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For British children the Second World War was a terrifying time of deprivation, uprootings and separation. But many also endured intense air raids or found themselves, shockingly, caught up in the action.

Young Voices tells how British children across the globe lived in the days before and during the fighting. Meet nine-year-old Jean Greaves, whose father was taken by the Nazis for helping Jewish people; schoolboy Derek Bech who clung to a raft in heavy seas after his ship was torpedoed; baker's boy Ron Hurford in occupied Guernsey who stole German flour for his family; teenager and messenger Peter Izard who dodged a falling doodlebug; Manila internee Jacqueline Towell who couldn't walk for malnutrition; and many others who survived adversity and danger.

Through the breathtaking stories of over one hundred contributors, Lyn Smith has written an extraordinary history of the war as seen through child's eyes.

The audiobook edition features original archival recordings from the Imperial War Museum and a narration from Tim Piggott-Smith.

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When their son Rowan was born, Rupert and Kristin's dream had come true. But the dream became a nightmare when their beautiful boy developed a disorder that left him incapable of communication, tormented by raging fits, requiring 24-hour care - and shattering their lives.

Then, one day, father and son were walking in the woods near their house and stumbled across their neighbour's old brown horse, Betsy. What happened next was unlike anything Rupert had ever seen. Certainly, the effect on Betsy was extraordinary: she went stock-still and bowed her head, wide-eyed and quivering before the child. But when Rupert lifted Rowan onto Betsy's back, the effect on his son was nothing short of miraculous: Rowan started to speak...

Shaken but exhilarated, Rupert proposed that the family make a journey to the ancient homeland of the horse, deep in the wilds of Mongolia, where he'd heard astonishing stories of healing and transformation. So began an epic journey on horseback, from their home in Texas to the furthest reaches of the planet - a journey that would test their love, challenge their beliefs, and change their lives.

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Before fate intervened, Joseph Needham was a distinguished biochemist at Cambridge University, married to a fellow scientist. In 1937 he was asked to supervise a young Chinese student named Lu Gwei-Djen, and in that moment began the two greatest love affairs of his life – Miss Lu, and China.

Miss Lu inspired Needham to travel to China where he initially spent three dangerous years as a wartime diplomat. He established himself as the pre-eminent China scholar of all time, firm in his belief that China would one day achieve world prominence. By the end of his life, Needham had become a truly global figure, travelling endlessly and honoured by all - though banned from America because of his politics. And in 1989, after a fifty-two year affair, he finally married the woman who had first inspired his passion.

The Magnificent Barbarian is Simon Winchester at his best - at once a magnificent portrait of one man's remarkable life and a riveting exploration of the country that so engaged him.

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Lola has every reason to be interested in who Paddy’s marrying – because although she’s his girlfriend, she definitely isn’t the bride-to-be. Heartbroken, she flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola’s retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes?

Not if journalist Grace has anything to do with it. She wants the inside story on the de Courcy engagement and thinks Lola holds the key. Grace knew Paddy a long time ago. But why can’t she forget him?

Grace’s sister, Marnie, might have the answer but she also has issues with the past. Her family is wonderful but they can’t take away memories of her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on?

And what of the future Mrs de Courcy … Alicia is determined to be the perfect politician’s wife. But does she know the real Paddy de Courcy?

Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all...

‘There’s something I need your help with. The details are a little hazy at the moment, but I sense that it’s going to be something big. Very big indeed. Have you heard of Dr Julius Gorner?’

It’s a name that will become seared into James Bond’s consciousness. The name of a man who knows no master but his own power-crazed ego, whose wealth is exceeded only by his greed and who will stop at nothing until he has destroyed the very heart of Great Britain.

A savage execution in the desolate outskirts of Paris sets in motion a chain of events designed to lead only to global catastrophe, as a tide of lethal narcotics threatens to engulf Sixties Britain, a British airliner goes missing over Iraq and the thunder of coming war echoes round the Middle East...

Bond finds a willing accomplice in the shape of a glamorous Parisian called Scarlett Papava. He will need all her help in a life-and-death struggle with his most dangerous adversary yet – a man who would dance with the Devil himself.

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Living in Paris with her partner, the workaholic Mr Frog, and their adorable toddler, Tadpole, Catherine decides to alleviate the boredom of her metro-boulot-dodo routine by starting a blog under the name of Petite Anglaise.

Writing with disarming honesty about Paris life, about the confines of her hollow relationship with Mr Frog and about the wonder and pain that comes with being a mother, she finds a new purpose to her day.

As Petite Anglaise, Catherine regains her confidence and makes virtual friends, including one charismatic and single Englishman who lives in Brittany, James. And after meeting James one evening in a bar, Catherine feels she has regained her ability to fall in love, too.

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From punk to mod to New Romantic, and eventually to acclaimed poet, Simon Armitage writes about a life where music and poetry have been core. And about a place, the village of Marsden in west Yorkshire, where he can stand and look out across a huge circumference of inspiration and influence: Joy Division, the Smiths and The Fall to the west, the Comsat Angels and Pulp to the south, Andrew Marvell and Larkin way out east, Ted Hughes and Plath just to the north. Gig is a warm, vivid, wonderful book about music, poetry, family and … always … the North.

A handful of kite hobbyists scattered around the world find each other on-line and collaborate on the most radical improvement in kite design in decades. A few people find that a world-class on-line encyclopedia created entirely by volunteers and open for editing by anyone, a wiki, is not an impractical idea. Jihadi groups trade instruction entirely on-line.

Our age’s new technologies of social networking are evolving, and evolving us. New groups are doing new things in new ways, and we’re doing the old things better and more easily. Business models are being transformed at dizzying speeds, and the larger social impact is in a way so profound that it’s under-appreciated. In Here Comes Everybody, one of the culture’s wisest observers give us his lucid and penetrating analysis on what this means for what we do and who we are.

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Leo Gursky is a man who fell in love at the age of ten and has been in love ever since. These days he is just about surviving life in America, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbour know he's still alive, drawing attention to himself at the milk counter of Starbucks. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago in the Polish village where he was born Leo fell in love with a young girl called Alma and wrote a book in honour of his love. These days he assumes that the book, and his dreams, are irretrievably lost, until one day they return to him in the form of a brown envelope.

Meanwhile, a young girl, hoping to find a cure for her mother's loneliness, stumbles across a book that changed her mother's life and she goes in search of the author. Soon these and other worlds collide in The History of Love, a captivating audio exploring the power of love, of loneliness and of survival.

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When Neil Strauss - a self-proclaimed AFC (average frustrated chump) - withdraws $500 and signs-up for a workshop with notorious pick-up artist Mystery, he embarks upon a life-changing journey into the bizarre underworld of 'players'.  Creating their own vernacular and codes of honour, these are men that have devoted their lives to perfecting techniques of seduction.  In the course of the next two years Neil transforms himself from a frustrated, insecure journalist into the quick thinking, smooth talking Style, a character irresistible to women.  Then, as he is voted The World's Number One Pick-up Artist, he falls for a woman who could beat him at his own game.  With guest appearances from Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, and Courtney Love.

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While panic and suspicion flood the land, a small band of travellers comes together to outrun the breakdown in law and order. But when one of their number is found hanging from a tree, the chilling discovery confirms that something more sinister than plague is in their midst. And as the runes warn of treachery, it appears no one is quite what they seem, least of all the child rune reader, who mercilessly compels each of her companions to tell their stories.  And face the consequences.

Take a leap of imagination and embark on an unforgettable journey through the ravaged countryside ... with only a scarred trader in holy relics, a conjuror, two musicians, and a deformed storyteller for company.

Company of Liars is published on 31 January - to be alerted when it becomes available enter your email address here.