Showing results by narrator "Steven Crossley Crossley" in All Categories

Charles Mason (1728-1786) and Jeremiah Dixon (1733-1779) were the British surveyors best remembered for running the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland that we know today as the Mason-Dixon Line. Here is their story as re-imagined by Thomas Pynchon, featuring Native Americans and frontier folk, ripped bodices, naval warfare, conspiracies erotic and political, and major caffeine abuse. We follow the mismatched pair - one rollicking, the other depressive; one Gothic, the other pre-Romantic.

Captain Carlisle hails from Virginia, a loyal colony of the British Crown. As the clouds of war gather, Carlisle's small frigate is ordered to Toulon on a reconnaissance mission. If battling the winter weather in the Gulf of Lions is not a sufficient challenge, Carlisle must also juggle the delicate diplomatic issues in this period of pre-war tension while contending with an increasingly belligerent French frigate. But Carlisle has additional problems unique to his colonial origins.

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best-selling author, Mary Jo Putney has won two RITAs and two Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards. In No Longer a Gentleman, the gentleman in question, Grey Sommers, is conducting a bit of light espionage in France when a dalliance with a government official’s wife gets him thrown into a dungeon. Enter beguiling spy Cassie Fox, sent to free the suffering lord - and perhaps to liberate his heart.

Lou Clark knows a lot of things. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop, and she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live, and now everything feels small and joyless. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

Heartstone is C. J. Sansom's fifth spellbinding mystery in C. J. Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory. 'When it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival' - Sunday Times ‘Sansom has the trick of...

As war clouds darkened over Europe in 1914, a party led by Sir Ernest Shackleton set out to make the first crossing of the entire Antarctic continent via the Pole. But their initial optimism was short-lived as ice floes closed around their ship, gradually crushing it and marooning twenty-eight men on the polar ice. Alone in the world's most unforgiving environment, Shackleton and his team began a brutal quest for survival.

W. Somerset Maugham is one of the best-loved short story writers of the last 100 years. In this collection of his finest short work Maugham takes the listener to the sun-drenched Pacific islands where the Governor mercilessly abuses the inhabitants; to the story "Rain", in which the Reverend and the prostitute play out one of the most famous finales ever written; to the studies of chauvinistic Colonels, and snide conversations in Edwardian drawing rooms, as well as at the gates of heaven. As an introduction to one of the greatest writers in the English language Stephen Crossley's reading is the perfect place to start.

Post Captain Ramage is prowling the Tuscan coast and far from English aid when he encounters a daunting French invasion fleet. As the enemy gathers strength, Ramage must decide how to thwart its actions with only the frigate Calypso and a pair of bomb ketches.

In this Hugo-winner from Connie Willis, when too many jumps back to 1940 leave 21st century Oxford history student Ned Henry exhausted, a relaxing trip to Victorian England seems the perfect solution. But complexities like recalcitrant rowboats, missing cats, and love at first sight make Ned's holiday anything but restful—to say nothing of the way hideous pieces of Victorian art can jeopardize the entire course of history.

Julian Treslove and Sam Finkler are old school friends. Despite a prickly relationship and very different lives, they've never quite lost touch with each other - or with their former teacher, Libor Sevick. Now all three are recently widowed, in their own way, and spend sweetly painful evenings together reminiscing. Until an unexpected violent attack brings everything they thought they knew into question.

Now a major Disney+ original series 'C. J. Sansom’s books are arguably the best Tudor novels going' – The Sunday Times Dissolution is the first novel in C. J. Sansom’s phenomenal bestselling Shardlake series, perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel and Phillipa Gregory. After one of Cromwell's...

As the mysterious leader of the Bastion Club, known as “Dalziel,” Royce Varisey, tenth Duke of Wolverstone, served his country for decades, facing dangers untold. But as the holder of one of England’s most august noble titles, he must now take on the gravest duty of all: marriage. Yet the young ladies the grande dames would have him consider are predictably boring. Far more tempting is his castle’s willful and determinedly aloof chatelaine, Minerva Chesterton. Beneath her serene façade lies a woman of smoldering sensuality, one who will fill his days with comfort....

Perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and The Light, Matthew Shardlake is back in the sixth book in the Shardlake series, from number one bestselling author C. J. Sansom. 'When it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival' - Sunday Times ‘Sansom has...

An "invitation to dine" quickly loses a letter as DI John Redfyre returns for his second investigation in the hallowed halls of Cambridge academia. Cambridge, 1924 in early summertime. May Balls, punting, flirting and dancing the tango are the preoccupations of bright young people, but bright...

It is the autumn of 1367. Master Hugh de Singleton is enjoying the peaceful life of Bampton when a badly beaten man is found under the porch of St. Andrew’s Chapel. The dying man is a chapman - a traveling merchant. Before he is buried in the chapel grounds an ancient, corroded coin is found in the man’s mouth. Master Hugh’s quest for the chapman’s assailants, and his search for the origin of the coin, makes steady progress - but there are men of wealth and power who wish to halt his search, and an old nemesis, Sir Simon Trillowe, is in league with them.

It is 1999 and Russia is on the edge of total implosion. Social and moral order has collapsed and what small semblance of control there is, is being imposed by mafia-like criminal gangs. While public opinion in the West is largely indifferent, the political analysts are less sanguine - Russian...

They proved their bravery fighting for His Majesty’s Secret Service and were rewarded with brides of great beauty and breeding. But one member of the Bastion Club has remained a bachelor - until now. "Christian, I need your help. There is no one else I can turn to…L.” When Christian Allardyce, sixth Marquess of Dearne, reads those words, his world turns upside down. Lady Letitia Randall is a woman like no other, and the day he left her behind to fight for king and country was the most difficult of his life.

Winner of the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, Dark Fire is the second thrilling book in C. J. Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory. 'When it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival' -...

What causes poverty? Are economic crises inevitable under capitalism? Is government intervention in an economy a helpful approach or a disastrous idea? The answers to such basic economic questions matter to everyone, yet the unfamiliar jargon and math of economics can seem daunting. This clear, accessible, and even humorous book is ideal for young listeners new to economics and to all listeners who seek a better understanding of the full sweep of economic history and ideas.

The naval service of the Honourable East India Company, popularly known as the Bombay Marine, knew its share of adventure - none more than Captain Percival Merewether and the men of his ship, Rapid. From Mauritius to Teheran, from the Bay of Bengal toward Australia - weathering fierce naval battles, skirmishes with pirate fleets, and sometimes equally hazardous engagements ashore - the seas were packed with the stuff that goes to make incident.