Bloomsbury presents The Afghans by Åsne Seierstad, read by Laila Pyne.A KIRKUS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR"An astonishing feat of writing and reporting and one of the finest books written on Afghanistan in a generation." —Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Amity and Prosperity“A valuable addition to the canon of literature on the country . . . [Seierstad] manages to achieve a rare intimacy." —New York Times Book Review...

With contributions by: William Boyd, Candice Carty-Williams, Imtiaz Dharker, Roddy Doyle, Pico Iyer, Robert Macfarlane, Andy Miller, Jackie Morris, Jan Morris, Sisonke Msimang, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Michael Ondaatje, David Pilling, Max Porter, Philip Pullman, Alice Pung, Jancis Robinson, S.F.Said, Madeleine Thien, Salley Vickers, John Wood and Markus Zusak***'This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book...'*...

Bloomsbury presents Ouch! by Margee Kerr and Linda Rodriguez McRobbie, read by Laila Pyne.Pain seems like a fairly straightforward experience – you get hurt and it, well, hurts. But how would you describe it? By the number of broken bones or stitches? By the cause – the crowning baby, the sharp knife, the straying lover? What does a 7 on a pain scale of 1 to 10 really mean?Pain is complicated. But most of the time, the way we treat pain is superficial – we seek out states o...

Brought to you by Penguin.Imagine everything you thought you knew about human progress was wrong. What would you do?Mia is not sure what she is, but she isn't human. Smarter, stronger than her peers, all she knows are the rules: there can never be three for too long; always run, never fight.When she finds herself in Germany, 1945, she must turn the Nazi's most trusted scientist with an offer: abandon the crumbling Nazi party, escape...

This program includes additional material read by Sylvain Neuvel, and a bonus conversation with narrators Jilly Bond and Imogen Wilde.Showing that truth is stranger than fiction, Sylvain Neuvel weaves a sci-fi thriller reminiscent of Blake Crouch and Andy Weir, blending a fast moving, darkly satirical look at 1940s rocketry with an exploration of the amorality of progress and the nature of violence in A History of What Comes Next.