Showing results by narrator "Peter Joyce" in All Categories

Hannay to the rescue once more! This time...our hero is summoned from his tranquil life in rural Oxfordshire to save the world from a financial conspiracy which threatens the global economy. Hannay comes to believe that the villain behind all this must be Dominick Medina. But can such a brilliant, charming idol of the nation be using Eastern magic to suborn industrialists, magnates and other such pillars of society as his slaves?

Heroes Ralph, Jack and Peterkin set sail on the Arrow and are the only three survivors of a fearful shipwreck. They are washed ashore on a seemingly idyllic coral island.This tranquillity is violently disturbed, first by a tribe of bloodthirsty cannibals and then by the invasion of a vicious pirate and his gang of cut-throats. Will the boys thwart their enemies and live to see England again?

A tale of smuggling and mystery on the Dorset coast as told by John Trenchard, a boy obsessed with discovering the secret of Colonel 'Blackbeard' Mohune's hidden treasure. One night, trapped in the Mohune family vault beneath the church, John finds a locket round the Colonel's neck which contains verses from the Psalms of David. What could it mean?

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 next volume in the series of exciting stories about A. J. Raffles, first class slow bowler and gentleman thief. The author must have been delighted when his fictional character was such a success. Raffles would have said ‘timing is everything’ and the advice should have been delivered to his creator. Hornung made a grave error in finishing the master burglar’s life and career so soon, realised his mistake and brought him back to the printed page.

Harvey Cheyne, the pampered son of an American millionaire, is swept overboard from the deck of a liner and picked up by a small fishing boat, one of several trawling the Grand Banks. He is rapidly confronted by the harsh realities of life and comes to terms with himself amid the hard labour and morality of the redoubtable New England fishermen.

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.

The puny, self-impotent Louis X, having caused his first wife to be murdered and his mistress exiled, becomes besotted with the lovely Clemence, his new Queen. Vacillating between self-pity and vainglory he is caught between the vaulting ambitions of proud, profligate barons….

This comprehensive novel consists of three subplots which interlink to form the whole and supply a trio of targets at which Trollope aims his proselytising pen. The first treats on the courtship of a woman by a man whom she does not love and with whom she is not compatible. Mary Lowther will not accept such a marriage of dishonesty. The second deals with the plight of a young woman who has fallen prey to the wiles of an evil seducer and subsequently adopts a life of prostitution.

The royal house of France has fallen. Charles IV is dead, fulfilling the curse of the Templars once and for all. This leaves the path to the throne open for Robert of Artois to place his cousin, Philippe of Valois, upon it. Having committed fraud, perjury and murder in the name of the new king, Robert expects to receive a title and his full reward. But the days of betrayal are far from over and Robert is banished to England.

Bobby, a sparky, silver-haired Skye terrier, adopts Auld Jock, a worn-out simple shepherd, as his master. Jock is let go by the farmer and dies in poverty, having suffered one winter too many. The farmer tries to reclaim Bobby as a pet for his daughter, but the dog owes allegiance only to Auld Jock, guarding his grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard. His devotion changes the lives of those around him and ultimately the conditions of the poor in Edinburgh. Bobby's loyalty is eventually rewarded, and he becomes a famous dog indeed!

Charles IV is now king of France and his sister is Edward II of England’s Queen. Having been imprisoned by Edward as leader of the rebellious English barons, Roger Mortimer escapes to France, where he joins the war against the English Aquitaine. But it is his love affair with Isabella, the ‘She-Wolf of France’, who has come seemingly to negotiate a treaty of peace that seals his fate…

Revolutionary for the time in encouraging children to think like children, the adventure of Princess Irene and Curdie, the boy miner, was to influence generations of writers, including Chesterton and Tolkien. Overflowing with fantastic ideas and images to delight the young and allegory to inspire their morality ‘The Princess and the Goblin’ has remained one of the most exciting tales for over 100 years.Irene lives in a castle on a mountain under which there is a labyrinth of tunnels inhabited by Goblins.

‘This was the original GAME OF THRONES' George R.R. Martin' Available for the first time in English, THE KING WITHOUT A KINGDOM is the seventh and final volume of The Accursed Kings series. The reign of the Capetian kings has ended and John II, ‘The Good', second of the Valois dynasty, has taken the throne. Under his leadership the Hundred Years War, one of the longest and bloodiest conflicts in history, escalates and England and France begin to tear each other apart.

What is sinister preacher John Laputa doing on a remote Scottish shore in the moonlight hours? Young David Crawfurd and his friends are lucky to escape with their lives when they disturb his rituals. Years later David travels to Africa and meets the minister again, this time in company with the evil Henriques.

Victorian humour generally doesn't translate well across time. The Wrong Box is one of the exceptions. The plot revolves around the supposed death of Joseph Finsbury who, as a youth, with his brother Masterman joined a tontine - a scheme whereby each entrant pays a fixed amount and the sum total, with interest, is given to the one who lives the longest. At the beginning of the story there are three survivors and then two - the Finsbury brothers.

In 1842, Charles Dickens visited America. His reception was somewhat colder than that which usually greeted him - already a successful author in both Britain and the United States. This lack of enthusiasm from the Americans was partly due to his criticism of the pirating of English books in that country and partly due to his outspoken distaste for the custom of slavery in the southern states.

The house is called "Pleasance" and is rented by two sisters, Blanche and Aileen. The story revolves around the fortunes of two neighbouring families of varied social standing. The sisters' semi-detachment is to the Hopkinsons. Whilst Blanche's husband, Arthur, is abroad on a mission, the neighbours soon prove themselves invaluable as friends and Blanche and Mrs Hopkinson discover that their husbands are already acquainted!

The last of John Buchan’s thrillers and the final appearance of Richard Hannay now in retirement reverie deep in the comfortable Cotswolds.However, he and Sandy [Lord Clanroyden] are roused to action once more to help the son of a recently deceased treasure hunter, called Haraldsen. The heir is receiving threats from Lancelot Troth, a man who believes himself ill treated financially by Haraldsen’s father and seeks revenge and reparation.

The resurrected Raffles has his final innings in these whimsical adventurous reminiscences recounted by his accomplice and friend Bunny Manders. The author skillfully manages to tie up a few loose ends from preceding plots and the final revelation is a moving tribute to his fictional hero, the finest slow bowler of his generation and best known gentleman thief in literary history.