HodderPod - Hodder books podcast

An unforgettable love story set in Siberia during the Second World War and of living with impossible choices.

Lena knows she hasn't got long left. While a nurse administers morphine to ease her pain, she relives her life. Growing up in a small town in Poland, she was an earnest young girl determined to become a doctor who found her dreams put on hold as she became the reluctant wife of an army officer and then again by becoming a mother, in which she finds a fierce and surprising joy.

As war approaches, she returns home. But when Russia invades her middle-class family are deemed Enemies of the State and sent to the work camp in Siberia. It is in the endless forest, where, despite the bitter cold, the biting hunger and the back-breaking work, Lena learns that it is possible to fall in love at the edge of the world and the edge of life.

When her lover, Grigori, falls ill she takes the decision to use the precious antibiotics she was given in Poland, to save him. It means that when her daughter becomes sick, she is unable to save her. It's a decision that will continue to haunt her after the war, even as she builds a tentative new life, first in Wales, then England.

Exploring marriage, motherhood and our incredible capacity for cultivating hope in the darkest times, The Snow Hare is the unforgettable story of a woman who dares to love and to dream in the face of impossible odds, and of the peace we each must make with our choices, even long after the years have gone by.

How the Mongol invasions of the Near East reshaped the balance of world power in the Middle Ages.

For centuries, the Crusades have been central to the story of the medieval Near East, but these religious wars are only part of the region's complex history. As The Mongol Storm reveals, during the same era the Near East was utterly remade by another series of wars: the Mongol invasions.

In a single generation, the Mongols conquered vast swaths of the Near East and upended the region's geopolitics. Amid the chaos of the Mongol onslaught, long-standing powers such as the Byzantines, the Seljuk Turks and the crusaders struggled to survive, while new players such as the Ottomans arose to fight back. The Mongol conquests forever transformed the region, while forging closer ties among societies spread across Eurasia.

This is the definitive history of the Mongol assault on the Near East and its enduring global consequences.

A Slough House Christmas short story from the Sunday Times number one bestseller of Bad Actors.

Here in Slough House, the intelligence service's home for inept spies, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

Roddy Ho is used to being the one the slow horses turn to when they need miracles performed, and he's always been Jackson Lamb's Number Two. So when Lamb has a photograph that needs doctoring, it's Ho he entrusts with the task. Christmas is a time for memories, but Lamb doesn't do memories—or so he says. But what is it about the photo that makes him want to alter it? How would the slow horses cope if Roddy Ho didn't exist? And most importantly of all, are the team having Christmas drinks, and if so, where?

Standing by the Wall offers a glimpse into the kind of seasonal merriment you might expect at Slough House, where the boss generally marks the festive season with an increase in hostilities. But then, this is the secret service, not Secret Santa. And the slow horses aren't here to enjoy themselves.

Roddy Roddy Roddy? Ho Ho Ho!

An overview of modern consciousness research and how our brain works.

A concise, elegant, and thought-provoking exploration of the mystery of consciousness and the functioning of the brain.

Despite decades of research, remarkable imagery, and insights from a range of scientific and medical disciplines, the human brain remains largely unexplored. Consciousness has eluded explanation.

Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness offers a brilliant overview of the state of modern consciousness research in twenty brief, revealing chapters. Neuroscientist and author Patrick House describes complex concepts in accessible terms, weaving brain science, technology, gaming, analogy, and philosophy into a tapestry that illuminates how the brain works and what enables consciousness. This remarkable book fosters a sense of mystery and wonder about the strangeness of the relationship between our inner selves and our environment.

A Guardian Best Book of 2020

A History Today Book of the Year, 2020

Renowned historian Olivette Otele uncovers the untold history of Europeans of African descent, from Saint Maurice who became the leader of a Roman legion and Renaissance scholar Juan Latino, to abolitionist Mary Prince and the activist, scholars and grime artists of the present day. Tracing African European heritage through the vibrant, complex, and often brutal experiences of individuals both ordinary and extraordinary, she sheds new light not only on the past but also on questions very much alive today - about racism, identity, citizenship, power and resilience. African Europeans is a landmark celebration of this integral, vibrantly complex slice of European history, and will redefine the field for years to come.

A reflection on hospitality, rooted in the story of A Rocha and the life of the late co-founder Miranda Harris, alongside her daughter Jo Swinney.

At a time when loneliness and isolation have reached unprecedented levels, it has never been more important for Christians to embrace the practice of hospitality. For many, it is a lost art—a practice we have forgotten, neglected or distorted beyond all recognition. Amid material comforts and rife individualism, practising hospitality can often hold unrealistic expectations and insurmountable pressure. But what if the practice of hospitality was simpler and yet more profound than we imagined?

From the simple act of preparing vegetables to the warm welcome of a stranger, co-authors Miranda Harris and her daughter Jo Swinney re-define hospitality for the modern age. Drawing on biblical insights and a deep well of experience—most significantly within the community in the A Rocha family—this is a warm invitation to embrace the loving kindness of others. To be hospitable doesn't require culinary excellence or matching cutlery—it doesn't even require a home of one's own; true hospitality offers a welcome into imperfection and messiness, a place to belong and be embraced.

Following the progression of a meal, from its planning to the moment every guest has departed, A Place at the Table is a heart-warming invitation into a life of thoughtful food preparation, shared meals and meaningful conversation.

In her groundbreaking, deeply reported work, Julia Boorstin reveals the odds-defying leadership approaches of women running the world's most innovative and successful companies—and what we can learn from them.

Now, in When Women Lead, Boorstin brings together the stories of over sixty of those female CEOs and leaders, and dozens of new studies. Her combination of narrative and research reveals how once-underestimated characteristics, from vulnerability and gratitude to divergent thinking, can be vital superpowers—and that anyone can work these approaches to their advantage.

Featuring new interviews with Gwyneth Paltrow, Jenn Hyman, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Lena Waithe, Shivani Siroya, and more, When Women Lead is a radical blueprint for the future of business, and our world at large.

The debut audiobook from much loved radio royalty, DJ and TV personality Nick Grimshaw.

In Soft Lad, for the first time, Grimmy will share his outlooks, surprising obsessions and personal experiences with the world, in audiobook form, from his 14-year career climbing to the helm of the Radio 1 breakfast show, he'll discuss everything from his love of music through to self-care and partying, Red Nose Day, coming out, dogs, family, ADHD, Catholicism and his journey from Oldham, Lancashire, to the bright lights and big city of London–with all that he’s seen in-between.

These are his very best tales and learnings about himself from things gone right and wrong, with all the high and lows, that will make listeners laugh, cry and feel completely nostalgic. It is a heartfelt listen that’s unmistakeably Grimmy.

'What if, until now, you've never really prayed. Not like Jesus designed it, anyway.'

Prayer is the source of Jesus's most astonishing miracles and the subject of Jesus' most audacious promises, and yet, most people - even most Bible-believing Christians - find prayer to be boring, obligatory, disappointing, confusing, or, most often, all of the above.

If you've ever felt this way, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools is your invitation to trade your conceptions and misconceptions about prayer for prayer in its purest form: a vital, sustaining, powerful connection with God that is more real and alive than you could have ever imagined. In this audiobook, Tyler Staton - author, pastor, and national director of the 24/7 Prayer movement - addresses common roadblocks to prayer and gives you the confidence to come to God just as you are.

Through biblical teaching, powerful storytelling, and insights on historic Christian practices, Staton helps you...

Express your doubts and disappointments about prayer

Discover and practice multiple postures of prayer, including silence, persistence, confession, and more

Understand and embrace the wonder and mystery of prayer in everyday life

Realize that prayer is a powerful invitation to partner with God in the redemption of a fallen world

And, ultimately, open or reopen the line of communication with your Creator and experience afresh his divine power on earth.

Prayer is a journey, and this audiobook will help you transition your prayer life from a path littered with half-hearted requests to a treasured journey of ever-deepening, adventurous relationship with Jesus.

A people's history of Piccadilly: London's bustling meeting place for over a century.

There's nowhere quite like Piccadilly Circus.

From the moment they emerge, blinking from the underground station, visitors to Piccadilly Circus face a sensory onslaught. Its streets and alleyways merge into an intoxicating thoroughfare, with the power to propel an individual onwards to adventure, romance, or something more sinister. Ever since its iconic Eros statue appeared in 1893, the junction has been a vibrant meeting place, attracting visitors and pleasure-seekers from all walks of life: political plans and theatrical careers were hatched at its restaurant and café tables, lovers met below the statue of Eros, and to this day tourists pour out of its historic Tube to experience the bright lights of London's nightlife.

Piccadilly explores how the area has been shaped by social and historical events—from female suffrage to world wars to technological advancements—and by its colourful cast of characters—from flower girls, shop assistants and sex workers, to film stars, Bright Young Things and conmen (and women).

For many, the Circus has represented both a home from home and a brave new world, as campaigners, revellers, opportunists and romantics have all been drawn to Piccadilly's bright lights.

This is the story of why Piccadilly Circus continues to mean so much to so many.