How could a barely literate peasant from Siberia determine the fate of the world? Clearly, the ‘mad monk’ Rasputin bewitched Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, but their strange and scandalous relationship casts an intriguing light on the controversial ‘great man’ theory of history. Rasputin was a devoted monarchist, not a revolutionary, yet he contributed more to the fall of the Romanov dynasty than any other individual. In his latest book, the great British historian Antony Beevor searches for answers amid the potent myths that surround the trio.

Visit Audible.com

Flight-Lieutenant Colin Bell's Bloody Dangerous is a powerful portrait of bravery in action, full of touching admiration for his RAF comrades – one in three of whom were killed. As a member of the elite Pathfinder 608 squadron, he was part of the force that arguably did more than any other bombing unit to bring about the Nazis' final surrender. Now 104, Bell paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of what it was like to fly a Mosquito – nicknamed the ‘wooden wonder’ – in 50 raids over Germany, 13 of them to Berlin itself. There, coned by searchlights, he experienced the terror of being tracked by anti-aircraft guns when he wasn't being chased by night-fighting Messerschmitt 262s, the only aircraft in the German armoury capable of outrunning the Mosquito. Bell also suffered engine failures, fuel starvation, near-fatal ice, numerous hits to his plane and, on one occasion, an explosion so close there was shrapnel in his parachute and burn marks on his navigator's flying suit. 

Visit Audible.com

From the multi-award-winning author of Him comes another mind-bending psychological horror that speaks to the darkest recesses of the human psyche – a this one’s narrated by James McAvoy. After suffering a brutal and random attack, Daniel Henderson is left fighting for his life. As he embarks on the long road to recovery, he begins experiencing disturbing visions. Fleeting and half-glanced, they are visions of women being murdered, women who are victims of the Tallyman, the notorious serial killer whose reign of terror began 40 years ago. As Daniel’s family start to put back together the pieces of their life, Daniel dismisses his visions as traumatic hallucinations. But as they become more vivid, he finds himself haunted by details that only the killer could know. Tormented by memories that aren't his own, soon Daniel is driven to hunt down a killer whose murders have loomed over his entire life. Perfect for fans of Stephen King and John Marrs, JD Kirk delivers another terrifying blockbuster which shines a light on the hidden evil buried within us all. 

Visit Audible.com

This is the first time one of Hunter S. Thompson’s ‘gonzo’ journals has become an audiobook. An indispensable compendium of his best ‘new journalism’ work, The Great Shark Hunt was originally published in 1979. It was the first volume of the bestselling Gonzo Papers and was Thompson’s largest and, arguably, most important work. These essays cover Richard Nixon to napalm, Las Vegas to Watergate, Jimmy Carter to cocaine, offering brilliant commentary and outrageous humour, in signature Thompson style. The only downside of this audio version is that you can’t leaf through Ralph Steadman’s iconic illustrations. 

Visit Audible.com

Christopher Isherwood – the author of Goodbye to Berlin, which inspired Cabaret and A Single Man – was born the heir to a crumbling English estate. He died an icon of gay liberation in California while his partner, Don Bachardy, painted his death portrait. Isherwood began his career depicting the psychological wreckage of WWI. While living in Berlin, he began to write his reputation-making fiction and plays inspired by the city's nightlife, its artistic underbelly, its fevered politics. When Hitler took power, he fled with his German boyfriend, who was pursued and arrested. Isherwood shed his family ghosts and became a chief instigator of the cultural shift that made gay liberation possible. Every step of the journey served his writing. One of our greatest diarists, he recorded his experiences and transformed them in fiction and memoir. Here, Katherine Bucknell charts the quest of a restless mind through books, films, foreign lands, love affairs and collaborations. 

Visit Audible.com