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Audiobooks Narrated by Roy McMillan
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Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of What Are You Looking At? by Will Gompertz, read by Roy McMilllan.
What is modern art? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it worth so much damn money? Join Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art.
You will learn: not all conceptual art is bollocks; Picasso is king (but Cézanne is better); Pollock is no drip; Dali painted with his moustache; a urinal changed the course of art, why your 5-year-old really couldn't do it. Refreshing, irreverent and always straightforward, What Are You Looking At? asks all the basic questions that you were too afraid to ask. Your next gallery trip is going to be a little less intimidating and a lot more interesting.
From "a brilliant new player in the court of royal fiction" (People), comes the mesmerizing story of Lady Penelope Devereux-the daring young beauty in the Tudor court, who inspired Sir Philip Sidney's famous sonnets even while she plotted against Queen Elizabeth.Penelope Devereux arrives at Queen Elizabeth's court where she and her brother, the Earl of Essex, are drawn into the aging Queen's favor. Young and naïve, Penelope, though promised elsewhere, falls in love with Philip Sidney who pours his heartbreak into the now classic sonnet series Astrophil and Stella. But Penelope is soon married off to a man who loathes her. Never fainthearted, she chooses her moment and strikes a deal with her husband: after she gives birth to two sons, she will be free to live as she chooses, with whom she chooses. But she is to discover that the course of true love is never smooth. Meanwhile Robert Cecil, ever loyal to Elizabeth, has his eye on Penelope and her brother. Although it seems the Earl of Essex can do no wrong in the eyes of the Queen, as his influence grows, so his enemies gather. Penelope must draw on all her political savvy to save her brother from his own ballooning ambition and Cecil's trap, while daring to plan for an event it is treason even to think about. Unfolding over the course of two decades and told from the perspectives of Penelope and her greatest enemy, the devious politician Cecil, Watch the Lady chronicles the last gasps of Elizabeth's reign, and the deadly scramble for power in a dying dynasty.
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audio edition of Watch the Lady by Elizabeth Fremantle, read by Georgina Sutton and Roy McMillan.
Penelope Devereux is a legendary beauty in the court of Elizabeth but it's not just her looks which mark her apart.
With her canny instinct for being in the right place at the right time, and her skilled political manipulation, she has become a formidable adversary to anyone who stands in her path.
And now, Penelope must secure the future of the Devereux dynasty at whatever cost. Even treason. For the Queen is just one more pawn in a deadly game.
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Wars of the Roses: Trinity, The second instalment in Conn Iggulden's thrilling Wars of the Roses trilogy
1454: King Henry VI has remained all but exiled in Windsor Castle, struck down by his illness for over a year, his eyes vacant, his mind a blank.
His fiercely loyal wife and Queen, Margaret of Anjou, safeguards her husband's interests, hoping that her son Edward will one day know the love of his father.
Richard Duke of York, Protector of the Realm, extends his influence throughout the kingdom with each month that Henry slumbers. The Earls of Salisbury and Warwick make up a formidable trinity with Richard, and together they seek to break the support of those who would raise their colours in the name of Henry and his Queen.
But when the King unexpectedly recovers his senses and returns to London to reclaim his throne, the balance of power is once again thrown into turmoil.
The clash of the Houses of Lancaster and York will surely mean a war to tear England apart . . .
Historical fiction master Conn Iggulden retells the gripping story of the English Civil War in this first instalment of his latest Wars of the Roses series.
King Henry V - the great Lion of England - is long dead.
In 1437 his gentle son comes of age and takes the throne. Frail in body and mind, King Henry VI is dependent on his supporters to run his kingdom.
Richard, Duke of York, however, believes that without a strong king England will fall. His fears seem justified as English power comes under threat from France, and discontent and rebellion spread at home.
On the counsel of his advisers, Henry marries the young princess Margaret of Anjou, in order to forge an alliance with France - but is it too late?
As the storm clouds gather, King Henry and his queen are besieged abroad and at home.
Who can save the throne? Who will save the kingdom?
Stormbird is followed by Trinity, also available from Penguin Random House UK. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Ken Follett and Hilary Mantel.
Praise for Conn Iggulden:
'This is energetic, competent stuff; Iggulden knows his material and his audience' Independent
'Iggulden is in a class of his own when it comes to epic, historical fiction' Daily Mirror
'Iggulden...tells an absolutely cracking story' The Times
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Wars of the Roses: Bloodline, The Thrid instalment in Conn Iggulden's thrilling Wars of the Roses trilogy
- Winter 1461 -
Richard Duke of York is dead, his ambitions in ruins, his head spiked on the walls of York city.
King Henry VI is still held prisoner. His Lancastrian queen rides south with an army of northerners, accompanied by warriors from the Scottish Highlands. Margaret and her army seem unstoppable. But his death has unleashed York's sons.
Edward of March, now Duke of York, proclaims himself England's rightful king. Through blood and treason, broken men and vengeful women, brother shall confront brother, king shall face king.
Two men may claim a crown.
Only one can keep it.
Random House presents the audiobook edition of Vulcan 607 by Rowland White, read by Roy McMillan.
It was to be one of the most ambitious operations since 617 Squadron bounced their revolutionary bombs into the dams of the Ruhr Valley in 1943...
When Argentine forces invaded the Falklands in the early hours of 2 April 1982, Britain's military chiefs were faced with a real-life Mission Impossible. Its opening shot, they decided, would be Operation Black Buck: to strike a body blow at the occupying army, and make them realize that nothing was safe - not even Buenos Aires...
The idea was simple: to destroy the vital landing strip at Port Stanley. The reality was more comlicated. The only aircraft that could possibly do the job was three months from being scrapped, and the distance it had to travel was four thousand miles beyond its maximum range. It would take fifteen Victor tankers and seventeen separate in-flight refuellings to get one Avro Vulcan B2 over the target, and give its crew any chance of coming back alive.
Yet less than a month later, a formation of elderly British jets was launched from a remote island aribase to carry out the longest-range air attack in history. At the tip of the spear was a single aircraft, six men, and twenty-one thousand-pound bombs, facing a hornet's nest of modern weaponry: the radar-guided guns and missiles of the Argentine defences. There would be no second chances...
It was the end of an era - the last time the RAF flew heavy bombers into combat before they were replaced by their digital, fly-by-wire, laser-guided successors. There were many who believed it couldn't be done.
Drawing on extensive interviews with the combatants, Falklands residents and British High Command, and with unprecedented access to comtemporary military records, Rowland White takes us, for the first time, to the beating heart of the legendary raid. Vulcan 607 is a story of ingenuity, courage and sheer bloody-mindedness that's destined to become a classic.
John Guy, one of our most acclaimed and successful historians, brings a colossal figure of British history vividly to life in this unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Thomas Becket. Read by Roy McMillan.
Behind the legend, there was a man.
In 1120 the wife of a Norman draper's merchant gave birth to a baby boy in London's bustling Cheapside. Despite his sickly constitution, middle-class background and unremarkable abilities, he rose within the space of thirty-five years to become the most powerful man in the kingdom, second only to Henry II himself.
At his height, he led seven hundred knights into battle, brokered peace between nations, held the ear of the Pope and brought one of the strongest rulers in Christendom to his knees. And within three years of his bloody assassination, he was a saint whose cult had spread the length and breadth of Europe, and a legend who remains as controversial and compelling today as he was during his life.
The story of Thomas Becket is the story of an enigma, as well as of one of the most tumultuous periods in English history. Drawing on a vast array of contemporary records, personal letters and first-hand accounts, John Guy has reconstructed a psychologically compelling, stunningly nuanced and utterly convincing account of this most remarkable man, the dramatic times in which he lived and the pivotal role he played in his nation's history.
When Professor Goodman discovers a method of creating flawless diamonds at almost no cost, it is much more than a scientific curiosity - especially to the members of the Metropolitan Diamond Syndicate, who determine to stop this threat to their healthy profits. But their plans backfire when the man they recruit to keep the Professor's discovery a secret turns out to be the world's greatest villain. Only one man can stop the ensuing intrigue, kidnappings, plotting and murder: Bulldog Drummond. Yet even he is pushed to the limit when he faces his nemesis in the waters off the south coast. Gripping and thrilling, this is the third of Bulldog Drummond's contests with the master-criminal Carl Peterson. But is it the last?
In a fog-wreathed London, the respected Dr Jekyll's experiments on the dual nature of man unleash a brute that feels no moral restraint or remorse. Although excited by this freedom, Jekyll discovers that he is unable to control the power of his vicious alter ego and is faced with shameful discovery or ignominious death. Haunting and thrilling, this atmospheric fable is one of the world's greatest short stories. It is twinned here with Markheim, an earlier tale of second selves, conscience and the struggle between good and evil.
Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Secret Life of the Owl by John Lewis-Stempel, read by Roy McMillan.
'Dusk is filling the valley. It is the time of the gloaming, the owl-light.
Out in the wood, the resident tawny has started calling, Hoo-hoo-hoo-h-o-o-o.'
There is something about owls. They feature in every major culture from the Stone Age onwards. They are creatures of the night, and thus of magic. They are the birds of ill-tidings, the avian messengers from the Other Side. But owls - with the sapient flatness of their faces, their big, round eyes, their paternal expressions - are also reassuringly familiar. We see them as wise, like Athena's owl, and loyal, like Harry Potter's Hedwig. Human-like, in other words.
No other species has so captivated us.
In The Secret Life of the Owl, John Lewis-Stempel explores the legends and history of the owl. And in vivid, lyrical prose, he celebrates all the realities of this magnificent creature, whose natural powers are as fantastic as any myth.
'John Lewis-Stempel is one of the best nature writers of his generation' Country Life
An impassioned memoir of saving extraordinary plants on the brink of extinction, by a scientist who has been called a 'codebreaker' (Telegraph) and 'an inspiration' (Jane Goodall)
Carlos Magdalena is not your average horticulturist. He's a man on a mission to save the world's most endangered plants. First captivated by the flora of his native Spain, he has travelled to the remotest parts of the globe in search of exotic species. Renowned for his pioneering work, he has committed his life to protecting plants from man-made ecological destruction and thieves hunting for wealthy collectors.
In The Plant Messiah, Magdalena takes listeners from the Amazon to the jungles of Mauritius to deep within the Australian Outback in search of the rare and the vulnerable. Back in the lab, we watch as he develops groundbreaking, left-field techniques for rescuing species from extinction, encouraging them to propagate and thrive once again. Along the way, he offers moving, heartfelt stories about the secrets contained within these incredible organisms.
Passionate and absorbing, The Plant Messiah is a tribute to the diversity of life on our planet, and the importance of preserving it.
