Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE PRIZE 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE NEUMANN PRIZE 2025 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO COUNT? WHY ARE HUMANS THE ONLY SPECIES ON EARTH THAT CAN DO IT? WHERE DID COUNTING COME FROM? HOW HAS IT SHAPED SOCIETIES ALONG THE WAY? AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?...

150 AD. Alaric, once lord of the Ravensworn is no longer feared nor revered. It has been six long years since his great defeat. He now lives life in the shadows. All hopes of glory and eternal rest in the Heroes Hall are gone. Alaric is alone. An outlaw to his land. When a band of horsemen appear on the horizon, eager to recruit the man they still believe to be a lord of war. And so Alaric is pulled back to a life he thought had forsaken him. For in the far north of Germania lies a tribe in desperate need of aid.

Henri Koskinen firmly believes in the power of common sense and order. That is until he moves in with Laura Helanto and her daughter. As Henri realises he has inadvertently become part of a group of local dads, a competing adventure park is seeking to expand their operations, not always sticking to the law in the process. Is it possible to combine the increasingly dangerous world of the adventure-park business with the unpredictability of life in a blended family? At first glance, the two appear to have only one thing in common: neither deals particularly well with a mounting body count.

A family in Ireland contacts Frank Craven, looking for help. Their daughter is missing, kidnapped by merciless criminals. Craven and Kane travel to Ireland to find the missing girl and become embroiled in an investigation that turns into a brutal battle across the streets of Dublin and Ireland's countryside. Jack Kane is a man on the run... a secret agency wants him dead... and he is a family's only hope of finding their kidnapped daughter.

When a young man washes up, naked, on the sands of St Piran, he is quickly rescued by the villagers. From the retired village doctor and the schoolteacher, to the beachcomber and the owner of the local bar, the priest's wife and the romantic novelist, they take this lost soul into their midst. But what the villagers don't know is that Joe Haak worked as an analyst and has fled the City amid fears of a worldwide banking collapse caused by a computer program he invented. But is the end of the world really nigh?

December 1940. Down Street underground station, in the heart of London's Mayfair, is now a secret retreat for Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his cabinet from the relentless air raids overhead. In this supposedly secure location, the body of a woman is found, stabbed in the heart. The victim, fortune-teller Lady Za Za, did not see this one coming. Chief Inspector Coburg and Sergeant Lampson are called to investigate but whispers of treason and corruption succeed in muddying the waters of the case.

September 1940. The height of the Blitz. When the Savoy advertises its series of underground shelters, a crowd of people from East London arrive at the hotel and demand entry. There they find a shelter worthy of the Savoy's clientele, but the next morning, after the air raid and when the Stepney protestors have left, it is discovered that one of the hotel's guests is dead, stabbed through the heart.

Twilit and sinister, oozing with ague, bad airs, boggarts and other spirits: in the mind’s eye marshes, bogs and swamps are dangerous, crepuscular—and only partly of this world. For centuries, wetlands, have been the object of our distrust: we’ve drained away their demons, encroached upon and denuded them, ripping away not only their fragile beauty, botany and birdlife but also the carefully calibrated lives of those that have come to understand and thrive in them. In Swamp Songs, Tom Blass takes us on a journey through these strange lands and waterscapes.

She was the daughter of a preacher and a gypsy. A strange and elusive child with powers of prophecy, she grew into an even stranger woman. From those around her she inspired love and admiration or furious hatred. Nothing in between. And somehow Jassy could transform even those who loved her into her enemies. Barney Hatton, the dispossessed heir of Mortiboys, loved her but not enough. Lindy, a girl who worked there, loved her too much.

When Harry Jones discovers that former friend Zac Kravitz's life is in danger, a debt of honour sends him on a perilous rescue mission to Ta'argistan, a mountainous and landlocked former Soviet republic bordering Russia, China, and Afghanistan.

In 2050 there will be 9.3 billion people alive - compared with 7 billion today - and the number will still be rising. The population aged over 65 will have more than doubled, to more than 16 percent; China's GDP will be 80 percent more than America's; and the number of cars on India's roads will have increased by 3,880 percent. And, in 2050 it should be clear whether we are alone in the universe.What other megachanges can we expect - and what will their impact be? This comprehensive and compelling book will cover the most significant trends that are shaping the coming decades.

Against all odds, Aydin Torkal - aka Sleeper 13 - broke free from the terrorist group that took him as a child and raised him into a life of violence and hate. In the two years since, he's been tracking and killing all those responsible. But he's not done yet. Now living a secret life in London, he receives a surprise visit from Rachel Cox of MI6. She needs his help to infiltrate a sinister new terrorist cell who've taken root in the USA. Aydin is initially reluctant.

James Witts is 45 years old, fatty deposits have begun to nestle on his back and he has a penchant for craft ale. He also rides a little. But not a lot. In his job as cycling journalist, however, he does have unparalleled access to the world's best riders and their expert support staff. Which got him thinking: could spending time with the pros, discovering the training, gear and nutritional tricks of the trade, transform this back-of-the-pack sportive straggler into a fit-and-fast frontrunner?

This definitive book will offer a unique and captivating exploration of football's rich legacy, told through 100 carefully selected objects from the unrivalled collection of the National Football Museum – the world's largest. Delving into the sport's social, cultural, and technological evolution, it will take you inside moments of high drama, euphoric success and crushing heartbreak to peel back the layers of the world's favourite game.

Actress Charlotte has it all: a starring role in a West End show, a glittering social life and an equally high-flying boyfriend. But when her perfect existence abruptly falls apart, she retreats to her hometown on the North Yorkshire coast, finding a summer job in the local bookshop. Greg, the grumpy, old-fashioned manager of Seaswept Books, is alarmed by Charlotte's attempts to revitalise the tired-looking bookshop. But when she discovers his secret passion for amateur dramatics, an unlikely friendship blossoms.

The Warcage: 200 worlds harnessed to an artificial sun in a feat of unprecedented stellar engineering. Built to travel through space as a monument to peace between alien species, now its voracious rulers have turned it into a nightmarish wasteland, capturing new planets for slaves and resources then discarding the old. When a verdant agri-world is pulled out of its orbit, the captain of a smuggling ship must journey into the Warcage to rescue his crew.

Battle-ready factions converge above Darien, all with the same objective. The goal is control over this newly-discovered planet and access to the powerful weapons at its heart. Despotic Hegemony forces dominate much of known space and they want this world too, but Darien's inhabitants will fight for their future. However, key players in this conflict aren't fully in control. Hostile AIs have infiltrated key minds and have an agenda, requiring nothing less than the destruction or subversion of all organic life.

Theatre troupe Westfield’s Men take on a new actor, Francis Quilter, after reaching new heights of success. But with the new member brings new trouble. Quilter’s father, Gerard, is on trial for the murder of an enemy, but he denies the charge and Nicholas Bracewell sets about proving his innocence. However, Bracewell’s loyalty to Francis drives a wedge between the players. Who will clear the Quilter family name? On their quest for the truth, they stumble across an unlikely ally, who may just hold the answers they’re looking for.

When unexpected disaster strikes Lord Westfield's Men during a packed performance, Nicholas Bracewell must save the day. Will a vagabond clown prophesy the end of the troupe - and perhaps the demise of Nick himself?

Best-selling crime author Joseph Newton is on board a train when he meets a man fascinated by the idea of a murder so perfectly simple it would be impossible to solve. Critical of the elaborate plots in Newton’s novels, the man is keen to demonstrate to the author just how he would carry out the seemingly undetectable crime.