Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

The ninth floor. Nine armies, each led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. Each team has one objective: to capture and hold the castle at the very center of the battlefield. Strategy, alliances, pitched battles, and, of course, betrayal ... It all makes for great fun and even greater television. After all, none of these powerful aliens really die when they’re playing war. Except this time. This time, winner takes all. Those who fall, stay in the ground.

This is a story from the The Happy Prince and Other Stories collection.

This Audible Exclusive performance features a unique introduction written and narrated by Miriam Margolyes. Recognised as one of Dickens' most accomplished titles, Bleak House has impressed critics and audiences alike since it was first published in 1852. The novel boasts one of the most intelligent and engaging plots in all of English literature and is sure to engage the listener's imagination as it transports us back in time to the seedy, grimy and hazardous streets of Victorian London.

My husband Matt and I are an ordinary married couple in every way but one. At the end of each day, we return to our own homes and our own spaces. But beyond the fairy lights I string at my window, darkness is pressing in. Two local women have gone missing, and I don't want to be alone. Sipping our coffees, looking out of my kitchen window, I soon notice how observant Brenda is. When she tells me that perhaps my husband isn't simply working late, something cold takes root.

Opening the door, I kiss my handsome man and smile as the children run into the home I’ve spent all day making perfect. I still can’t believe that I’m living in this warm, safe place that’s filled with laughter. But I’m always looking over my shoulder because I know that my gorgeous family could be taken away from me in a heartbeat.

Set in a magical kingdom where a wealthy prince and a Russian princess meet for the first time and fall madly in love with each other. Their wedding is to be a huge celebration for the entire realm, with all sorts of entertainment, including fireworks as a grand finale. As soon as various firework elements are set in place, they start talking amongst each other, and we meet the very distinguished Remarkable Rocket, responsible for so many of Oscar Wilde's memorable epigrams.

Hear the best stories ever written with Puffin Classics on audio. The Happy Prince and Other Stories is a haunting, magical fairy tale collection, in which Oscar Wilde beautifully evokes (amongst others) The Happy Prince, who was not so happy after all, The Selfish Giant who learned to love...

The extraordinary new contemporary novel, set in Ireland, Italy and France, from the bestselling author of The Honeymoon Affair and The Missing Wife. Ailie, Sybil and Rua can take care of themselves. But when they form an unexpected friendship, they discover new perspectives on old problems...

The interstellar Kingdom of Adamant's civil war is over. Nikola Adamant is free to live his life once more. But duty never ends, returning him to duty in the Kingdom's army—and a new task, as his sister the King's voice beyond their home system!

Polly Pressman is a London girl through and through. So when she’s asked to help save an old family friend’s struggling farm, she’s way out of her depth. She arrives at Nightingale Farm trying to impress John and his gruff-but-hunky son Mark with her business know-how. But it’s clear from her sky-high stilettos that she is woefully unprepared. Polly knows how much the farm means to John, and she’s doing everything she can to get it back on its feet.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of 13 dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on a journey ‘there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon....

Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.

An Arch Magus dies, only to find himself in the body of a young man in a medieval kingdom. He finds out that he is the second son of a duke, exiled to a desolate town by his own family. Shackled by the notorious reputation of his new shell, he tries his best to develop his domain, implementing new policies and innovations that lead his subjects to prosperity. In this world where magic is undeveloped, he shall once again pave a new path.

Epheria is a land divided by war and mistrust. The High Lords of the South squabble and fight, only kept in check by the Dragonguard, traitors of a time long past, who serve the empire of the North. In the remote villages of Southern Epheria, still reeling from the tragic loss of his brother, Calen Bryer prepares for The Proving - a test of courage and skill that not all survive. But when three strangers arrive in the village of Milltown, with a secret they are willing to die for, Calen’s world is ripped from under him and he is thrust headfirst into a war.

Minalan gave up a promising career as a professional warmage to live the quiet life of a village spellmonger in the remote mountain valley of Boval. It was a peaceful, beautiful little fief, far from the dangerous feudal petty squabbles of the Five Duchies, on the world of Callidore. There were cows. Lots of cows. And cheese. For six months things went well: He found a quaint little shop, he befriended the local lord, the village folk loved him, he found a sharp young apprentice to help out, and, best yet, he met a comely young widow with the prettiest eyes.

Viscount Montcrief was a man of wealth, refinement—and secrets. A recluse by nature, he lived in seclusion behind the iron gates of Montcrief House, a palatial estate renowned for its opulence and exquisite painted ceilings. Few were ever admitted, and those who entered were bound to silence. But in the spring of 1924, the Viscount developed a curious obsession with plays broadcast over the wireless. When he invited a troupe of actors—seven players and their director—to perform a private drama within his grand drawing room, the staff raised their eyebrows.

DI Zoe Finch has a new job. New house, new boss, and new team too. She's been persuaded to move from Birmingham to Cumbria, to head up a team investigating some of the county's most complex crimes. But it isn't easy. Adjusting to rural life, not to mention navigating the politics of Cumbria Police, will be a challenge. And she's not sure who she can trust. And then, her work becomes linked to that of her partner Carl, whose job it is to chase down bent coppers. Zoe's been here before.

Beginning with A Study in Scarlet and concluding with The Hound of the Baskervilles, this epic project took over 8 years to complete - and this landmark collection contains the extraordinary result. Here is the world's first ever fully dramatised Sherlock Holmes canon: 56 short stories and 4 novels, all made by the same team of directors, producers, dramatists and leading actors, and packed with the high production qualities of a film or TV drama that set it apart.

An eldritch magic has awakened, turning the mortal world darker. Colder. Famished. With flesh-eating monsters and a sinister curse spreading like a plague, the last glimmer of humanity in Foxglove Parish has long since faded. For Maevyth and Zevander, the only chance of escape is through The Eating Woods. But fate has woven a new web, tangling the threads of destiny, and crossing the mystical boundary to Aethyria might not be so simple.

Broadcaster, writer, philanthroper and one of the first public figures to suggest high-visibility clothing for people manning temporary car parks, the public Alan Partridge is a cherished institution. But what of the unseen Alan? For the first time, this famously private man welcomes us into his home and audibly deshrouds himself for a fascinating series of podcasts.