Showing results by narrator "Peter Noble" in All Categories

In April 1945, as Hitler’s Third Reich was unravelling, George Orwell published 'Anti-Semitism in Britain'. The short essay sketches the contours of British anti-Semitism, an essentially non-virulent, though a tenaciously pervasive, societal attitude that ran deep and cut across class and ideological differences.

According to biographer D. J. Taylor, the young Orwell displayed ‘an enthusiasm for poetry that in [his] formative years seems to have been as least as strong as any desire to write fiction’. Orwell’s poetry is not among his best known - or most highly praised - work but nonetheless shares similar concerns to (and displays the dry sense of humour present in) his prose. Mere foothills in the range of Orwell’s work perhaps - but building up to the summits later scaled.

Books v Cigarettes is a funny and irreverent essay comparing the costs of reading to other forms of recreation including smoking. Originating from the experience of an editor friend who was firewatching during the Second World War, who was told by factory workers that they had no interest in literature because they could not afford books, the essay first appeared in Tribune in 1946.

Looking Back on the Spanish War contains George Orwell's reminiscences of the sights, smells and politics of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) in which he almost lost his life. 

Published a mere two and a half months after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Orwell’s 'You and the Atomic Bomb' is notable as one of the first efforts to divine the social and political implications of a new weapon of previously unimaginable power. Its fame arises from Orwell’s coinage of a new term for the permanent standoff the bomb would foster between two great powers, the United States and the Soviet Union: the 'cold war'.

Cambridge Archaeology Professor Alex Harker is drawn back into the twisted clutches of the Mithras, who are seeking to unearth a knowledge lost to humankind since the dawn of civilization. His journey will take him from the Bay of Bengal to the murky depths of the Gibraltar strait, from the Swiss Alps to an island untouched for over 30,000 years, all in pursuit of this fateful knowledge.

At a remote farmhouse outside Turin, a mysterious religious exorcism goes horribly wrong, setting in motion a series of catastrophic events, that threatens to bring the world to its knees... Meanwhile, Professor Alex Harker is settling into his new life in the Templar Brotherhood, when he is suddenly whisked away to the Tower of London. There he learns of a disturbing murder, and a strange riddle hinting at a sinister truth.

In Foreign Native, RW Johnson looks back with affection and humour on his life in Africa. From schooldays in Durban - fresh off the boat from Merseyside - to later years as an academic, director of the Helen Suzman Foundation and formidable political commentator, he has produced an entertaining and occasionally eye-popping memoir brimming with history, anecdote and insight. Johnson charts his evolution from enthusiastic, left-leaning Africanist to political realist, relating the episodes that influenced his intellectual worldview.

Health and wellness entrepreneur Peter Darrow thought he had life all figured out. A native of the posh and privileged Upper East Side, the young millennial lived large, attending elite schools, throwing lavish birthday parties, and spending summers in the Hamptons. Then one day, his seemingly perfect, polished life came crashing down. Over the course of three hellish years, his father died, he inherited and burned through a shit-ton of money, his girlfriend dumped him, and his first business floundered. 

In 2012 Lenerd Louw is living the high life on Millionaires' Row in Clifton beach, Cape Town. The successful CEO of an insurance company and part-time playboy, he appears to have it all - gorgeous women, threesomes, ecstasy and cocaine on demand. But something doesn't feel right. He tries to drown a deep inner voice urging him to change his career, life - everything - by partying harder. By the end of December 2012, a massive shift occurs. He resigns as CEO, sells all his worldly possessions, and books a one-way ticket to Lima, Peru.

France, 1986. Achilles Clazay is a successful and charismatic businessman who is adored by his partner and respected by his colleagues. He is also a talented artist who lives for his work. His latest project is Françoise Laville and she’s gagged in the shower, about to die. Because Achilles is the notorious serial killer who has been carving great works of art into the "canvas" of his victims’ skin for five years. But a copycat murder soon changes everything in his brutally ordered life. 

There is more than one way for animals to prepare for winter. Some, such as mice, foxes, and moose, simply tolerate the cold. Of course, black bears hibernate, but chipmunks, wood frogs, and garter snakes do, too. And then there are the creatures that migrate, including hummingbirds, blue whales, and even earthworms! 

When Natalie reluctantly agrees to attend a school reunion, she hits it off with former classmate Josh - a boy she barely spoke to while they were at school together - and finds herself swept up in a whirlwind romance with him. Then she receives a message: You can do better than marrying a murderer. As Natalie pieces together the tragic story of the teenage girl who drowned at Chedford Lake, she realizes she has the perfect opportunity to clear Josh’s name. But it will mean putting herself in serious danger - and betraying someone she loves.

This classic text simply and beautifully illustrates the gospel of salvation and the free gift of grace from Jesus Christ. Considered a cornerstone of Christianity and Christian theology, All of Grace presents a clear and complete description of what it means to be saved. Charles Spurgeon describes and explains salvation in a way that is perfect for believers and nonbelievers alike, painting a picture of faith, repentance, unmerited grace, and perfect freedom in God’s word and in his love.

Vividly capturing the heady times in the waning months of World War II, Ronald Weber follows the exploits of Allied reporters as they flooded into liberated Paris after four dark years of Nazi occupation. He traces the remarkable adventures of the men and women who lived, worked, and played in the legendary Hôtel Scribe, set in a highly fashionable part of the largely undamaged city. Press jeeps and trailers packed the street outside, while inside the hotel was completely booked with hundreds of correspondents.

In 1922, Paul Beckermann arrives at the Bauhaus art school and is immediately seduced by both the charismatic teaching and his fellow students. Eccentric and alluring, the more time Paul spends with his new friends the closer they become, and the deeper he falls in love with the mesmerising Charlotte. But Paul is not the only one vying for her affections, and soon an insidious rivalry takes root.

A sprawling adventure pitting two of literature's most iconic anti-heroes against each other: Captain Nemo and Captain Ahab. Caught between them: real-life British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, builder of the century's greatest ship, The Great Eastern. But when he's kidnapped by Nemo to help design a submarine with which to fight the laying of the Translatlantic cable - linking the two colonialist forces Nemo hates, England and the US - Brunel finds himself going up against his own ship, and the strange man hired to protect it, Captain Ahab.

While Britain is obsessed with the newest hit true-crime television show, Fact, or Fable? detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver are tormented by a fiendish flesh-and-blood killer on the loose. Lured to a “crime scene” by a mysterious digital invitation, Ruth Lake is horrified by what she finds: a bizarre and gruesome tableau surrounded by a crowd of gawkers. The deadly work is the latest “art installation” designed by a diabolical criminal dubbed the Ferryman. Not only is this criminal cold-blooded; he’s a narcissistic exhibitionist desperate for an audience.

Thomas knows there is something he needs to say to his mother before she dies but will he reach her in time and will he have the courage to say what he couldn't say before? His phone is buzzing and his mind is racing and he can't concentrate on the significance of what is happening. Should he try to solve his friend's family crisis? Should he reconsider the separation from his wife? Why does he feel so utterly confused and paralysed?

A man obsessed with the cleansing power of fire is destroying everything that reminds him of his youth. He calls himself the Fire Man. That same Easter, a teenager is threatened by his girlfriend's tradition-bound family. Karsten's attempts to protect himself put him and his sister, Synne, at even greater risk. Then he disappears altogether. Eight years later Synne is determined to find out what happened that night. But her investigation will ignite smouldering and dangerous memories.