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Audiobooks Narrated by Oliver J. Hembrough
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Stephen Smith is the boy who did not exist.
Born out of wedlock in the early 1960s, Steve's parents hid him away from the world by locking him in the cellar...for thirteen years.
Starved and beaten, the little boy's world was a darkened room that measured just eight feet by ten with a single makeshift bed, bare light bulb, and a solitary table. Steve would spend his days conjuring up an imaginary world full of monsters he would draw to try and block out the physical and mental torture inflicted on him by his brutal father. Apart from a few admissions to hospital as a result of his 'imprisonment', Steve remained in the coal cellar of the family home where he was deprived of daylight, his childhood, school, and human contact until he'd reached his teenage years.
Eventually, he escaped only to fall prey to the instigators of two of the worst cases of institutional abuse in the UK at Aston Hall hospital and St. William's Catholic School.
The Boy in the Cellar is a horrifying true story of torture and cruelty, that reveals a human's full capacity to fight for survival and search out happiness and hope.
All of us experience a sense of wonder at some point in our lives. Perhaps you felt it when you experienced your first kiss; when you grasped the perfectly balanced beauty of an equation; or when you first saw the rose windows of Chartres Cathedral? Whatever the circumstances that triggered the feeling, you were left speechless by this extraordinary world of ours. We may speak different languages, cling to different ideas about politics, religion and love - but a longing for wonder connects us all through space and time.
Wonder is the impulse behind scientific and philosophical inquiry, artistic creativity and spiritual yearning. It is the most fruitful human sense: firing our curiosity; inspiring us to hope and dream. But our sense of wonder - that feeling we had as children seeing the Milky Way for the first time - gets used up. Faced with the practical demands of adulthood, we trade a sense of wonder for a sense of reality, which all too often brings anxiety and unhappiness in its wake.
By exploring the nature of wonder in many areas of human experience, from the natural world to the spirit world, from science to storytelling, Francesco Dimitri reveals how we can reclaim our sense of wonder - not to become children again, but to become happier and more fulfilled adults, better equipped to face the challenges of modern life.
The Vizz: an industry in crisis. Baxter Stone, a film maker and television veteran, a lifelong Londoner (who thinks he sees better than others) is having problems in the postbrain, crumbling capital. Swindled by an insurance company, he's in in debt; a Lamborghini is blocking his drive and MI6 is blocking his mobile reception.
He hopes to turn it round and get the documentary series that will get him the Big Money. But what do you do if history is your sworn enemy and the whole world conspires against you? Is there any way, you could, for a moment, rule the world justly?
Darkly comic, How to Rule The World follows Baxter's battle for truth, justice and classy colour grading as it takes him from the pass of Thermopylae, to the peacocking serial killers of Medieval France, and the war in Syria. A trip from the Garden of Eden to Armageddon, plus reggae.
In this tense, page-turning story of survival in near-future England, Jacob must go to all lengths to find his dog and escape to freedom with a gang of rebel children.
In a frighteningly real near future England, Jacob escapes from the Academy orphanage to reenter a world that is grimly recognizable. The Coalition can track anyone, anywhere, from a chip implanted at birth. Now Jacob must fulfill his promise to his parents, find his dog, Jet, and navigate his way out of England. Their only hope is a band of children who have found a way to survive off the grid: The Outwalkers. Their rules are strict, but necessary if they're going to get out alive . . .
Theo Montgomery grew up in a rich family where he had all the toys and trinkets money could buy. But his childhood was full of neglect and he was bullied at school. Now he is an adult, he longs to find a soulmate. Someone who understands him. Someone who will love him unconditionally. Then, one day, Theo meets Anna Cole in a lift. Anna grew up in a care home, and has always wanted to create the noisy family life she never had. She brings love and laughter into Theo's life. But she wants a baby, and Theo can't imagine bringing a child into this cruel world... Theo and Anna are two damaged souls, from two different worlds. Is their love for each other enough to let go of the pain of their pasts? Or will Anna and Theo break each others' hearts?
Here be Dragons! Magic! Danger!
Odo (seventh child of the village miller) and Eleanor (always looking for adventure) stumble upon a sword in a dried-up river outside their village. Eleanor (strong and able) tries to extract the sword but is unable to, and it is Odo who is surprisingly successful. It is even more surprising that the sword,once pulled out, starts to talk. And rather annoying when the talking sword turns out to be rather grumpy, stubborn, and, at times, catastrophically wrong.
Odo and Eleanor have unearthed Biter, a famous knightly sword from earlier times. By finding Biter, Odo instantly becomes a knight -- a role he is exquisitely unsuited for. Eleanor, however, is desperate to become and would be the perfect knight -- but she's not the one with the sword.
Finding Biter is only the start - reluctant knight, reluctant squire, and determined sword must go on a quest to save their kingdom from threats in both human and dragon form, in this new very funny fantasy triumph from Garth Nix and Sean Williams.
Here be Knights! Fights! Bats!
Odo and Eleanor are now officially knights, helped (and sometimes hindered) by their magical but rather difficult to control magical swords. But if they thought life as a knight was going to be easy, they are wrong! Before they know it, their first task is to tackle some ferocious bile wolves!
A funny fantasy triumph from Garth Nix and Sean Williams, the perfect sequel to Have Sword, Will Travel. Perfect for fans of Shrek.
When Edward of York takes back the English crown, the Wars of the Roses scatter the Lancastrian nobility and young Henry Tudor, with a strong claim to the throne, is forced into exile.Recently widowed and vulnerable, his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, forges an uncomfortable alliance with Edward's queen, Elizabeth Woodville. Swearing an oath of allegiance to York, Margaret agrees to marry the king's shrewdest courtier, Lord Stanley. But can she tread the precarious line between duty to her husband, loyalty to her son, and her obligation to God and the king?
When tragedy befalls Edward's reign, Richard of York's ruthless actions fire the ambition of mother and son. As their destinies converge each of them will be exposed to betrayal and treachery and in their gruelling bid for the Tudor crown, both must be prepared to pay the ultimate price...
The Angry Tide is the seventh novel in Winston Graham's sweeping series of Cornwall, Poldark.
Cornwall, towards the end of the 18th century. Ross Poldark sits for the borough of Truro as Member of Parliament - his time divided between London and Cornwall, his heart divided about his wife, Demelza.
His old feud with George Warleggan still flares - as does the illicit love between Morwenna and Drake, Demelza's brother.
Before the new century dawns, George and Ross will be drawn together by a loss greater than their rivalry - and Morwenna and Drake by a tragedy that brings them hope...
The Twisted Sword is the eleventh novel in Winston Graham's hugely popular Poldark series, which has become a television phenomenon starring Aidan Turner.
Cornwall 1815. Demelza sees a horseman riding down the valley and senses disruption to the domestic contentment she has fought so hard to achieve. For Ross has little option but to accept the summons - and travel to Paris with his family, as an 'observer' of the French armed forces.
Parisian life begins well with an exhilarating round of balls and parties. But the return of Napoleon brings separation, distrust and danger to the Poldarks . . . and always for Demelza there is the shadow of the secret she does not even share with Ross.
The Twisted Sword is followed by the eleventh book in the Poldark series, Bella Poldark.
Bella Poldark is the twelfth and final novel in Winston Graham's hugely popular Poldark series, which has become a television phenomenon starring Aidan Turner.
Cornwall 1818. We continue the tale of Ross and Demelza; of the wayward Valentine Warleggan, whose existence keeps open the old wounds of the feud between Ross and George; of Bella, the Poldarks' youngest daughter, whose precocious talent as a singer is encouraged by her old flame, Christopher Havergal, and by a distinguished French conductor, who has more in mind than Bella's music; of Clowance, the Poldarks' widowed daughter, who considers remarriage to one of two rival suitors; and of a murderer who stalks the villages of west Cornwall.
