Showing results by publisher "HarperCollins" in All Categories

John le Carré led a life entirely constructed of secrets—not just in his first career, as a British spy and agent runner during the height of the Cold War or in his second, as a world-renowned writer of espionage fiction, but also in his personal involvements. He guarded his private life with fierce determination, fending off all would-be biographers until his ninth decade, when he finally relented and permitted his life story to be written. But there was still one element that he insisted be excluded, even then: the women.

Bruno Wildermann of the Wrinfield Circus is the world’s greatest trapeze artist, a clairvoyant with near-supernatural powers and an implacable enemy of the East European regime that arrested his family and murdered his wife. The CIA needs such a man and recruits Bruno for an impossible raid—on the impregnable Lubylan fortress, where his family his held. Under cover of a circus tour, Bruno prepares to return to his homeland. But before the journey even begins a murderer strikes twice. Somewhere in the circus there is a communist agent with orders to stop Bruno at any cost.

Kenny Bond is finally out of prison after doing a long stretch for killing a copper and is determined to get back to life on the straight and narrow. Kenny’s son Donny might lack his father’s edge but his twin grandsons, Beau and Brett - well, they are Bonds through and through. Like him, they won’t let anyone stand in their way.

Private McAuslan was ‘the biggest walking disaster to hit the army’. Loosely based on his own experiences in a Scottish regiment, and written with rare humour, a sense of the ludicrous and real affection for soldiering, the second volume of George MacDonald Fraser’s McAuslan trilogy now finally comes to life on audio. Private McAuslan, J.—the Dirtiest Soldier in the World (alias the Tartan Caliban)—will be joyfully familiar to listeners of The General Danced at Dawn, the first volume of George MacDonald Fraser’s stories of life in a Scottish regiment. 

Held by believers to contain the site where Abraham offered up Isaac, the place of the crucifixion of Christ and the rock from which the prophet Muhammed ascended to heaven, Jerusalem has been celebrated and revered for centuries by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Such is the symbolic power of this ancient city that its future status poses a major obstacle to a comprehensive regional peace in the Middle East.

The sky is filled with dragons: the people are ready to burn the regime to the ground. The seas churn with monsters, and the tide is changing: revolution is coming. Steiner has at last realised the part he will play in this fight. Kimi knows now what it is to lead, but must learn to overcome differences if she is to unite and defeat the dragon factions. Silverdust inches towards a final revenge. Across the ocean, Kjellrun feels the call of war. But she must reconcile her new responsibilities to the people of the temple with the urge to find her family.

Liverpool, May 1941. An extraordinary story of three brave women, each trying in her own way to deal with the brutal tide of destruction brought on by the air raids of the Second World War. There is Ellen—whose home is destroyed by bombs; Gwen, whose family absorbs all her time and energy and Emmie, whose only fears are for the safety of her merchant seaman fiancé, far away in the South Atlantic. None of them were prepared for what would follow, when the air raid siren sounded for the first time on 1 May, 1941.

Greta Gale has played the part of the funny fat one her entire life, hiding her insecurities behind a big smile. But size doesn’t matter when you can laugh at yourself, right? Until Greta realises she’s the only one not laughing. And deep down, she’s not sure if she’ll ever laugh again. But with her world feeling like it’s falling down around her, Greta is about to discover she’s stronger than she feels. And that sometimes the best moments in life come when it’s all gone a bit pear-shaped.... 

1828 and the citizens of Paris still mourn in the wake of their failed revolution. Among them, in the dark alleys and crumbling cathedrals of the city, the most wretched have gathered into guilds of thieves, assassins - and worse. Together they are known as the Court of Miracles. Eponine has lost more than most. When her father, Thénardier, sells her sister to the Guild of Flesh, she makes a promise to do anything she can to get her sister back, even if that means joining the Court of Miracles, the very people keeping her sister a slave.

In seven days, Maggie’s son, Max, turns three. But she’s not planning a party or buying presents or updating his baby book. She’s dreading it. Because in her world, third birthdays are the days on which the unthinkable happens...she loses her child. For the last 12 years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Abducted aged 15, she gave birth to two sons before Max, and on their third birthdays her captor came and took them from her. She cannot let it happen again. But she has no idea how to stop it. And the clock is ticking....

A-list actress Shauna Jackson has the perfect life. Fame, fortune, marriage. Or so it seems. Running from a scandal, Shauna must return to the place that changed her life 20 years ago, the idyllic Greek island of Ithos. Captivated once more by her island escape, bittersweet memories resurface of one summer, one unforgettable man, and a long-hidden secret. Can Shauna take the chance to confront her past?

On December 30th, 1999, in rural Oklahoma, 16-year-old Ashley Freeman and her best friend, Lauria Bible, were having a sleepover. The next morning, the Freeman family trailer was in flames and both girls were missing. While rumours of drug debts, revenge killings and police corruption abounded in the years that followed, the case remained unsolved and the girls were never found. In 2016, crime writer Jax Miller travelled to Oklahoma to discover what really happened. 

A love letter to the small but mighty dachshund or, as it’s more affectionally known, the Sausage Dog. This audiobook - almost as adorable as its namesake - proves that sausage dogs are not just sweet, soft and a little bit silly to look at. They can be an example to us all. Despite having the odds stacked against it, this little pooch can turn any situation to its advantage. It’s the underdog that always comes out on top, displaying remarkable resilience, tenacity and bravery at every turn. 

In the depths of a cavernous of concert hall, a gifted psychopath plots and waits, his thoughts on nothing but music and murder. He kills for pleasure, constantly searching, and with a brand-new target in his sights, his mind spirals once again into torture and violence. But this time, he has chosen the wrong victim: the teenage daughter of one of the most feared and respected SAS soldiers known - a man with more training and advanced killer instinct than even himself.

Eight-year-old Leila Smith has seen and heard things that no child should ever have to. On the Hawthorn Estate, where she lives, she often stays out in the playground long after the other children have left, just so she can avoid her own home for longer. But what Leila doesn't know is that someone has been watching her. One day, she disappears without a trace. The police search start a nationwide search, but it's as if Leila has vanished into thin air. Who kidnapped her? What do they want? Will she return home safe and sound, or is she lost forever?

She thought she was free of the past. She was wrong. Six years ago Isla was the only victim to walk free from Carl Jeffery's vicious murder spree. Now, Isla vows to live her life to the fullest, and from the outside it appears perfect. Determined to finish her book, Isla plans her final trip to Sweden, but after returning from Canada and meeting a man she never thought she would, her life begins to derail. Suddenly Isla is plagued by memories of the man who tried to murder her....

We live in an age where scams are the new normal. Unsettling stories of today’s viral grifters have risen to fame and hit the front-page headlines, yet the curious conundrum remains: why do these scams happen? Drawing from scientific research, marketing campaigns and exclusive documents and interviews, Vice reporter Gabrielle Bluestone delves into the irresistible hype that fuels our social media ecosystem.

With over 30 years of experience as a nurse, Anthea thought she had seen it all. But with Covid came the greatest trial, personally and professionally, of her life. Thrust into hourly challenges–many a matter of life and death–while on the Critical Care units of St George’s in south London, Anthea processed her shocking experiences through writing. It started with an email to request biscuits. But her appeal to help boost the morale of her fellow nurses soon turned into a series of astonishingly moving stories detailing the realities of being a front line worker.

Hannah Swan is looking forward to Christmas for the first time in years. Her new job as an eco-consultant is taking her - and her geeky colleague, Noah - to the beautiful Cornish village of Porthgolow for the first time. They’re are helping the Crystal Waters Hotel to ramp up its green credentials, though after a bumpy journey, Hannah can’t shake off the feeling that Porthgolow is strangely familiar. Never able to resist a mystery, her interest is piqued when the hotel’s staff and customers report odd noises and sightings, believing the hotel to be haunted.

For lovers of the supernatural and the macabre comes this collection of ghostly and chilling tales from Agatha Christie. Acknowledged the world over as the undisputed Queen of Crime, in fact she dabbled in her early writing career with mysteries of a more unearthly kind - stories featuring fantastic psychic visions, spectres looming in the shadows, encounters with deities, eerie messages from the Other Side, even a man who switches bodies with a cat....