Showing results by narrator "Samantha Bond" in All Categories

A seriously entertaining collection of feelgood stories guaranteed to put the smile back on your face written especially by 10 best-selling novelists. From a hilarious race against time to a moment of unexpected eavesdropping, from righting wrongs in rural India to finding joy in unlikely places, these stories are all rich in wit and humour, guaranteed to lift your spirits and warm your heart.

When editor Susan Ryeland is given the tattered manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has little idea it will change her life. She's worked with the revered crime writer for years, and his detective, Atticus Pund, is renowned for solving crimes in the sleepy English villages of the 1950s. As Susan knows only too well, vintage crime sells handsomely. It's just a shame that it means dealing with an author like Alan Conway.... But Conway's latest tale of murder at Pye Hall is not quite what it seems.

Megamonster, from Children's author David Walliams. On a volcanic island, in the middle of shark-infested waters, stands The Cruel School. The lessons are appalling, the school dinners are revolting and the teachers are terrifying – especially the mysterious Science teacher Doctor Doktur. When...

Queen Elizabeth II is having a royal nightmare. A referendum divides the nation, a tumultuous election grips the United States - and the body of a staff member is found dead beside Buckingham Palace swimming pool. Is it a tragic accident, as the police think? Or is something more sinister going on? As Her Majesty looks for answers, her trusted assistant, Rozie, is on the trail of a treasured painting that once hung outside the queen's bedroom.

1957 - A young woman is found dead in a mews house a mile from Buckingham Palace, wearing only silk underwear and a a diamond tiara. An older man is discovered nearby, garrotted and pierced through the eye with a long, sharp implement. According to the police, a high society card game was going on downstairs that night. One of the players surely committed the murders, but each of them can give the others an alibi.

Framed as a first-person narrative from the eponymous horse, this much-loved family classic follows Black Beauty's journey from a well-born colt to a painfully overworked cab horse. Brimming with vivid detail and relatable characters, each chapter of Black Beauty's long and varied life communicates an important message about kindness, sympathy and understanding.

Barbara Pym is one of the 20th-century's wittiest, and most underrated, novelists. Her perceptive comedies of manners, centred around the domestic lives and loves of unassuming middle-class Englishwomen, won her many devoted readers and saw her hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen. Yet she spent 15 years out of print in the 1960s and '70s, until Philip Larkin championed her work in the Times Literary Supplement. Her seventh novel was subsequently shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and writers from Jilly Cooper to Alexander McCall Smith continue to laud her talent today.

Anthony Trollope was one of Victorian England’s most popular and prolific authors. He worked for the Post Office while establishing himself as a writer, and is credited with introducing the pillar box to Britain. Best known for his ‘Barsetshire’ and ‘Palliser’ novels, he wrote over 50 works in total, including short stories, travel books, biographies and a posthumously published autobiography. Collected here are a selection of superb adaptations of his much-loved novels, as well as a fascinating documentary and an original radio play by Patricia Cumper.

A sparkling collection of comic monologues written by Jenny Éclair about women facing pivotal moments in their lives. These tales introduce women seeking revenge, security and adventure: a grandmother visits an upmarket supermarket to buy her grandchildren a meal they won't forget; a lonely woman takes a peek into other people's properties and lives when their houses are put up for sale; and a cleaner who discovers some secrets behind the Farrow and Ball doors of the middle class homes she visits.

Despite her hope for peace as the protector of the Siyee, Auraya is unable to avoid being caught in up the building conflict. As the gods’ demands increase, Auraya finds that she must choose between those she loves and those she’s sworn to serve. Meanwhile, Mirar enjoys acceptance and respect as he reclaims his place among his people, and Emerahl is at last able to join the Thinkers in their search for the Scroll of the Gods...

The Queen identifies the 70 year-old victim, Edward St Cyr, from his signet ring. But the search for his killer is not so straightforward. Suspects include the Queen's horse groom, a shady land agent, an aristocrat neighbour, as well as the victim's many cousins and relations. The investigation leads the Queen - and her trusted assistant, Rozie - to a local pigeon racing club, back to London, and to the ancient, moated Godwick Hall. But how do the seemingly disparate pieces of the puzzle fit together? And who is the next victim?

From the moment Judi Dench appeared as a teenager in the York Mystery Plays, it was clear that acting would be her career. Trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama it was her performance in her twenties as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's memorable Old Vic production that turned her into a star. In the theatre since she has played every classic role from Titania (three times, most recently in 2010) to Cleopatra.

One of Britain's most distinguished biographers turns her focus on one of the most vilified women of the twentieth century. Historian Anne Sebba has written the first full biography by a woman of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor. 'That woman', as she was referred to by the Queen Mother, became...

Penguin presents the audio download edition of The Creakers by Tom Fletcher, read by Samantha Bond with an introduction by the author. What silently waits in the shadows at night? What's under your bed, keeping just out of sight? Do you ever hear strange, creaking noises at night? Ever wonder...

Penguin presents Meg and Mog Audio Collection by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski. Join Meg and Mog on their magical adventures with all their friends in this brand new collection of thirteen beloved stories. This new collection features narration from award winning actress Samantha Bond as well...

Brought to you by Penguin. Bridget Jones, the world’s favourite singleton, is back with a bump in the irresistible Sunday Times bestseller – now a major film. 8.45 P.M. Realise there have been so many times in my life when have fantasised about going to a scan with Mark or Daniel: just not...

Penguin presents the audio download edition of The Puffin Book of Five-minute Stories, read by Sophie Aldred and Christopher Timothy. A lively collection of nineteen short, snappy stories, some old, some new, to make you gasp, laugh, frown or giggle. Featuring: The Little Wooden Horse Clever...

It's 1961 and the Queen is planning her state visit to Italy aboard Britannia. But before she goes, an unreliable witness claims to have seen a brutal murder from the royal train. Did it really happen, and could the victim be a missing friend of Princess Margaret's new husband, Tony Armstrong Jones?

Brought to you by Penguin. Bridget Jones is mad about the boy – the gloriously funny and heartwarming million-copy bestseller, now a major film starring Renée Zellweger. What do you do when a girlfriend’s 60th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s 30th? Is it morally wrong to...

Penguin presents the abridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Borrowers by Mary Norton, read by Samantha Bond. Pod, Homily and Arrietty are a family of tiny people who live beneath the floor, behind the grandfather clock in the old rectory. They own nothing - everything they have is...