Product Description: This New York Times bestseller makes the fascinating argument that the Chinese discovered the Americas a full 70 years before Columbus. Unveiling incontrovertible evidence of their astonishing voyages, 1421 rewrites our understanding of history in a landmark work of historical investigation...read more

[Read by Simon Vance] A story of courage, loyalty, and friendship; of Browsers, Shadow-Tangles, and Tatterdermalions; of incredible landscapes, ingenious devices, and cunning plot twists; Attica has a richness and depth that will delight listeners of all ages. Join Jordy, Alex, and Chloe as they cross the portal from our world to a strange and wonderful place, accessible for just a moment through the trapdoor of the attic in their family home. From hat-stand forests to towering hills of old musical instruments, deserts of old books, and a great water-tank lake, the vast continent they stumble upon is one of limitless surprises - and that's before they meet the inhabitants. The strange clans of small, lumpen people live in homes constructed from all manner of found things and drive vehicles powered by old sewing-machine parts. It is against this remarkable backdrop that the three children will embark on a spellbinding adventure to recover a prized possession, save a life, and - somehow - find a way back home.

Product Description: When the Iraq war began, conservationist Lawrence Anthony could think of only one thing: the fate of the Baghdad Zoo, caught in the crossfire at the heart of the city. Once Anthony entered Iraq, he discovered that hostilities and uncontrolled looting had devastated the zoo and its animals...read more

Product Description: [MP3-CD audiobook format in Vinyl case.] [Read by Simon Vance] Book 2 in the 'Chronicles of Barsetshire' This magnificent sequel to The Warden satirizes the struggle for ascendancy among the clergy of a cathedral city as they contend for the newly vacant post of warden of Hiram's Hospital...read more

Product Description: [Read by Simon Vance]In a case of mistaken identity, Barnaby Rudge, an eccentric half-wit, is arrested as the leader of a mob of anti-Catholic rioters during the Gordon Riots, in this grand novel of private lives and public events.

Product Description: Samuel Beckett's work evokes passionate responses: readers and playgoers either revere it or consider it a load of pretentious nonsense. But his philosophy of pessimism will always find a new generation of young readers, for it bursts the rainbow soap bubbles of illusion, leaving us blinking with stinging eyes at unremitting reality...read more

This incandescent novel chronicles both an internal journey and a physical trek into the heart of Africa, a place caught between the dangerously alluring modern world and its own tenacious past and traditions. Exploring political and individual corruption, it expresses skepticism about the ability of newly decolonized nations to forge independent identities. Salim, a Muslim Indian merchant, opens a store in a sleepy small town at a bend in the river, whose inhabitants include a Belgian priest, a witch, and a white intellectual named Raymond. The president of the new country is a demagogue called the Big Man who hires Raymond as his speechwriter. Salim loses control of his store to the commercially inexperienced Citizen Theotime, who hires Salim to manage it. Gradually, the town's veneer of civilization begins to crumble.

Product Description: William Trevor is truly a Chekhov for our age, and a new collection of stories from him is always a cause for celebration. These twelve stories include: The waiter who divulges his shocking life of crime to his ex-wife. A woman repeats the story of her parents' unstable marriage after a horrible tragedy...read more

Product Description: [Read by Simon Vance]As Enzo Macleod takes on the third of seven famous cold cases he has confidently bet he can solve, this is one instance when his Scottish stubbornness might pay off. -- Sometimes it's what you dont see. -- Enzo MacLeod, a Scot teaching in southwest France, has confidently bet that he can crack seven notorious murders described in a book on cold cases...read more

Product Description: Naomi Novik's beloved Temeraire series, a brilliant combination of fantasy and history that reimagines the Napoleonic wars as fought with the aid of intelligent dragons, is a twenty-first-century classic. From the first volume, His Majesty's Dragon, readers have been entranced by the globe-spanning adventures of the resolute Capt...read more

Product Description: [Read by Simon Vance]As Enzo Macleod takes on the cold case of a famous French chef murdered before he could make a shattering announcement, he must unravel the relationships around the man - a spurned lover, jealous wife, estranged brother, and embittered food critic.

Now that the Napoleonic Wars are over, frigate captain Jack Aubrey faces desertion, near sinking, and brawls with British sailors--all before he reaches his next destination, Chile--where he will help the fledgling country break free of Spain and takes on some notable passengers.