Showing results by narrator "Ciaran Saward" in All Categories

Ravi Gupta’s dark secret is unravelling. After years of hiding a dangerous portal discovered through foolish magic, the regretful academic worries his brilliant student has recklessly used it to travel to an alien world. And though he’s loath to go back, he stealthily opens a passage and journeys to the perilous land, desperate to save the missing scholar.

Kieran Harrison's life is outwardly perfect. He's a young, hardworking CEO of a fast rising eco company. He has friends, money, and a life of opportunities. When Kieran meets the charismatic and beautiful Serena, he believes he has met his perfect mate. What he fails to notice is the narcissistic encounters that underpin their relationship. They bounce from one toxic encounter to another, escalating the terms at each turn, unconsciously bound by the sexual energy it creates.

The Adventurers are on holiday when Maye warns of suspicious activity in Paris. Join them as they race from the French Alps to the ancient ruins of Rome on the trail of a dangerous gang with a legacy of secrets.

What actually is AI? Will it take over the world? And one day, will it tidy your bedroom...? In this beginner's guide, learn everything you need to know about AI, from how it helps us discover epic stuff up in space or under the sea, whether it will help you build your very own dinosaur, and why, it won't actually help you write your homework!

This wonderfully funny audio collection contains eight adventures from the master of animal tales, Dick King-Smith. Perfect for young listeners, this magical collection features one of Dick King-Smith's most loved stories: The Hodgeheg. Other timeless classics included in this collection are: Poppet, E.S.P, The Mousebutcher, The Merrythought, Lightning Strikes Twice, A Narrow Squeak, and Under the Mishmash Tree.

Seth Beauman can’t sleep. He stays up late, calling strangers from his phone book, hoping to make a connection, while his wife, Maeve, sleeps upstairs. A crossed wire finds a suicidal Hadley Serf on the phone to Seth, thinking she is talking to The Samaritans. But a seemingly harmless late-night hobby turns into something more for Seth and for Hadley, and soon their late-night talks are turning into daytime meet-ups. And then this dysfunctional love story turns into something altogether darker when Seth brings Hadley home.... And someone is watching....

When Monkey is sent into space by a team of scientists, he thinks everything will be smooth sailing. But not everything goes according to plan, and soon Monkey's spaceship crash-lands in a forest, disrupting the peaceful atmosphere. Convinced that he has discovered a new world, power-mad (but mostly incompetent) Monkey claims the forest as his own and determines that all other animals must be banished, including his soon-to-be nemesis, Bunny.

To the outside world, the Goodlights are perfect. Julia is a lawyer, Paul a stay-at-home dad who has dedicated his life to helping their daughter Chrissie achieve her dreams as a talented violinist. But on the night of a prestigious music competition, which has the power to change everything for Chrissie and her family, Chrissie goes missing. She puts on the performance of a lifetime, then completely disappears. Suddenly every single crack, every single secret that the family is hiding risks being exposed. Because the Goodlights aren’t perfect. Not even close.

But the quest to unravel life's genesis is not just a story of big ideas. It is also a compelling human story, rich in personalities, conflicts, and surprising twists and turns. Along the way the journey takes in some of the greatest discoveries in modern biology, from evolution and cells to DNA and life's family tree. It is also a search whose end may finally be in sight. In The Genesis Quest, Michael Marshall shows how the quest to understand life's beginning is also a journey to discover the true nature of life, and by extension our place in the universe.

Welcome to Turtle Cove. A luxury resort surrounded by pristine sea and the dense beauty of the jungle, it is the perfect escape from the stresses of life and work. For couples Lou and Adam, Eliza and Noah, a few days spent relaxing on the beach, while their kids are happily distracted, is exactly what they need. But appearances can be deceiving. There's a strange tension brewing at the resort, with relations between the hotel and the locals threatening to spill over into violence. This is nothing though compared to the strained atmosphere between the two families.

It started with an invitation to dinner. An evening of good food and good company at a luxury villa. But as the night progresses, the party takes a dark turn. The host makes you an offer, a party favour he calls it: another guest has committed a heinous crime, you can end their life, stop their terror. He tells you there will be no consequences; do you believe him? Your decision will change your life. Choose carefully.

The latest freshers have more than fitting in to fear when a forbidden entity is unleashed in an ancient seat of learning. New arrivals Nick and Annabel feel out of place at university, but when they are attacked by a creature straight out of their worst nightmares, their first term becomes less pass-fail than do-or-die. As the bodies pile up, their college’s dark secret cannot stay hidden for long. And when their tutors fall prey to mysterious forces, can Nick and Annabel enroll the night climber Giles to help banish the beast before freshers’ year becomes their last?

Giles Chamberlain returns to a snowbound Cambridge after Christmas spent with his girlfriend. Determined to prove himself to her family, he sets out to discover what became of her missing brother. But when he encounters a sinister figure prowling the college’s rooftops, he suspects last semester’s creature was not the only entity to cross into our world.

To many of us, Bowie was so much more than a pop idol. But why? In Why Bowie Matters, Professor Will Brooker answers that question persuasively, as both a fan and an academic. A Bowie obsessive since childhood, he hit the headlines over the course of a year-long immersive research project that took him from London to Berlin and New York, following in Bowie’s footsteps, only listening to music and reading books he loved, and even at times adopting his fashion.

In the 1970s the US military believed they could create a ‘super soldier’ - one who could use psychic powers to walk through walls, disarm the enemy through telepathy or kill a goat by staring at it. The brain behind these techniques was Michael Murphy, one of the founders of New Age spiritualism in the hippy enclaves of San Francisco. But Murphy’s primary goal was to use these powers in sport to create a supreme athlete capable of extraordinary feats.

Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They’ve never met. But at the same time, they run and leap to their deaths. Each of them received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only four words: Nothing important happened today. That is how they knew they had been chosen to become a part of the People of Choice: a mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another.

For five years, Ben Coates lived alongside a major channel of the river in Rotterdam, crossing it daily, swimming and sailing in its tributaries. In The Rhine, he sets out by bicycle from the Netherlands where it enters the North Sea, following it through Germany, France and Liechtenstein, to its source in the icy Alps. He explores the impact that the Rhine has had on European culture and history and finds out how influences have flowed along and across the river, shaping the people who live alongside it.

When a championship jockey discovers the body of a young woman during a cold morning’s training ride, the local racing community is shocked to its core. Everyone says she was the perfect friend, the perfect daughter and the perfect fiancée. But as Detective Mark Turpin delves into the girl’s fateful last hours, he discovers a past full of lies and mystery. Investigating the truth behind her savage death, Mark uncovers jealousy and ambition within the tiny community, accompanied by a disturbing reluctance to help the police.

What if some secrets were never meant to stay buried? When a parish priest is brutally murdered in cold blood, a rural community is left in shock - and fear. New to the Vale of the White Horse, Detective Sergeant Mark Turpin discovers the murder bears the hallmark of a vicious killer who shows no remorse for his victim, and leaves no trace behind. After a second priest is killed, his broken body bearing similar ritualistic abuse, the police are confronted by a horrifying truth - there is a serial killer at large with a disturbing vendetta....

When a young teenager is stabbed to death at a busy fairground, Detective Mark Turpin is assigned the task of finding the boy’s killer. But this was no random murder. Mark knows the victim, and the man who ordered his death. As he sifts through the young victim’s final days, he uncovers a powerful crime syndicate that will do anything to protect its interests. Then tragedy strikes, and suddenly Mark isn’t just trying to solve a murder - he’s fighting for his own survival.