Showing results by narrator "Cameron Stewart" in All Categories

Brought up by his hard-nosed father and ferocious Spanish grandmother, Xavier Aislado is a gentle giant. And though Xavi’s bond with his grandmother grows, he is abandoned when his family return to Spain, leaving him in Edinburgh to complete his education. Years later, when his promising sporting career is cut short, Xavi pursues his true passion: journalism. And when his first assignment ends in violent death, he is drawn into a dark new world.

Winter 1953. Beneath a pitch-black Leningrad sky, two bodies lie near the towering statue of Lenin outside the Finland Station. 'Nothing sinister, here, just a simple hit and run,' an officer in the MGB secret police assures militia detective Revol Rossel. Now he knows it's murder. Only recently released from a brutal Siberian labor camp and determined to find his missing sister at last, Rossel wants nothing to do with this new case. But his alcoholic, broken superior officer, Captain Liphukin, seizes upon it as his salvation—a last chance to be a true Soviet hero.

For the very first time, The War That Never Was tells the fascinating story of a secret war fought by British mercenaries in the Yemen in the early 1960s. In a covert operation organised over whisky and sodas in the clubs of Chelsea and Mayfair, a group of former SAS officers.

It's 1969. Five years ago, teenager Alexandra Tozer was murdered. Her sister, Helen Tozer, will never forget. Returning home after quitting the Met Police, she brings with her the recovering Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen, who slowly becomes possessed by the unsolved case. But Breen is on a trail, for the two men connected to this case met in Kenya, during the Mau Mau uprising; and the history that Britain has turned its face from is now returning to haunt it.

London, October 1968. As Beatles fans encamp outside Abbey Road Studios up the road, the Marylebone CID is as much an old boys' club as it ever was: comfortably sexist, racially prejudiced and crawling with corruption. Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen is the pariah of the office, having just run out on a fellow officer held at knifepoint, when it's shaken up by the arrival of WPC Helen Tozer: awkward chatterbox, farmgirl, and the first woman to enter the murder unit - apart from the secretary.

Part memoir, part self-help, Happy Old Me is a fitting, heart-felt tribute to the love of his life and a surprisingly amusing and informative book about an age, and stage in life, which we might all reach someday. The third book in Hunter Davies' much-loved memoir series, which includes The Co-Op's Got Bananas and A Life in the Day.

Sebastian von Eschburg, scion of a wealthy, self-destructive family, survived his disastrous childhood to become a celebrated if controversial artist. He casts a provocative shadow over the Berlin scene; his disturbing photographs and installations show that truth and reality are two distinct things. When Sebastian is accused of murdering a young woman and the police investigation takes a sinister turn, seasoned lawyer Konrad Biegler agrees to represent him - and hopes to help himself in the process.

Marylebone, November 1968. Detective Sergeant Breen has a death threat and two burned bodies on his hands. One is an un-mourned vagrant; the other the son of a politician. One case suffers the apathy of the police; the other obstructed by a PR-conscious father. Then the potential perpetrator of his death threats is murdered. Banished from a corrupt system, Breen is finally forced to fight fire with fire.

Prague, 2015. Herbert Biely, aged hero of the Prague Spring, stands on the brink of an historic victory, poised to reunite the Czech and Slovak Republics 26 years after the Velvet Revolution. The imminent Czech elections are the final stage in realising his dream of reunification, but other parties have their own agendas and plans for the fate of the region. A shadowy collective, masked as the innocuous European Union Institute, will do anything to preserve the status quo.

It is 1648 and Britain is at war with itself. The Royalists are defeated but Parliament is in turmoil, its power weakened by internal discord. Royalism's last hope is Sir Mortimer Shay, a ruthless veteran of decades of intrigue who must rebuild a credible threat to Cromwell's rule, whatever the cost. John Thurloe is a young official in Cromwell's service. Confronted by the extent of the Royalists' secret intelligence network, he will have to fight the true power reaching into every corner of society: the Comptrollerate-General for Scrutiny and Survey.

Richard Mabey is Britain’s foremost nature writer. He has written a regular column for BBC Wildlife Magazine for over 25 years and, in doing so, has created a passionate, lyrical and deeply personal record of the natural world

Kal’aín awakens in the storm-soaked fields of Urukhan, his memories a shattered mosaic and his identity a mystery. Lost and disoriented, he encounters Anayä Ygun—a warrior queen thought to have died centuries ago. Together, they journey through a world where the past is a shadow that looms over the present, and where the power of dreams can shape reality itself.

This is the sweet story of a paralyzed man in Venice who sees out of his window a young girl across the way. Unbeknownst to her, she brightens his days over the course of several years, and he begins to fall in love with her. One day he throws out a flower into the canal between them to say "good morning", and she responds in kind. They still haven't spoken a word, but his heart is lifted. Until, that is, the young maid grows up, and the gondolier boys start calling on her.

Escape from Earth is the untold story of the engineers, dreamers and rebels who started the American space programme. In particular, it is the story of Frank Malina, founder of what became Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the scientist who cracked the, as he called it, problem of escape from the Earth by rocket. It's a wild ride.

Nobody knew it at that moment, but only three things stood in the way of the complete destruction of the Earth: one elderly parrot; one eight-year-old spelling mistake; and an intrepid young schoolgirl-turned-reporter.... Greta Zargo needs a big scoop if she's going to win the Prilchard-Spritzer Medal, the quite famous award for great reporting. But big scoops are in short supply in the quiet town of Upper Lowerbridge. But then, with a whoosh of unknown energy, a mysterious silver robot descends from the sky....

Despite the struggle to make ends meet during the tough years of warfare in the 1940s and rationing persisting until the early 1950s, life could still be sweet. Especially if you were a young boy, playing football with your pals, saving up to go to the movies at the weekend, and being captivated by the latest escapade of Dick Barton on the radio. Chocolate might be scarce, and bananas would be a pipe dream, but you could still have fun.

The original stories featuring A. J. Cronin's much-loved Scottish country doctor. Dr Finlay's Casebook brings together Adventures of a Black Bag and Dr Finlay of Tannochbrae, A. J. Cronin's two hugely popular collections. Set in and around the fictional Scottish town of Levenford and village of Tannochbrae during the interwar years, the stories found here are heartwarming, funny and touching, full of fascinating characters and unforgettable encounters.

In this much-anticipated sequel, Hunter looks back across five decades of successful writing to reflect on his colourful memories of the living in London during the height of the Swinging '60s; becoming editor of Britain's first colour weekend supplement The Sunday Times magazine, where he befriended the Beatles; and reporting on (and partying with) some of the biggest names in television, film and theatre of the day.

Marc is a promising young footballer of 15, growing up in Scotland. A few hundred miles away in England, Martin is a fun-loving 16-year-old. Both are enjoying their summers when they are suddenly struck down by debilitating illnesses. Within days, the boys are close to death. Although their paths have never crossed, their fortunes are about to be bound in the most extraordinary, intimate way. One of them will die, and in doing so he will save the other's life.

February 14, 1993: Sheffield United supporters remember it as the day their team won a famous victory against Manchester United. The date is lodged in Anna Young's brain for a different reason. That was the day her sister, Jessica, was abducted. Fast forward 20 years. The case has long since gone cold. But Anna made a promise to look after her little sister. And it's a promise she intends to keep no matter how long it takes....