Showing results by narrator "Leighton Pugh" in All Categories

The Essential Classics: Volume 2 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Adjoa Andoh, Rupert Degas, Kobna Holdbrook Smith, Leighton Pugh, and Jonathan Keeble. Spanning the Atlantic, this collection includes stories of vampiric horror in Dracula, Orwell's modern masterpiece, Animal Farm, as well as Emily Brontë's timeless tale of love on the moors, Wutheirng Heights, and more.

In January 1945, the Red Army launched a powerful offensive across the Vistula River to drive the Wehrmacht out of Poland, with the intention of securing a start line for an operation that would ultimately result in the capture of Berlin and the end of the war. But, as Prit Buttar expertly reveals, there were other issues at play. Stalin was determined to push the boundaries of the Soviet Union further west, restoring land lost by the tsars and securing vast industrial and mineral wealth.

This audiobook is the first to offer a concise, accessible overview of the evolution of the Soviet Union as a multiethnic empire. It reflects on how the Soviet Union was home to many ethnic minorities, and how their fates, and that of the USSR itself, were bound to the question of how the Soviet state responded variously throughout its existence to the fundamental question of ethnic difference across its vast and diverse territory. The audiobook then examines how the Soviet collapse in 1991 fractured the Union along markedly national lines.

Nuclear Russia probes the juncture of history of science and technology, political and cultural history, and environmental history. It considers the atom in Russian society as a reflection of Leninist technological utopianism, Cold War imperatives, scientific hubris, public acceptance, and a state desire to conquer nature. Furthermore the audiobook examines the vital – and perhaps unexpected – significance of ethnicity and gender in nuclear history by looking at how Kazakhs and Nenets lost their homelands and their health in Russia in the wake of nuclear testing.

They say that third time's a charm... It's been two years since mass murderer, Giacomo Riondino, disappeared after killing Greta Alfieri. Dr. Claps, devastated and guilt-ridden by Greta's death, has been on a man-hunt for Riondino ever since. Meanwhile, an American girl disappears on the 382nd step of the Cerro trail in Guayaquil, Ecuador. No one saw her disappear. Who took her? And how? When the US authorities contact Claps, he is certain that it must be Riordino. But, unlike Riondino's other victims, the girl has disappeared into thin air.

When the leader of one of Denmark’s major political parties is seriously injured in a car crash a mere three weeks before an election, two of his deputies vie to succeed him. But only one can emerge victorious, and a vicious, dirty-tricks campaign—marked by the unearthing of past indiscretions, malignant arm-twisting, and forged documents—ensues. Everyone else is just a pawn in this high-stakes game of chess, in which even the reporters covering the Danish Parliament have their own agendas.

A gripping thriller full of twists you won't see coming... Seven years ago, psychiatrist Dr Claps assisted police in capturing Giacomo Riondino, a man accused of abducting, torturing and murdering two women. On arrest, tests had revealed that Riondino suffered from a rare and disturbing psychiatric condition and was sectioned. Six years later, Riondino is on the run after escaping from a rehabilitation centre, leaving a trail of bloody murders in his wake.

The search for a missing child reveals she is not the only one... In a little village in Lombardy, it's a cold November morning when Ami steps out of her house to go to school... and never comes back. As soon as her father raises the alarm, a frantic search begins. The investigation is led by Police Commissioner Sensi. His men immediately find a trail to follow, but it soon proves to lead nowhere. Three months later, Police Commissioner Sensi decides to visit Dr Claps, an old friend and a renowned criminologist, who guesses from his first few words the real reason for the visit.

When we think of Ludwig van Beethoven images of a stormy and passionate but tortured genius are brought to mind, alongside the transformative effect of his work on musical history. All of these things are true, but no artist lives in a vacuum, and even music that opens a portal onto 'the infinite realm of the spirit' has its wider context.

Tchaikovsky declared that Mozart was 'full of divine beauty', and Schubert's wonder at the 'countless images of a brighter and better world' that Mozart was able to conjure up through his music knew no bounds. Many of us carry the image of Mozart as a transcendent genius, but what do we really know about his life and career, and indeed his music? This entertaining and informative biography takes us from Mozart's beginnings as a child prodigy to his greatest successes and cruellest setbacks.

The Art of Rhetoric, a guide on the principles behind oratorical skill, is a core text on the art of persuasion. Aristotle contends that rhetoric is one of the key elements of philosophy – along with logic and dialectic. The work consists of three books: the first is a general overview, the second concerns the means of persuasion that an orator must deploy, and the third discusses elements of style and arrangement.

Skylarks are the heralds of our countryside. Their music is the quintessential sound of spring. The spirit of English pastoralism, they inspire poets, composers and farmers alike. History has seen us poeticise and musicise the bird, but also capture and eat them. We watch as they climb the sky, delight in their joyful singing, and yet, we harm them, too. The Soaring Life of the Lark explores the music and poetry; the breathtaking heights and struggle to survive of one of Britain's most iconic songbirds.

It is 1971, the height of the Cold War and anti-American feeling among Icelanders is running high. When a teenager is found dead after a drunken night out, her clothes torn and face bruised, anger is directed towards the military personnel at the NATO air base at Keflavik who outnumber the local population. British Agent Bill Conran, invited by the Americans to uncover a Russian spy ring, comes to realise that this is no routine assignment. Unsure who can be trusted and targeted by an unknown assassin, he discovers that Iceland, for all its cold beauty, has never been hotter.

Shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year Arrest Me, for I Have Run Away is a stunning short story collection on human nature and identity. Stevie Davies' latest work, it is bound to captivate and charm the listener.

The oak is our most beloved and most common tree. It has roots that stretch back to all the old European cultures, but Britain has more ancient oaks than all the other European countries put together. More than half the ancient oaks in the world are in Britain. Many of our ancestors - the Angles, the Saxons, the Norse - came to the British Isles in longships made of oak. For centuries the oak touched every part of a Briton's life - from cradle to coffin. It was oak that made the 'wooden walls' of Nelson's navy, and the navy that allowed Britain to rule the world.

Dan's life has fallen apart at the seams. He's lost his house and his job, and now he's going to lose his family, too. All he's ever wanted is to keep them together, but is everything beyond repair? Maria is drowning in grief. She spends her days writing letters that will never be answered. Nights are spent trying to hold terrible memories at bay, to escape the pain that threatens to engulf her. Jack wakes up confused and alone. He doesn't know who he is, how he got there, or why he finds himself on a deserted clifftop, but will piecing together the past leave him a broken man?

Katerina inherits a spice box after her grandmother Mariam dies. It contains letters and a diary written in Armenian. Katerina learns that Mariam's childhood was shattered by the Armenian tragedy of 1915. Exiled from her home in Turkey and separated from her beloved brother, Mariam's life was marred by grief. Katerina tries to find resolution in her own life as she completes Mariam's story on a journey that takes her across Cyprus and then half a world away to New York.

From the number one best-selling author of The American Boy and The Ashes of London comes a collection of three Gothic novellas - Broken Voices, The Leper House and The Scratch - perfect for fans of The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley.

When Jerry falls asleep on the bus to school, he's incredibly hacked off to wake up and discover he's on another planet. The realisation that he's just been sold to a family of aliens by an exotic pet shop, does nothing to improve Jerry's mood. Harchi Jannan and his son, Chad, are thrilled with their unique new pet, but Rashila Jannan is so furious with her husband for buying it, she's ready to shed her tail tip.

An urban fairy tale from the acclaimed author of 99 Reasons Why. Arthur Braxton runs away from school. He hides out in an abandoned building, an old Edwardian bathhouse. He discovers a naked woman swimming in the pool. From this point on, nothing will ever be the same. The Drowning of Arthur Braxton is an unflinching account of the pain and trauma of adolescence and of how first love can transform the most unhappy of lives into something miraculous.