Showing results by narrator "Sophie Ward" in All Categories

In ancient Rome, all the best stories have one thing in common - murder. In one 50-year period, 26 emperors were murdered. But what did killing mean in a city where gladiators fought to the death to sate a crowd? In A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Emma Southon examines a trove of real-life homicides from Roman history to explore Roman culture, including how perpetrator, victim, and the act itself were regarded by ordinary people. Inside ancient Rome’s darkly fascinating history, we see how the Romans viewed life and death and what it means to be human.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Swimming Home by Deborah Levy, read by Sophie Ward. A poet, his wife, her daughter and their friends arrive at the French Riviera. The prospect of a long hot summer stretches ahead of them. At their villa, they find a body in the swimming pool. But this body is very much alive. It is Kitty Finch: self-proclaimed botanist with lurid green fingernails, avid poetry fan, walking naked out of the water and straight into the centre of their holiday. Why is she there? What does she want from them?

This is the story of Kitty Fane, the adulterous wife of a bacteriologist stationed in Hong Kong. When her husband discovers her deception, he exacts a terrible vengeance: Kitty must accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic in China.

Cordelia Russell has been living on the Côte d'Azur for 10 years, posing as an English heiress. Now her money is gone, and her luck is running out. Desperate to escape her grotty flat and grim reality, Cordelia spends a decadent night at the Negresco. But surrounded by the young, beautiful and privileged, she feels her age and her poverty.

In Doctor Who and the Zarbi, the First Doctor and his companions are trapped on the remote planet Vortis. In Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon, the Third Doctor and Jo are mistaken for delegates of the Galactic Federation on a primitive world. In Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius, the Fourth Doctor and Sarah find the living remains of a renegade Time Lord. In Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive, the Fourth Doctor and Romana find corruption lurking beneath the surface of the pleasure planet Argolis. In Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, the Seventh Doctor and Ace fight for their lives on Segonax.

Glamorous international art-dealer Elizabeth Teerlinc knows a thing or two about fakes. After all, she is one herself. Her real identity, Judith Rashleigh, is buried under a layer of lies. Not to mention the corpses of the men foolish enough to get in her way. But now, caught in the murderous crossfire between a Russian Mafia boss and a corrupt Italian police detective, Judith is forced to create an even more daring work of art - a fake masterpiece she must take to the world-famous auction house where she used to be a lowly assistant and sell for $150 million.

The year is 1831. Down the murky alleyways of London, acts of unspeakable wickedness are taking place, and no one is willing to speak out on behalf of the city's vulnerable poor as they disappear from the streets. Out of these shadows comes Hester White, a bright young woman who is desperate to escape the slums by any means possible. When Hester is thrust into the world of the aristocratic Brock family, she leaps at the chance to improve her station in life under the tutelage of the fiercely intelligent and mysterious Rebekah Brock.

In Ancient Rome all the best stories have one thing in common: murder. Romulus killed Remus to found the city, Caesar was assassinated to save the Republic. Caligula was butchered in the theatre, Claudius was poisoned at dinner and Galba was beheaded in the forum. In one 50-year period, 26 emperors were murdered. But what did killing mean in a city where gladiators fought to the death to sate a crowd? Emma Southon examines real-life homicides from Roman history to explore how perpetrator, victim and the act itself were regarded by ordinary people.

Rachel and Eliza are hoping to have a baby. The couple spend many happy evenings together planning for the future. One night Rachel wakes up screaming and tells Eliza that an ant has crawled into her eye and is stuck there. She knows it sounds mad - but she also knows it's true. As a scientist, Eliza won't take Rachel's fear seriously, and they have a bitter fight. Suddenly their entire relationship is called into question.

The year is 1967. Thirteen-year-old Maisie is at her decaying family home, once a medieval abbey. Lucas, an artist and friend, is painting a portrait of Maisie and her sisters. Maisie embarks on a portrait of her own: telling the story of herself, her sisters and their lovers, and of her friend, Daniel Nunn. Twenty-three years later, Lucas's now-famous portrait features in a retrospective of his work. Daniel, obsessed by the sisters and determined to understand what happened that summer at the abbey, pursues answers.

Effie Gray, a Scottish beauty, was the heroine of a great Victorian love story. Married at nineteen to John Ruskin, she found herself trapped in a loveless and unconsummated union. When her husband invited his protégé John Everett Millais away on holiday, Effie and Millais fell in love. She would inspire some of Millais' most haunting images and embody Victorian society's fears about female sexuality.

A gently entertaining and charming fairy story that also deals cleverly with a young child's real problems and emotions. Connie is not a child who likes books. So she's not too pleased when she's sent to stay with her eccentric author aunt. But then Connie meets Ruby - a book fairy - in the dusty old library. Ruby is in trouble: she has broken fairy law by trying to take something - a piece of jewellery - back to fairyland through the gateway of a fairy-dust-sprinkled book.

When an undercover assignment for the Bow Street magistrate sees prostitute Lizzie Hardwicke trade Ma Farley’s Bawdy House in Soho for life as a seamstress the theatre on Drury Lane, it becomes clear quite quickly - what goes on in the wings is much more intriguing than the theatrics being played out onstage.... Soon Lizzie is once again thrown together with the handsome Inspector Will Davenport when a high profile investor is brutally hanged at centre stage and Lizzie discovers the body.

Our third release from Gwyneth Rees' 'Fairy' series. Lucy can't believe her eyes when she wakes in the night to find two tooth fairies on her pillow! Their job is to collect children's teeth and make a potion that creates golden Goodness to sprinkle around the world. But there is a selfish sprite in fairyland who wants all the Goodness for herself! With the help of the Tooth Fairy Queen, can Lucy and her two new friends stop the sprite before all the gold has gone?

A dramatic, sparkling tale of sex, glamour, intrigue, romance and heartbreak, England's Mistress traces the rise and rise of the gorgeous Emma Hamilton. Born into poverty, she clawed her way up through London’s underworlds of sex for sale to become England’s first media superstar. Nothing could stand in the way of her dreams– except her self-destructive desires.

Scandal, intoxication and lies flourish in the silent film studios of Paris. A silent film, destroyed in a fire in 1914 at the Pathé studio, before it was seen even by its director. A lowly seamstress who makes the costumes she should be wearing but believes her talent - and the secret she keeps, too - will soon get her a dressing room of her own. A famous - and dashing - creator of spectacular cinematic illusions, husband to a beautiful, volatile actress, the most adored icon of the Parisian studios.

Sarah is a narcoleptic who has dreams so vivid she mistakes them for real events; Robert has had his life changed for ever by the misunderstandings arising from her condition; Terry, the insomniac, spends his wakeful nights fuelling his obsession with movies; and the increasingly unstable Dr Gregory Dudden sees sleep as a life-shortening disease which must be eradicated. A group of students sharing a house. They fall in and out of love, they drift apart. Yet a decade later they are drawn back together by a series of coincidences involving their obsession with sleep - and each other....

In A Clergyman’s Daughter, George Orwell, author of the dystopian classics Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, turns his attention to 1930s England and the life of the much put-upon daughter of a country rector. Dorothy Hare lives in genteel poverty, sacrificing herself to the whims of her spendthrift father and the demands of her community and church. She is sustained only by her strong, Christian faith as she spends her days dodging debt collectors, ministering to the poor and avoiding the attentions of the local lothario, Mr Warburton.

Evie gets a wonderful surprise when she goes to stay at her grandma's house. Fairies appear in the night. They are dream fairies, and they live at the bottom of Evie's bed. Even better, Evie can go and have magical adventures with them in fairyland! Soon Evie discovers that Grandma can see the fairies, too. But will they still be there when Grandma returns from hospital? And how can Evie make sure that their special brand of fairy magic will stay with Grandma forever?

Isobel lives an isolated life in North London, working at a nearby library. She feels safe if she keeps to her routines and doesn't let her thoughts stray too far into the past. But a newspaper photograph of a missing local schoolgirl and a letter from her old teacher are all it takes for her ordinary, careful armour to become overwhelmed and the trauma of what happened when she was a pupil at The Schoolhouse to return.