Showing results by narrator "Matt Addis" in All Categories

A nurse sits by herself in the hospital cafeteria. A businessman misses his train. These two young strangers are destined to meet, if the job is done right. Three onlookers play cupid in this romantic story, told from afar.

Top homicide detective Josiah Raine hasn't touched another man since his husband's brutal murder seven years ago. Notorious bad boy Alexander Lytton hasn't known peace since destroying his privileged life to become Britain's most hated man. When Josiah arrests Alex for murder, the last thing he expects is to fall in love....

As Jurgen Klopp left Liverpool in June 2024, he proclaimed Arne Slot his successor with a chant that rang around Anfield. The expectations were raised for the man who would succeed the greatest Liverpool manager of the modern era, but Slot's start to life in Merseyside could not have gone any better. By the end of the 2024-25 season, the Reds had triumphantly won the Premier League, with players like Mohamed Salah, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister regularly putting in career defining performances. Arne Slot was the Kop's new hero.

Ikigai is a Japanese phenomenon commonly understood as "your reason to get up in the morning". Ikigai can be small moments: the morning air, a cup of coffee, a compliment. It can also be deep convictions: a fulfilling job, lasting friendships, balanced health. Whether big or small, your ikigai is the path to success and happiness in your own life. Author Ken Mogi introduces five pillars of ikigai to help you make the most of each day and become your most authentic self.

Fiona Fisher lives a quiet and contented existence. A former nurse who married Jason, the doctor of her dreams, she is now a mother to his two daughters and living in the sort of cosy village home she’d always wished for.

Albion continues to be divided by revolt and bloodshed, as alliances collapse and are made anew. Driven obsessively for glory, the upstart Bellamus and his exiled queen Aramilla are marshalling resistance and building a powerful army. Returning to the Hindrunn, Keturah is forced to fend for herself, battling enemies on all sides just when she is most in need of a place of safety. And all the while, the young Black Lord must deal not only with the aftermath of a great betrayal, but the cold shadow of the Kryptea, threatening to destroy everything he has fought for...

Auntie Poldi can think of no finer place to wait for death than Sicily. All she asks is a sea view, fine wine (and plenty of it), and her family close around. When death instead takes her handsome young friend Valentino - and under mysterious circumstances at that - Poldi will not take it lying down. Perhaps it's in her blood, but Auntie Poldi's hunting instincts have never felt more alive. Justice must be served - if it's the last thing she does....

Prince Siegfried comes of age and celebrates his 21st birthday in the palace gardens. The next day he is to finally choose his future bride at the court ball. Near the castle, on the shores of Swan Lake, the beautiful swan girl Odette emerges from the water in the moonlight. She is actually a princess transformed by the magician Rothbart. Siegfried is overwhelmed by her beauty and immediately swears his eternal love and loyalty. The curse of the evil wizard Rothbart is now supposed to be broken, but he has his own plans for Odette.

In Spring Rain, writer and gardener, Marc Hamer, now in his 60s, shares his path to contentment from difficult beginnings. Through the prism of family gardens, he reflects on how we reconcile our childhoods with where we end up as adults. Growing up in a violent home, as a young boy, Hamer found solace and safety in his small back garden. In particular, in its shed, where he stumbled across an incomplete set of old encylopaedias. These books, and observing the plants and insects in his private kingdom, began his lifelong love of learning and openness to the world.

A dangerous snake attacks Prince Tamino in the forest but three noble ladies protect him. Together with the bird catcher Papageno, Tamino is supposed to free Princess Pamina because the dreaded Sarastro has imprisoned her in his castle. Tamino and Papageno receive a magic flute and a glockenspiel from Pamina's mother, the Queen of the Night. The brave rescuers must overcome difficult tests, but the daring rescue plan succeeds. In the end, Tamino and Pamina, Papageno and his new girlfriend Papagena are happily in each other's arms.

One of the King's most trusted knights has vanished in the snow, so young Sir Tiuri and his best friend Piak must journey into the shadowy heart of the forest to find him. The Wild Wood is a place of mysteries, rumors, and whispered tales. A place of lost cities, ancient curses, robbers, princesses, and Men in Green. As the darkness surrounds him and reports grow of secret plots and ruthless enemies, Tiuri finds himself alone and fighting for survival - caught in a world where good and evil wear the same face.

Clara receives a nutcracker from her godfather Drosselmeyer on Christmas Eve. That night she dreams the nutcracker is fighting with toy soldiers against the army of the Mouse King. Clara helps the nutcracker and it transforms into a prince. Together they travel to the land of sweets and celebrate a wonderful sweet festival with the Sugar Plum Fairy. It was all just an amazing dream - or was it...?

When we come up against stressful situations in our everyday life, our automatic reaction is to turn away and escape. If, on the other hand, we can accept stress, allow it to become part of us, the conflict disappears. The secret lies in seeing that either we are the no-thing that overcomes stress by excluding it or the every-thing that overcomes stress by including it. This method of coping with stress applies to its many manifestations in our lives. It can turn boredom into joy and despondency into deep contentment.

Roper, the Black Lord of the north, may have vanquished the Suthern army at the Battle of Harstathur. But the greatest threat to his people lies in the hands of more shadowy forces. In the south, the disgraced Bellamus bides his time. Learning that the young Lord Roper is planning to invade the southern lands, Bellamus conspires with his Queen to unleash a weapon so deadly it could wipe out Roper's kind altogether. And at a time when Roper needs his friends more than ever, treachery from within puts the lives of those he loves in mortal danger.

All Hallow’s Eve, 1144. The savaged body of Durand Wuduweard, the solitary and unpopular keeper of the King’s Forest of Feckenham, is discovered beside his hearth, his corpse rendered barely identifiable by sharp teeth. Whispers of a wolf on the prowl grow louder, and Sheriff William de Beauchamp’s men, Hugh Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll, are tasked with cutting through the clamour....

In this delightful sequel to Idiot Brain, Dean Burnett explores these questions from a neuroscientific perspective. He combines the latest research and theories about how the brain works with interviews and contributions from relevant individuals, such as relationship experts, psychology professors, comedy writers, celebrities, and pretty much anyone else involved in bringing about happiness in others. Happy Brain elucidates our understanding of what happiness actually is, where it comes from, and what exactly is going on in our brains when we’re in a cheery state.

January, 1145. Godfrey Bowyer, the best but least likeable bow maker in Worcester, dies an agonising death by poisoning. Although similarly struck down after the same meal, his wife, Blanche, survives. The number of people who could have administered the poison should mean a very short investigation for the sheriff’s men, Hugh Bradecote, Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin, but perhaps someone was pulling the strings, and that widens the net considerably.

Pretty Celia Mardham should have been a success in her London Season, but a near fatal riding accident has left her with a pronounced limp which means she cannot even make a good curtsy, let alone dance. There can be no expectation of marriage, but her mama makes one last effort. She draws up a list of guests for a country house sojourn, picking only young ladies she feels will not be rivals, and some potential suitors. Among the well-bred gentlemen is Lord Levedale.

April, 1145. Thorgar the Ploughman is found by the bloodied body of Father Edmund, a village priest in Ripple, and is summarily hanged for being caught in the act, despite his pleas of innocence. When his sister goes to Worcester to seek justice for Thorgar, the lord Sheriff sends Hugh Bradecote, with Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin, to discover the truth. They soon expose strong motives for placing the blame on the ploughman’s shoulders, some unpleasant secrets festering among the villagers, as well as the whisper of a treasure long lost and now rediscovered.

Nobody knew where it came from. Nobody knew why it came. When an eight-foot-tall man made of stone appears in the middle of a busy city center one July afternoon, two-bit (and antisocial) reporter Andy Pointer assumes it's just a publicity stunt. Indeed, so does everyone else...until the Stone Man begins to walk, heading silently through the wall of the nearest building, flattening it, and killing several people inside as a result.