Showing results by narrator "Ben Onwukwe" in All Categories

The British government has embarked on an ambitious and legally-binding climate change target: reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions to Net Zero by 2050. The Net Zero policy was subject to almost no parliamentary or public scrutiny, and is universally approved by our political class. But what will its consequences be?

The Banks family are searching for a nanny. Macaw the parrot helps out at the fish and chip shop and a stonecutter dreams of becoming an emperor.

During a violent snowstorm, the Royal Family gather at Balmoral Castle for a traditional Christmas. As per King Eric's wishes, almost all of the servants have been dismissed. The large castle is inhabited by only eight people—King Eric, his wife Princess Marjorie, his brother Prince David, his two daughters Princesses Emeline and Maud, Maud's husband Thomas Crockley, Maud's sons Princes Matthew and Martin, the royal chef Jonathan Alleyne, and head of security Tony Speck.

Mary Poppins takes Jane and Michael on a topsy-turvy day. A boy watches over a beautiful swan. These classic stories are wonderful to share and enjoy with your child at any time of the year.

Was it suicide… or murder? When teenager Nick Buckingham tumbles from the fifth floor of an apartment block, Detective Sergeant Solomon Gray answers the call with a sick feeling in his stomach. The victim was just a kid, sixteen years old. And the exact age the detective's son, Tom, would've been, had he not gone missing at a funfair ten years ago. Each case involving children haunts Gray with the reminder that his son may still be out there - or worse, dead.

A prophecy condemns him, a goddess binds him, but what will set Odysseus free? A thrilling tale of a legendary Greek adventure, perfect for fans of Madeline Miller and David Gemmell. Young Prince Odysseus is about to have his world torn apart. He has traveled to the oracle at Pytho to be anointed as heir to his island kingdom, but instead a terrible secret is revealed, one that tears down every pillar of his life and marks him out for death.

Gathering a wide range of traditional African myths, this compelling new collection offers tales of heroes battling mighty serpents and monstrous birds, brutal family conflict and vengeance and desperate migrations across vast and alien lands. From impassioned descriptions of animal-creators to dramatic stories of communities forced to flee monstrous crocodiles, all the narratives found here concern origins - whether of the universe, peoples or families.

Eighty years ago, Britain stood at the brink of defeat. In 1942, a string of military disasters engulfed Britain in rapid succession: the collapse in Malaya, the biggest surrender in British history at Singapore, the passing of three large German warships through the Straits of Dover in broad daylight, the longest ever retreat through Burma to the gates of India, serious losses to Rommel's forces in North Africa, the siege of Malta and the surrender at Tobruk. All of this occurred against the backdrop of catastrophic sinkings in the Atlantic and the Arctic convoys.

Mary Poppins takes Jane and Michael on a gravity-defying tea party on the ceiling. Meet the boy who rescues a beached dolphin. Can the barber keep the secret of the Rajah’s big ears?

Samuel has lived alone for a long time; one morning he finds the sea has brought someone to offer companionship and to threaten his solitude. An intense and powerful novel about guilt and fear, friendship and rejection; about the meaning of home.

In part one, 'First Contact', we discover what happened to art in the great Age of Discovery, when civilisations encountered each other for the first time. Although undoubtedly a period of conquest and destruction, it was also one of mutual curiosity, global trade and the exchange of ideas. In part two, 'The Cult of Progress', we see how the Industrial Revolution transformed the world, impacting every corner and every civilisation, from the cotton mills of the Midlands through Napoleon's conquest of Egypt to the decimation of both Native American and Maori populations and the advent of photography in Paris in 1839. 

On the banks of the river Thames a new building is being completed. A stunning creation of glass and concrete that will be a new landmark on London's skyline. The only problem is that people are dying because of it. Dozens of mysterious accidents have claimed lives during the construction of the Crystal Tower. The owner, an enigmatic Russian businessman, has links to the site reaching back to the 1930s.

The extant letters of Pliny, written between AD 97 and 112, give us a unique insight into Imperial Rome under the early Antonine emperors. Organised into 10 books, the letters reflect a wide range of topics, mirroring Pliny’s own public and private interests. Among many other subjects, the letters also include an eye-witness account of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, with the final book containing the exchange of letters between the writer (whose career culminated as Governor of Bithynia) and the emperor Trajan. 

Abdul is just seven years old when his parents are killed before his eyes. As a brutal war sweeps Sudan, Abdul and his three-year-old brother are forced to flee. Their gruelling journey across the Sahara to a refugee camp in Chad is fraught with danger, and every day is a struggle against hunger and disease. Until one day Abdul is offered a chance to escape. A chance that could save him, but will force him to make the most heartbreaking decision of his life. Abdul's death-defying flight leaves deep scars. 

From atop the choppy waves to the choking darkness of the abyss, the seas are full of mystery and rife with tales of inexplicable events and encounters with the unknown. In this anthology we see a thrilling spread of narratives: sailors are pitched against a nightmare from the depths, invisible to the naked eye, a German U-boat commander is tormented by an impossible transmission via Morse Code, a ship ensnares itself in the kelp of the Sargasso Sea and dooms a crew of mutineers, seemingly out of revenge for her lost captain.

Norwell Roberts, the Met's first Black police officer in 1967, found out he had a new job the same way the rest of the country did—from a Daily Telegraph headline that read 'Met to Have First Coloured Policeman'. From that day forward his face became a symbol—of acceptance, of a diverse police force, of a changing Britain. He was turned into the poster boy for progressive policing—but his day-to-day reality was anything but. Greeted with prejudice, ridicule and rejection, he refused to quit. 

The Brutish Museums sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. Since its first publication, museums across the western world have begun to return their Bronzes to Nigeria, heralding a new era in the way we understand the collections of empire we once took for granted.

Joe King Oliver was one of the NYPD's finest investigators until, dispatched to arrest a well-heeled car thief, he is framed for assault, a charge that lands him in the notorious Rikers Island prison. A decade later, King is a private detective, running his agency with the help of his teenage daughter, Aja-Denise. When he receives a card in the mail from the woman who admits she was paid by someone in the NYPD to frame him all those years ago, King realises that he has no choice but to take his own case....

From the vaults of the British Library comes a new anthology celebrating the best works of forgotten, never-since-republished supernatural fiction from the early 20th century. Waiting within are malevolent spirits eager to possess the living and mysterious spectral guardians - a diverse host of phantoms exhumed from the rare pages of literary magazines and newspaper serials to thrill once more.

Leonard is shocked when he arrives with his mother in the port of Southampton. His father is a stranger to him, it's cold and even the Jamaican food doesn't taste the same as it did back home in Maroon Town. But his parents have brought him here to try to make a better life, so Leonard does his best not to complain, to make new friends, to do well at school - even when people hurt him with their words and with their fists. How can a boy so far from home learn to enjoy his new life when so many things count against him?