Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

Bill works as an economist in a right-wing institute giving succour to bankers and businessmen. Bella is a confirmed socialist who teaches yoga and waters the plants in Canary Wharf. Years ago they shared a flat before Bill got married and moved to America. Now he's back and feeling a little off-kilter, so he decides to rekindle his friendship with Bella. Once a month they get together for lunch, where they talk about everything from politics to Proust, parenting and the perils of online dating. The only thing they never discuss is how much they love each other....

Stephen Mangan and Claire Skinner star in all four series of the popular BBC Radio 4 comedy drama. Bill works as an economist in a right-wing institute giving succour to bankers and businessmen. Bella teaches yoga, waters the plants in Canary Wharf and holds Proust seminars for retirees. Years ago they shared a flat before Bill got married and moved to America. Now he's back and feeling a little off-kilter, so he decides to rekindle his friendship with Bella.

Molly Baker is living her best life. Thirty-eight years old, she lives on the 25-acre Hope Farm in Buckinghamshire, surrounded by (mostly) four-legged friends and rolling hills. An ex-teacher, Molly runs the farm as an alternative education for kids who have special needs or behavioural issues. It's full on, but she wouldn't have it any other way. So when the well-groomed Shelby Dacre turns up at Hope Farm asking to enrol his son Lucas, Molly isn't fazed. But Lucas is distant, and soon Molly realises he might be more of a handful than she anticipated.

A collection of the comic master's early stories of perpetually in-the-soup Bertie Wooster and his unflappable valet Jeeves, including their debut in "Extricating Young Gussie" and all 28 stories from "The Inimitable Jeeves" and "Carry On, Jeeves".

Chris Addison – the thinking idiot's pretend anthropologist – takes us on a comic journey through the vast and rich subject of human history in these eight hilarious comedy lectures. Aided by Professor Austin Herring (aka Geoffrey McGivern), Dan Tetsell and Jo Enright, who put their considerable talents to use in sketches illustrating the lectures, he examines how Homo sapiens became Top Species, charts the rise and fall of the Western world and looks at what’s next for the future of mankind.

There's more fun on the ocean waves in these 33 hilarious episodes, as the hapless Captain Povey and his reluctant subordinates are caught up in more comic capers. Contained here are the complete Series Eight and Nine of the popular show, which sees Murray courting Heather, Phillips pursuing the new Wren and Pertwee planning some special commemorative gifts for Troutbridge's 25th anniversary. Plus, the crew embark on a top secret mission, participate in a joint forces exercise and prepare to take two VIPs from The Embassy Lark to Tratvia for a trade festival.

All aboard HMS Troutbridge for maritime mishaps and merriment, as the crew return from eventful leave and sail into more trouble. This collection contains the complete Series Six and Seven of the long-running sitcom, in which Pertwee becomes embroiled in various money-making schemes, Povey has a few domestic difficulties, 'Fatso' Johnson's literary and culinary efforts cause havoc - and there's romantic rivalry between Mr Phillips and Mr Murray for Wren Chasen's affections... Also included is special festive episode 'Hitting the Ice Floe'.

Between 1975 and 1978, when they were at the peak of their popularity on television, Morecambe and Wise also starred in their own radio series, with each episode scripted by the one and only Eddie Braben. This feast of gags, sketches and song and dance numbers - plus of course Ernie’s ‘plays what I wrote’ - features a host of special guests including Ann Hamilton, Anita Harris, Gayle Hunnicutt, Richard Caldicot, Percy Edwards, Nicola Pagett, Brian Wilde, Des O'Connor, Vince Hill, Penelope Keith and The Nolan Sisters.

His name is Failure. Timmy Failure. And his detective agency is on the verge of global domination. Global riches. Global fame. And yet the gods keep throwing him curveballs: for starters, academic probation. The coveted Miracle Report is the key to everything, including a good grade. It’s dirty business. It’s best you know nothing. But one thing is for sure: Timmy Failure will be triumphant again!

During his time as an inspector with the Paris Sûreté, Monsieur Pamplemousse had been 'in at the death' on more than one occasion, but even he had to admit that the phrase took on an entirely new meaning when he was present at the spectacular ending to Cuisine de Chavignol, France's premier television cookery programme.

Who is in Coma Suite Number 5? A matchless lover? A supreme egotist? A selfless martyr? A bad mother? A cherished sister? A selfish wife? All of these. For this is Silvia Shute, who has always done exactly what she wants. Until now, when her life suddenly, shockingly stops. Her past holds a terrible secret, and now that she is unconscious in a hospital bed, her constant stream of visitors are set to uncover the mystery of her broken life. Meanwhile she must lie there, victim of the beloveds, the borings, the babblings and the plain bonkers. Like it or not, the truth is about to pay Silvia a visit. Again, and again and again...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of About a Boy by Nick Hornby, read by Stephen Mangan. Nick Hornby's second best-selling novel is about sex, manliness and fatherhood. Will is 36, comfortable and child-free. And he's discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women - through single-parent groups. Marcus is 12 and a little bit nerdish: he's got the kind of mother who made him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook addition of According to Yes, the hilarious new novel by Dawn French. The Foreign Land of the Very Wealthy - otherwise known as Manhattan's Upper East Side - has its own rigid code of behaviour. It's a code strictly adhered to by the Wilder-Bingham family. Emotional displays - unacceptable. Unruly behaviour - definitely not welcome. Fun - no thanks. This is Glenn Wilder-Bingham's kingdom.

It’s amazing what the lack of immediate threat to one’s life and wellbeing can do for a person’s disposition. High risk, high reward endeavors suddenly seem far less appealing, month-long delays are no longer a cause for concern, and sleeping in every single day of the week becomes an extremely attractive proposition. Indeed, without a pressing need to aggressively expand its power, Boxxy T. Morningwood is finally able to simply sit back, enjoy life, and watch the world both turn and burn.

The doughnut is a thing of beauty, a circle of fried, doughy perfection - a source of comfort in trying times, perhaps. For Theo Bernstein it is far, far more. An accident at work lost Theo his job (and his work involved preventing a Very, Very Large Hadron Collider from blowing up, so he's unlikely to get it back). His wife has left him; he doesn't have any money; and news arrives that his good friend, Professor Pieter van Goyen, renowned physicist and Nobel laureate, has died.

A control freak looks for love (women who leave wet teaspoons in sugar bowls need not apply). ‘I haven’t woken up with a cup of tea by the bed for seven years. It seems such a small thing but it’s one of a thousand things I miss about having someone around to take care of me. I have spent my entire adult life getting things the way I want them and all I want now is someone to give it all up for.’ Jon Richardson. Is your filing faultless? Your CDs, apostrophes, cutlery all in the right places?

Marnie MacGraw wants an ordinary life - a husband, kids, and a minivan in the suburbs. Now that she’s marrying the man of her dreams, she’s sure this is the life she’ll get. Then Marnie meets Blix Holliday, her fiancé’s irascible matchmaking great-aunt who’s dying, and everything changes - just as Blix told her it would. When her marriage ends after two miserable weeks, Marnie is understandably shocked.

Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, the creation of comedy genius David Nobbs, is surely one of the best-loved comedy heroes of our time – in both literature and television. So it is with great pride that Audible presents Reggie’s escapades in digital audio for the very first time: we invite you to join him, and the memorable supporting characters who help him along the way, on one man’s quest to avoid an everyday existence.

June 1998. Elodie Marshall has committed a terrible crime. But when she’s deemed unfit to plead, she is sentenced to living within the confines of a mental health facility. Present day. Sleuthing librarian Pru Pearce and her friends from the Winterbottom Women’s Institute are about to embark on their annual getaway. The 1960s Butlins style Harmony Hollows Resort has caught their attention for a few reasons: the northern ballroom championships and the unsolved double murder from 1983.

Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Betty Marsden and Hugh Paddick star in 15 episodes of the anarchic 1960s radio comedy. Round the Horne arrived on BBC radio in 1965, bringing laughter to Sunday lunchtimes throughout the land. Over the course of 16 weekly episodes it carved a niche in the history of broadcast comedy, a sketch show which prodded the boundaries of propriety and innuendo.