Showing results by narrator "Gareth Armstrong" in All Categories

Sydney Kentridge carved out a reputation as South Africa's most prominent anti-apartheid advocate—his story is entwined with the country's emergence from racial injustice and oppression. He is the only lawyer to have acted for three winners of the Nobel Peace Prize—Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Chief Albert Lutuli. Already world-famous for his landmark cases, he then became England's premier advocate.

The perfect gift book, featuring the writing of Meryl Streep, Bill Bailey, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Caitlin Moran, Richard Ayoade, Emily Watson and others, to coincide with the upcoming movie Last Christmas, starring Emma Thompson, Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding. When you think back to Christmases past, what (if anything) made it magical? This is a beautiful, funny and soulful collection of personal essays about the meaning of Christmas, written by a unique plethora of voices from the boulevards of Hollywood to the soup kitchens of Covent Garden. 

For a select few amongst the First Legion, the Northwilds of Caliban hold a particularly dark secret. At the command of Luther himself, young Librarian Zahariel accompanies the Lord Cypher on one of his mysterious forays into the unknown depths. But an ancient evil is stirring once more and, with rumours of galactic civil war creeping back to their home world, it may have already sunk its claws into the Dark Angels Legion....

In the depths of Calth's arcology network, the Underworld War has raged for years. Aeonid Thiel, previously an honoured sergeant of the Ultramarines, once again finds himself in trouble. Pitted against the daemonic forces of the Word Bearers, he has no choice but to venture back to the ravaged surface and brave the deadly solar flares that have scoured all life from this world.

A hugely entertaining career autobiography from a true legend of Welsh rugby and a genuine cult figure. In rugby there are the Flash Harrys and the Glory Boys: the fly-halves who run, kick and dazzle; the scrum-halves who nip and dart; the wingers who step and glide. These are the players who get the crowd on their feet, who set stadiums abuzz. But they only get to do these things because other, less glorified figures do all of the donkey work. Adam Jones is one such figure.

London, 1909: the British Empire seems invulnerable. But Captain Vernon Kell, head of counterintelligence at the War Office, knows better. In Russia, revolution; in Germany, an arms race; in London, the streets are alive with foreign terrorists. Kell wants to set up a Secret Service, but to convince his political masters, he needs proof of a threat - and to find that, he needs an agent he can trust. Kell needs Wiggins.

In this new translation of Simenon's twisted tale, a forgotten crime comes to light in the Parisian summer. The sunshine almost as thick as syrup in the quiet streets of the Left Bank...there are days like this, when ordinary life seems heightened, when the people walking down the street, the trams and cars all seem to exist in a fairy tale. A story told by a condemned man leads Maigret to a bar by the Seine.

It is Spring 1871 when Lizzie Ross accompanies her formidable Aunt Parry on a restorative trip to the south coast. Lizzie's husband, Ben, is kept busy at Scotland Yard and urges his wife to stay out of harm's way. But when Lizzie and her aunt are invited to dine with other guests at the home of wealthy landowner Sir Henry Meager, and he is found shot dead in his bed the next morning, no one feels safe.

Travelling across the daemon world of Eidolon in search of the stolen Blade Encarmine, Blood Angels Captain Leonatos and his battle-brothers encounter survivors from the 409th Kadmeian Janissaries regiment of the Imperial Guard.

When a self-made man appeals to Maigret for protection at his lavish home, a years-old grudge from the past resurfaces and the inspector finds himself questioning his own motives. Conflict rather than harmony probably reigned in eight out of 10 of the still magnificent houses that surrounded the park. But he had rarely had the opportunity to breath such a strained atmosphere as the one between these walls. 

The Dark Angels and the Night Lords fought one another to a bloody stalemate during the Thramas Crusade, leaving the First Legion scattered and under-strength. Back on Caliban, those Dark Angels loyal to Luther begin to grow impatient for a return to past glories, allowing the corruption at the world's heart to spread.

The sixth Inspector Ben Ross mystery. On a cold November night in a Deptford yard, dock worker Harry Parker stumbles upon the body of a dead woman. Inspector Ben Ross is summoned from Scotland Yard to this insalubrious part of town, but no witness to the murder of this well-dressed middle-aged woman can be found. Even Jeb Fisher, the local rag-and-bone man, swears he's seen nothing.

Exiled from Paris, Maigret discovers some disturbing secrets in a sleepy coastal town in this new translation. A short, sprightly man appeared in the doorway, looked left and right, and went back into the passage. A moment later, the improbable happened. The little man reappeared, bent over, clinging to a long mass that he now started dragging through the mud. It must have been heavy. After four metres, he stopped to catch his breath. The front door of the house had been left open.

Madame Maigret takes the lead in a disturbing investigation in this new translation, book 34 of the Maigret series. Inspector Maigret's wife turns sleuth after a strange encounter in a Paris square leads her on the trail of a woman in a white hat and towards a grisly tale of deception and greed.

A period thriller with powerful political and espionage themes, Agent Twister is the remarkable story behind one of the greatest scandals of the 1970s, told in full for the first time. If you think you know the true story of John Stonehouse—think again. It’s November 1974 and John Stonehouse MP, once a star in Harold Wilson’s Labour government, is missing in Miami, presumed drowned. His disappearance exposes the most lurid details of his life, including identity fraud, corporate corruption, a love triangle, blackmail, links with the Mafia and a career as a Soviet spy. 

What was it about him that had struck Maigret so forcefully? Little John had cold eyes! Four or five times in his life, he had met people with cold eyes, those eyes that can stare at you without establishing any human contact. Persuaded to sail to New York by a fearful young law student, Maigret finds himself drawn into the city's underworld and a wealthy businessman's closely guarded past.

When a public tragedy threatens to expose a scandal within the Paris government, the Minister of Public Works calls in a favour to Maigret. A public project has collapsed and resulted in the death of 128 children after a report warning officials about the unsafe structure was disregarded. Now, that report has resurfaced, along with allegations that several politicians and contractors involved with the project may have suppressed its findings to avoid a scandal.

When a salesman from a Paris department store confides his secret fears to Maigret, the Inspector soon becomes caught up in a treacherous feud between husband and wife that is not as clear cut as it seems.

When Maigret's .45 revolver is stolen from his home, he becomes embroiled in a murder in which the gun may have played a deadly role. Maigret is the victim of a burglary in which the .45 revolver he had received as a gift from the FBI is stolen. That evening Maigret attends a dinner where François Lagrange, an acquaintance of Maigret's friend, is expected but fails to appear due to ill health. Following his instincts, Maigret decides to investigate Lagrange's absence and uncovers a body stowed in a trunk....

Pressured into a political career by his traditional, establishmentarian family, Nick Dormer longs to be a painter. Eventually, encouraged by the carefree aesthete Gabriel Nash, reminiscent of Oscar Wilde, he resigns from Parliament and follows his artistic dream. His journey is counterpointed with that of budding young actress Miriam Rooth, the subject of Nick's most successful paintings, and the "tragic muse" of the title, who too sacrifices an affluent life (marriage with Nick's cousin Peter) for her art.