New Daisy audio
This issue contains DAISY audio books added to the collection since the last issue of Sound and Touch in December 2010.
Abbreviations:
BA - Blackstone Audio Inc
CD - DAISY audio CD ordering number
RNIB - Royal National Institute of Blind People
RNZFB - Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind
VAILS - Vision Australia Information and Library Service
Adult Non-Fiction
Renting and you: overview of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 by the Department of Building and Housing. Wellington: Department of Building and Housing, 2010. This guide outlines important rights and responsibilities for landlords and tenants including those in boarding houses. Read by Rosemary Ronald in 1:08 hours. RNZFB.
CD60040
Adventure
The mutiny on board H.M.S. Bounty by William Bligh. In 1787, William Bligh, commander of the Bounty, was cast adrift in a small boat with eighteen men, provisions and no chart. His demoralised crew had mutinied. This is his deeply personal, yet objective account that documents the voyage and Bligh's relationships to these men. It thereby exposes the oft debated question of what manner of man he really was. Read by Bernard Mayes in 8:27 hours. BA.
CD59587
Sailing alone around the world by Joshua Slocum. The author was told it couldn't be done so this fearless New England sea captain, set out in April 1895 to prove he could sail alone around the world. Just over three years and 46,000 miles later he succeeds. He evaded Moorish pirates, hostile canoes, 'the worst murderer in Tierra del Fuego', nocturnal boarding by savages and being submerged by a giant wave off Patagonia. This is his account of his remarkable adventures. Read by Bernard Mayes in 7:28 hours. BA.
CD60140
Biographies
A A Milne: his life by Ann Thwaite. Faber, 1990. Milne is one of the most successful English writers, yet the man himself has remained an enigma. He behaved like a conventional very English person but refused to be typecast. The world of Winnie-the-Pooh became an almost intolerable burden for Milne and his son, Christopher Robin. Read by Frances Jeater in 21:44 hours. RNIB.
CD46041
A crowd is not company by Robert Kee. 1947. This journalist and broadcaster became an RAF bomber pilot during the war. He was shot down, captured and spent over three years in a German POW camp. His autobiography coolly describes the horror of capture, the endless tedium, deprivations and loneliness of prison life. Read by Robert Gladwell in 10:52 hours. RNIB.
CD46046
Diaries 1915-1918 by Siegfried Sassoon. 1918. Sassoon wrote his diaries in tiny note-books, often by the light of a solitary candle in a dug-out or billet. Even away from the front-line, the physical and emotional scars of war were evident and he suffered the personal loss of acquaintances such as Wilfred Owen. Read by John Westbrook in 11:42 hours. RNIB.
CD45648
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius by Dave Eggers. London: Picador, 2000. When Dave is twenty-one and his brother is only seven, their parents die within months of each other. The brothers leave the Chicago suburb where they have grown up and moved to San Francisco. This is the funny yet touching story of their life together. Explicit descriptions of sex. Read by Hayward Morse in 15:28 hours. RNIB.
CD46058
A model life? by Ena Agius. Upton on Severn: Square One, 1999. This extraordinary woman lived through extraordinary times. Born to privilege in the early twentieth century, her life changed dramatically early in the Great War, due to her German father's internment. During the 20s, modelling and fashion brought her in contact with the rich and famous. She endured the heartache of a choice between her religion and her passion for the man she loved. Read by Rosemary Davies in 7 hours. RNIB.
CD46070
Sir Vivian, the definitive autobiography by Viv Richards. London: Michael Joseph, 2000. Vivian Richards, West Indies Captain between 1985 and 1991, had been voted the best international cricketer of the last twenty-five years by his peers. Seven years after his retirement from the game he tells his story. Playing days in England are recalled, alongside memorable matches for the West Indies, and opinions on opponents and team-mates. Strong language. Read by Nigel Graham in 12:38 hours. RNIB.
CD48796
Country Living
Fledgling days by Emma Ford. London: John Murray, 1996. At the age of eight, the author was given an eagle to train. It was the beginning of a lifetime's passion for birds of prey. She learned the ancient skills of falconry and began to gather her own collection of hawks. She finally realises her dream of living and working in the countryside with a hawk on her hand. Strong language. Read by Patricia Jones in 8:31 hours. RNIB.
CD46596
Landscape and memory by Simon Schama. London: Harper Collins, 1995. This book examines our relationship with the landscape around us; river, mountains and forests and the impact each has had on our culture and the way they answer our needs. The author reveals to us the myths and traditions of the western landscape. Read by Crawford Logan in 23:51 hours. RNIB.
CD46796
History and Travel
Mukiwa, a white boy in Africa by Peter Godwin. London: Picador, 1997. Growing up in Rhodesia in the 1960s, the author inhabited a magical and frightening world. As an adolescent, a conscripted boy-soldier in the civil war, and then as an adult who returned to Zimbabwe as a journalist to cover the transition to black rule, he discovered a land stalked by death and danger. Read by Paul Herzberg in 14:28 hours. RNIB.
CD48460
Take me with you: tales of long distance love edited by Sarah MacDonald. Milsons Point, N.S.W.: Bantam, 2005. Share the delirious highs and lows of long distance love with some of Australia's most intrepid romantics. Led by an author whose long-distance love led to much more than a bestselling memoir, join a party of fellow travellers who have scaled the heights of love and longing from afar. Strong language. Read by Kellie Jones and Christopher Brown in 6:56 hours. VAILS.
CD45810
Nature and Animals
The dinosaur hunters, a true story of scientific rivalry and the discovery of the prehistoric world by Deborah Cadbury. London: Fourth Estate, 2000. Gideon Mantell uncovered giant bones in a Sussex quarry but Richard Owen, patronised by royalty and the government, scooped the credit for the discovery of the dinosaurs. Thus begin the bitter feud between these nineteenth century scientists. Their struggle was to create a new science that would change man's perception of his place in the universe. Read by Louise Fryer in 11:16 hours. RNIB.
CD48960
Led by the nose, a garden of smells by Jenny Joseph. London: Souvenir, 2002. This is an account of a year in the author's Gloucestershire garden through the different smells of each month's plants. It is a diary of her life and events of her year, full of diversions and written in an informal, chatty tone of voice. This is no ordinary 'how to' gardening book. Read by Jenny Joseph in 5:50 hours. RNIB.
CD48394
Poetry
Eighteenth-century women poets, an Oxford anthology by Charlotte Lamb. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. This anthology of over a hundred, largely ignored, poets opens a new perspective on this age. They speak with vigour and immediacy, their moods varied from resentful and melancholic to humorous and exuberant, writing about their world and their experiences. Read by Patricia Hughes in 24:04 hours. RNIB.
CD46545
Adult Fiction
Family Novels
The soldier at the door by Edith Pargeter. London: Headline, 1995. After the meaningless death of her son in the closing days of the Korean War, a mother begins the search for answers. Neither the church nor the government can provide a solution. In the end a teenage boy resolves to stand up for a world without conscription. Read by Di Langford in 7:54 hours. RNIB
CD45735
The transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard. London: Macmillan, 1980. Two Australian sisters come to post-war England to seek their fortunes. Adventurous Caro becomes hopelessly courted by a young scientist and finds that love brings sorrow as well as passion. Meanwhile, her mild sister seeks fulfilment in marriage. Read by Carol Marsh in 17:36 hours. RNIB
CD45746
The wife of Martin Guerre by Janet Lewis. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1941. Set in 16th century France, this is the story of a young French woman. Aged eleven years, she and her equally young groom are married. He disappears soon afterwards. Eight years later a bearded stranger comes to the village and claims to be her husband. Read by John Richmond in 3:36 hours. RNIB
CD45747
General Fiction
A brother's tale by Stan Barstow. London: Joseph, 1980. Bonny is a soccer star on the run. He is fleeing from the press, from his fickle fans and most of all from the knowledge that his talent has burnt out, that he is no longer of First Division standard. He turns for refuge to his brother. Read by Robert Gladwell in 9:11 hours. RNIB.
CD46042
The spell by Alan Hollinghurst. London: Chatto & Windus, 1998. A group of middle-class gay Englishmen who are friends, ex-lovers, father and son explore love, lust and loss during a summer in the idyllic countryside of Dorset. From uneasy conflicts there emerges a richly ironic picture of modern gay life. Read by Cameron Stewart in 8:51 hours. RNIB.
CD49195
Historical Novels
The French executioner by C C Humphreys. Oxford: Isis, 2004. It is 1536 and the expert swordsman Jean Rombaud is to behead Anne Boleyn. On the eve of her execution Rombaud swears a vow to the ill-fated queen. He promises to bury her six-fingered hand, symbol of her rumoured witchery, at a sacred crossroads. Many others also want this infamous and powerful icon. Read by C. C. Humphreys in 14:43 hours. RNIB.
CD49017
The last cavalier by Alexandre Dumas. This lost novel of Dumas' completes his epic retelling of French history. It is a tale of family honour and heroic derring-do. Young Hector, Count de Sainte-Hermine, has sworn to avenge his Royalist family's death by fighting against Napoleon. Though he courts death fearlessly, Hector's daring deeds will change his destiny and Napoleon's. Read by Simon Prebble in 35:37 hours. BA.
CD59720
The river by Rumer Godden. London: Pan, 1991. In India in the 1920s a girl approaches womanhood. The comforting rhythm of her Indian childhood is about to be shattered and she must learn to deal with birth, death and faith. Read by Laurel Lefkow in 3:37 hours. RNIB.
CD45733
Humour
The stopping place by Helen Slavin. Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2008. Ruby works at the library, mainly shelving books. Ruby sees a lot, loitering there behind Geography shelves, wanting to come out of hiding from the mysterious depths of the suburban library. Also hidden amongst the humour and charm of the library is a darkness of domestic violence and stalking. Explicit descriptions of sex, strong language and violence. Read by Meredith O'Reilly in 8:32 hours. VAILS.
CD53037
Mystery and Detective Stories
A place of safety by Caroline Graham. London: Headline, 1999. An ex-vicar opens his rambling rectory to rehabilitate a stream of young offenders. He has no idea he will encounter blackmail and murder. When his most recent project, the wild Carlotta, mysteriously disappears, Chief Inspector Barnaby must be called in to help. With no leads to follow Barnaby must follow his hunches. Read by Hugh Ross in 10:39 hours. RNIB.
CD46082
A shark out of water: a John Putnam Thatcher mystery by Emma Lathen. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 1997. Thatcher is a versatile financier and detective. He heads to the Western Baltic region to explore an investment opportunity to rebuild the Kiel Canal. He has his hands full when the fogbound Canal creates chaos for hundreds of boats and an official is a murdered during a champagne party. Sequel to CD47952: Brewing up a storm. Read by Garrick Hagon in 8:12 hours. RNIB.
CD46083
Romance Novels
Serendipity by Melanie La'Brooy. Camberwell, Vic.: Penguin, 2007. How Hero's neatly ordered life turns upside down starts in Manhattan cocktail bars and masquerading as a trapeze artist. Sparks fly when she meets charming bartender Oscar but she panics and runs away, ending the affair. Two years later when she bumps into him in Sydney, he is determined to win her back. Read by Kellie Jones in 8:11 hours. VAILS.
CD53000
The wild seed by Iris Gower. London: Bantam, 1996. By the time Catherine, mistress of Boyo Hopkins, found out he was married, it was too late to turn back. When Boyo's wife found out what was happening, her profound grief turned to hatred and she planned Catherine's downfall. She also plans to destroy anyone who helps Catherine. Explicit descriptions of sex. Read by Diana Bishop in 16 hours. RNIB.
CD45748
Science Fiction
The wild shore by Kim Stanley Robinson. London: HarperCollins, 1994. For a small Californian coastal community in the year 2047, life in the aftermath of a devastating nuclear attack is a daily struggle. It is sixty years after America has been quarantined and a young man dreams of how he can build a new America. Strong language. Read by Eric Meyers in 15:42 hours. RNIB.
CD45749
Short Stories
Classic Australian short stories collected by Maggie Pinkney. Melbourne: Five Mile Press, 2001. Drawn from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries, all the stories in this collection in some way capture the spirit of the young Australian nation. Some are humorous, others stark, even horrifying, but all are entertaining. Read by Mike Bishop in 8:13 hours. VAILS.
CD45781
Spy Stories
The journeyman tailor by Gerald Seymour. Harvill, 1992. Gary Brennard's first MI5 assignment is as an undercover agent in Northern Ireland. An informer in an IRA cell must be protected at all costs. However, the brigade will go to any length to identify the traitor, to interrogate and torture him and then to hood and shoot him. Strong language. Read by George Hagan in 14:38 hours. RNIB.
CD49070
A prince of the captivity by John Buchan; introduction by David Daniell. Edinburgh: B & W, 1996. This is the epic story of an officer and a gentleman with a brilliant career ahead of him until he is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. Determined to salvage something from the wreckage of his life he embarks on a series of spectacular and daring missions in the service of his country. Read by David Banks in 12:27 hours. RNIB.
CD46083
Thrillers
'48 by James Herbert. Oxford: Isis Publishing, 1997. In 1945, Hitler unleashes the Blood Death on Britain as a final act of vengeance. Only a tiny minority with a rare blood group survive the disease. Amongst them is Hoke, an American pilot. Now, in '48, a slow-dying group of Fascist Blackshirts believe their only hope is a complete transfusion and they're after his blood. Hoke and other survivors are pursued in a deadly chase through London. Read by William Dufris in 10:17 hours. RNIB.
CD46040
The intruders by Michael Marshall. Something very strange is happening. A perplexing series of troubling events are leading ex-cop Jack Whalen into the shadows where secrets are buried. They are odd, dark secrets involving a businessman's will and a missing young girl in Oregon. Read by William Hughes in 12:34 hours. BA.
CD58346
The lying tongue by Andrew Wilson. Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2007. Venice shimmers in the summer heat when a young Englishman become the live-in assistant to a reclusive expatriate writer. The men are at odds over the writing of the elderly employer's biography and how his life will end. Ambition, greed and deception may lead to another dead body. Read by Paul English in 10:10 hours. VAILS.
CD53025
Westerns
Bitter trumpet by Fred Grove. New York: Leisure, 1999. A Civil War veteran travels west to rebuild his life, only to find himself embroiled in a conflict between the Mexican peasants and the trained mercenaries of Emperor Maximilian. Read by Garrick Hagon in 9:49 hours. RNIB.
CD47901
The bounty scalper by Jerome Gardner. Hale, 1983. To Grover Clayburn, earning big bounty money seems more attractive than being a cowhand. His first attempt ends in disaster. Then Betsy Anne, the hardest saloon woman in Panhandle, picks out a faded old killer due for release from prison. Even Grover could hardly miss earning scalp money on him. Read by Ian Craig in 3:31 hours. RNIB.
CD48904