, joyous and moving...and that's all I really want from a book!' - JO BRAND Little India, East London: Shyama, aged forty-four, has fallen for a younger man. They want a child together. Meanwhile, in a rural village in India, young Mala, trapped in an oppressive marriage, dreams of escape. When Shyama and Mala meet, they help each other realise their dreams. But will fate guarantee them both happiness?... Brimming with warmth, wit and indignation, Meera Syal immerses us in a devastating story of friendship, family and the lengths women will go to have a child. THE HOUSE OF HIDDEN MOTHERS is her long-awaited third novel and shows Meera Syal at the height of her literary powers Meera Syal, CBE, is one of our most acclaimed actors and writers of stage and screen. She starred in the hit series The Kumars at No.42 and recently in the BBC film of David Walliams' The Boy in the Dress. She is currently in David Hare's play, Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre, and in the latest series of Broadchurch. Meera Syal is also highly regarded for her funny, sharp and provocative fiction. Her earlier novels are ANITA AND ME and LIFE ISN'T ALL HA HA HEE HEE (now available as a re-issue). THE HOUSE OF HIDDEN MOTHERS is her long-awaited new novel. 'Brilliant. It is destined to be a bestseller. There is so much in it too. Beautiful writing, human frailty, love, vanity, friendship - but most importantly the shocking reminder of how woman are abused the world over.' - ESTHER FREUD

Meera Syal (Author), Meera Syal (Narrator)

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Anita and Me

Nine-year-old Meena can't wait to grow up and break free from her parents. But, as the daughter of the only Punjabi family in the mining village of Tollington, her struggle for independence is different from most. Meena wants fishfingers and chips, not chapati and dhal; she wants an English Christmas, not the usual interminable Punjabi festivities - but more than anything, she wants to roam the backyards of working-class Tollington with feisty Anita Rutter and her gang. Blonde, cool, aloof, outrageous and sassy, Anita is everything Meena thinks she wants to be. Meena wheedles her way into Anita's life, but the arrival of a baby brother, teenage hormones, impending entrance exams for the posh grammar school and a motorcycling rebel without a future threaten to turn Anita's salad days sour. Anita and Me paints a comic, poignant, compassionate and colourful portrait of village life in the era of flares, power cuts, glam rock, decimalisation and Ted Heath. It is a unique vision of a British childhood in the Seventies, a childhood caught between two cultures, each on the brink of change.

Meera Syal (Author), Meera Syal (Narrator)

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Midnight's Children: BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Radio drama of the year' - Gillian Reynolds, The Telegraph Nikesh Patel stars as Saleem in BBC Radio 4's epic dramatisation of Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize-winning novel of love, history and magic Saleem Sinai is born on the stroke of midnight on 14th-15th August 1947, at the exact moment that India and Pakistan become separate, independent nations. From that moment on, his fate is mysteriously handcuffed to the history of his country. But Saleem's story starts almost thirty years earlier, when his grandfather, Dr Aadam Aziz, falls in love with a woman concealed behind a perforated sheet. That pivotal moment in Kashmir in 1919 sparks a series of bizarre events that will lead to a cryptic prophecy and the birth of a boy with an extraordinary destiny. As a 'Midnight's Child', Saleem has magical powers, and can telepathically tune in to all the other gifted children whose birth coincided with India's division. However, his strange entanglement with the fate of India will have dramatic repercussions for both him and his country. Adapted by Ayeesha Menon, this dazzling dramatisation of Rushdie's many-layered, magical realist masterpiece is both an enthralling family saga and a riveting history of post-colonialism. First broadcast to mark the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India, it features Nikesh Patel as Saleem, with a star cast including Abhin Galeya, Meera Syal, Anneika Rose and Narinder Samra. Also included is an interview with Salman Rushdie, in which the author talks to radio drama director Emma Harding about his multi-award winning novel. Midnight's Children won the Booker Prize in 1981, and was subsequently awarded the 'Booker of Bookers' prize in 1993 and 'The Best of the Booker' prize in 2008.

Salman Rushdie (Author), , Anneika Rose, Aysha Kala, Meera Syal, Nikesh Patel, Preeya Kalidas (Narrator)

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A Passage to India

E.M. Forster (Author), Meera Syal (Narrator)

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Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows: A Novel

A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women's lives at all ages-a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls. Every woman has a secret life . . . Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she's spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father's death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London's close-knit Punjabi community. Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected-and exciting-kind. As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community's "moral police." But when the widows' gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife-a modern woman like Nikki-and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.

Balli Kaur Jaswal (Author), Meera Syal (Narrator)

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Doctor Who: Eleventh Doctor Tales: Eleventh Doctor Audio Originals

Matt Smith, Arthur Darvill and Meera Syal are among the readers of this exclusive collection of original audio adventures. Join the Eleventh Doctor on journeys in Time and Space in the stories The Runaway Train by Oli Smith; The Ring of Steel by Stephen Cole; The Jade Pyramid by Martin Day; The Hounds of Artemis by James Goss; The Gemini Contagion by Jason Arnopp; Eye of the Jungle by Darren Jones; Blackout by Oli Smith; The Art of Death by James Goss; Darkstar Academy by Mark Morris; Day of the Cockroach by Steve Lyons; The Nu-Humans by Cavan Scott & Mark Wright; The Empty House by Simon Guerrier; Sleepers in the Dust by Darren Jones; and Snake Bite by Scott Handcock. The readers are Matt Smith; Arthur Darvill; Clare Corbett; Meera Syal; David Troughton; Stuart Milligan; Raquel Cassidy; Alexander Armstrong and Frances Barber. Duration: 15 hours approx.

Oli Smith, Stephen Cole, Steve Lyons (Author), Arthur Darvill, Matt Smith, Meera Syal, Oli Smith, Stephen Cole, Steve Lyons (Narrator)

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The House of Hidden Mothers: A Novel

Shyama, a forty-eight-year-old London divorcee, already has an unruly teenage daughter, but that doesn't stop her and her younger lover, Toby, from wanting a child together. Their relationship may look like a cliche, but despite the news from her doctor that she no longer has any viable eggs, Shyama's not ready to give up on their dream of having a baby. So they decide to find an Indian surrogate to carry their child, which is how they meet Mala, a young woman trapped in an oppressive marriage in a small Indian town from which she's desperate to escape. But as the pregnancy progresses, they discover that their simple arrangement may be far more complicated than it seems.

Meera Syal (Author), Meera Syal (Narrator)

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Brick Lane

Nazneen is a teenager forced into an arranged marriage with an older man and misery seems to stretch ahead for her. Fearfully leaving the sultry oppression of her Bangladeshi village, Nazneen finds herself cloistered in a small flat in a high-rise block in the East End of London. Because she speaks no English, she is obliged to depend totally on her husband. But it becomes apparent that, of the two, she is the real survivor...

Monica Ali (Author), Meera Syal (Narrator)

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Anita and Me

Nine-year-old Meena can't wait to grow up and break free from her parents. But, as the daughter of the only Punjabi family in the mining village of Tollington, her struggle for independence is different from most. Meena wants fishfingers and chips, not chapati and dhal; she wants an English Christmas, not the usual interminable Punjabi festivities - but more than anything, she wants to roam the backyards of working-class Tollington with feisty Anita Rutter and her gang.Blonde, cool, aloof, outrageous and sassy, Anita is everything Meena thinks she wants to be. Meena wheedles her way into Anita's life, but the arrival of a baby brother, teenage hormones, impending entrance exams for the posh grammar school and a motorcycling rebel without a future threaten to turn Anita's salad days sour.Anita and Me paints a comic, poignant, compassionate and colourful portrait of village life in the era of flares, power cuts, glam rock, decimalisation and Ted Heath. It is a unique vision of a British childhood in the Seventies, a childhood caught between two cultures, each on the brink of change.

Meera Syal (Author), Meera Syal (Narrator)

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My Teenage Diary: Adolescent musings from Series 1-8 of the hit BBC Radio 4 comedy series

Forty-five episodes from Series 1-8 of the Sony Award-winning BBC Radio comedy show, hosted by Rufus Hound. In this hilarious and revealing show, host Rufus Hound invites his guests to revisit their formative years by dusting off their intimate teenage diaries and reading them out in public for the very first time. From terrible poetry, musings on pop music and cringeworthy crushes, to fond recollections of schooldays and exotic holidays, to poignant and searingly honest confessions, these extracts reveal the secret thoughts, feelings and experiences of a host of well-known celebrities - before they became famous. Among the contributors are Richard Herring, Shappi Khorsandi, Sheila Hancock, Meera Syal, Arabella Weir, Robert Webb, Caitlin Moran, Ken Livingstone, Terry Wogan, Alex Horne, Lionel Shriver, Michael Rosen, Ian Rankin, Debbie McGee and John Finnemore. As they delve into the past and reflect on their youth, will they be filled with nostalgia, or embarrassment? What would they say to their younger selves? And what song will they choose to sum up their teenage years? Find out all this - and a lot more besides - in these surprising, insightful and hugely entertaining shows. Produced by Harriet Jaine Executive Producer: Aled Evans A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4 Episodes: Series 1 Richard Herring Russell Kane Shappi Khorsandi Steve Hall Josie Long Jenny Eclair Series 2 Sheila Hancock Victoria Coren Meera Syal Rob Deering Phil Nichol Series 3 Michael Winner Janet Street-Porter Jo Caulfield Arabella Weir Series 4 Robert Webb Caitlin Moran Jackie Kay Toby Young Rhona Cameron Julia Donaldson Series 5 Ken Livingstone Vanessa Feltz Sarfraz Mansoor Rachel Johnson Janet Ellis Kate Mosse Series 6 Terry Wogan Chris Difford Oona King Robert Newman Lucy Worsley Alex Horne Series 7 Robert Peston Lionel Shriver Michael Rosen Samira Ahmed Chris Packham 2017 Special Ian Rankin Series 8 Debbie McGee John Finnemore Anneka Rice Pippa Evans Gyles Brandreth Helen Lederer

Various (Author), , Caitlin Moran, Chris Packham, Meera Syal, Robert Webb, Rufus Hound, Russell Kane, Shappi Khorsandi, Sheila Hancock, Terry Wogan (Narrator)

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Goodness Gracious Me: The Complete Radio Series 1-3

Nothing escaped the eye of the satirical eye of Britain's phenomenally successful all-Asian sketch show that was Goodness Gracious Me. The complete BBC Radio series 1-3 fore-ran the award-winning BBC TV series that ran in the late 1990s, and features the same cast. Prepare for your heart to pound in the Indian recreation of Brief Encounter, sing along to the profound words of wisdom with Fifty Ways to Leave your Mother, and enjoy pop classics such as Hindi People and Punjabi Girl. Along with the discovery that The Royal Family are actually Indian, there are a ton of characters to enjoy- the Guru, Smeeta Smitten, the Coopers, Mrs I-Can-Make-it-at-Home and Mr Everything-Comes-from-India. If you don't like your comedy to be really, really bland (like a good English) then Goodness Gracious Me is the satirical series for you.

Anil Gupta, Meera Syal, Sanjeev Bhaskar (Author), Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal, Nina Wadia, Sanjeev Bhaskar (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Meera Syal