Showing results by narrator "Mark Meadows" in All Categories

What makes a home? What makes a refugee? As allegedly record-breaking numbers of migrants attempt to reach Britain and public conversation becomes, often, poisonous, Island Refuge is a powerful account of what has come before and what has been learned by it. Almost every time, we see when we look back, Britain has not been an island refuge from the world, but an island refuge for the world. Not a country burdened by refugees, but instead transformed and strengthened by them.

After a dramatic accident Kit and his parents find themselves washed up on a small island. But there is no sanctuary here. The local community is hostile and menacing. Soon Kit's life is in danger and he is forced to face not just the inhabitants but a disturbing new arrival whose presence on the island terrifies the community. In his struggle to stay alive and make sense of what is happening Kit is forced to confront good and evil in unexpected forms, even within himself, and face trials and dangers beyond anything he could have imagined.

After the sudden loss of his wife, Michael Turner moves to London and develops a close friendship with the Nelson family next door. Josh, Samantha and their two young daughters seem to represent everything Michael fears he may now never have. Despite this, the new friendship at first seems to offer the prospect of healing, but then a catastrophic event changes everything. Michael is left bearing the burden of a secret he must keep, but the truth can be kept at bay for only so long.

Meet The Bear - a cat who carries the weight of the world on his furry shoulders, and whose wise, owl-like eyes seem to ask, Can you tell me why I am a cat, please? Like many intellectuals, The Bear would prefer a life of quiet solitude with plenty of time to gaze forlornly into space and contemplate society's ills. Unfortunately he is destined to spend his days surrounded by felines of a significantly lower IQ....

Michael has never seen a whale - at least, not a real one. Everyone knows they disappeared from the waters around the little island of Liberty years ago. But then a mysterious stranger comes to Liberty and offers Michael what he's always dreamed of: his very own boat. All he has to do in return is help the stranger find the whales - and promise to never tell a soul. Michael is about to learn that sometimes dreams come at a price....

Aged seventeen, Lee is inside for a crime he has committed. And he soon finds out that prison is not the holiday camp he’s heard about. Warned to ‘play by the rules’, he has to decide whose rules - the screws’ or the other cons’. Life in a Young Offenders Institution is about survival. But the real struggle is inside Lee himself. Is he destined to be a ‘career con’ or can he choose to change his life? A powerful, compelling story for older children about one boy’s experience of prison, from acclaimed author J.A. Jarman.

Nick Kane is a man with nothing to lose, and everything to prove. A model soldier fighting for queen and country, it seemed nothing could stop him becoming one of the very top officers. But that was then. And this is now. Injured in a bomb blast on reconnaissance in Iraq he’s forced out of the army and into the quiet life. But after a year in civvies rebuilding his life and his relationship with his family, things for Nick are looking up. That is until he finds out that his old army buddy Ben Webster is dead.

Michael and Francis are best friends, drawn together by their common secret - Evgard. Evgard is a fantasy world that Michael and Francis have created together, a world both fierce and dangerous. It is also a world that has become weirdly entwined in both their lives; actions in one world are uncannily mirrored by actions in the other.

The last text Daisy Parsloe received was from her smart fridge about some mouldy potato salad. She's not doing well at work, her love life is haphazard and her elderly mother seems to be losing her mind. And now, apparently even the appliances are judging her life choices. What Daisy doesn't know is that the appliances are also plotting. They've joined together, across the internet of things, to nudge Daisy in the right direction. But it isn't long before their well-meaning interference starts to get noticed and the race is on to find Daisy's Mr Right before the plugs are pulled.

The King of Naples and the Duke of Milan are shipwrecked on a strange, enchanted island. Little do they know that the lord of the island is Prospero, the old duke of Milan who they betrayed many years ago—and he has been plotting his revenge ever since...

In Athens, crowds flock to witness the most shocking trial of the ancient world. The royal family is mired in scandal. Phaedra, young bride of King Theseus, has accused her stepson, Hippolytus of rape. He's a prince, a talented horseman, a promising noble with his whole life ahead of him. She's a young and neglected wife, the youngest in a long line of Cretan women with less than savoury reputations. The men of Athens must determine the truth. Who is guilty, and who is innocent? But the women know truth is a slippery thing. After all, this is the age of heroes and the age of monsters.

Several years ago, Julia Jones was searching through long-forgotten items stored at her house and discovered some suitcases of old written material, which turned out to be accounts by her father of his experiences in the RNVSR (Royal Naval Volunteer Supplementary Reserve). She realised that as a child she’d met some of the people mentioned, and although she was too young to truly know them, these youthful impressions spurred her on to rediscovery and understanding. In this absorbing book, Julia tells the compelling stories of the yachtsmen.

Galileo, Einstein, Curie, Darwin, Hawking - we know the names, but how much do we really know about these people? Galileo gained notoriety over his battle with the Vatican, but did you know that this father of modern science was also an accomplished lute player? And Darwin of course discovered the principle by which new species are formed, but his bold curiosity extended to the dinner table as well. Eureka! explains how these scientific geniuses have shaped our understanding - and how they spent their free time as well.

After an unspecified near-future disaster, one English town survives under the protection of the surviving computer algorithms of the Process, which governs every aspect of their lives. But now the Process is making soldiers. It is readying for war.

1943, the North African desert. Major Tim Sheldon, exhausted and battle weary, is tasked with carrying out a futile and unexpected patrol mission. Fred Majdalany's intimate, tense novel puts this so-called minor action centre stage, as over the course of the day and through the night of the patrol itself, Sheldon reminisces about his time as a soldier, his own future and what it means to confront fear.

After a hectic morning involving two rather irritating cases of mistaken identity, Inspector Montalbano finally arrives in his office ready find out what's troubling Vigàta this week. What he discovers is unnerving. A woman on her way home from work has been held up at gunpoint, chloroformed and kidnapped, but then released just hours later - unharmed and with all her possessions - into the open countryside. Later that day, Montalbano hears from Enzo, the owner of his favourite restaurant, that his niece has recently been the victim of the exact same crime.

It starts when Desiré Rosenkvist of Stockholm Police receives a letter. Two things are immediately clear: the letter she holds in her hands was written in a state of utter desperation and paranoia. And it contains details of one of her old murder cases which only the murderer could know. Desiré contacts private investigator Sam Berger, who sets off to the remote north of Sweden with his colleague Molly Blom to find the author of the letter and to stop them in their tracks. But someone wants to keep them from getting to the bottom of the mystery at any cost and is watching their every move.

Elisabetta, a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist, Marco, the brash and athletic son of professional cyclists, and Sandro, a kind-hearted and thoughtful Jewish mathematics prodigy, grow up best of friends. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta's heart. But in the autumn of 1937, everything changes as Mussolini asserts his power, aligning Italy's Fascists with Hitler's Nazis. Soon, everything that they hold dear is tested in ways they never could have imagined.

Jamie is under pressure from his father to succeed. In the competitive world of squash, his dad is determined that where he failed, Jamie should succeed. The emotional and physical bullying that Jamie has to endure makes him recoil into himself until he feels backed into a corner and doesn't know where to turn. Then he discovers the girl hiding in his shed and sees an opportunity, not only to help her, but to get away from his own life, too. Together they go on the run - but danger is coming after the girl and it's surely only a matter of time before they're both discovered.

Bibi feels out of place everywhere - except for Tyme’s End, the deserted house that she breaks into when she thinks nobody is around. There she unexpectedly meets Oliver Gardner, the owner of the house, who has just returned after ten years away. Their stories and the story of Oliver’s grandfather becomes entwined - for Tyme’s End is more than just a deserted house. It is a house that can be romantic, beguiling, sinister and malevolent. A house that had a cruel and manipulative owner.