Biography - Art Music & Literature

1000 YEARS OF JOYS AND SORROWS

by Ai Weiwei

read by David Shih

running time 13hrs

Here, through the sweeping lens of his own and his father's life, Ai Weiwei tells an epic tale of China over the last 100 years, from the Cultural Revolution to the modern-day Chinese Communist Party. Here is the story of a childhood spent in desolate exile after his father, Ai Qing, once China's most celebrated poet, fell foul of the authorities. Here is his move to America as a young man and his return to China, his rise from unknown to art-world superstar and international rights activist. Here is his extraordinary account of how his work has been shaped by living under a totalitarian regime. It's the story of a father and a son, of exceptional creativity and passionate belief, and of how two indomitable spirits enabled the world to understand their country.

THE 8.55 TO BAGHDAD

by Andrew Eames

read by Andrew Eames

running time 13hrs

Andrew Eames set out to retrace Agatha Christie's life-changing trip of 1928. Following her route through the Balkans to the Middle East he encountered the people who live in these regions and developed an insight into the politics of two very troubled areas. Contains some strong language.

ADELE

by Sean Smith

read by Katie Scarfe

running time 8hrs

Adele touches the hearts of millions of people who love her for her music and share the real and honest emotion she brings to each and every song. In Adele, best-selling biographer Sean Smith talks to those close to her as he follows her astonishing journey to fame that began on the gritty streets of Tottenham. Through compelling new research and interviews, he reveals that there is far more to Adele than the superstar we all think we know.

BARBARA HEPWORTH

by Eleanor Clayton

read by Anne Marlow

running time 9hrs 20mins

Barbara Hepworth is one of the most important artists of the 20th century, yet she has been the subject of relatively few monographs in comparison to her male counterparts. This biography moves beyond the traditional narratives of modernism, truth to materials, and the landscape to provide a penetrating insight into Hepworth’s remarkable life, work and legacy.

A CAB AT THE DOOR

by V S Pritchett

read by Frank Duncan

running time 10hrs 30mins

First book of the autobiography of the writer V S Pritchett; These memoirs take the reader to the noisy battles between the author's dressy, Micawber-like father and remorselessly gloomy mother.

DANGEROUS WORK: DIARY OF AN ARCTIC ADVENTURER

by Arthur Conan Doyle

read by Jim Swingler

running time 8hrs

In 1880 a young medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle embarked upon an adventure, taking a berth as ship’s surgeon on an Arctic whaler, the Hope. The voyage took him to unknown regions, showered him with dramatic and unexpected experiences, and plunged him into dangerous work on the ice floes of the Arctic seas.

EFFIE GRAY:THE PASSIONATE LIVES OF EFFIE GRAY, RUSKIN AND MILLAIS

by Suzanne Fagence Cooper

read by Grace Dives

running time 12hrs 30mins

The Scottish beauty Effie Gray is the heroine of a great Victorian love story. Married at 19 to John Ruskin, she found herself trapped in an unconsummated union. She would fall in love with her husband's protege, John Everett Millais, and inspire some of his most memorable art, but controversy and tragedy continued to stalk her.

FACE THE MUSIC

by Alfie Boe

read by Alfie Boe

running time 6hrs 12mins

Bringing his characteristic sense of cheeky humour to the page, in this heartfelt book Alfie describes for the first time the highs and lows of over a decade singing and performing across the world. From personal dinners with Queen Elizabeth II and following in the steps of King of Rock 'n' Roll Elvis in Vegas to mischievous antics with Michael Ball, Alfie's book takes us backstage to witness his brilliant career memories. But this book is also a heartfelt insight to Alfie's unmasked truth for the first time ever. His unflinching honesty reveals not only the success stories, but also the pressures and how, through challenging times, he learned more about himself than he ever thought possible. Laying bare the events that have shaped Alfie into the performer he is today, Face the Music demonstrates to us all that it's not our mistakes that define us - but instead, how we choose to come back from them.

A GENIUS IN THE FAMILY

by Hilary du Pre & Piers du Pre

read by Grace Dives

running time 14hrs

Gifted cellist Jacqueline du Pre made her professional debut at sixteen. Ten years later she stopped playing as multiple sclerosis crippled her. This memoir gives an account of the private world behind the public face.

THE HACIENDA

by Lisa St Aubin de Teran

read by Janet Alexander

running time 14hrs

Married at sixteen to a man twenty years her senior and taken to his ancestral home and estate in Venezuela, Lisa found herself isolated and alone. She ended up virtually running the plantation that belonged to her increasingly demented husband but enjoyed learning the magic of a place that had remained practically unchanged for more than a century.

I AM, I AM, I AM

by Maggie O'Farrell

read by Ann Stutz

running time 6hrs

A childhood illness she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. A terrifying encounter on a remote path. A mismanaged labour in an understaffed hospital. This is the extraordinary memoir from bestselling author Maggie O'Farrell.

JAMES JOYCE (X Rated)

by Edna O'Brien

read by Paul Connell

running time 7hrs 30mins

James Joyce is widely regarded as one of Ireland's greatest novelists, and in this book his life and influences on his writing are discussed by one of Ireland's best contemporary writers. X rated, contains offensive language and explicit sex.

KATHERINE MANSFIELD: THE STORYTELLER

by Kathleen Jones

read by Clare Francis

running time 21hrs 30mins

The compelling and intimate story of one of the world's foremost short story writers Weaving together intimate details from Katherine Mansfield's letters and journals with the writings of her friends and acquaintances, Kathleen Jones creates a captivating drama of this fragile yet feisty author: her life, loves and passion for writing. The story takes us beyond Mansfield's death in 1923 to explore the life of her husband, John Middleton Murry - and his relationship with three further wives - as he manipulated the posthumous publication of Mansfield's unpublished work. In this vivid portrayal of one of the world's foremost short story writers, the first new biography for a quarter of a century, Kathleen Jones crafts an intriguing narrative of Katherine Mansfield's relationships, illnesses and creativity.

LAND'S EDGE: A COASTAL MEMOIR

by Tim Winton

read by Mike Rochford

running time 1hr 35mins

Tim Winton’s account of his obsession with what happens where the water meets the shore, and of holidays spent on the western coast in a small shack with a book-lined room where his passion for literature and writing was born.

MAD, BAD, DANGEROUS TO KNOW

by Colm Toibin

read by Colm Toibin

running time 6hrs 6mins

In Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know, Colm Tóibín turns his incisive gaze to three of Ireland's greatest writers, Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats and James Joyce, and their earliest influences: their fathers. From Wilde's doctor father, a brilliant statistician and amateur archaeologist, who was taken to court by an obsessed lover in a strange premonition of what would happen to his son; to Yeats' father, an impoverished artist and brilliant letter writer who could never finish a painting; to John Stanislus Joyce, a singer, drinker and storyteller, a man unwilling to provide for his large family, whom his son James memorialised in his work.

NGAIO MARSH

by Margaret Lewis

read by Shirley Hall

running time 13hrs 30mins

Lively authorised biography of the creator of the detective Roderick Alleyn;

ODD COUPLE, THE: THE CURIOUS FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN KINGSLEY AMIS AND PHILIP LARKIN

by Richard Bradford

read by Geoff Oldham

running time 17hrs 30mins

Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin were among the most popular serious literary writers of the twentieth century. Here we see these two literary giants as we have never seen them before, and how much of their most important work is an index to their relationship. Had they not met they would not have become the writers they were.

A PASSIONATE SISTERHOOD

by Kathleen Jones

read by Steve Race

running time 13hrs

The Lake Poets - Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey - give a romantic view of the Lake District. But for their sisters, wives and daughters the view was very different. Their letters and journals all contribute to an understanding of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey as fallible human beings.

QUANT BY QUANT

by Mary Quant

read by Pamela Todd

running time 8hrs 30mins

After opening her boutique Bazaar on London’s King’s Road in 1955, Quant soared to international fame with her brand of witty style that fitted perfectly with modern city life. She was at the forefront of fashion’s democratization, seeking to eliminate snobbery and “make fashionable clothes available to everyone.” Her autobiography captures the world in which she found inspiration, and which she ultimately helped to define and change.

RAISING DEMONS

by Shirley Jackson

read by Kate Handford

running time 10hrs 10mins

Shirley Jackson skewered the trials of domestic life in 1950s America with wry wit and uncanny precision. In this sequel to Life Among the Savages, her four offspring have now grown into fully-fledged demons. As their house starts to burst at the seams, the Jackson clan somehow manage (without really planning it) to move into a larger home, only to take the chaos - absent furniture, vanishing children, misbehaving refrigerators, an avalanche of books - right along with them.

THE SANEST GUY IN THE ROOM

by Don Black

read by Bob Rollett

running time 7hrs

Don Black is the man behind some of this century's greatest musical numbers. Shirley Bassey, Michael Jackson and Barbra Streisand are just some of the artists Black has worked with over the years. Interwoven with the stories behind songs such as 'Diamonds are Forever' and 'Born Free' are vignettes of Black's life with his beloved wife Shirley, who died in 2018, after almost sixty years of marriage. Black writes movingly about how the enormity of his grief changed his life, and how the dark days are slowly turning into dark moments.

TCHAIKOVSKY

by Anthony Holden

read by Michael St. John

running time 22hrs 30mins

For many years mystery surrounded the death of Tchaikovsky, which occurred just a week after he conducted the first performance of the Pathetique symphony. His family claimed that he contracted cholera after drinking a glass of unboiled water but there is some debate as to whether this was accidental or self-inflicted.

UNDER MY SKIN

by Doris Lessing

read by Shirley Hall

running time 24hrs

This, the first volume of her autobiography, tells of the author's childhood and early years in Africa and ends with her arrival in London in 1949.

VAN GOGH

by Pierre Cabanne

read by Michael St. John

running time 9hrs

An account of Van Gogh's life and work with insightful excerpts from numerous letters to family and friends. The authors paints a totally honest picture of Van Gogh's life, emphasising his spirit and dedication and his battles with depression which along with his genius led to such amazing works of art.

WAITING FOR THE PARTY: THE LIFE OF FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT

by Ann Thwaite

read by Grace Dives

running time 13hrs 30mins

An intimate portrait of the author Frances Hodgson-Burnett. A successful writer and famous for her books 'The Secret Garden' and 'Little Lord Fauntleroy', in her personal life happiness eluded her.

YESTERDAY MORNING

by Diana Athill

read by Grace Dives

running time 5hrs 5mins

A portrait of the author's childhood growing up in a pre-war English country house where upper middle class codes of behaviour prevailed.