Showing results by narrator "Luis Soto" in All Categories

When a young boy and his father, a master gunner, leave their home in Devon they cannot know that piracy will become their life, for a while, at least. Set in the early days of the Spanish conquest of the Americas and with a young King Henry on the throne of England, this is a novel of discovery and riches, slavery and death. It is a time of innovation when guns changed from being firing tubes to cannons that could bring death and destruction. Above all, it is the story of a youth who, against the odds, becomes a man and, more, becomes a master gunner in his own right.

Raphael is a dumpsite boy. He spends his days wading through mountains of steaming trash, sifting it, sorting it, breathing it, sleeping next to it. Then one unlucky-lucky day, Raphael's world turns upside down. A small leather bag falls into his hands. It's a bag of clues. It's a bag of hope. It's a bag that will change everything. Soon Raphael and his friends Gardo and Rat are running for their lives. Wanted by the police, it takes all their quick-thinking, fast-talking to stay ahead. As the net tightens, they uncover a dead man's mission to put right a terrible wrong.

In The Price of Time, Edward Chancellor traces the history of interest from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia, through debates about usury in Restoration Britain and John Law's ill-fated Mississippi scheme, to the global credit booms of the twenty-first century. We generally assume that high interest rates are harmful, but Chancellor argues that, whenever money is too easy, financial markets become unstable. He takes the story to the present day, when interest rates have sunk lower than at any time in the five millennia since they were first recorded.

The conquistadores, the early explorers and settlers of Spanish America, have become the stuff of legends and nightmares. In their own time, they were glorified as heroic adventurers, spreading Christian culture and helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. Today, they stand condemned for their cruelty and exploitation as men who decimated the ancient civilisations of the Aztecs and the Incas and carried out horrific atrocities in their pursuit of gold and glory.

In this fascinating and exhaustively researched book, the first of its kind in the English language, Tom Williams brings to life French football’s chequered coming of age over the last 40 years. Featuring exclusive interviews with great figures of the French game such as Alain Giresse, Jean-Pierre Papin, Emmanuel Petit and Blaise Matuidi, and with a cast of characters that also includes Michel Platini, Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema, Chris Waddle and Lionel Messi, it's a book no football fan will want to miss.

Few of the drivers on the F1 grid have the racing pedigree of Charles Leclerc. Widely regarded as one of the sport's hottest prospects, he was crowned F3 and then F2 champion in back-to-back seasons before he made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2018. Now firmly established as Ferrari's great hope, following in the footsteps of legends Alberto Ascari, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher, Leclerc has his eyes set on becoming world champion. Writer Adam Hay-Nicholls provides the inside track on this rising star, recounting how he has taken the racing world by storm.

Thomas is a former slave who has become a gunner on a Spanish galleon. His life is no less parlous than when he was a slave but through courage and determination, not to mention more than a little luck, he becomes successful and joins Francisco Pizzaro as the conquistador conquers an empire with less than 200 men.

Spain's position on Europe's southwestern corner has exposed it to cultural, political and actual winds blowing from all quadrants. Africa lies a mere nine miles to the south. The Mediterranean connects it to the civilisational currents of Phoenicians, Romans, Carthaginians and Byzantines as well as the Arabic lands of the Near East. Hordes from the Russian steppes were amongst the first to arrive. They would be followed by Visigoths, Arabs, Napoleonic armies and many more invaders and immigrants.

In the era of Black Lives Matter, Frantz Fanon's shadow looms larger than ever. He was the intellectual activist of the postcolonial era, and his writings about race, revolution, and the psychology of power continue to shape radical movements across the world. In this searching biography, Adam Shatz tells the story of Fanon's stunning journey, which has all the twists of a Cold War-era thriller, and offers a dramatic reconstruction of Fanon's extraordinary life—and a guide to the books that underlie today's most vital efforts to challenge white supremacy and racial capitalism.

How do two languages coexist in the same brain? Why is it possible to forget a language? What are the advantages and challenges of being bilingual? Over half of the world's population is bilingual, and yet this fascinating, complex ability is understood by few. In The Bilingual Brain, leading expert Albert Costa explores the science of language through a wide range of cutting-edge studies and examples from South Korea to Spain and Canada. 

Aboard the confines of an ancient space hulk, Seth and his Flesh Tearers engage in a brutal struggle against a horde of alien genestealers and their own natures. A hunger drives these warriors of the Blood, one matched by their alien aggressors. Hope remains while the Flesh Tearers can hold on to their honour, but what is the truth that lurks at the heart of this derelict ship, and will Seth manage to stave off the rage long enough to discover it? 

As an agent of the Throne, former soldier Ianthe serves Inquisitor Covenant and faces some of the most dangerous and insidious threats the galaxy has to offer. On the hunt for the rogue psyker Silas Norn, Ianthe and her associates run afoul of the Imperial authorities and are imprisoned. Norn too is captured and incarcerated, but with the ability to manipulate the minds of his victims he is far from easy quarry. To stop him, Ianthe must not only find him; she must overcome the buried ghosts of her hidden past.

After the horrors of Isstvan, the XVIth Legion destroyer-class Grey Talon now flies under a loyalist crew on a campaign of retribution and vengeance, using her original colours to strike covertly at isolated traitor forces. Commanded by Bion Henricos of the Iron Hands, the ship is also home to many disgraced White Scars who have taken death-oaths to seek atonement. But tensions run higher with each new engagement and, without a wider strategy to guide them, the crew will surely come to a sudden end.

The beleaguered Astra Militarum defenders of Varasine fight against the alien menace of a tyranid invasion, but their only possible salvation approaches in the form of something almost equally inhuman. Warleader Kardan Stronos of the Iron Hands, long having studied the xenos threat, now brings his fearless battle brothers to join the war - only he can save Varasine, measuring his Chapter's infallible logic and ruthless strategy against the cost in human lives.

Shot-proof, fever-proof and a veteran campaigner at the age of 25, Brigade-Major Harry Smith is reputed to be the luckiest man in Lord Wellington's army. But at the siege of Badajos, his friends foretell the ruin of his career. For when Harry meets the defenceless Juana, a fiery passion consumes him. Under the banner of honour and with the selfsame ardour he so frequently displays in battle, he dives headlong into marriage. In his beautiful child-bride, he finds a kindred spirit and a temper to match. But for Juana, a long year of war must follow.... 

While voyaging through the depths of the warp, the infamous blademaster Lucius the Eternal is challenged by a servant of another god - a champion of the old Death Guard Legion, no less. Keen to remain dominant over his preening and ambitious rivals in the Cohors Nasicae, Lucius takes up his sword without a second thought...but could an unfeeling daemonhost of Nurgle, or the voices inside his own head, be the undoing of his Slaaneshi curse?

Though the Word Bearers' attack on Calth and the subsequent Shadow Crusade into Ultramar are but a memory, the borders of Imperium Secundus are far from secure. Sergeant Aeonid Thiel, stranded on the garrison world of Oran on his way back to Macragge, frustrates his superiors once again by pointing out the holes in their defence - traitor warband activity is increasing, and a series of key listening posts have fallen silent.

Colm Tóibín's Mothers and Sons is a sensitive and beautifully written meditation on the dramas surrounding this most elemental of relationships. Psychologically intricate and emotionally incisive, each finely wrought story teases out the delicate and difficult strands woven between mothers and sons. This is an acute, masterful and moving collection that confirms Tóibín as a great prose stylist of our time.

After a bloody triumph at the siege of Cartha, Lord-Relictor Ramus' Hallowed Knights and the Astral Templars of Knight-Azyros Vandalus press on with their search for Mannfred von Carstein, but they soon learn that orruks, not ogors, hold sway in the Carthic Oldwoods. The Stormcast Eternals must overcome not only these brutish warriors but also the will of their gods. Ramus and Vandalus must prevail against the fist of Gork and the fist of Mork if they are to forge a path to the Sea of Bones, where their hated quarry awaits.

This audiobook traces Spain's development from prehistoric times to the present, focusing particularly on culture, society, politics, and personalities. It introduces listeners to key themes that have shaped Spain's history and culture, including its varied landscapes and climates; the impact of waves of diverse human migrations; the importance of its location as a bridge between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and Europe and Africa; and religion, particularly militant Catholic Christianity and its centuries of conflict with Islam and Protestantism.