Showing results by narrator "Jake Urry" in All Categories

Devon, a suicidal man, learns to appreciate life again during the first day of the battle of the Somme, which is regarded as the bloodiest day in British military history. He finds himself trapped in a crater, pinned down by relentless machine-gun fire all day long. Strange things begin to happen around him.... Devon waits in fear of what the night will bring.

I was born in London as Gabriel Wallace. The child of high society, although I was raised to appreciate everything that softly landed in my hand. I followed all the rules. I worked hard, studied hard, and ended up a captain in the Royal Navy before my 25th birthday. Unfortunately, I saw the world through my own eyes, not the eyes of my superiors, and my vision was clear.

With the thunder and lightning outside increasing in ferocity, Charles read and re-read the words. Like his name on the envelope, the words of the message within had also been typed - this communication contained no actual handwriting whatsoever. At length, Charles allowed his hand to fall to his lap, the message still held between his fingers. Had there been anyone else present in the room, the words would now have been visible to all. The message read: "We know your secret".

In Edgar Allan Poe's short and turbulent life, he laid the groundwork for the genre of modern horror and, almost as an aside, invented the modern detective story.

The visit of the Comte du Barcelone to Les Baux sparks bitter memories of the recent civil war and Lady Etiennette des Baux has no intention of ceding to her overlord. Nor does she plan to remain a widow and she sets her sights on Dragonetz, offering him Provence as an incentive. Meanwhile, Estela faces her own demons. Confronted with her childhood abusers, threatened and attacked, she confides in her friends. Unfortunately, one of those friends is Dragonetz' worst enemy and Estela has no idea of what he is capable.

Set in a sprawling gothic mansion in a remote coastal location somewhere in the British Isles, volume one begins in the middle of a violent storm and tells of the elderly recluse Lord Alfred Willoughby as he tries to decide what is to become of his vast fortune after his death. After much deliberation, in a last-ditch attempt to try and show to his son the importance of applying himself to a task and staying with it to the end, he devises a series of enigmatic puzzles cunningly concealed within the lines of a poem - the cryptic lines.

Rupert Chawner Brooke was born at 5 Hillmorton Road, Rugby, Warwickshire, on 3rd August 1887, the third of four children. Brooke attended preparatory school nearby at Hillbrow and then went on to Rugby School. In 1905, he became friends with St. John Lucas, who thereafter became something of a mentor to him. While travelling in Europe he worked on a thesis, 'John Webster and the Elizabethan Drama', which won him a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge.

William Pett Ridge was born at Chartham, near Canterbury, Kent, on 22 April 1859. His family’s resources were certainly limited. His father was a Railway Porter, and the young Pett Ridge, after schooling in Marden, Kent became a Clerk in a railway clearing-house. The hours were long and arduous, but self-improvement was Pett Ridge’s goal. After working from nine until seven o’clock he would attend evening classes at Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institute to follow his passion: the ambition to write.

One of the greatest of English poets, Edmund Spenser was born in East Smithfield, London, in 1552 and went to school at Merchant Taylors' School and later at Pembroke College, Cambridge. In 1579, he published The Shepheardes Calender, his first major work. Edmund journeyed to Ireland in July 1580, in the service of the newly appointed Lord Deputy, Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton. His time included the terrible massacre at the Siege of Smerwick. The epic poem The Faerie Queene is acknowledged as Edmund’s masterpiece.

Arthur Morrison was born on November 1st, 1863, in Poplar, in the East End of London. From the age of eight, after the death of his father, he was brought up, along with two siblings, by his mother, Jane. This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialised imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes and many compilations.

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was born on the 1st April 1875 in Greenwich, London. Leaving school at 12 because of truancy, by the age of fifteen he had experience; selling newspapers, as a worker in a rubber factory, as a shoe shop assistant, as a milk delivery boy and as a ship’s cook. By 1904 he had completed his first thriller, The Four Just Men. Since nobody would publish it he resorted to setting up his own publishing company which he called Tallis Press.

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was born on the 1st April 1875 in Greenwich, London. Leaving school at 12 because of truancy, by the age of fifteen he had experience; selling newspapers, as a worker in a rubber factory, as a shoe shop assistant, as a milk delivery boy and as a ship’s cook. By 1904 he had completed his first thriller, The Four Just Men. Since nobody would publish it he resorted to setting up his own publishing company which he called Tallis Press.

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was born on the 1st April 1875 in Greenwich, London. Leaving school at 12 because of truancy, by the age of fifteen he had experience; selling newspapers, as a worker in a rubber factory, as a shoe shop assistant, as a milk delivery boy and as a ship’s cook. Wallace now began to take his career as a fiction writer more seriously, signing with Hodder and Stoughton in 1921. He was marketed as the ‘King of Thrillers’ and they gave him the trademark image of a trilby, a cigarette holder and a yellow Rolls Royce.

Oscar Wilde's only novel is half gothic horror, half morality tale, and is as timeless as his plays and poems. First published in 1889, this unabridged audiobook edition narrated by Jake Urry captures the wit, the charm, and the horror of Wilde's most controversial work. Perhaps the most well-known outing for Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles has all the ingredients of the coziest of mysteries. Jake Urry brings this head-scratching tale to life in this unabridged telling of a timeless classic.

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, CBE, was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on March 13, 1884. His father was an Anglican clergyman which involved postings abroad. Walpole’s early education was by a Governess until, in 1893, his parents decided he needed a better education and the young boy was sent to England. He first attended a preparatory school in Truro followed by Sir William Borlase's Grammar School in Marlow in 1895, where he was bullied, frightened and miserable.

A king, a witch, an assassin, a farmer, and a backwoodsman struggle to survive in this fantasy novella about magic, power, and family. Tresladore, where both white and black magic are outlawed and masters of the sword are worshiped, is the first island we explore in this saga about kings and queens fighting to win and keep their thrones.

In today's busy world, it can often feel like there's too much to be done in too little time. Using time efficiently is imperative to completing tasks on time and leaving yourself enough hours at the end of the day to spend with your family, or doing the things that matter to you. To use your time wisely, however, requires focus, efficiency, and continuous productivity.

London. A candidate for global capital. Centre of an empire. The swift-beating heart of culture. A sprawling metropolis of life’s rich tapestry. And a bewildering Escher cityscape of overlapping and colliding forces. People, streets, buildings interweaving and interchanging. And our eminent writers have the talent and focus to reveal the story that lies beneath the words.

The short stories written during and about World War I are often overshadowed by the excellent verse of the War Poets. Yet the short story is perhaps their equal in other ways. Within these succinct little time capsules of words are captured ideas, attitudes, feelings and life that are expressed in a few minutes just as movingly, imaginatively and tellingly as in any other form. Some of these stories will be familiar, but some may not. From Virginia Woolf to Katharine Mansfield and John Buchan to C. E. Montague, various writing styles try to make sense of this world at war.

The short stories written during and about World War I are often overshadowed by the excellent verse of the War Poets. Yet the short story is perhaps their equal in other ways. Within these succinct little time capsules of words are captured ideas, attitudes, feelings and life that are expressed in a few minutes just as movingly, imaginatively and tellingly as in any other form. Some of these stories will be familiar, but some may not. From Virginia Woolf to Katharine Mansfield and John Buchan to C. E. Montague, various writing styles try to make sense of this world at war.