Showing results by narrator "Des Powell" in All Categories

This is the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language. The Adventure of English is not only an enthralling story of power, religion, and trade, but also the story of people, and how their lives continue to change the extraordinary language that is English.

Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. She has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up, and her mother - the only parent who raised her - is dead. Searching through her mother's belongings one day, Anna finds clues about the African father she never knew. His student diaries chronicle his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. Anna discovers that he eventually became the president - some would say dictator - of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still alive.

When Jess Newman married the love of her life Ben she was sure they had what it took to stay together forever. So when Ben falls out of love with her only to promptly fall in the arms of new girlfriend, Naomi, she really doesn't know how to come to terms with their divorce.

Summer has arrived and it's over a year since strangers Abigail and Edward bought Winfield Hall at auction and restored it together. Now, two new tenants are about to join them at their beautiful Georgian home. Workaholic Harry Freeman has forgotten what it is to relax so when he meets healer, Aura Arden, and learns to meditate with her, he can't believe how good he feels and he soon finds himself falling for her. But, with her bare feet and crystal beads, Aura's not a big hit with Harry's old-fashioned parents, and he finds himself torn between the people he loves most in the world.

When the castle she works in is sacked by the army of Prince Edward of England, kitchen maid Agnes Fitzgerald manages to escape north of Inverness to throw herself at the mercy of the Lord and Lady at Ravenscraig Castle. Although safe for now, the people of Scotland are fighting hard for their independence, and the threat of the English hangs heavy over the land. But when Agnes spies Cam Buchanan swimming in the loch, her mind turns away from war and towards love. Agnes even dares to dream of a happy future, until she learns that Cam must go and fight alongside Robert de Brus.

India Steele is desperate. Her father is dead, her fiancé took her inheritance, and no one will employ her, despite years working for her watchmaker father. Indeed, the other London watchmakers seem frightened of her. Alone, poor, and at the end of her tether, India takes employment with the only person who'll accept her - an enigmatic and mysterious man from America, a man who possesses a strange watch that rejuvenates him when he's ill.

While clawing her way out of Houston's worst neighborhood, Lena vowed to never let any man have power over her. After a lifetime of broken promises from her criminal father and a mother who abandoned her, Lena believes that love makes you vulnerable. She's never been tempted to test that belief... until Yuri. Sexy as sin and with a dark reputation, Russian billionaire Yuri Novakovsky survived a miserable childhood of poverty and neglect to ascend the pinnacle of success.

J. Scott Smart stars as "The Fat Man", Brad Runyon, the stout-but-stalwart investigator who was first conceived as an arch villain in Hammett's classic novel The Maltese Falcon. Charismatic and captivating, Runyon has a way with the ladies, in spite of his 237 pounds. Nick Charles, "The Thin Man", was played on radio by William Powell, Les Damon, and Les Tremayne. Cases seem to fall in to Nick's lap...often dropped there by his wife, Nora (played by Myrna Loy and Claudia Morgan).

Learn how to run your best marathon and get the most out of your training. There’s no shortage of advice out there on how to train for a marathon and yet it can be hard to know what will work best for you. Run Your Best Marathon is here to change all that with the expertise of running coach Sam Murphy. Whether you’re looking to step up to the marathon for the first time or to better previous performances over the distance, Sam’s runner-centred approach will help you prepare for and race your chosen marathon to the best of your ability.

Successful marketing executive Kemi Adeyemi is lured from the US to Sweden by Jonny von Lundin, CEO of the nation's largest marketing firm, to help fix a PR fiasco involving a racially tone-deaf campaign. A killer at work but a failure in love, Kemi's move is a last-ditch effort to reclaim her social life.

Old English is the language you think you know until you actually hear or see it. Unlike Shakespearean English or even Chaucer's Middle English, Old English—the language of Beowulf—defies comprehension by untrained modern readers. Used throughout much of Britain more than a thousand years ago, it is rich with words that haven't changed (like word), others that are unrecognizable (such as neorxnawang, or paradise), and some that are mystifying even in translation ( gafol-fisc, or tax-fish).

Pip is an orphan, brought up by his sister and her husband, the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery. One evening, while visiting his parents' graves, he has a shocking encounter with an escaped convict who forces Pip to help him. The very next day, he is invited to go and see Miss Havisham, a rich old lady who is seeking a playmate for the beautiful Estella. These two chance events are to change Pip's life in ways he could never have imagined...

Artist Abigail Carey has always dreamed of a life in the country and, when Winfield Hall comes up at auction, she's desperate to make the place her home. The only trouble is that businessman Edward Townsend has exactly the same idea. With its position high on the Sussex Downs, Winfield is a stunning house, but it hasn't been a home for a long time and there's a lot of work to do to restore it to its former glory. It's going to take a lot of time and money, so Edward and Abi decide to take a risk and share the house, each living in their own wing.

1968, Sicily. Just months after an earthquake has destroyed the mountain town of Gibellina, Enzo and his wife Irene Borgata are making their way back to the family home, Villa Alba. When their car breaks down, Enzo leaves his young wife to go and get help, but when he returns there is no trace of Irene. 2003. TV showman and true crime aficionado Milo Conti is Italy’s darling, uncovering and solving historic crimes. When he turns his attention to the story of the missing Irene Borgata, accusing her husband of her murder, Enzo’s daughter asks her friend for help to prove her father’s innocence.

Refusing to lose her brother to the violent Hermanos street gang, Benny turns to Dimitri, the dead sexy Russian who lives in the apartment above her family's bakery. He's the only man tough enough to get through to Johnny and save him from a life in prison - or worse.

There's nothing Dimitri won't do for Benny, even if it means dealing with her troublemaking brother. He quickly realizes that it's not just Johnny and his thug friends that pose a threat to Benny.

It Worked for Me is filled with vivid experiences and lessons learned that have shaped the legendary career of the four-star general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. At its heart are Powell's "Thirteen Rules" - such as "Get mad, then get over it" and "Share credit" - that introduce his principles for effective leadership: conviction, hard work, and, above all, respect for others. A natural storyteller, Powell offers warm and engaging parables with wise advice on succeeding in the workplace and beyond.

On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding plans a trip to her mother's childhood home in Plaka, Greece hoping to unravel Sofia's hidden past. Given a letter to take to Sofia's old friend, Fotini, Alexis is promised that through Fotini, she will learn more. Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone's throw from the deserted island of Spinalonga—Greece's former leper colony. Fotini reveals the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters, and a family rent by tragedy, war, and passion.

The cultural and medical history of dementia and Alzheimer's disease by a leading psychiatrist and bioethicist who urges us to turn our focus from cure to care.

In this New York Times best seller, award-winning author Simon Schama presents an ebullient country, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty and technology - a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI's France. One of the great landmarks of modern history publishing, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution is the most authoritative social, cultural and narrative history of the French Revolution ever produced.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated outside of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. What happened inside room 306 on the evening of April 3 is the subject of Katori Hall's The Mountaintop. Hours after King's final speech, punctuated by his immortal line "I've been to the mountaintop", the celebrated reverend forms an unlikely friendship with a motel maid as they talk into the early hours of what will be his final day.