HodderPod - Hodder books podcast

A gothic literary mystery set in 1920s Edinburgh, Hazardous Spirits whisks the listener away to a world of seances and spiritualism.

Edinburgh, 1923.

Evelyn Hazard is a young woman living a comfortable and unremarkable middle-class life. One day, her quiet existence is shattered when her steady, reliable husband Robert makes a startling announcement: he can communicate with the dead.

As the couple are pulled into the spiritualist movement that emerged following the mass deaths caused by the First World War and the Spanish Flu, Evelyn's life becomes increasingly unsettled as dark secrets from her past threaten to surface.

Faced with the prospect of losing all that is dear to her, Evelyn finds herself asking: is the man she loves a fraud, a madman or - most frighteningly - is he telling the truth?

A gothic literary mystery, written in sparkling prose, Hazardous Spirits evokes the spirit of 1920s Edinburgh, in all its bohemian vibrancy.

A gothic literary mystery set in 1920s Edinburgh, Hazardous Spirits whisks the listener away to a world of seances and spiritualism.

Edinburgh, 1923.

Evelyn Hazard is a young woman living a comfortable and unremarkable middle-class life. One day, her quiet existence is shattered when her steady, reliable husband Robert makes a startling announcement: he can communicate with the dead.

As the couple are pulled into the spiritualist movement that emerged following the mass deaths caused by the First World War and the Spanish Flu, Evelyn's life becomes increasingly unsettled as dark secrets from her past threaten to surface.

Faced with the prospect of losing all that is dear to her, Evelyn finds herself asking: is the man she loves a fraud, a madman or - most frighteningly - is he telling the truth?

A gothic literary mystery, written in sparkling prose, Hazardous Spirits evokes the spirit of 1920s Edinburgh, in all its bohemian vibrancy.

'A thirteen-year-old girl is at a party. A boy, slightly older, sees her. Juliet. This book is about that girl.'

A cultural, historical and literary exploration of the birth, death and legacy of the ultimate romantic heroine—Shakespeare's Juliet Capulet.

Juliet Capulet is the heartbeat of the world's most famous love story. She is an enduring romantic icon. And she is a captivating, brilliant, passionate teenage girl who is read and interpreted afresh by each new generation.

Searching for Juliet takes us from the Renaissance origin stories behind William Shakespeare's child bride to the boy actor who inspired her creation onstage. From enslaved people in the Caribbean to Italian fascists in Verona, and real-life lovers in Afghanistan. From the Victorian stage to 1960s cinema, Baz Luhrmann and beyond.

Sophie Duncan draws on rich cultural and historical sources and new research to explore the legacy and reach of Romeo and Juliet far beyond the literary sphere. With warmth, wit and insight, she shows us why Juliet is for now, for ever, for everyone.

From Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman, creators of the international smash-hit play and film Ghost Stories, comes a new novel: The Warlock Effect.

Meet Louis Warlock.

Man about town, denizen of Soho's nightclubs and cabaret bars - and the most skilled magician of his time...

As a boy, Ludvik Weinschenk fled Nazi Germany to England with a pack of playing cards and three tricks to his name. Twelve years later, in 1950s London, having risen through the ranks of concert parties, night clubs and variety theatres, Ludvik - or Louis Warlock as he is now known - is the most famous magician in Britain.

But after his talent for deception attracts the attention of the British secret service, Louis is thrown into the perilous world of espionage and finds himself sent across Europe with a dangerous mission to fulfil. When he comes face to face with a nemesis whose cunning rivals his own, Louis will need to use every trick in the book - or risk the most terrible consequences, both for the country and for himself.

A highly entertaining, fiendishly clever thriller, The Warlock Effect offers a twist-filled, rollicking adventure - and a glimpse into the phenomenal mind of an extraordinary magician.

Do two trees ever appear identical? No, but why? Every small difference is a clue.

Each tree we meet is filled with signs that reveal secrets about the life of that tree and the landscape we stand in. The clues are easy to spot when you know what to look for, but remain invisible to most people.

In How to Read a Tree, you'll discover the simple principles that explain the shapes and patterns you can see in trees and what they mean. And you'll learn rare skills that can be applied every time you pass a tree, whether you are in a town or a wilder spot.

As the author of the international bestsellers The Walker's Guide and How to Read Water, Tristan Gooley knows how to uncover the phenomena worth looking for. He has been instructing people in the art of reading trees for two decades and this book includes signs that will not be found in any other book in the world.

Once you have learned to see these things it is impossible to unsee them. We will never look at a tree the same way again.

'There's a Cornish saying that nothing is left behind in an autumnal tide, the powerful tug between the sun and the equator makes the water surface stronger, and it pulls and builds until we are left with what is known as great tides—but as I stand here on my childhood beach someplace in my 40s, all I can see is the stretch of grey rocks and sand where the ebb has come and gone.'

Natasha Carthew grew up in rural poverty in Cornwall, battling limited opportunities, precarious resources, escalating property prices, isolation and a community marked by the ravages of inequality. Her world existed alongside the postcard picture Cornwall, where wealth and privilege converged on sandy beaches and expensive second homes.

In the rockpools and hedgerows of the natural world, Natasha found solace in the beauty of the landscape, and in the mobile library she found her means of escape. In her first non-fiction audiobook she returns to the cliff-paths of her childhood, determined to make sense of an upbringing shaped by political neglect and a life defined by the beauty of nature.

Undercurrent is part-memoir, part-investigation, part love-letter to Cornwall. It is a vivid, powerful exploration of rural poverty, and the often devastating impact of living without the means or support to build a future. This is a journey through place, and a story of hope, beauty, and fierce resilience.

THE SENSATIONAL NEW THRILLER FROM SARAH BONNER—REVENGE IS BEST SERVED SWEET.

Secrets and lies ruin lives

Two women receive the same anonymous note.

For one it's a threat.

For the other it's an invitation for revenge.

Helena is beautiful, successful and living in married bliss in Exeter. But she's hiding a secret that could tear her perfect life apart. When the notes begin to arrive, she realises someone else must know. But what might her husband and his overbearing family do if they find out the truth?

Thea is reeling from her best friend Helena's death. But when she starts digging into the circumstances, she receives a threatening note warning her to stop. She knows her friend's death wasn't an accident. This was murder. And she is determined to get revenge. And everyone knows, it's almost always the husband . . .

An audacious novel set in near-future America, from the critically-acclaimed author of Spaceman of Bohemia.

When Adela discovers she has a terminal illness, her thoughts turn to Tereza, the American-raised daughter she gave up at birth. Leaving behind her moody, grown son, Roman in their native Czech village, she flies to the United States to find the long-lost daughter who never knew her.

In New York City, Tereza is working as the star researcher for two suspicious biotech moguls hellbent on developing a 'god pill' to extend human life indefinitely. But before Tereza can find a cure for Adela, her mother dies mysteriously.

Narrated from the beyond by Adela, A Brief History of Living Forever is a high-wire act of storytelling. By turns insightful, moving and funny, the novel blends an immigrant mother's heartbreaking journey through the American dream with her children's quest to reclaim her from a country that would erase any record of her existence.

An exposé of the billionaires who built the US economy on sand, and the virus that saw it crumble.

A kaleidoscopic account of the financial carnage of the pandemic, revealing the fear, grit and gambles that drove the economy's winners and losers - from a leading Wall Street Journal reporter.

Crash Landing takes listeners behind the scenes of an unprecedented period of global economic turmoil, letting listeners into the inner lives of the men and women trying to save big business from the brink.

The world's most powerful CEOs never saw it coming, especially after a decade of growth that saw them riding high. Then whispers of a new flu-like illness became a crescendo, and by the end of March 2020, 10 million people were out of work, iconic firms were begging for bailouts and countless small businesses were in freefall.

How do you sustain a workforce that can no longer work? How do you ride out a crisis that has no end in sight? How do you prepare for a recovery in a new world? Liz Hoffman pulls back the curtain on the most violent few months in the modern global economy, taking listeners inside boardrooms, onto factory floors and into trading pits. Featuring original interviews with the people responsible for the economy, and in charge of making sure it survives.

A gripping story of big business and even bigger characters, Crash Landing will appeal to fans of Michael Lewis and Andrew Sorkin. This is an audiobook that gives you the inside scoop and answers the most important question of today: will this remarkable time give rise to newfound resilience or become just another costly mistake to be forgotten?

The old world is broken. Be part of a better future.

America, 2049: Summer temperatures are intolerably high, the fossil fuel industry has shut down, and humans are implanted with a 'Flick' at birth, which allows them to remain perpetually online. The wealthy live in the newly created Floating City off the coast, while people on the mainland struggle to get by. For Rose, a job as a hostess in the city's elite club, feels like her best hope for a better future.

At a Cold War-era research station, a group of highly-trained women with the code-name White Alice are engaged in climate surveillance. But the terms of their employment become increasingly uncertain.

And in a former oil town in northern Canada called Dominion Lake, a camp is being built-Camp Zero. A rare source of fresh, clean air and cooler temperatures, it will be the beginning of a new community and a new way of life. Grant believes it will be the perfect place to atone for his family's dark legacy.

Everyone has an agenda. So who can you trust? Could falling in love be most the radical act of all?

Thrilling, immersive and disturbingly prescient Camp Zero is about the world we've built and where we go from here.