Showing results by narrator "Peter Joyce" in All Categories

In this, the second collection of Hornungs’ stories to be recorded by Assembled Stories, the darker side of Raffles is laid bare. Inspector Mackenzie begins to suspect that the finest cricketer of his generation may not be wielding a straight bat, a suspicion further confirmed by the appearance of Reginald Crawshay, master criminal, late residence HM Prison, Dartmoor, at Raffles’ rooms at the Albany.

The columnist of... the New York Post-Dispatch, Miss Lonelyhearts, is initially cynical about the letters he receives for help. They are a joke. Gradually however, the letters start to move him but he is powerless to do anything. Retreating from the pain into a fantasy world he starts to believe that he is a Christ figure, a universal saviour. But Christ died for the sins of others! The pen may be mightier than the sword but the author wields his like a cleaver, splicing images together to present a savagely grotesque world.

A chilling tale of suspense with a puzzling mystery at the heart of the story. Architect Edward Westray is sent by his firm to restore Cullerne Minster. The young man believes that more work is needed to secure the bell tower, but his warnings go unheeded. A fellow lodger, the church organist Sharnall, is investigating the belief of the late Martin Joliffe, the landlady's brother, that he, Joliffe, was the rightful heir to the Blandamer title and estates.

The ‘sketches’ in this... volume are more the substance and length of short stories illustrating the development of the tools of the Masters trade: farce, parody, irony, black humour and wonderful one liners which unerringly hit the mark. The ensuing narrative, however, brings the listener bumpily back to earth with a reminder of the mean and often tragic lives that were being endured in the busy, uncaring metropolis.

Anthony Hope was constrained to return to the fictional land of Ruritania by an appreciative public who wanted more swashbuckling and derring-do from the hero Rudolph and more Machiavellian moustache twirling from the suave villain Rupert. The author came up with a literary construction which ensured he would never again have to visit fictional Ruritania - but nothing he subsequently wrote appealed as much as the two Zenda stories.

Once upon a... time there was a marvellous land of Snergs. Miss Watkyns, a teacher who loved children, lived there. Just over the river lived Golithos, a not so friendly giant, who also loved children – with a lot of salt! He had a friend called Mother Meldrum, the wickedest witch that ever lived. When Sylvia and Joe run away for a big adventure their lives are in deadly peril when they fall into the clutches of these two evil characters.

Lonely Viviette Constantine awaits the return of her husband from a hunting expedition to Africa. She becomes involved with a young astronomer, Swithin St.Cleeve, who observes the night sky from a disused tower on her estate. Despite their differing ages and social backgrounds they soon find their destinies linked - but with fateful consequences.

Soames travels to Paris to make one last attempt to regain Irene and the detective agency think they have found the man involved in the affair.Irene returns to London to seek Jolyon’s help and the two become closer while Soames takes out some insurance with Annette’s mother.The spurned husband confronts the lovers at Robin Hill in a meeting which verges on violence and as devastating news comes from the Front more young Forsytes prepare to serve their country.

Jon and his mother go to Spain. The son manages to curtail the visit after six weeks.Meanwhile, Jolyon strengthens his relationship with his eldest daughter, June, who reveals that she sympathises with the young lovers. It is June who helps Fleur in her search for the history of the feud within the family. Prosper Profond, who continues to ingratiate himself with the Forsyte clan, inadvertently discloses the truth.

Mr. Reuben Wray, a retired actor who has had little public success, flees Stratford-upon-Avon fearing pursuit by the police. He arrives in Tidbury in the Marsh and sets up shop teaching elocution. Two local villains notice he carries a rather large cash box and attempt to steal the contents. When their plans come to naught and they exact their revenge Mr. Wray is left devastated and it takes Annie, his granddaughter, and her intended, Martin, to rectify the situation.

I HAD A HUNCH WE’D BE CHAMPIONS! The most unlikely story in the history of sport, told by our greatest football writer On 25th March 2015, when King Richard III, recently rescued from a municipal car park, was reburied in Leicester Cathedral, his beloved football team had just lost 4-3 to...

"He was too imperious, too masterful, too much inclined to think that all things should be made to go as he would have them." Thus Trollope describes his hero Harry Heathcote, a settler and sheep farmer in the untamed bush of Australia in 1871. However, Harry has made enemies. In seeking always to act in the honourable fashion he cannot bend and embrace the weaknesses of others.

This is a sensible book. I want you to understand that. This is a book to improve your mind. In this book, I tell you all about Germany – at all events all I know about Germany – and the Ober-Ammorgau Passion Play. I also tell you about other things. I do not tell you all I know about all these other things because I do not want to swamp you with knowledge. I wish to teach you gradually. I should only be defeating my own object that I, by making you think too much at first, give you a perhaps lasting dislike to the exercise.

A man of conscience, duty and tradition, an immature, impressionable girl of supreme virtue and perhaps the greatest cad in English Literature are the chief protagonists of this tale. Tragedy falls upon the House of Humblethwaite. Sir Harry Hotspur's son dies at 21 years of age. There is no other male heir save a second cousin, a scapegrace seemingly beyond redemption.

Over 100 years since it was first published Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow addresses subjects which are still relevant today – perhaps more so! Being hard up, being in the blues and being in love are just some aspects of the human condition on which Jerome K. Jerome reflects in his unique whimsical fashion. These insights are not given for the benefit of our education however, for as he says in his introduction, “This book would not elevate a cow.'

David Herbert... Lawrence was born into a mining family in Nottinghamshire in 1885. He created his finest work shortly after the finish of the First World War. Two of the themes in his writing are the gradual disintegration of the class system and the customs and sexual mores of people across class divisions. What made Lawrence unusual was the combination of this subject matter with the style of his direct, modern prose.

The author dedicates his story to 'The Happy Few'. This presumably means those who lead lives free of hypocrisy and deceit. They are few indeed in the second part of this authoritative novel of early 19th-century France. Julien Sorel leaves the country town of Verrieres and flees to Paris with the sound of guns in pursuit. He is to take up a post as secretary to M. de la Mole, an influential businessman in the capital.

Julian Sorel is a handsome, naïve but not wholly innocent young man, born of peasant stock. He is, however, very ambitious and determined to succeed in life and make a career for himself. If this involves lying, guile and hypocrisy - so be it. Not so long ago, two professions would have been open to him - the army or the church - but in the wake of Waterloo and the defeat of Napoleon, it would be preferable to take Holy Orders.

Robert Michael Ballantyne was one of the most popular adventure story writers during Victoria's reign. He believed that boys should grow up taking risks, and his hero, Martin Rattler, certainly has a thrilling time in this tale. Aunt Dorothy Grumbit thinks him a very bad boy, but Martin possesses all the manly virtues that one expects from a Ballantyne hero, and the story has all the traditional elements of a rollicking yarn: jolly jack tars, pirates, shipwreck, travel up the Amazon, diamond mines and capture by savage tribes.

Emily Eden was the daughter of the 1st Baron Auckland, a close confidant of Pitt. She was thus well placed to observe the manners and mores of nineteenth century aristocracy. A huge admirer of Jane Austen, her works reflect this in their perception, tongue in cheek humour and benevolence toward the victims of her pen. 'The Semi Attached Couple' is a revealing insight of attitudes and customs within marriage.