Showing results by narrator "Mark Meadows" in All Categories

Haworth, West Yorkshire, 1848. Branwell Brontë - unexhibited artist, unacknowledged writer, sacked railwayman, disgraced tutor and spurned lover -finds himself unhappily back in Haworth Parsonage, to face the crushing disappointment of his father and his three sisters, whose own pseudonymous successes - allegedly kept secret from him - are only just becoming apparent.

DI Jack Delaney is trying to make a clean break. Tormented by his troubled past, he has taken his young family out of London, swapping the mayhem of London for the tranquil calm of the North Norfolk coast. Except it's not so tranquil. After a terrible storm hits Sheringham, a body is discovered beneath a collapsed cliff. Natural disaster? No, this looks like murder, and Jack is the only local resident qualified to investigate.

Fifteen years ago when Jack Delaney was a beat cop not long out of Hendon, two children went missing from Carlton Row, a small residential street in Harrow. They were never seen alive again. Two years later Delaney rescued a young girl from the boot of an abandoned car, leading to the capture of Peter Garnier, one of the most horrific child rapists and murderers in recent history. Although the bodies were never found, Garnier admitted to murdering the two children and many, many more. Jack had thought the case was closed. But he couldn't have been more wrong.

Working as a fireman in London's East End during the early 1970s was no easy ride. In the years before workplace health-and-safety legislation had started to exert its grip, Allan Grice had to cut his fire-and-rescue teeth without the advantages of a breathing apparatus for each member of his crew. Back then, the time-tested strategy was to 'get in' - to crawl below the intense heat and 'eat' the thick smoke - in order to locate a missing child or to halt a rapidly spreading inferno.

A timely and important book that urges greater responsibility in the face of growing inequality. Inequality in Britain is growing. Does this matter? Should we be bothered that the rich give proportionately much less than the poor? And that only a small minority of the very wealthy are giving generously? Ninety per cent of NHS trusts are restricting routine operations. Youth unemployment is at record levels.

Former Special Reconnaissance Regiment Sergeant Nick Kane always stands by his friends. So when an old comrade is leaned on by gangsters, Nick's only too happy to help. But Nick quickly finds himself cast headlong into a spiral of violence that will take him all the way to Mexico, searching for justice on the mean streets of Juarez - the most violent city on Earth. His mission: Kidnap the head of the vicious La Frontera drugs cartel and get him back to the UK to face trial for murder.

Alex is in his thirties, a solitary man who has finally found love in the form of his beautiful and vivacious wife, Rachel. When Rachel is brutally murdered one Midsummer Night in the grounds of their alma mater, Worcester College, Oxford, Alex's life as he knew it vanishes. He returns to Oxford that winter and, through the shroud of his grief, begins to try to piece together the mystery surrounding his wife's death.

Chipo and his little sister Gentle live on Papa Fudu's dumpsite in Rubbish Town, searching for valuable things amongst the rubbish to try to stay alive. Life isn't easy - luckily, Chipo has spirit, courage and lots of imagination! But when he finds something precious that Papa Fudu wants for himself, he knows they are in danger. Suddenly they're on the run.

Rufus is an apprentice in his father's goldsmith workshop in Cologne, Gemany. One day he hears a boy, Nick, preach in the city Centre. Nick's message and words are mesmerizing and Rufus is spellbound. He is overcome with the desire to follow the flawed yet charismatic young Crusade leader on his journey to the Holy Land. And Rufus is not alone. Many children are captivated just as Rufus is, and leave their homes and families having fallen under Nick's spell.

A year previously, DI Delaney was responsible for the arrest of Michael Robinson, a vicious rapist. Robinson always claimed he was set up by the police but, before he could be brought to trial, he was brutally attacked in prison and left for dead. He survived, however, and a year later, out of hospital and fit for trial - he is pointing the finger squarely at Delaney for the assault that nearly killed him.

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.

Jackie Malone has been murdered. Her body lies in a pool of blood in the north London flat where she worked as a prostitute. Deep knife wounds have been gouged into her corpse and her hands and feet are tied with coat hanger wire. For Detective Inspector Jack Delaney this is no ordinary case. He was a friend of Jackie’s, and she left desperate messages on his answerphone just hours before she was killed.

Zach and his sister Annis, uprooted from their comfortable home to a remote and half-built barn in France, are just trying to keep everything together. When Zach enters a dangerously derelict building nearby, the tottering wall falls and buries him. As Annis races towards him, unbelievably, Zach moves. How could he have survived such a terrible accident?

Simon Majumdar is a man on a mission, and he might just be hungry enough to accomplish it. Setting out in search of the ultimate meal, he travels to every corner of the globe - from China to Brazil and from Finland to Japan. He tries everything, from mouldy shark in Iceland (not very nice) to kare stew in the Philippines (almost unimaginably delicious) and befriends (and sometimes fights with) some extraordinary characters along the way.

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.

Shaun's mother is in a care home with Parkinson's Dementia and now his father is dying. He should go back. And yet this was supposed to be his time. Shaun has relocated to a new country to make a fresh start. His two daughters are grown-up. He has moved on from the divorce. He is single and he is free and still hoping to find love again. Will this mean giving up on his own life?

The last thing psychotherapist Harry Hope expects on his walk home one evening is to be knifed. At first, he thinks it’s a random event. But as the police investigate further, seemingly unrelated attacks, Harry is shocked to discover that every victim is linked to him - and that his name is on a death list. Why? Teaming up with his old friends DI Theo McCannon and DS Libby Harding, Harry is forced to delve into the dark and twisted world of a cold and calculating killer.

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.

According to the rule books, a marathon is 26.2 gruelling yet exhilarating miles. Millions of people run marathons around the world. Many more millions dream of doing it. But novice or veteran runners, marathons require training and plenty of it. Certified marathon coach David Levine and dedicated marathoner Paula Petrella know how to get anyone in shape for the race and share the entire procedure in clear, jargon-free language. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Marathon Training includes practical advice that addresses the needs of men and women of all ages.

Brimming with wisdom and humour, David Kynaston’s diaries written over one football season offer up his most personal take on social history to date. David Kynaston was seven and a half years old when he attended his first Aldershot match in the early months of 1959. So began a deep attachment to the game and a lifelong loyalty to an obscure, small-town football club. Though as he sits down to write his diaries almost 60 years on, he reflects that life might have been simpler if his father had never taken him to that first match at the Rec....