Showing results by narrator "Finlay Robertson" in All Categories

At a time of national emergency, the average person could be forgiven for thinking that crime rates would go down as everyone tried to help the war effort. However, the reality was that criminals saw the war as an opportunity to exploit the emergency conditions, and those with a previously unblemished reputation found themselves tempted off the straight and narrow.

Towards the end of the Second World War a British artist called Kenneth Brill is arrested for painting near the village of Heathrow. Under interrogation a picture emerges as Brill tells the story of his life. Vanishing sees the world through the eyes of one of the forgotten geniuses of British Art, a man whose artistic vision is so piercing he has trouble seeing what is right in front of him.

It's 2006 in the fictional East London borough of Leytonstow. The UK’s pub smoking ban is about to happen, and 38-and-a-half year old John Torrington, a mopper and trolley collector at his local DIY store, is secretly in love with the stylish, beautiful, and middle-class barmaid Lois. John and his hapless, strange, and down-on-their-luck friends, Gabby Longfeather and Glyn Hopkins, live in Clements Markham House - a semi-derelict Edwardian villa divided into unsanitary bedsits, and (mis)managed by the shrewd, Dickensian business man, Mr Kapoor.

What happens to a man who has his ear pressed to the lives of others but not much life of his own? When Stephen Donaldson joins The Institute, he anticipates excitement, romance and new status. This becomes a reality when he is assigned a new case: Phoenix, in which he becomes mesmerized by the voice of the target's wife. Dangerously in love and very lonely, Stephen sets himself up for a vertiginous fall that will forever change his life.

1940, London. A man learns a shocking truth about his past. Warsaw. A mother writes a diary as the ghetto walls go up. From the bombed streets of London, to occupied Warsaw, to the Polish forests bristling with partisans, will their paths cross? Will their pasts be reconciled? And will they survive the deadly assaults on their freedom and their lives?

This is a book of parts. Part tongue-in-cheek field guide, part comic memoire and country yearbook. It’s also a chronicle of calamities – of those unexpected events and terrible ordeals that can occur when you are out and about, just trying to enjoy life. Set over the course of 12 months, covering everything from driven pheasant, fishing in the Pyrenees, goose shooting in Scotland, boar hunting in France and foraging for food on freezing beaches in the 1970s.

Alex and Natalie seem to have the perfect life. But Alex is haunted by terrible events from his childhood. He thought he'd escaped his past, but lately it's been surfacing in the terrifying nightmares that plague his sleep. As Alex's behavior becomes increasingly strange, Natalie fears the worst. Has he been keeping things from her? And who is the mysterious Sheryl he calls out to in his dreams? She is determined to save their marriage by digging up the truth no matter what it costs.

In this witty and mischievous book, philosopher Peter Cave dissects the most controversial disputes today and uses philosophical argument to reveal that many issues are less straightforward than we'd like to believe. Leaving no sacred cow standing, Cave uses ingenious stories and examples to challenge our most strongly held assumptions. Is democracy inherently a good thing? What is the basis of so-called human rights? Is discrimination always bad? Are we morally obliged to accept refugees?

The fourth in a new series of classic detective stories from the vaults of HarperCollins involves a tragic accident during a shooting party. As the story switches between Paris and Hampshire, the possibility of it not being an accident seems to grow more likely. The Detective Story Club, launched by Collins in 1929, was a clearing house for the best and most ingenious crime stories of the age, chosen by a select committee of experts.

The Best Job in the World is the story of how following your passions can lead to life-changing opportunities. Adventurer Ben Southall shares his experiences and lessons learned as the winner of the inaugural Tourism Queensland's Best Job in the World campaign, and reveals how this has led to ongoing opportunities since. Part autobiography, part insight into the power of a unique marketing campaign, this book follows Ben's journey - from leaving the UK on his own expedition around Africa to his new role as caretaker of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef.