Showing results by narrator "Roger May" in All Categories

Graham Greene's 'long journey through time' began in 1904, when he was born into a tribe of Greenes based in Berkhamstead at the public school where his father was headmaster. In A Sort of Life, Greene recalls schooldays and Oxford, adolescent encounters with psychoanalysis and Russian roulette, his marriage and conversion to Catholicism and how he rashly resigned from The Times when his first novel, The Man Within, was published in 1929.

Mary Shelley’s poignant exploration of the true depths of human ambition has had a profound effect on readers since its conception in 1816. When scientist Victor Frankenstein forms a creature from the body parts of corpses, thus shattering the perceived limits of scientific understanding, the consequences are devastating.

Mike Brearley is one of the most successful cricket captains of all time, and in 1981 he captained the England team to the momentous Ashes series victory against Australia. In The Art of Captaincy, his treatise on leadership and motivation, he draws directly on his experience of man-managing a team, which included a pugnacious Ian Botham and Geoffrey Boycott, to explain what it takes to be a leader on and off the field.

Though it is for the sparkling epic, Aeneid, that the Roman poet Virgil is best known, it was these two poems, The Eclogues and Georgics, which first established his reputation.

One of the leading ghost story writers of the Victorian era, Sheridan Le Fanu is renowned for his chilling tales of mystery and horror. His pioneering lesbian vampire novella Carmilla was a major influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula, and spawned numerous film adaptations including Hammer Horror's Karnstein Trilogy. Opening this anthology is a dramatisation of that classic tale, starring Anne-Marie Duff as Laura, the lonely girl living in a solitary Austrian castle, who strikes up a dangerous friendship with the mysterious, bewitching Carmilla. 

Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These carefully abridged versions are shorter with the language targeted at learners of English.

Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These carefully abridged versions are shorter with the language targeted at learners of English.

London, 1936. Gordon Comstock has declared war on the money god, and Gordon is losing the war. Nearly 30 and 'rather moth-eaten already', a poet whose one small book of verse has fallen 'flatter than any pancake', Gordon rejects money-worship and a steady job in advertising for the pursuit of creativity. But poverty soon bites, and with it his creative spirit disappears. Only his ever-faithful Rosemary can rouse him from the stupor and challenge his commitment to his chosen way of life.

Plug in and prepare for your A-Level English Literature examination with this comprehensive audio study guide to Dracula. Includes the entire, unabridged audio narration of Dracula, as well as in-depth analysis on the text, covering the key areas of: characters, themes, structure and form, historical context and popular criticism - as well as detailed chapter summaries and key quotations for your exam.

In the late summer of 1944, SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm ‘Willi’ Bittrich found himself in the Netherlands surveying his II SS Panzer Corps, which was in a poor state having narrowly escaped the defeat in Normandy. He was completely unaware that his command lay directly in the path of a major Allied thrust: the 17 September 1944 launch of the largest airborne and glider operation in the history of warfare.

Classic haunted house ghost stories curated by world-renowned filmmaker and horror genre authority John Landis. This beautifully presented, highly collectible anthology features ghost stories that have enthralled, terrified and inspired readers decade after decade. Some are relatively well known; others are long-lost treasures, awaiting rediscovery.

Unpublished at the time of her death, The Professor is the first novel written by Charlotte Brontë, and the seed of her later books, Jane Eyre and Villette. The narrator of the tale, William Crimsworth, tells a story of courage and ambition among jealousy and envy: Orphaned from a young age, William rejects life in the clergy, and then as a tradesman, to the chagrin of his cruel uncles and elder brother. Instead he pursues a career in education and ends up in Brussels where he meets student/teacher Francis Evans Henri, with whom he falls in love.

In the early 1990s, at an old-fashioned boarding school, two boys form an intense friendship that will shape the course of their lives. Shy Bruno Jackson is infatuated by the glamorous but troubled Anthony Blunden. Taken under the wing of an idealistic English teacher, the boys are encouraged to explore the more serious things of life beyond college. But in the hothouse of the school, a slight from their mentor seems of earth shattering-importance, with fateful consequences.

Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These readers have been carefully adapted using the Collins COBUILD grading scheme to ensure that the language is at the correct level for an intermediate learner. This book is Level 4 in the Collins ELT Readers series. Level 4 is equivalent to CEF level B2 with a word count of 20,000-26,000 words.

France 1670. Carlo Demirco's mastery of the extraordinary new art of creating ice creams has brought him wealth, women, and a position at the court of Louis XIV. Then Carlo is sent to London, along with Louise de Keroualle, an impoverished lady-in-waiting. The most powerful ministers of two countries have decided that Louise is to be Charles II's new mistress and Carlo must decide where his loyalties lie..?

5 September 1992: Fifteen-year-old Norma Jean Judd disappeared from her home never to be seen again. Exactly 18 years later, Bryan Judd, Norma Jean’s twin, is pulled from the searing heat of a hospital incinerator. When his charred remains are examined, the murder squad confirms that his death was no accident. Could his death be linked to his sister’s disappearance? For DI Peter Shaw and DS George Valentine, the case proves their most intriguing yet.

In Rome, the severed hand of a retired MI6 head of station is found at one of the city's landmarks. The hand is grasping a bag containing 30 silver pieces. Meanwhile, in London, MI6 agent Paul Aston is on the point of quitting. When he is approached to head up a new task force, he jumps at the chance. His first mission is to investigate the murder in Rome. When one of MI6's directors dies suddenly, Aston realises there is more going on than meets the eye.

On a hot August day in 1994, 76 holidaymakers travel to an island off the North Norfolk coast. Only 75 return alive - a young man is murdered, the case left unsolved. Twenty years later, using state-of-the-art forensics, the DNA results of a blood-soaked towel prompt DI Peter Shaw to summon all 75 original suspects to a mass screening. But one of them is found dead in her bed. Is there a link to the 1994 murder? DI Shaw and DS Valentine become immersed in the secrets of an isolated community.

In the middle of the 18th century, a ship docks at Bristol with an extraordinary cargo: two young elephants. Bought by a wealthy landowner, they are taken to his estate in the English countryside. A stable boy, Tom Page, is given the task of caring for them. The Elephant Keeper is Tom's account of his life with the elephants.

Picardie, 1963. A truck drops a group of illegal workers by a deserted stretch of canal in the dead of night, desperate travellers in a pipeline, searching for a better life. Days later, one of them surfaces, stabbed to death. For Inspector Lucas Rocco, finding the victim's fellow travellers presents problems. Most Algerian immigrants are welcome, but trawling for any who aren't is a sensitive issue loaded with threats of civil unrest - something which terrifies his bosses in the Ministry.