Showing results by narrator "Ric Jerrom" in All Categories

These 25 new stories mark Graham Swift's return to the short form after seven acclaimed novels and confirm him as a master storyteller. They unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.

Ravenna, 50BC. Caesar’s forces stand upon the borders of Gaul and Italy. The prospect of a civil war grows ever likelier each day. But for the veteran soldier Lucius Oppius, this may be one conflict too far. With a new lover, he is tempted to end his long military career - and start a new life. But can any man truly be free of his past and who he is? In Rome, Cicero attempts to secure a peace. Against him, a powerful faction in the Senate is bent upon destroying Caesar, for personal and political reasons.

At 22, the war is over for RAF serviceman Harry Leslie Smith - author of the acclaimed Harry's Last Stand - but the battle for love and hope rages on. Stationed in occupied Hamburg, a city physically and emotionally ripped apart by Allied bombing, and determined to escape grinding poverty of his Yorkshire youth, Harry unexpectedly finds a reason to stay: a young German woman by the name of Friede.

In his dialogues, the Stoic philosopher Seneca outlines his thoughts on how to live in a troubled world. Tutor to the young emperor Nero, Seneca wrote practical philosophical exercises that draw upon contemporary Roman life and illuminate the intellectual concerns of the day. The dialogues also have much to say to the modern listener, as they range widely across subjects such as the shortness of life, tranquility of mind, anger, mercy, happiness, and grief at the loss of a loved one.

The essential guide for working in diverse teams and across cultures today. This practical self-help guide will optimise the performance of individuals and teams working in an intercultural environment. By increasing awareness of the nature and impact of diversity in the workplace and national cultural differences, it demonstrates how to use the power of difference to achieve positive results for all. Learn how to mitigate unconscious bias to create inclusive organisations and how to use key cultural dimensions to communicate and cooperate in intercultural teams.

Myshkin was born on a certain day and died on a certain day - and some things happened to him in between. These things presented him with ethical questions, and this book is a record of his attempt to answer those questions. Discovered by his son after Myshkin's death, A Good Life is one man's reckoning with the life he has led and the choices he made. It is at once a philosophical handbook for living and a pause-resisting narrative.

Rook Henderson is an award-winning photographer still carrying the hidden scars of war. Now, suddenly, he is also a widower. Leaving his son, Ralph, to pick up the pieces, Rook flies to Vietnam for the first time in 50 years, escaping to the landscape of a place he once knew so well. But when Ralph follows him out there, seeking answers from the father he barely knows, Rook is forced to unwind his past - his childhood in Yorkshire, his life in London in the 1960s and his marriage to the unforgettable June.

Alec Reid’s ghosts of the 21st century seldom lurk in old houses or waft across chilly moors. His dark tales may breathe alongside the supernatural, but they take place in broad daylight, in our daily lives. Their themes include dead warriors resurrected via Bluetooth, Rumpelstiltskin in the suburbs, an algorithmic fear of ghosts, and the shattered dreams of immortality. The world they describe is the one you inhabit, but you would live in terror were you to recognize it for what it is.

Arnold Appleforth claims getting old is all about attitude. And if that's the case, he needs all the attitude he can get, because his journalistic career is on life support, his sex life nonexistent (except for a recent regrettable incident at a well-known chain restaurant), his financial position precarious and his alcohol consumption prodigious. Add to that his abysmal parenting of his three (or is it four?) children and the biohazard status of his flat, and life isn't a bed of roses.

After Mina Murray asks Sherlock Holmes to locate her fiancé, Holmes and Watson travel to a land far eerier than the moors they had known when pursuing the Hound of the Baskervilles. The confrontation with Count Dracula threatens Holmes' health, his sanity, and his life. Will he survive his battle with Count Dracula?

From beautiful lyrics to madcap waggery, from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's adored lapdog Flush to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's terrifying Hound of the Baskervilles, and encompassing odes, fables, stories, songs, nursery rhymes and more, Mark Bryant has compiled a wonderfully evocative collection of writing on all kinds of dogs by all kinds of authors.

Visible Learning Guide to Student Achievement critically examines the major influences shaping student achievement today. A revision of the International Guide to Student Achievement, this updated edition provides listeners with a more accessible compendium of research summaries—with a particular focus on the school sector.

Wapping, London: March 1799. A sunken lugger in the Pool of London at last reveals its shocking secret. River Surveyor Tom Pascoe of the Marine Police finds the bodies of two men entombed in the crew's cabin. Suspicion falls on a third member of the crew seen fleeing the scene. He had a known motive for murder. Against the background of a nation at war with Napoleon, Tom Pascoe finds his own life under threat as he digs deeper into the case.

Juggling all the tasks and resources you need to make a project run smoothly can seem like an onerous task—from engaging with stakeholders and scoping out the full specification of the project, through to keeping a rein on costs and sticking to schedules. Manage Projects Successfully offers calm and practical advice to help you with setting priorities, communicating with others, monitoring progress and dealing with unexpected events.

PI Deets Shanahan takes on the search of his lifetime - When seventy-one-year-old private investigator Deets Shanahan learns from a snippet of news on the Internet that his brother – who disappeared when they were kids – could be somewhere in Thailand, he immediately sets out, accompanied by his lover, Maureen, to find his errant sibling.

This extraordinary story unfolds in the dim streets of Victorian London's notorious East End. Poverty, squalor and crime fester and proliferate, blighting the lives of all who are unfortunate enough to dwell there. Yet from within the gloom, shines a beacon of light: the light of human dignity. And, sometimes, righteousness, decency and justice win out. In this dramatic play - out of the everlasting human conflict of good versus evil, various giants of their time, immortal beings, come into conflict.

While it's sometimes said that a little stress is good for you, too much can damage your health, jeopardise your performance at work and affect your relationships. With the rise of remote and hybrid working, such issues are only becoming more common and it's too easy to feel worn down and exhausted by stress and worry. Deal with Stress will help you to identify and understand the causes of stress, recognise the symptoms and find the right answers to put you back in control.

In a land riven with plague, in the infamous Walled City, two families vie for control – the Medicis with their genius inventor Leonardo; the Lorraines with Galileo, the most brilliant alchemist of his generation.And when two star-crossed lovers, one from either house, threaten the status quo, a third, shadowy power – one that forever seems a step ahead of all of the familial warring – plots and schemes, and bides its time, ready for the moment to attack…

When 70-something Indianapolis PI Dietrich Deets Shanahan receives a call from Jack Wenders, his former commanding officer in Korea, inviting him to Mexico to discuss a case, Shanahan accepts. But Wenders' shadowy tactics put Shanahan on his guard and rightly so: Wenders has become involved with a private security force that operates lawlessly across borders, without boundaries or limitations. Wenders has blown the whistle and now wants out using Shanahan's own identity to escape....

From the well-worn tin dispatch box belonging to Dr J. H. Watson, three untold stories are brought to light. In Sherlock Holmes and The Murder At Lodore Falls, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are drawn into a case that involves murder, blackmail and robbery. It is a case that leads to danger to both Homes and Watson and brings a confrontation with their old adversary. With Dr Watson facing his own personal nightmares, will Holmes be able to solve the mystery