Showing results by narrator "Lara Sawalha" in All Categories

The Book of Acts recounts the stories of numerous men and a few women God chose to use to plant His church in the first century. This is the story of one of those–a merchant called Lydia. Explore her story and the story of the times in which she lived—the portion you may already know … and the rest of the story that could have been.

This is the story of Mary Magdalene. The Gospels tell us she was a successful woman. But they also tell us she found herself under the control of seven demons until the day Jesus set her free. From that day forward she was one of the women who traveled with Jesus. She was a firsthand witness to much of His ministry. She was one of the few who stood at the foot of the cross. She was one of a handful who journeyed to the garden tomb. She was the first to actually see Jesus after He had risen.

Contrary to popular assumption, Arab women were instrumental in shaping world history. Between Rome's intervention in the Arabian Peninsula and the Arab conquests, noblewomen ruled independently, conducting trade and making war. Their power was often celebrated as queen, priestess and goddess. With time they delegated power to the most important holy men of their age, influencing Arabian paganism, Christianity and Islam forever.

“Muzoon takes readers on her perilous and ultimately hopeful journey from refugee child to advocate for others in need.” —Malala Yousafzai, bestselling author and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize When her family had to flee Syria, 14-year-old Muzoon was told to pack only the most essential...

In a remote refugee camp, many diverse lives collide. A child with a love of wizards and an ageing rock star share their fate with a collection of disparate visitors when the camp is attacked. Years later, they find a way to tell their stories.

2011, Syria. The Arab Spring is underway, and after a wave of peaceful protests, President Assad agrees to a release of political prisoners. Freed after 30 years, Dr Mahmoud is taken in by Taghreed and Emad Daffar, and brought to England by his old friend Jarvis Lorry and the daughter he has never met, foreign correspondent Lina. But his years of suffering have left him a broken man. Back in London, Jarvis convinces his nephew Sid Carton, a feckless but brilliant barrister, to defend a young Syrian émigré doctor, Shwan Dahkurdi, against charges of supporting terrorism.

Four babies have been kidnapped from four different maternity wards in Tel Aviv. With not a single lead to follow, all investigators can do is wait patiently for the suspect they call ‘The Babysitter’ to make their next move. Four weeks earlier, on a quiet street, a medical student went out for a run and was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Then a second student went out and never returned. Daphne Dagan, a young, talented police officer, is first to realize that the hit and run and the kidnappings are related.

Farah and her lizard jinn, Layla, are travelling through a vast desert—returning to their village home after their adventures with Amira and Leo in Voyage of the Lost and Found. Farah is desperate to see her sister again, but then she discovers a hidden city—full of people who have concealed their magic for many years. At first Farah thinks she has found new friends, but everything is not what it seems, and dark magic lies just beneath the surface....

Since the revolution-turned-civil war in Syria began in 2011, over 500,000 civilians have been killed and more than 12 million Syrians have been displaced. Rania Abouzeid, one of the foremost journalists on the topic, follows two pairs of sisters from opposite sides of the conflict to give listeners a firsthand glimpse of the turmoil and devastation this strife has wrought.

Modern-day New York, a subway train. David, an American Jewish jazz musician, torn between his dreams and his parents' expectations, sees a woman across the carriage. Ameena, a British Pakistani artist who left Manchester to escape the pressure from her conservative family, sees David. When a moment of sublime beauty occurs unexpectedly, the two connect, moved by their shared experience. From this flows a love that it appears will triumph above all.

Safiya and her mum have never seen eye to eye. Her mum doesn’t understand Safiya’s love of gaming, and Safiya doesn't think they have anything in common. As Safiya struggles to fit in at school, she wonders if her mum wishes she was more like her confident best friend, Elle. But then her mum falls into a coma and, when Safiya waits by her bedside, she finds herself in a strange alternative world that looks a bit like one of her games. And there’s a rebellious teenage girl, with a secret, who looks suspiciously familiar....

Sheepland is a clever satirical allegory with echoes of Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, eerily depicting the current state of the world and warning of what may come.

16 modern fiction superstars shine a startling light on the romance and pain of the infamous literary pair Heathcliff and Cathy. Short stories to stir the heart and awaken vital conversation about love. Sixteen stories inspired by Wuthering Heights. In ‘Terminus’ a young woman hides in an...

In between dating, shopping, drinking, dancing and having fun, the girls of Riyadh live by Saudi Arabia’s strict cultural traditions. Well, not quite... They’re still trying to be good Muslims and please their families. But can you be a 21st century woman and a Saudi woman? A full-cast dramatisation of Rajaa Alsanea's best-selling novel, revealing the social, romantic, and sexual tribulations of four young women from the elite classes of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Six lives, connected through blood and history, each rooted in the dirt of their inheritance, look to the future, and what it might hold. In 1855, Edward Feebes travels to the guano islands of South America, to investigate an irregularity in the accounts of the House of Feebes & Co. In 1912, post-mortem photographer and reluctant blackmailer Annie Connolly plots her escape from Ireland to America on board the Titanic.