Audiobooks narrated by Sophie Ward

Seven Deadly Psychologies: A BBC Radio Series

A fascinating exploration of the psychology behind the seven deadly sins Why have we evolved these ugly emotions? What’s going on in the brain and the body when we feel them? And how best can we live alongside them - in ourselves and with others? Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward take a humorous and compelling look at the psychology behind each of the seven deadly sins. Rolling with the order established by Pope Gregory the Great, first up is pride, followed by greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and (finally) lazy old sloth. With contributions from leading experts in the field, including geneticist, writer and presenter Dr Adam Rutherford, Dr Anna Machin from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and sexologist Dr Anand Patel, this is a fascinating, funny and revelatory series that explores what makes us who we are and busts some myths along the way. Pride - How can we have confidence without veering into arrogance? Pride can be motivating and self-affirming. But then there’s the ugly side: thinking you’re better than others. How can we have one without the other? Greed - Why do we want money, land, material things – and ultimately control, status, dominance, power? And can we be greedy for the good? Lust - Lust is crucial to the continuation of our species, but it's also a form of neurochemical madness that can lead us astray. How can we best live alongside our drives and desires? Envy - Is the grass always greener? Can we want what others have without being riddled with resentment? Gluttony - Why do we crave what we crave? The odd bit of indulgence isn't such a bad thing - but sometimes we overdo it. We short circuit our dopamine reward systems, and before we know it, we can't stop. Can we control our cravings? And when does a little bit of binging become too much? Wrath - Things can get pretty ugly when our blood starts to boil. Some of us are quick to flip, some of us brood, and some of us push down our anger. Anger is a motivator, a driver for change in the face of a perceived injustice. The question is, how are you going to act on it? Sloth - Is there a place for rest in today’s hyper-productive world? Our brains and bodies need rest in order to recharge. But too much sloth, and you can get stuck in a downward spiral of apathy or depression. How can we get the balance right? Join Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward on a fascinating journey through what it means to be human in today’s modern world. Written and presented by Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward Produced by Becky Ripley First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 November 2023 – 2 January 2024 ©2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Becky Ripley, Sophie Ward (Author), Becky Ripley, Sophie Ward, Various (Narrator)

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A Clergyman's Daughter

What happens when faith has been forgotten? In A Clergyman's Daughter, George Orwell, author of the dystopian classics Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, turns his attention to 1930s England and the life of the much put-upon daughter of a country rector. Dorothy Hare lives in genteel poverty, sacrificing herself to the whims of her spendthrift father and the demands of her community and church. She is sustained only by her strong, Christian faith as she spends her days dodging debt collectors, ministering to the poor, and avoiding the attentions of the local lothario, Mr. Warburton. But her world is turned upside down when she finds herself on the streets of London, destitute, with no memory of who she is, how she got there, or where she has come from.' In this state, Dorothy scrabbles for survival: sleeping rough with down and outs in London, doing back-breaking work in the hop fields of Kent, and teaching at an unlicensed private school in the suburbs for meagre wages. As her memory gradually returns, Dorothy's faith is challenged by all that she has experienced in this new life, and she is forced to confront and re-evaluate her beliefs. When she finally returns to the rectory and all that was once familiar, she has matured spiritually and acknowledges that even when faith has vanished, the need for faith is still there. Her life may carry on as before, but she sees new meaning in that mundane life. "How can anything dismay you," she says, "if only there is some purpose in the world which you can serve... Your whole life is illumined by that sense of purpose." A Clergyman's Daughter is acknowledged as Orwell's most structurally experimental novel (an entire chapter is written in play format) and it provides a piercing insight into what happens to faith when it is confronted by the stark reality of poverty, struggle, and the social divide.

George Orwell (Author), Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome

In Ancient Rome all the best stories have one thing in common murder. Romulus killed Remus to found the city; Caesar was assassinated to save the Republic. Caligula was butchered in the theatre, Claudius was poisoned at dinner and Galba was beheaded in the forum. In one fifty-year period, twenty-six emperors were murdered. But what did killing mean in a city where gladiators fought to the death to sate a crowd? Emma Southon examines real-life homicides from Roman history to explore how perpetrator, victim and the act itself were regarded by ordinary people. Inside Ancient Rome s unique culture of crime and punishment, we see how the Romans viewed life, death, and what it means to be human. Praise for the author: "Her lively and intermittently potty-mouthed biography of Nero s remarkable mother contains fascinating vignettes of Roman life (what to expect on your wedding day) and explores why Roman authors wrote about women in the way that they did." NEW STATESMAN

Emma Southon (Author), Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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Petite Mort

'Sumptuous ... part Moulin Rouge, part Alfred Hitchcock' Grazia Scandal, intoxication and lies flourish in the silent film studios of Paris. A silent film, destroyed in a fire in 1914 at the Pathé studio, before it was seen even by its director. A lowly seamstress, who makes the costumes she should be wearing, but believes her talent - and the secret she keeps too - will soon get her a dressing room of her own. A famous - and dashing - creator of spectacular cinematic illusions, husband to a beautiful, volatile actress, the most adored icon of the Parisian studios. All fit together, like scenes in a movie. And as you will see, this plot has a twist we beg you not to disclose ... 'Striking' Independent Beatrice Hitchman was born in London in 1980. She read English and French at Edinburgh University and then studied for an MA in Comparative Literature. After a year living in Paris, she moved back to the UK, trained and worked as a documentary film editor. She has written and directed short films which have toured festivals worldwide.

Beatrice Hitchman (Author), Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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The House of Sleep

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe, read by Sophie Ward. Sarah is a narcoleptic who has dreams so vivid she mistakes them for real events; Robert has had his life changed for ever by the misunderstandings arising from her condition; Terry, the insomniac, spends his wakeful nights fuelling his obsession with movies; and the increasingly unstable Dr Gregory Dudden sees sleep as a life-shortening disease which must be eradicated . A group of students sharing a house. They fall in and out of love, they drift apart. Yet a decade later they are drawn back together by a series of coincidences involving their obsession with sleep - and each other ...

Jonathan Coe (Author), Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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The Accidental Woman

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Accidental Woman by Jonathan Coe, read by Sophie Ward. For Maria, nothing is certain. Her life is a chain of accidents. Friendship passes her by, and she's unimpressed by the devoted Ronny and his endless proposals of marriage. Maria lives in a world of her own - yet not of her own making. Stumbling through university, work, marriage and motherhood, she finds it hard to see what all the fuss is about. Will she ever be able to control the direction of her life? Or will it end, as it began, by accident? What does chance have in store for the accidental woman?

Jonathan Coe (Author), Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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Swimming Home

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Swimming Home by Deborah Levy, read by Sophie Ward. A poet, his wife, her daughter and their friends arrive at the French Riviera. The prospect of a long hot summer stretches ahead of them. At their villa, they find a body in the swimming pool. But this body is very much alive. It is Kitty Finch: self-proclaimed botanist with lurid green fingernails, avid poetry fan, walking naked out of the water and straight into the centre of their holiday. Why is she there? What does she want from them? And why does the poet's wife invite this beautiful young woman to remain?

Deborah Levy (Author), Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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Skin Deep: The most gripping thriller of 2018

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Skin Deep by Liz Nugent, read by Annette Flynn, Sophie Ward, Declan Rodgers , Anna Maria Everett, Daniel Betts, Trev Fleming and Michael Gould. 'Perfect summer read for those who like their escapism on the darker side' Ian Rankin The deliciously sinister new novel from the No 1 bestselling author of Richard and Judy Book Club pick, Lying in Wait 'I could probably have been an actress. It is not difficult to pretend to be somebody else. Isn't that what I've been doing for most of my life?' Cordelia Russell has been living on the French Riviera for twenty-five years, passing herself off as an English socialite. But her luck, and the kindness of strangers, have run out. The arrival of a visitor from her distant past shocks Cordelia. She reacts violently to the intrusion and flees her flat to spend a drunken night at a glittering party. As dawn breaks she stumbles home through the back streets. Even before she opens her door she can hear the flies buzzing. She did not expect the corpse inside to start decomposing quite so quickly . . . 'Bloody brilliant!' Denise Mina 'An extraordinary writer - Liz Nugent maps the human mind as a cartographer charts new worlds: She's boundlessly curious and totally unflinching' A.J. Finn 'The finest psychological thriller writer currently at work - no one gets under the skin of monstrous characters like she does' Tammy Cohen 'A wonderful feat of imagination, totally gripping, with a fascinating character at its heart' Sabine Durrant 'Dark, brutal and brilliant' Colette McBeth 'A triumph, from first page to last!' Sarah Hilary 'Monumentally good. Liz Nugent is a beautiful writer and among the very best storytellers in the world' Donal Ryan 'I loved, loved, loved Skin Deep - the compassion of it, the beauty of the language, how glamour and horror intersect, how the tension twists tighter and tighter and is brilliantly done' Marian Keyes 'Dazzling ... chilling, mesmerising and, ultimately, devastating. Pure storytelling genius' Mark Edwards 'Her darkest book yet - a compelling one-sitting read' Sinéad Crowley 'Utterly gripping, fast paced, and featuring my favourite sociopathic female character since Lady Macbeth' Louise O'Neill 'Incredibly dark, twisting and utterly mesmerising - you will not be able to put this down' Sinéad Moriarty 'Pitch dark and thrillingly original' Jane Casey

Liz Nugent (Author), Anna Maria Everett, Annette Flynn, Daniel Betts, Declan Rodgers, Michael Gould, Sophie Ward, Trev Fleming (Narrator)

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Lailah

The girl knows she's different. She doesn't age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams - a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel. On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand that Jonah belongs to a generation of Vampires that serve darker forces. Jonah and the few like him are fighting with help from an unlikely ally, a rogue Angel named Gabriel. In the crossfire between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, the girl learns her name: Lailah. But when the lines between black and white begin to blur, where in the spectrum will she find her place? And with whom? Gabriel and Jonah both want to protect her. But Lailah will have to fight her own battle to find out who she truly is.

Nikki Kelly (Author), Pearl Hewitt, Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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Havisham

IN THE TRADITION OF WIDE SARGASSO SEA, HAVISHAM IS THE ASTONISHING PRELUDE TO CHARLES DICKENS'S GREAT EXPECTATIONS. Before she became the immortal and haunting Miss Havisham of Great Expectations, she was Catherine, a young woman with all of her dreams ahead of her. Spry, imperious, she is the daughter of a wealthy brewer. But she is never far from the smell of hops and the arresting letters on the brewhouse wallHAVISHAMa reminder of all she owes to the family name and the family business. Sent by her father to stay with the Chadwycks, Catherine discovers elegant pastimes to remove the taint of her family's new money. But for all her growing sophistication, Catherine is anything but worldly, and when a charismatic stranger pays her attention, everythingher heart, her future, the very Havisham nameis vulnerable. In Havisham, Ronald Frame unfurls the psychological trauma that made young Catherine into Miss Havisham and cursed her to a life alone, roaming the halls of the mansion in the tatters of the dress she wore for the wedding she was never to have.

Ronald Frame (Author), Anne Flosnick, Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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The Passionate Lives of Effie Gray, John Ruskin and John Everett Millais

Effie Gray, a beautiful and intelligent young socialite, rattled the foundations of England's Victorian age. Married at nineteen to John Ruskin, the leading art critic of the time, she found herself trapped in a loveless, unconsummated union after Ruskin rejected her on their wedding night. On a trip to Scotland she met John Everett Millais, Ruskin's protege, and fell passionately in love with him. In a daring act, Effie left Ruskin, had their marriage annulled, and entered into a long, happy marriage with Millais. Suzanne Fagence Cooper has gained exclusive access to Effie's previously unseen letters and diaries to tell the complete story of this scandalous love triangle. In Cooper's hands, this passionate love story also becomes an important new look at the work of both Ruskin and Millais with Effie emerging as a key figure in their artistic development. Effie is a heartbreakingly beautiful book about three lives passionately entwined with some of the greatest paintings of the pre-Raphaelite period.

Suzanne Fagence Cooper (Author), Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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One of Us

How would Antigone fare in a New Labour milieu? One of Us is a subtle and poignant novel about the dangerous space between private and public lives, about kingmakers and power, by a writer who should know... The narrative opens in March 2003. A leading journalist and a forty-two-year-old woman meet at a dingy London cafe in the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Iraq.Anna Adams has a story she is burning to tell, one that goes right to the top of the Cabinet. Her middle brother Jack, the black sheep of the family, has committed a shocking, violent act that the authorities have tried to cover up, and Anna is determined both to defend and celebrate him, at all costs. Anna's tale takes us on a journey to the heart of British politics and through the lives of two families, over thirty years. It charts the rise of Andy Givings, ambitious, ruthless New Labour star; of Matt Adams, Anna's elder brother and Andy's closest aide; and Christopher Mason, the charming left-leaning solicitor whom Anna marries. But it is also the story of Anna herself, loyal daughter, wife and sister. As the story unfolds and her marriage begins to crumble, Anna finds herself at the mercy of events, emotions and the most vicious form of blackmail. One of Us is a gripping story of love and betrayal, giving unparallelled insights into the conflicts that arise when vaulting ambition clashes with private values and family life

Melissa Benn (Author), Sophie Ward (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Sophie Ward