Showing results by narrator "Siân Thomas" in All Categories

Julia is a child psychologist who every day deals with young girls said to be behaving badly. Some are stealing, some are running away from home, some are terribly untidy, some won’t eat or get out of bed. Julia has a special knack with these girls. She understands which really are troubled, and which are at the mercy of the way they are seen by the adults around them. But one day, Julia’s own troubled past starts to creep into her present.

Deep in an Estonian forest, two women - one young, one old - are hiding. Zara is a prostitute and a murderer, on the run from brutal captors, men who know about inflicting punishment. Aliide offers refuge, but not safety: She has her own secrets, traitorous crimes of passion and revenge committed long ago, during the country’s brutal Soviet years. Both women have suffered lives of abuse. But this time their survival depends on revealing the one thing history has taught them to keep safely hidden: the truth.

Best known for her posthumously published novel Suite française, Irène Némirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903. Her family fled the Russian Revolution for Paris, where she found fame as a novelist. But when the Nazis occupied France, she was arrested as a Jew and sent to Auschwitz, where she died aged just 39. This collection includes four of her best works, dramatised for radio with a full cast.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989, Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education is a semi-autobiographical novel that tells the story of Billi, a girl growing up in Europe between the two World Wars. Upon the death of her German baron father, Billi moves from the family château to live with her vibrant and erratic English mother on the French Riviera. From there she is sent for schooling in England, where she lives an itinerant life, boarding among a bohemian crowd, attending galleries and public lectures, and reading some of the greatest books of the era.

Georgie Sinclair's husband has left her; her 16-year-old son is busy exploring fundamentalist Christian websites and becoming more distant by the day; and all those overdue articles for Adhesives in the Modern World aren't looking too appealing either.

So when she spots Mrs Shapiro, an eccentric old Jewish émigré neighbour with an eye for a bargain and a fondness for matchmaking, rummaging through her skip in the middle of the night, it's just the distraction she needs.

In this comprehensive anthology, former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion has gathered together exceptional poems from the 14th century through to the present day, creating an extraordinary poetic journey for the listener. From the love poems of Shelley and Keats to the grim war elegies of Owen and Sassoon, there is a poem here for every sentiment, each with something different to offer.

Joining us at Audible Studios is Sian Thomas, a well-renowned actor on stage, in television and in films, and a regular audiobook narrator. She told us about her incredible career so far, her plans for the future and her role narrating the Mother in Fiona Barton’s new novel, The Suspect. The novel documents the media frenzy that occurs when two girls go missing in Thailand while travelling on their gap year. It is told (and read) from four different perspectives and will leave you cold, knowing danger is always nearby.

Elisabeth Luard, one of the food world's most entertaining and evocative writers, has travelled extensively throughout her life, meeting fascinating people, observing different cultures and uncovering extraordinary ingredients in unusual places. In this enchanting food memoir, she shares tales and dishes gathered from her global ramblings.

The 5 shortlisted titles for the BBC National Short Story Award 2010 administered in partnership with Booktrust, containing:Tea at the Midland by David ConstantineDavid Constantine 2010 Haywards Heath by Aminatta FornaAminatta Forna 2010Butcher’s Perfume by Sarah HallSarah Hall 2010If It Keeps on Raining by Jon McGregorJon McGregor 2010My Daughter the Racist by Helen OyeyemiHelen Oyeyemi 2010

There's a gathering of high-achieving ladies at the remote and expensive Castle Spa over the 10 days of Christmas and New Year. None of them have met before. Have they no homes to go to? Why have they put their lives on hold? Perhaps they think they've come to seek (through Botox, aromatherapy, and extravagant pampering) a better understanding of their lives?

A new way to remember the dead has been developed. The Maken Corporation can construct an interactive avatar - a perfectly realistic representation of the deceased - in cyberspace, using all the data available on an individual. At first, this appears to be a huge comfort for the bereaved. They can see and speak to their dead. The pain of mourning is eased. But it's a controversial issue, one that divides society and divides families....

Take a year in Soho and a house like no other.... From a woman grieving on New Year's Day to a Victorian maid's passion for poetry, from a wartime widower picking up the pieces of his life to a young musician with a dream, one magical house has witnessed the drama of people's lives for generations. Meet the unforgettable residents of Claxton Court and discover the remarkable ties that bind them together.

Nell lives with her grandmother, the local cunning woman and healer, in 17th century Somerset. When one of the minister's daughters falls pregnant, she and her sister attempt to conceal it by accusing Nell of putting a curse on them.

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Author of the Year, 2007.
Winner of the British Book Awards Newcomer of the Year, 2006.
Strawberry pickers in the English countryside, mostly from Eastern Europe, are leading dangerous lives, coping with exploitative employers, British regulations, and gang masters with guns, all threatening their existence as they take to the caravan road - until each of them peels off to find his or her destiny.

It's not easy being the mother of a 12-year-old boy who's in love with his babysitter and having trouble at school. Nor are matters helped by the unexpected arrival of an elderly mother who's suddenly footloose and fancy-free. There are times when Susie Vine wonders how she'll ever survive. At least she feels secure at Arland & Shaw, London's leading theatrical agency.

At a remote railway station in Norfolk, Kitty Fulton runs the ticket office and her pet project is the lost and found. Nothing gives her more pleasure than to reunite possessions with their rightful owners. It is an experience that remains elusive in her own world as her mother’s Alzheimer’s pulls them further and further apart and, on top of this, she must endure the disintegration of a close relationship with a childhood friend.

Mother Goose has three very active little goslings. If they're not splashing in puddles, they're probably chasing each other along the riverbank or having swimming races! So when Mother Goose tells them some of her favourite traditional nursery rhymes, they love to join in with the actions. Now you and your family can join in too.

Greece 1936. A young British diplomat and his wife have been posted to Athens. Hugh loves the life there but his spirited and unconventional wife, Heavenly, finds it hard to fit into the whirl of endless parties and socialising. When Hugh is sent to Crete to sort out a problem, they stay in a rundown house owned by his family. Heavenly falls in love with the place and the people, and stays on when Hugh returns to his duties.

Focussing on three of the best-known Republican presidents of the 20th century, Jonathan Myerson’s riveting drama series looks at how their triumphs and disasters drove the party's electoral fortunes. Closely based on accounts by those who were there, this political trilogy reimagines the pivotal moments that changed history, and the part played by these famous and controversial leaders.

Bedtime is never an easy time of day for a parent – especially when you have three playful little goslings to look after! Luckily Mother Goose soon discovered that her family loved listening to nursery rhymes, and now their favourite bedtime rhymes are collected together for you to enjoy too...