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Join Desmond as he learns to manipulate mana—a source of power that exists beyond the reach of most people in the universe—meets vastly different alien species, risks life and limb, all while trying to pass classes. If he’s lucky, he will find someone he can trust out here amongst the weird. If he's very lucky, maybe someone he can love.

A little over four months has passed since Desmond McLaughlin was physically yanked from his home and thrown to the mercy of a conquering alien empire when they demanded he be handed over for training as he was an ‘Adept’, one of the few able to harness the power of magic in the universe. During that time, he has learned how to manipulate mana and made several friends amongst the aliens whose culture he was now immersed in. And one lover.

Brought to you by Penguin. Winner of the Guardian First Book Award 2013 Shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award 2014 Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013 Winner of Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2012 In the aftermath of Ireland's financial collapse, dangerous tensions...

Othello, a Moorish general in the service of Venice, has married Desdemona, beautiful daughter of a Venetian senator. But Iago, Othello's malignant ensign, is determined to destroy their happiness. Cunningly bending Othello to his own purposes, Iago persuades the Moor that Desdemona is unfaithful to him. Tormented in a hell of jealousy, Othello moves inexorably toward the destruction of his innocent wife and himself.

Summer has arrived in the Cornish town of Mount Polbearne, and Polly Waterford couldn't be happier. Because Polly is in love: She's in love with the beautiful seaside town she calls home, she's in love with running the bakery on Beach Street, and she's in love with her boyfriend, Huckle. And yet there's something unsettling about the gentle summer breeze that's floating through town.

Here are four of Hans Christian Andersen’s best-loved short stories, specially adapted for young children and read by some of Britain’s most well-known actors. The Emperor’s New Clothes: An emperor is promised a special suit of clothes by a pair of tailors. The Little Mermaid: A beautiful mermaid falls in love with a prince. The Fir Tree: A little fir tree is desperate to grow up and be like the other trees in the forest.

Brought to you by Penguin. Brought up at Dorlcote Mill, Maggie Tulliver worships her brother, Tom, and is desperate to win the approval of her parents, but her passionate, wayward nature and her fierce intelligence bring her into constant conflict with her family. As she reaches adulthood, the clash between their expectations and her desires is painfully played out as she finds herself torn between her relationships with three very different men: her proud and stubborn brother, a close friend who is also the son of her family's worst enemy, and a charismatic but dangerous suitor.

An unsuspecting couple is treated to a luxury vacation by their deceased neighbor. After begrudgingly agreeing to volunteer at a nursing home, a middle school girl gambles over games of bridge with elderly residents. A single mother struggles to understand the unique bond between her autistic son and his dying grandmother. Four friends experience decades of highs and lows as pawns in The Game of Life. A professional gynecology patient runs into a high school flame while at work, undressed, on the job.

Up for a dream promotion, Emma won't let anything get in her way - not even love. Working for a major Hollywood film company isn't all glitz and glam. But when Emma gets sent to tour around Italy to scout the perfect location for a new blockbuster movie, she’s not going to complain. Especially when it could make or break her career... Historical adviser for the project Mark is a distraction that Emma does not need. As they explore Italy's beauty, Emma starts to fall for the mysterious Mark and soon finds herself torn between her job and her heart.

Finishing up his first year as a cadet-adept, Desmond’s life is going pretty well as far as he’s concerned. Three beautiful and exotic women love him and have agreed to entwine their lives together. His powers as an Adept have continued to grow as he practices and refines weaving the threads of mana into the world. All while he continues to defy the expectations set by his origins. Sure, he’s still a member of the active military training for one of the most dangerous jobs in the entire Hegemony, but with his girls at his side, Desmond is confident he can handle it.

SOPHIE RAMOS has always had visions—perceptions of beings others don’t see. Even her mother doubted her as a child. Psychiatrists doubted her too. Psychics tried to recruit her to enrich and empower themselves. Now she’s thirty-two, living on her own, and sharing her secret only with her mother and a few friends. A threatening specter begins to visit her at night, and more than her sleep is at stake. She follows a friend’s recommendation to visit Detta Washington, a church lady who believes that Sophie does see angels and demons.

It’s Bing’s bath time and he wants Flop to read him his favourite story. But books don’t like splashy baths, as Bing soon learns. Find out what happens when Bing’s bedtime book gets all drippy-wet and Bing and Flop are forced to use their imagination to finish the story. A charming new book about telling stories, overcoming adversity and the power of imagination. This World Book Day Bing book is sure to delight all toddlers!

Faust is one of the pillars of Western literature. This classic drama presents the story of the scholar Faust, tempted into a contract with the Devil in return for a life of sensuality and power. Enjoyment rules, until Faust’s emotions are stirred by a meeting with Gretchen, and the tragic outcome brings Part 1 to an end. Part 2, written much later in Goethe’s life, places his eponymous hero in a variety of unexpected circumstances, causing him to reflect on humanity and its attitudes to life and death.

In 1920s Leicester, Lewis Eliot must escape the drudgery of a council clerk's office and his provincial lower class background to begin his decades-long rise to power. As the years pass, and Lewis progresses to successful London lawyer, to Cambridge don, to wartime service in Whitehall, to senior civil servant and finally retirement, he faces in his own life and the lives of those around him collapsing marriages, terrible illness, the politics of academia, Nazism, nuclear weapons, the price of power and the ever-present realities of war. 

An acclaimed crime novelist and dramatist, Alison Joseph has scripted over 25 plays for BBC Radio. This collection showcases four of her original crime dramas, all specially written for Radio 4 – beginning with an apparently open-and-shut case for Sister Agnes that turns out to be anything but...

When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and to seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her cousin Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future. Thomas Hardy’s timeless masterpiece is brought to life in this new recording by Anne-Marie Duff (Shameless, His Dark Materials).

After having foiled multiple assassination attempts during his training, fighting pirates, and encountering a group of terrorists bent on destroying entire solar systems. Desmond McLaughlin thought he’d have an easier time of it on official deployment.

A bumper collection of accessible classics from the perennially popular BBC Radio 4 series This diverse, wide-ranging anthology features readings of 10 of the greatest books in the English language, taken from the BBC's Book at Bedtime and performed by a stellar cast of narrators. Here are...

Promoted early, Desmond McLaughlin and his mates are now full members of the Hegemony military, with all the rights and duties that rank includes. Given the benefits of achieving the rank of full adept early, Desmond and company elected to be deployed aboard the battlecruiser Fist of Defiance, a ship that just happened to be part of the Seventh Border Fleet. The same fleet headed by a certain admiral whose daughter was saved by Desmond and his girls.

This compilation comprises more stories of slave auctions and training compounds; abduction and forced submission; of a life of sexual servitude - where you must serve your Master well...or else suffer the punishing consequences.