Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Historical Fiction

This collection of recordings about Brother Cadfaelóa Benedictine monk and amateur sleuth in the 12th centuryó are performed here by the ideal actor. Sir Derek Jacobi, who portrayed Cadfael in several television adaptations, captivates listeners with his renderings of Monk's Hood, Saint Peter's Fair, The Heretic's Apprentice, The Potter's Field, The Summer of the Danes, and Brother Cadfael's Penance.

Enter the world of the rich, charismatic Lytton family and their powerful publishing empire in this passionate family saga that spans from the Edwardian era to World War I and the excesses of the glamorous 1920s. Enter the world of Celia Lytton, a woman who is used to getting her way. Celia makes difficult and often dangerous decisions that affect not only herself, her husband Oliver, and their children, but others.

The Company tells the thrilling story of agents imprisoned in double lives, fighting an enemy that is amoral, elusive, and formidable. It also lays bare a warfare within the company itself, adding another dimension to the spy vs. spy game. The Company tells the thrilling story of agents imprisoned in double lives, fighting an enemy that is amoral, elusive, and formidable. It also lays bare a warfare within the company itself, adding another dimension to the spy vs. spy game.

In the summer of 1139, there is a pause in the civil war racking the country. St. Peter's Fair attracts merchants from across England and beyond, promising to bring some much-needed gaiety to Shrewsbury—that is, until the dead body of a wealthy merchant is found in the river Severn. Brother Cadfael offers to help the merchant's lovely niece uncover the murderer, but as he searches for the killer, the merchant's wares are ransacked and two more men are murdered.

Here are the excruciatingly funny adventures of Suzanne Vale — a young film star and drug addict — who survives a rehab clinic only to rejoin the equally harrowing world of Hollywood. Out there on the edge, despair flips into hilarity, and we're left laughing as Suzanne struggles to come to terms with her various fantasylands.

While Brother Cadfael has bent Abbey rules, he has never broken his monastic vows—until now. Word has come to Shrewsbury of a treacherous act that has left 30 of Empress Maud's knights imprisoned during England's dynastic war between two grandchildren of William the Conqueror. All have been ransomed except Cadfael's secret son, Olivier. Conceived in Cadfael's soldiering youth and unaware of his father's identity, Olivier will die if he is not freed. Cadfael is determined to find him but must leave the monastery without his abbot's blessing.

Spanning almost thirty years, My Other Life traces the journey of a fictional Paul Theroux—from young bachelorhood in Africa to his travels between continents, from in and out of marriage through various affairs and multiple means of employment. From his early education at the knee of a highly eccentric uncle until his years as a fledgling novelist in London under the wing of the rapacious Lady Max, this writer of different guises eventually retreats alone to his hometown, where he finds the raw material to begin again.

In the wake of a humbling incident aboard a canal boat in the Cotswolds, young Captain Horatio Hornblower arrives in London to take command of the Atropos, a 22-gun sloop barely large enough to require a captain. Her first assignment under Hornblower's command is as flagship for the funeral procession of Lord Nelson.

During the ploughing of the Potter's Field, the Brothers unearth the grisly remains of a woman's body. Rumors had it that the wild, beautiful Welsh woman had gone away with a lover, returning to her homeland, but now it seems as if she had been murdered. With the arrival of a young monk fleeing from the devastating civil war in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply. Uneasiness pushes Brother Cadfael to find the whole truth behind this unexpected discovery, piecing together cryptic clues to solve a baffling crime.

In summer of 1144, a strange calm has settled over England. The armies of King Stephen and Empress Maudhave temporarily exhausted each other. Brother Cadfael, herbalist-sleuth of Shrewsbury's Benedictine Abbey, agrees to accompany wise young Brother Mark on Church business in Wales. But the brothers soon find themselves caught up in yet another feud. A Welsh prince has banished his brother, accusing him of the treacherous murder of an ally, and the country teeters on the brink of civil war. Cadfael has to survive the brotherly quarrel that could plunge an entire kingdom into chaos.

Ray Smith is a young man seeking a life of simplicity and truth. Another young man, Japhy Rhyder, becomes instrumental in leading Ray to Buddhism as they embark upon a spiritual quest. Their journey takes them from the Bohemian parties of San Francisco to the natural beauty of the High Sierra mountains. Through such books as Doctor Sax and The Subterraneans, Jack Kerouac was an inspiration to the beat culture, hippies, and dharma seekers of the 1950s and 60s.

Mr. & Mrs. Bridge is the saga of a clean-cut, "upper-class" couple who increasingly find their post-WWII world and traditional belief systems challenged by a changing society. For Walter Bridge, an ambitious lawyer, and his wife, whose focus is her household, affluence and material comforts create a cocoon of community respectability that cloaks the void within.

Middle-aged Lucas Corso is a tired and cynical book detective, a mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found hanged, leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment. Soon the unsuspecting Corso is drawn into a swirling plot involving devil worship, occult practices, and swashbuckling derring-do among a cast of characters bearing a suspicious resemblance to those of Dumas' masterpiece.

Originally meant to be heard rather than read, this great epic returns to the oral form for today's listeners.

First published in the 1930s, The Berlin Stories contains two novels, The Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin. Classics of modern fiction, these novellas capture 1931 Berlin—charming, grotesque, and dangerous, as Hitler was ascending to power. The Berlin Stories is inhabited by a wealth of characters, in particular the nightclub performer Sally Bowles, whose misadventures were popularized on stage and screen in I Am a Camera and Cabaret.

Slaying the minotaur was only the beginning. Theseus's legendary exploits continue in this magnificent tale of mythological adventure in classical Greece. Picking up where The King Must Die left off, this stirring sequel recounts Theseus's triumphant return from Crete to become King of Athens.

In the summer of 1143, William of Lythwood arrives at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, but it is not a joyous occasion—he's come back from his pilgrimage in a coffin. William's body is accompanied by his young attendant Elave, whose mission is to secure a burial place for his master on the abbey grounds. An already difficult task is complicated when Elave drunkenly expresses his heretical opinions, and capital charges are filed. When a violent death follows, Sheriff Hugh Beringar taps his friend Brother Cadfael for help.

The legacy of Alexandra Ripley's Charleston lives on in this next installment in her Deep South saga. Let the passion, deception, secrets, and revenge creep under your skin like South Carolina heat as you plunge into this gripping novel of Southern intrigue.

The Hollow Hills recreates the suspense and excitement of an ancient legend—how Merlin the Enchanter, prophet, visionary, and adviser to kings—keeps Arthur, the future king of Britain, safe. Merlin keeps watch over Arthur in remote secrecy, safe from the warring kings and Saxons who plot against his father, King Uther. Haunted by dreams of the magical sword Caliburn, which has been hidden for centuries, Arthur must claim the fabled sword to become the true High King of Britain. When Uther Pendragon is killed in battle, the time of destiny is at hand.

It's Christmas, and a local visiting dignitary suddenly takes ill immediately following his decision to bequeath his manorial estate to the abbey. Luckily, the abbey boasts the services of the herbalist Brother Cadfael, who hurries to the man's bedside, only to be confronted with two surprises: the man's wife is Richildis—whom Cadfael loved before he took his vows—and the poison is monk's-hood oil from Cadfael's stores. Using his knowledge of both herbs and the human heart, Cadfael deciphers a deadly recipe for murder.