War fiction and non-fiction 3Talking Books

The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.

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Fiction

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi Half of a yellow sun. 2007. Read by Joy Elias-Rilwan, 20 hours 10 minutes. TB 14989.In 1960s Nigeria, a country blighted by civil war, three lives intersect. Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, works as a houseboy for a university lecturer. Olanna, a young woman, has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos, to live with her charismatic new lover, the professor. The third is Richard, a shy Englishman in thrall to Olanna's enigmatic twin sister. When the shocking horror of the war engulfs them, their loyalties are severely tested as they are pulled apart and thrown together in ways that none of them imagined. Contains strong language and passages of a sexual nature. TB 14989.

Barker, Pat Toby's room. 2012. Read by Charlotte Strevens, 10 hours. TB 20074.Toby and Elinor, brother and sister, friends and confidants, are sharers of a dark secret, carried from the summer of 1912 into the battlefields of France and wartime London in 1917. TB 20074.

Bainbridge, Beryl Master Georgie. 1998. Read by Robbie McNab, 5 hours 25 minutes. TB 11534.Master Georgie is the centripetal presence of this novel, set in the time of the Crimean War. It unfolds through the narratives of three protagonists - the geologist, Dr Potter, Pompey Jones, photographer's assistant, and Myrtle, a girl believed to be Master Georgie's sister. All four characters are linked by an incident in the past which changed the lives of Pompey Jones and Myrtle forever. Contains violence. TB 11534.

Barry, Sebastian A long long way. 2005. Read by John Cormack, 9 hours 20 minutes. TB 14367.A Long Long Way evokes the camaraderie and humour of Willie and his regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, but also the cruelty and sadness of war, and the divided loyalties that many Irish soldiers felt. Tracing their experiences through the course of the war, the narrative brilliantly explores and dramatises the events of

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the Easter Rising within Ireland, and how such a seminal political moment came to affect those boys off fighting for the King of England on foreign fields - the paralysing doubts and divisions it caused them. Contains strong language. TB 14367.

Clancy, TomWithout remorse. Read by Garrick Hagon, 27 hours 56 minutes. TB 13839.Ryanverse series; book 1.John Kelly, codename Mr Clark, has planned a personal mission of revenge but the Pentagon want him for a high-risk operation to rescue a key group of prisoners in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. As he attempts to juggle the two missions, Kelly will need all his many skills to overcome a vast array of enemies, both at home and abroad. Contains strong language. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 13839.

Clavell, JamesKing Rat. 1962. Read by Richard Earthy, 16 hours 53 minutes. TB 4858.Asian saga series; book 4. Sequel to: Gai-jin, TB 9972. Set in the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp of Changi, the story tells of one man's determination not only to survive but to be King of that notoriously brutal place. Contains violence. TB 4858.

Cobb, Humphrey Paths of glory. 2010. Read by Charles Armstrong, 7 hours 27 minutes. TB 18993.Familiar to many as the Stanley Kubrick film starring Kirk Douglas, Paths of Glory explores the perilous complications involved in what nations demand of their soldiers in wartime. Humphrey Cobb's protagonists are Frenchmen during the First World War whose nightmare in the trenches takes a new and terrible turn when they are ordered to assault a German position deemed all but invulnerable. When the attack fails, an inquiry into allegations of cowardice indicts a small handful of lower-ranked scapegoats whose trial exposes the farce of ordering ordinary men to risk their lives in an impossible cause. TB 18993.

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Cornwell, Bernard Sharpe's devil. 1993. Read by Alistair Maydon, 10 hours 19 minutes. TB 10069.Five years after Waterloo, Sharpe's retirement in Normandy is shattered by a plea for help from Don Blas Vivar's wife; he is missing in Chile, reported dead at rebel hands and appeals to Sharpe to find out the truth. Reluctantly he and Patrick Harper find themselves bound for Chile via St Helena where they meet Napoleon. Convinced that they are going to collect a corpse, neither can imagine the dangers awaiting them in Chile. TB 10069.

Crocker, Gareth Leaving Jack. 2008. Read by John Chancer, 7 hours 30 minutes. TB 16720.After losing his wife and young daughter in a plane crash, US journalist Fletcher Carson joins the flagging war effort in Vietnam where he plans to die. However, during one of his early missions he rescues a critically wounded Labrador and helps nurse him back to health. Fletcher names the dog Jack and, as the bond deepens between them, he slowly begins to regain his will to live. A ceasefire is then signed, effectively bringing an end to the war. As the soldiers celebrate the announcement, it is soon followed by bad news. The American Government declares that, due to the cost of the withdrawal, all US dogs serving in the war have been labelled as 'surplus military equipment' and will be left behind. For Fletcher, he knows that if he abandons Jack, then he too will be lost. TB 16720.

Forester, C S The gun. 2011. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 7 hours 8 minutes. TB 18869.Abandoned by the retreating Spanish army during the Peninsular War, the gun was an 18-pounder bronze cannon weighing three tons. When a group of Spanish partisans come across it two years later, they see in it chance for victory against the French - but first they must cross the mountains. TB 18869.

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Frankau, Pamela Over the mountains: a novel. 1967. Read by Eric Gillett, 14 hours 30 minutes. TB 61.Clothes for a King's son series; book 3. Sequel to: Slaves of the lamp, TB 121. Thomas, now a Lieutenant, is reported killed at Dunkirk. Lost to the world he journeys through France. TB 61.

Gale, Iain The Black Jackals. 2011. Read by Stephen Thorne, 9 hours 28 minutes. TB 18653.A small team of soldiers, left behind to cover the British retreat, are ordered to blow the bridge as late as possible to stem the German tank pursuit. Although successful, the operation kills desperate refugees fleeing the scene. Who will be made to face the court-martial: the men carrying out the orders or their commanding officer? This is only the first of many dilemmas that Peter Lamb and his troop must face during the chaotic first months of World War Two. After becoming cut off from the rest of their regiment, and assigned a mission that takes them deep into France behind the fast-moving enemy lines, the cracks begin to appear. In these unexpected, tense circumstances, Lamb's men face internal struggles, taking their focus off both their French allies and the German enemy. TB 18653.

Greene, GrahamThe quiet American. 1973. Read by David Banks, 6 hours 50 minutes. TB 5087.Pyle, an American working for the Economic Aid Mission during the early days of the Vietnam War in the 1950s, is murdered. But things are not as they appear in this conspiratorial country. Was Pyle devoted to helping the people of this troubled land, or was he involved with a Third Force, dedicated to anarchy? TB 5087.

Grossman, Vasili i Semenovich Life and fate. 2010. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 41 hours 3 minutes. TB 19204.This sweeping account of the siege of Stalingrad gives a panoramic view of the Soviet Union during World War Two, revealing a totalitarian regime where the spirit of freedom that arose among those under fire was feared by the state at least as much as were the Nazis. Contains strong language. TB 19204.

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Harrison, SarahThe flowers of the field. 1980. Read by Carol Marsh, 32 hours 8 minutes. TB 4885.A family saga of the Great War and its effects on the lives of three women: intellectual Thea, beautiful Dulcie and the proud and ambitious maid Primmy. Contains strong language. TB 4885.

Hasek, Jaroslav The good soldier Svejk and his fortunes in the World War. 1973. Read by Andrew Timothy, 27 hours 23 minutes. TB 5161. A new and unexpurgated translation of a classic Czech comic novel: Svejk is Everyman caught up in the bureaucratic cogwheels of the First World War. His own brand of resistance against tyranny makes him a national hero: he acts the fool and makes authority look foolish. The author points up the absurdities brought about by the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire and rejoices in the capacity of the individual to survive, live off his wits and mock pomposity. Contains strong language. TB 5161.

Hassel, Sven Wheels of terror. 2003. Read by Daniel Philpott, 10 hours 24 minutes. TB 19876.Sven rejoins his comrades in the 27th Penal Battalion - now equipped with armoured vehicles - for the next battles on the Russian Front. Caught between the insane orders of the Nazi high command and the overwhelming numbers of Russian soldiers, Sven and his mates do anything to survive the inferno. TB 19876.

Hooker, Richard MASH. 1996. Read by Peter Brooke, 6 hours 31 minutes. TB 19514.The doctors who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained but, like most soldiers sent to fight a war, too young for the job. This is the original novel that inspired the hit movie and TV series. TB 19514.

Jakes, John North and South. 1982. Read by James Tillitt, 34 hours 5 minutes. TB 5728.Chronicle series; book 1. The Hazards were pioneers of commerce. The Mains were plantation owners, guardians of a way of life that modern industry threatened to shatter. The eldest sons

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of these two families meet in the army, and a friendship is formed that links the Hazards and the Mains inextricably, in love as well as hatred, in business as well as friendship, until the approaching civil war tears the families apart. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 5728.

Jakes, John Love and war. 1986. Read by James Tillitt, 48 hours. TB 7641.Chronicle series; book 2. The Hazards and Mains are two families linked by friendship, love and loyalty yet now torn apart as civil war engulfs the nation. It was supposed to be over in days but instead it dragged on for five weary years, in which the horrors of the battlefield destroyed old ties and swept aside a whole way of life forever; a time of mixed fortunes yet, ultimately, hope. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 7641.

Keneally, Thomas The daughters of Mars. 2012. Read by Peter Wickham, 19 hours 39 minutes. TB 20099.In 1915, two spirited Australian sisters join the war effort as nurses, escaping the confines of their father's dairy farm and carrying a guilty secret with them. Used to tending the sick as they are, nothing could have prepared them for what they had to confront, first in the Dardanelles, then on the Western Front. TB 20099.

Lennox, Judith Footprints on the sand. 1998. Read by David Thorpe, 13 hours 32 minutes. TB 12659.The Mulgraves are a rootless, Bohemian family who are forced to return to the privations of wartime England after Germany's invasion of France. TB 12659.

Lofts, Norah Pargeters. 1984. Read by John Rye, read by Rosemary Davis, 14 hours 11 minutes. TB 5485.Two generations of a Royalist family survive in the heart of Cromwell country. The men are away fighting and the women have no news and no protection. Sarah Woodley keeps her household of women and children together until forced into a marriage of convenience. TB 5485.

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Mallinson, Allan A close run thing. 2000. Read by Charles Armstrong, 12 hours 17 minutes. TB 19681.A Close Run Thing is the story of the Napoleonic Wars. A young cornet in the 6th Light Dragoons, Matthew Hervey, a soldier and a gentleman, finds himself allotted a hero's role. TB 19681.

Masters, John Heart of war. 1981. Read by Arthur Blake, 27 hours 24 minutes. TB 7825.Loss of Eden series; book 2. Sequel to: Now, God be thanked, TB 7148. During the years 1916 and 1917, the appalling slaughter of the Somme and Passchendaele cuts deep into the hearts of the British people, as military conscription looms over the country for the first time in a thousand years. Starting with the wedding of Stella Cate and John de Lisle Merritt, the years of the Great War are followed through the fate and fortunes of the Rowland family. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 7825.

McCutchan, Philip Convoy homeward. 1995. Read by Joe Dunlop, 7 hours 59 minutes. TB 10664.John Mason Kemp series; book 6. Sequel to: Convoy of fear. Commodore John Mason Kemp leaves Colombo with a convoy bound home for the Clyde, his en route orders being to embark a native battalion at Kilindini in East Africa, together with a contingent of German prisoners of war and a number of civilians, men and women, being repatriated to Britain. On passage, the convoy comes under U-boat attack and later the German POWs show signs of breaking out. The climax is reached off Ascension Island when a German surface raider threatens the convoy's safety and they become dependent on the problematic arrival of the battleship "Duke of York" from the Clyde. TB 10664.

Mo, Timothy The redundancy of courage. 1991. Read by Nigel Graham, 19 hours 4 minutes. TB 9250.The lives of the inhabitants of the eastern half of a fictional island are dramatically altered by the invasion of their powerful, expansionist neighbours. The ensuing fierce and desperate war of resistance is told with uncompromising candour by Adolph, an effete, Canadian-educated hotel owner of Chinese origin. New

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alliances are formed; beliefs and morals are confused; distinctions between bravery and cruelty, nobility and cowardice become unclear and men and women undergo remarkable transformations. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 9250.

Morpurgo, Michael Private peaceful. 2004. Read by Peter Kenny, 4 hours 36 minutes. TB 14821.As young Thomas Peaceful looks back over his childhood from the battlefields of the First World War, his memories are full of family life deep in the countryside. But the clock is ticking, and every moment Tommo spends remembering how things used to be, means another moment closer to something which will change his life forever. TB 14821.

Pearse, Lesley The promise. 2012. Read by Polly Banwell, 16 hours 23 minutes. TB 19528.Belle series; book 2. Sequel to: Belle, TB 19242. Belle Reilly has the life she's dreamed of thanks to a devoted husband in Jimmy and the hat shop she's wanted to own since she was a child. But as the storm clouds of World War One begin to gather, Belle's already turbulent life is to change in ways she never imagined possible. TB 19528.

Perry, AnneShoulder the sky. 2005. Read by Cornelius Garrett, 10 hours 49 minutes. TB 17208.World War I series; book 2. Sequel to: No graves as yet, TB 16498. In April 1915 Joseph Reavley is serving as chaplain on the Front Line at Ypres. The war that should have been 'over by Christmas' has already decimated the British Expeditionary Force. To Joseph's sector comes an ambitious young war correspondent determined to expose the horrors of trench life. But before he can dispatch his piece, he is found dead in no-man's-land. Still seeking the man behind his parents' murder, and to protect his sister Judith from the pain of an impossible romance, Joseph must find the truth. TB 17208.

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Perry, Anne Slaves and obsession. 2006. Read by Terrence Hardiman, 13 hours 28 minutes. TB 18906.William Monk series; book 11. Sequel to: The twisted root. In the American Civil War the opposing armies are desperate for arms. A London trader selling weapons to the South faces a moral dilemma when his daughter insists he changes sides. TB 18906.

Powers, Kevin The yellow birds. 2012. Read by Peter Brooke, 6 hours 6 minutes. TB 20241.Poet and veteran Kevin Powers has composed an unforgettable account of friendship and loss. It vividly captures the desperation and brutality of war, and its terrible after-effects. But it is also a story of love, of great courage, and of extraordinary human survival. Contains strong language. TB 20241.

Poyer, Joe North Cape. 1970. Read by Marvin Kane, 9 hours 32 minutes. TB 1057.As war breaks out between Russia and China, an American aircraft becomes the quarry in a chase which extends across half the world. TB 1057.

Price, Anthony The hour of the donkey: a novel. 1980. Read by Arthur Blake, 10 hours 55 minutes. TB 8071.24 May 1940: Why did Hitler stop the Panzers and allow the British Army to escape to Dunkirk? The author provides the answer in this compulsively readable thriller of 2 young officers pitchforked into the chaos of war. The German advance strands them behind enemy lines where they witness a high-ranking British officer consorting with the Nazis, a scene that has shattering possibilities, not only for them but for the fate of the whole British Expeditionary Force. TB 8071.

Radcliffe, RobertAcross the blood-red skies. 2011. Read by Christopher Oxford, 10 hours 44 minutes. TB 19531.Spring 1917. Under attack both from the ground & the air, the average survival time of a WWI pilot is 18 hours. George Duckwell of the Royal Flying Corps is living on borrowed time. Having joined

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up to escape disgrace at home, George can only watch in horror as his comrades are shot down, maimed & killed, while somehow he survives. Contains strong language. TB 19531.

Reeman, Douglas The horizon. 2011. Read by Julian Glover, 11 hours 1 minute. TB 19167.‘The horizon’ takes Jonathan Blackwood into the Great War and the campaigns of Gallipoli and Flanders. Caught up in the savagery of a conflict beyond any officer's control, Blackwood's future rests on the 'horizon'. TB 19167.

Reeman, Douglas Killing ground. 2011. Read by David Rintoul, 10 hours 52 minutes. TB 18907.From the bridge of the HMS Gladiator, lieutenant-commander David Howard's orders were clear, there could be no mercy. To the man who fought to protect the vital Merchant Navy convoys, the Battle of the Atlantic was a full-scale war. TB 18907.

Sholokhov, Mikhail Aleksandrovich And quiet flows the Don. 1957. Read by Garard Green, 24 hours 19 minutes. TB 3696. An epic of the Russian revolution's intrusion into the Don Cossack region of Russia and of the struggle between the old and new ways of life, both on the battlefields and within mens's hearts. TB 3696.

Shute, NevilSo disdained. 2010. Read by Stephen Thorne, 7 hours 48 minutes. TB 19175.On a rainy night on the Sussex Downs in the uneasy peace between the wars, Peter Moran stopped his car to give a man a lift. His passenger turned out to be an old wartime comrade, a pilot who had just crash-landed a high-speed French bomber. TB 19175.

Speller, Elizabeth The return of Captain John Emmett. 2011. Read by Christopher Oxford, 14 hours 25 minutes. TB 18875.1920. The Great War has been over for two years and Laurence Bartram has become something of a recluse. He is persuaded to

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look into the death of John Emmett and as he unravels the connections between Captain Emmett's suicide, a group of war poets, a bitter regimental feud and a hidden love affair, more disquieting deaths are exposed. TB 18875.

Tolstoy, L NWar and peace. 1872. Read by Garard Green, 79 hours. TB 1374.An epic tale of the Napoleonic invasion of Russia, contrasting the life of the nobility and the hard life of the soldiers and people. TB 1374.

Wheatley, Dennis They used dark forces. 1991. Read by Nigel Graham, 21 hours 2 minutes. TB 10120.Gregory Sallust series; 8. Sequel to: Traitor's gate. One cloudness night in June 1943, Gregory Sallust parachutes into Nazi Germany his mission to penetrate the secrets of Hitler's "V" rockets. Before he can reach his objective, he is unwillingly involved with Ibraham Malacou, hypnotist, astrologer - and disciple of Satan. Though their long, uneasy partnership is sustained by a common hatred of the enemy, their decision to use occult forces to destroy Hitler will imperil Gregory's immortal soul. TB 10120.

Wingate, John Submarine. 1982. Read by Arthur Blake, 7 hours 53 minutes. TB 8286.Frigate trilogy; book 3. Sequel to: Carrier, TB 7622. Gripping and authentic, this story tells of a hazardous mission by two British submarines to lure a Soviet battleship to its death. The terror and claustrophobia of war beneath the sea is dramatically drawn as the hunters chase their quarry beneath the polar ice. TB 8286.

Young, Louisa My dear I wanted to tell you. 2011. Read by Dan Stevens, 10 hours 50 minutes. TB 19802.London, April 1916, Riley Purefoy was walking across Kensington Gardens in the sun, coming up from Victoria station, going home. He hadn't been in London for two years. It seemed very peculiar to him. There were no shells going off. No one was shooting. No gas gong. It was quiet and there were women. TB 19802.

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Non-fiction

Appy, Christian G Vietnam: the definitive oral history told from all sides. 2008. Read by Jeff Harding, 28 hours 56 minutes. TB 19378.'Vietnam' features accounts of 135 men and women that span the history of the Vietnam conflict from its murky origins in the 1940s to the chaotic fall of Saigon in 1975. It allows us to see what this war meant to people on various sides - Americans and Vietnamese, generals and guerillas, policy makers and protesters. Contains strong language. TB 19378.

Ashcroft, Michael A Heroes of the skies. 2012. Read by Rob Rollett, 15 hours 23 minutes. TB 20235.Since the dawn of aerial combat in the First World War, the heroism of the men who put their lives at risk in the air has known no bounds. There were no more heroic airmen than the fighter pilots and bomber crews of the Second World War - men who sacrificed their own lives in order to save their crew or who, although in extreme pain, managed to get their aircraft home rather than risk becoming PoWs. In telling the stories of more than eighty such men, "Heroes of the skies" paints a picture of aerial combat from the First World War right through to Afghanistan, and allows us to celebrate the extraordinary feats of our flying heroes. TB 20235.

Bagnold, Enid A diary without dates. 1978. Read by Wendy Hiller, 53 minutes. TB 14403.A moving account of Enid Bagnold's experiences as a nurse on the Western Front during the First World War. TB 14403.

Benson, Harry Scram!: the gripping first-hand account of the helicopter war in the Falklands. 2012. Read by Robert Portal, 10 hours 36 minutes. TB 19696.April 2nd 2012 marks the 30th anniversary of the invasion of the Falkland Islands. This is the thrilling untold story of the young helicopter pilots - most barely out of their teens - who risked their lives during this brief but ferocious war. TB 19696.

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Beevor, Antony The battle for Spain : the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 /. 2007. Read by Sean Barrett, 18 hours 50 minutes. TB 19442.'The Battle for Spain' revisits the Spanish Civil War, drawing on masses of material from the Spanish, Russian & German archives. The author's account narrates the origins of the Civil War & its violent course from the coup d'etat in July 1936 through the savage fighting of the next three years. TB 19442.

Blishen, Edward A cackhanded war. 1972. Read by Anthony Parker, 11 hours 9 minutes. TB 2105.Autobiography; book 3. Sequel to: This right soft lot, TB 1814. The experiences of a conscientious objector on the land during the Second World War. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 2105.

Brittain, Vera Chronicle of youth: war diary 1913-1917. 1981. Read by Gretel Davis, 18 hours 1 minute. TB 4187.Vera Brittain's bestselling Testament of Youth was based on her own copious diaries. They begin in the carefree summer of 1913 with earnest discussions about the purpose of life and the nature of God but the onset of war is a surprise. From then the diary entries darken rapidly. Her brother, her fiancé and most of her young men friends are killed in the war. Vera herself goes from knitting helmets and bandaging classes to abandoning her studies at Oxford to train as a nurse. She spent the remainder of the war nursing war-wounded men, among them German prisoners. Her diaries, written in London, Malta and France, contain moving descriptions of battle scenes and Zeppelin horrors over London. TB 4187.

Brome, Vincent The International Brigades: Spain 1936-1939. 1965. Read by David Broomfield, 12 hours 2 minutes. TB 716.An account of the volunteers who fought with the Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. TB 716.

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Cole, Roger SAS Operation Storm. 2011. Read by Chad Clark, 8 hours 59 minutes. TB 19186.Mirbat, South Oman, 19 July 1972 is one of the least-known yet most crucial battles of modern times. This text tells the inside story - told by those who took part - of the greatest secret war in SAS history. Contains strong language. TB 19186.

Davis, Wade Into the silence: the Great War, Mallory and the conquest of Everest. 2012. Read by Jon Cartwright, 28 hours 23 minutes. TB 20260.While the quest for Mount Everest may have begun as a grand imperial gesture, it ended as a mission of revival for a country and a lost generation bled white by war. In a monumental work of history and adventure, Davis asks not whether George Mallory was the first to reach the summit of Everest, but rather why he kept climbing on that fateful day. TB 20260.

Hart-Davis, DuffThe war that never was: the true story of the men who fought Britain's most secret battle. 2011. Read by Robert Portal, 9 hours 57 minutes. TB 18576.For the very first time, this book tells the story of a secret war fought by British mercenaries in the Yemen in the early 1960s. In a covert operation organised over whisky and sodas in the clubs of Chelsea and Mayfair, a group of former SAS officers - led by the irrepressible Colonel Jim Johnson - arranged for a squadron of British mercenaries to travel to the remote mountain regions of the Yemen, to arm, train and lead Yemeni tribesmen in their fight against a 60,000-strong contingent of Egyptian soldiers. It was one of the most uneven running battles ever waged; the Egyptians fielded a huge, professionally-trained army. The British fought back at the head of a ragtag force of tribal warriors and, ultimately, won. Egypt's President Nasser described the battle in the Yemen as 'my Vietnam'. Contains strong language. TB 18576.Foster, Rodney The real 'Dad's Army': the war diaries of Lt. Col. Rodney Foster. 2011. Read by Bob Rollett, 15 hours 44 minutes. TB 19276.This title presents the full inside story of the Home Guard, the ragtag volunteer army that defended the coast of Britain from

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German invasion during the Second World War. Colonel Rodney Foster joined the Home Guard in 1940 and kept a diary every day and in it meticulously chronicled his service in the real Dad's Army. TB 19276.

Frisby, Terence Kisses on a postcard: a tale of wartime childhood. 2010. Read by Terence Frisby, 5 hours 33 minutes. TB 19200.This is a compelling and uplifting memoir of two young evacuees growing up in the countryside during the Second World War. TB 19200.

Graves, Robert Goodbye to all that. 1990. Read by Sean Barratt, 11 hours 43 minutes. TB 9515.This book has been described as one of the great autobiographies of the 20th century. Robert Graves wrote "Goodbye To All That" when about to leave England after much personal turmoil. In it the intractable experience of the First World War is digested by Graves' poetic imagination into literature. At the same time, it is one of the most candid self portraits ever drawn, while containing vivid portraits of his close friends. TB 9515.

Hoffman, David E The dead hand: Reagan, Gorbachev and the untold story of the Cold War arms race. 2011. Read by Garrick Hagon, 22 hours 38 minutes. TB 18820.This narrative history sheds new light on the people who struggled to end this era of massive overkill, and examines the legacy of the nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that remain a threat today. Drawing on memoirs, interviews in both Russia and the US, and classified documents from deep inside the Kremlin, David Hoffman examines the inner motives and secret decisions of each side and details the deadly stockpiles that remained unsecured as the Soviet Union collapsed. This is the story of how Reagan, Gorbachev, and a previously unheralded collection of scientists, soldiers, diplomats, and spies changed the course of history. TB 18820.

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Hyde, Harford Montgomery Cynthia: the spy who changed the course of the war. 1966. Read by Dwight Whylie, 5 hours 40 minutes. TB 117.The exploits of a fascinating and courageous woman agent, the spy who changed the course of the war. TB 117.

Lear, Winifred Down the rabbit hole. 1975. Read by Carol Marsh, 11 hours 57 minutes. TB 2779.A charming and authentic account of the author's life at school and in her middle-class home during the First World War and just after it. TB 2779.

Marlantes, Karl What it is like to go to war. 2011. Read by William Hope, 9 hours 13 minutes. TB 19290.This title takes us back to Vietnam, but this time there is no fictional veil. Here are the hard-won truths that underpin 'Matterhorn': the author's real-life experiences behind the book's indelible scenes. Contains strong language and passages of violence. TB 19290.

McKinstry, Leo Hurricane: victor of the Battle of Britain. 2011. Read by Richard Burnip, 15 hours 8 minutes. TB 19630.During the Battle of Britain, the RAF emerged triumphant over the Luftwaffe thanks to two key fighter planes - the Spitfire and the Hurricane. Leo McKinstry tells the story of the Hurricane from its designers to the first-hand testimonies of those brave pilots who flew it. TB 19630.

Mulley, Clare The spy who loved: the secrets and lives of Christine Granville, Britain's first female special agent of the Second World War. 2012. Read by Jenny Coverack, 15 hours 2 minutes. TB 20150.Krystyna Skarbek, aka Christine Granville, was the first woman to work for the British as a secret agent during the Second World War, a prototype for the women agents of the SOE, which had yet to be formed. She was one of the most daring female secret agents and this is her story. TB 20150.

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Nicholson, Virginia Singled out: how two million women survived without men after the First World War. 2007. Read by Diana Bishop, 13 hours 8 minutes. TB 15905.The First World War deprived Britain of three-quarters of a million soldiers, with as many more incapacitated. In 1919 a generation of women who unquestioningly believed marriage to be their birthright discovered that there were, quite simply, not enough men to go round. Tracing their fates, Virginia Nicholson shows how the single woman of the inter-war decades had to stop depending on men for her income, her identity and her happiness. Some just endured; others challenged the conventions, fought the system and found fulfilment. TB 15905.

Osborne, Keith Berlin or bust. 2000. Read by Derek Scott, 4 hours 44 minutes. TB 12832.The story of a school leaver in 1939, who like everybody else in England, suddenly faced years of uncertainty on the outbreak of World War II. Three months later after leaving school he worked voluntarily as Assistant Warden of the Tonbridge School Clubs in London. He later became Air Raid Warden during the Battle of Britain, before employment as an Air Raid Distress Officer in London through the Blitz. Called up in June 1941, he became a War Service Subaltern in the 11th Hussars, serving in North Africa, Italy and North West Europe. TB 12832.

Owen, WilfredSelected poems 1995. Read by John Cormack, 1 hour 36 minutes. TB 11491."Bloomsbury Poetry Classics" are selections from the work of some of our greatest poets, aimed at the general reader. The selections have been made by the poet, critic and biographer Ian Hamilton. Wilfred Owen was sent to the front during the First World War. He was encouraged in the belief that poets should tell the truth about the conduct of the war. Owen won the Military Cross for bravery and was killed a week before the Armistice, aged 24. TB 11491.

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Pakenham, Thomas The Boer war. 1992. Read by David Graham, 39 hours 8 minutes. TB 12071.The Boer war fought in 1899 proved to be the longest, the costliest, the bloodiest and the most humiliating campaign that Britain fought between 1815 and 1914. The text is based on first-hand and largely unpublished sources ranging from the private papers of the leading protagonists to the recollections of survivors from both sides. TB 12071.

Prebble, Stuart Secrets of the Conqueror: the untold story of Britain's most famous submarine. 2012. Read by Martin Reeve, 9 hours 1 minute. TB 20334.HMS Conqueror, 5000 tons of nuclear-powered menace, was Britain's deadliest hunter-killer submarine. This book exposes the many secrets of the Conqueror's operations up to and beyond the Falkland Wars. It is a story of incredible courage and derring-do, of men who put their lives on the line and spent up to six months beneath the sea. TB 20334.

Ryder, Rowland Edith Cavell. 1975. Read by Phyllis Boothroyd, 11 hours 45 minutes. TB 2745.The story of the woman who was matron of Belgium's first teaching hospital at the outbreak of the First World War, was shot by the Germans for helping soldiers to escape, and became a legend in her time. TB 2745.

Sassoon, Siegfried The war poems. 1934. Read by John Westbrook, 3 hours. TB 4809.The poet enlisted at the outbreak of the First World War and was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in action. His war poetry depicts the horrors of the trenches, and illustrates his growing bitterness towards hypocrisy and romanticism. TB 4809.

Seierstad, Asne The angel of Grozny: inside Chechnya. 2009. Read by Adna Sablyich, 14 hours 9 minutes. TB 19250.The conflict in Chechnya was the first war that Asne Seierstad covered. Now ten years later, she returns to Chechnya and

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discovers that though the world's attention has moved on, the tragedy has continued, killing ten to 15 percent of the population and leaving a brutalised society with a particular toll on its children. TB 19250.

Wallach, Janet Desert queen: the extraordinary life of Gertrude Bell, adventurer, adviser to kings, ally of Lawrence of Arabia. 1997. Read by Monica Kendall, 17 hours 15 minutes. TB 18605.Turning away from privileged Victorian Britain, Gertrude Bell explored, mapped and excavated the world of the Arabs, winning the trust of Arab sheiks and chieftains along the way. When the First World War erupted and the British needed the loyalty of Arab leaders, Gertrude Bell provided the intelligence for T.E. Lawrence's military activities. Wallach reveals a woman whose achievements and independent spirit were especially remarkable for her times, and who brought the same passion and intensity to her explorations as she did to her rich and romantic life. TB 18605.

Wolmar, Christian Engines of war: how wars were won & lost on the railways. 2010. Read by Peter Crerar, 11 hours 48 minutes. TB 18393.Before the nineteenth century, armies had to rely on slow and unreliable methods of transportation to move soldiers and equipment during times of conflict. However, as Christian Wolmar demonstrates in this book, the birth of the railway in the early 1830s would transform the theatres of war. "Engines of War" spans more than a century and takes in all the engagements in which railways played a part, including the Crimean War, American Civil War, both world wars, the Korean War, and the Cold War - with its mysterious missile trains. It shows that the 'iron road' not only made armies far more mobile, but also greatly increased the scale and power of available weaponry. TB 18393.

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