Listen, Relax and Enjoy the Wonders of Full Audiobook

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 705476

Title: Intrigue and Satire: Later Restoration Comedies: 11 BBC Radio Full Cast Productions including The Recruiting Officer and The Way of the World and more

Author: Aphra Behn, Delarivier Manley, George Farquhar, John Vanburgh, Susanna Centivre, William Congreve

Narrator: Adjoa Andoh, Alex Jennings, Celia Imrie, Frances Barber, Full Cast , Hugh Bonneville, Indira Varma, Josie Lawrence, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Kris Marshall, Nicholas Parsons, Peter Eyre, Sheila Hancock, Sian Thomas

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19:06:00

Language: English

Release date: 11-16-23

Publisher: PGRH UK

Genres: Romance, Fiction & Literature, General, Satire

Summary:

A dazzling collection of comedies from the later Restoration period

England's 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 and the reign of new monarchs William and Mary signified a turning point for Restoration comedy with laws being passed to restrict playwrights' freedoms. The latter years are marked by a shift towards more moral storylines, mixing humour with social and political issues, alongside the lighthearted 'comedy of manners'.

The works in this collection bring together these complementary styles, full of humour while also focusing on hard hitting themes. We open with a 1688 piece by Aphra Behn, England's first professional female writer. Oroonoko is a powerful critique of the slave trade centring around a betrayed African prince. Adapted for BBC Radio, it stars Leo Wringer.

A pre-eminent Restoration dramatist, William Congreve was renowned for his witty dialogue and brilliant characterisation, exemplified in the plays The Old Bachelor, The Double-Dealer and Love for Love. As heard on BBC Radio, these sparkling satirical portraits of romance, deception and the battle of the sexes star James Dale, Nicholas Parsons, Michael Spice and Maxine Audley.

In her 1696 tragedy The Royal Mischief playwright and pamphleteer Delarivier Manley tackled gender politics rather than party politics. This BBC Radio adaptation stars Sian Thomas as the transgressive princess Homais, whose unrestrained sexual desire represents a threat to both the monarchy and the patriarchy.

A loveless marriage is under the spotlight in The Provok'd Wife, John Vanburgh's outspoken 1697 comedy of sex, debauchery and revenge that is Restoration comedy at its finest. Saskia Reeves stars as Lady Brute, with Julian Rhind-Tutt as confirmed bachelor Heartfree.

Irish playwright George Farquhar stormed the London stage with his 1699 comedy The Constant Couple, featuring a wealthy heiress seeking revenge, and the three rivals vying for her hand. Its popularity was mainly due to its rakish hero, Sir Harry Wildair, played in this BBC dramatisation by Alec Clunes. It is followed by William Congreve's The Way of the World, a comic masterpiece that exposes the grasping falsity of fashionable London society. Sheila Hancock stars, with Alex Jennings, Robert Glenister, Frances Barber and Indira Varma.

Susanna Centilivre's 1705 comedy The Basset Table explores several hot topics of the time: the rise of science, gambling and female education. Featuring two strong, independent heroines determined to dodge unwanted marriages, this delightfully exuberant comedy stars Eleanor Bron and Danielle Allan.

Concluding this collection are George Farquhar's two most popular plays. The Recruiting Officer, starring Paul Higgins and Lisa Dillon, is set in Shrewsbury during the War of the Spanish Succession, where wives are recruited while soldiers are wooed.

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 650778

Title: Breathing for Pregnancy: How to find calm through the four trimesters

Author: Carolyn Cowan

Narrator: Carolyn Cowan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 06:37:48

Language: English

Release date: 11-16-23

Publisher: PGRH UK

Genres: Health & Wellness, Women's Health, Parenting

Summary:

Brought to you by Penguin.

Easy ways to feel safe and calm during pregnancy.

The journey to becoming a parent can be a landscape of joy and apprehension, of doubt and anxiety, of love and overwhelm. In this gentle and supportive guide, psychotherapist and breathwork teacher Carolyn Cowan uncovers the amazing hidden power of the breath.

Breathing for Pregnancy will teach you how to:

- Ease symptoms of worry and anxiety during pregnancy and labour

- Use breathing to manage your stress response and recover from symptoms such as morning sickness

- Stretch and move through yoga poses during pregnancy and after birth

- Create your own breathwork practice

Carolyn Cowan's unique and empathetic practice will allow you to unlock a new understanding of yourself and feel relaxed and comfortable during pregnancy.

©2023 Carolyn Cowan (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 637961

Title: Warhol After Warhol: Power and Money in the Modern Art World

Author: Richard Dorment

Narrator: Peter Noble

Format: Unabridged

Length: 07:56:21

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-23

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Genres: Biography & Memoir, Arts & Entertainment

Summary:

Long-time art critic Richard Dorment reveals the corruption and lies of the art world and its mystifying authentication process.

Late one afternoon in the winter of 2003 art critic Richard Dorment answered a telephone call from a stranger. The caller was Joe Simon, an American film producer and art collector. He was ringing at the suggestion of David Hockney, his neighbour in Malibu. A committee of experts called the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board had declared the two Warhols in his collection to be fake. He wanted to know why and thought Dorment could help.

This call would mark the beginning of an extraordinary story that would play out over the next ten years and would involve a cast of characters straight out of fiction. From rock icons and film stars; art dealers and art forgers; to a murdered Russian oligarch and a lawyer for the mob; from courtrooms to auction houses: all took part in a bitter struggle to prove the authenticity of a series of paintings by the most famous American artist of the twentieth century.

Part detective story, part art history, part memoir, part courtroom drama, Warhol After Warhol is a spellbinding account of the dark connection between money, power and art.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 697480

Title: December to Remember

Author: Jenny Bayliss

Narrator: Elizabeth Sastre

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11:06:00

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-23

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Genres: Romance, Rom-Com, Holiday, Contemporary

Summary:

'This cosy read is guaranteed to put you in the festive spirit.' - Good Housekeeping

'A joyous, uplifting and funny tale... As warming as mulled cider on a winter's night, this is a sweet celebration of sisterly love, festive romances and community spirit' - WI Life

A December to Remember is a cosy, small-town festive read to curl up with this winter, perfect for fans of Josie Silver and Lindsey Kelk.

Wildly different half-sisters Maggie, Simone and Star have hardly seen each other since their idyllic summers spent in the charming village of Rowan Thorp, the home of their eccentric father, Augustus. Known for the fruitful ways in which he and his bustling curiosity shop kept the towns tongues wagging and ladies swooning, Augustus was loved by all and known by none, not even his daughters.

Now, years later, the three estranged women are unexpectedly reunited at the reading of Augustus’s will. Maggie, Simone and Star are shocked to find out that Augustus has engineered a series of hoops through which the three women must jump to unlock their inheritance – the last thing any of them want to do. But each sister desperately needs the money, and they are in no position to rebel against their father's final wishes.

Spending the winter months at Rowan Thorp stirs up feelings with forgotten flames, and makes the sisters confront the lives they’ve left behind. As old wounds resurface and long-buried secrets come to light, the sisters must learn to work together if they hope to succeed. Sometimes the only way to move forward is to go back to where it all began . . .

'No one does holidays better than Jenny Bayliss' - Amy E. Reichert, author of Once Upon a December

'A December to Remember is such a cosy, feel-good winter delight’ - My Weekly

'A charming and heart-warming tale of family bonds, loss and love to snuggle up with this festive season' - Woman's Weekly

5* READER REVIEWS:

A good book to curl up to on a winter’s night. A must read!

I love, love, LOVED this story. It gave me all the Christmas feels.

A perfect read for the holiday season, reminding us of the power of family and the magic of love.

This is a delightful Christmas read; you'll need a cosy armchair, cosy blanket and a mug of mulled wine!

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 675937

Title: Blood on the Snow: The Russian Revolution 1914-1924

Author: Robert Service

Narrator: Leighton Pugh

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16:22:44

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-23

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Genres: History, Russia

Summary:

'A terrific book about a terrifying subject by the best historian of Russia working today' - Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich

'This work of a lifetime presents high-octane, high-politcal drama' - Guardian

In Blood on the Snow, Robert Service returns to the subject that has formed the backbone of his long and distinguished career: the Russian Revolution.

For Service, the great unanswered question is how to reconcile the two vital narratives that underpin the extraordinary but troubled events of 1917. One puts the blame squarely on Tsar Nicholas II and on Alexander Kerensky’s provisional government that deposed him. The other is the view from the bottom, that of the workers and peasants who wanted democratic socialism, not the Bolshevik dictatorship imposed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and his successors.

Service's vivid and revisionist account spans the period from the outbreak of the First World War to Lenin’s death in 1924. In it, he reveals that key seeds of the revolution were sown by the Tsar's decision to join the war against Germany in 1914. He shows with brutal clarity how those events played out, eventually leading to the establishment of the totalitarian Soviet regime, which would endure for the next seven decades.

Nicholas II, Kerensky and Lenin are to the fore, but Service enriches his narrative by drawing on little-known diaries of those such as the Vologda peasant Alexander Zamaraev, the NCO Alexei Shtukaturov and the Moscow accounts clerk Nikita Okunev. Through the testimony of these ‘ordinary’ people, Service traces the tortuous path that Russia took through war, revolution and civil war.

'This authoritative, detailed account shows how Lenin won control of Russia and caused untold misery . . . ' - The Times

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 675941

Title: Edge

Author: David Baldacci

Narrator: Erin Bennett, Erin Cottrell, Tiffany Smith, Will Collyer, Zachary Webber

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11:44:50

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-23

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Genres: Thriller & Horror, International Mystery

Summary:

Intense thrills at a breakneck pace, The Edge is the killer sequel to David Baldacci's runaway number one bestseller The 6:20 Man, featuring elite undercover operative Travis Devine. Read by Zachary Webber (The 6:20 Man).

‘One of the world’s thriller masters’ – Daily Mail

A Brutal Murder

Retired from the Army’s most prestigious special ops force, Travis Devine is now part of an elite undercover team in Homeland Security. But when he’s brought in by agent Emerson Campbell to investigate the murder of a young woman, he quickly learns that this case is more personal than most.

A Small Town

Four days earlier Jennifer Silkwell was found dead on the rocks of the Maine coastline. A high ranking analyst for the CIA, she had knowledge of national security secrets that would be valuable to a number of enemies. And her senator father once saved Emerson Campbell’s life.

A Big Secret

Knowing how much is riding on the case, Devine packs his bags and heads for the small town of Putnam in Maine. But small towns can harbour big secrets, and not everyone wants to share them with outsiders. Not when there’s a killer on the loose . . .

Killer twists. Heroes to believe in. Trust Baldacci.

Praise for David Baldacci:

‘Baldacci is still peerless’ – Sunday Times

‘One of the all-time best thriller authors’ – Lisa Gardner, author of One Step Too Far

‘Baldacci delivers, every time!’ – Lisa Scottoline, author of Loyalty

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 677500

Title: Murder at Holly House

Author: Denzil Meyrick

Narrator: Tom Turner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10:39:52

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-23

Publisher: PGRH UK

Genres: Thriller & Horror, Suspense, Police Stories, Cozy Mystery

Summary:

Brought to you by Penguin.

'A quintessential slice of Yuletide murder mystery' Sun

'The feel-good factor is off the scale' The Times

'A fun book. Playful. One to make you smile' Stuart MacBride

'A wonderfully entertaining mystery' Ian Moore

'Best read of the year' Quintin Jardine

A village of secrets

It's December 1952, and a dead stranger has been found lodged up the chimney of Holly House in the remote town of Elderby. Is he a simple thief, or a would-be killer? Either way, he wasn't on anyone's Christmas wish list.

A mystery that can't be solved

Inspector Frank Grasby is ordered to investigate. The victim of some unfortunate misunderstandings, he hopes this case will help clear his name. But as is often the way for Grasby, things most certainly don't go according to plan.

A Christmas to remember

Soon blizzards hit the North York Moors, cutting off the village from help, and the local doctor's husband is found murdered. Grasby begins to realise that everyone in Elderby is hiding something - and if he can't uncover the truth soon, the whole country will pay a dreadful price...

©2023 Denzil Meyrick (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 702594

Title: Michael Portillo: On the World Wars: A BBC Radio History Collection

Author: Michael Portillo

Narrator: Michael Portillo

Format: Unabridged

Length: 07:23:30

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-23

Publisher: PGRH UK

Genres: History, World, Military

Summary:

Specially selected history series presented by Michael Portillo, exploring the most significant events before, during and after the First and Second World Wars

Journalist and broadcaster Michael Portillo has always been fascinated by the past. A former politician and history graduate, he has presented several TV documentaries, including Portillo's Empire Journey and Great British Railway Journeys. Now, in these fascinating radio programmes, he turns the spotlight on World War One and Two, examining the cultural, political and economic upheaval surrounding these devastating global conflicts.

1913: The Year Before sees him challenging the notion that the Great War was responsible for seismic shifts in British society. Over 10 episodes, he looks at themes including the suffrage movement, the Irish question, the decline of the liberal party and the arts, and argues that to a great extent, Britain was already in the process of transforming itself by 1913.

The 2-part series The Great War of Words finds Portillo revealing how our understanding of World War One has been distorted by historians, politicians and cultural commentators. He analyses Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium in August 1914, showing how it transformed Britain's war into a moral cause; and considers how arguments over the origins of the war and the issue of war guilt evolved into a fierce, high-stakes battle for meaning. A follow-up episode, The Great War of Words: Peace before Annihilation?, centres around the factors that prevented peace breaking out between 1914 and 1918, and the attempts that were made to achieve it.

In four episodes from Things We Forgot to Remember, he delves into the First World War and the interwar years, reflecting on the Somme and the victories of 1918, the failings and successes of the League of Nations, the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin and Neville Chamberlain's notorious 1938 declaration of 'peace for our time'.

The aerial bombardment of Britain is the subject of The Blitz, in which Portillo chairs a discussion with leading historians about the strategy and legacy of Nazi Germany's decision to bomb and destroy key British cities.

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 671009

Title: How Life Works: A Users Guide to the New Biology

Author: Philip Ball

Narrator: Philip Ball

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17:40:44

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-23

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Genres: Science & Technology, Biology & Chemistry

Summary:

Enticingly read by the author, Philip Ball.

'An essential primer on humanity’s ongoing quest to understand the secrets of life . . . Excellent . . . Ball is a terrific writer.' – Adam Rutherford, The Guardian

A cutting-edge new vision of biology that proposes to revise our concept of what life is – from Science Book Prize winner Philip Ball.

Biology is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Several aspects of the standard picture of how life works have been exposed as incomplete, misleading, or wrong.

In How Life Works, Philip Ball explores the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more ingenious affair than we had guessed. With this knowledge come new possibilities. Today we can redesign and reconfigure living systems, tissues, and organisms. We can reprogram cells, for instance, to carry out new tasks and grow into structures not seen in the natural world. Some researchers believe that ultimately we will be able to regenerate limbs and organs, and perhaps even create new life forms that evolution has never imagined.

Incorporating the latest research and insights, How Life Works is a sweeping journey into this new frontier of the nature of life, a realm that will reshape our understanding of life as we know it.

Contact: [email protected]

Listen to this audiobook in full for free on https://hotaudiobook.com/free

ID: 681365

Title: Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the fight to expose its toxic secrets

Author: Jeff Horwitz

Narrator: Jeff Horwitz

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10:18:12

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-23

Publisher: PGRH UK

Genres: Business & Economics, Management & Leadership, Business Development

Summary:

Brought to you by Penguin.

Facebook knew it had a problem. The company had been humiliated by headlines, painted as complicit in the manipulation of democratic voting and an assault on the global social fabric. Their stated mission was to connect people, but they couldn't afford to destroy society in the process. And so they hired a small team to make sure they didn't repeat the same mistakes.

From the Wall Street Journal reporter whose explosive stories have rocked Facebook and its leadership, this is the story of the Civic Integrity Team: a select band of engineers, coders, economists, and experts hired to peer inside the company's secretive algorithms for the first time and find out what exactly was going wrong.

They were successful. Too successful. The Integrity unit discovered proof that Facebook distorted and amplified the basest of human impulses. The company was not merely providing a platform for bad actors but amplifying their power for profit. Enduring personal trauma and professional resistance in their often lonely and dark investigations, the Integrity team nevertheless isolated many of Facebook's worst problems, complete with tentative and hopeful steps to solve them - only to discover that they were set up to fail, and would have to take matters into their own hands.

©2023 Jeff Horwitz (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Contact: [email protected]