House in Hastings

Disa (Finlay Panter)

Brought to you by Penguin.

“I’m not sure anyone knows who I really am. So here it is.”

The real highs.
The real lows.
The Real Girl.

Mutya Buena was only thirteen when she became one third of the original line-up of the iconic girl band Sugababes.

As she launched into fame, her life became unrecognizable overnight. Suddenly, she was going straight from school to the studio, rubbing shoulders with music royalty and hearing fans scream her name.

But with the dazzle of stardom came the darker side: those who would take advantage of her naivety and her kindness, the constant taunting by the press and the lingering regret of missing out on being a real teenager.

Unflinchingly honest, Real Girl takes us through the highs of a spectacular career and the lows that came with a life in the limelight. For the first time, Mutya opens up about the struggles she kept hidden from the public eye when her life began to spiral out of control.

This is the story of the girl the tabloids never saw.

© Mutya Buena 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Real Girl written and read by Mutya Buena

Brought to you by Penguin.

The festive season is fast approaching.

Jane Austen fears that without her siblings at home, there won’t be much Christmas cheer in the Austen household this year.

But when she uncovers a skeleton in the cellar of Deane Rectory, Jane soon forgets her woes. Who needs merriment, when there’s a mystery to solve?

Her investigation leads her to the legend of a young bride who’s long been thought to haunt the woods nearby. After fleeing her wedding breakfast, the bride was never seen again.

Has Jane found her at last? Or is there more to this mystery than meets the eye?

Tis the season for Jane to embark upon festive delights, making merry, and solving murders…

© Jessica Bull 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

The Austen Christmas Murders written by Jessica Bull and read by Eleanor Yates

Brought to you by Penguin.

Secrets, murder and mayhem collide as this unlikely sleuthing duo - an under-butler and a foul-mouthed octogerian - hunt a killer in a manor sealed against the end of the world.

Cornwall, 1910. On a remote tidal island, the Viscount of Tithe Hall is absorbed in feverish preparations for the apocalypse that he believes will accompany the passing of Halley's Comet. The Hall must be sealed from top to bottom - every window, chimney and keyhole closed off before night falls. But what the pompous, dishonest Viscount has failed to take into account is the danger that lies within... By morning, he will be dead in his sealed study, murdered by his own ancestral crossbow.

All eyes turn to Steven Pike, Tithe Hall's newest under-butler. Fresh out of Borstal for a crime he didn't commit, he is the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. His unlikely ally? Miss Decima Stockingham, the foul-mouthed, sharp as a tack, 80-year-old family matriarch. Fearless and unconventional, she relishes chaos and puzzles alike, and a murder is just the thrill she's been waiting for.

Together, this mismatched duo must navigate secret passages, buried grudges and rising terror to unmask the killer before it's too late...

© Ross Montgomery 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

The Murder at The Worlds End written by Ross Montgomery and read by Derek Jacobi and Joe Jameson

Brought to you by Penguin.

A ritual killing. An ancient curse. What's myth... and what's murder?

After a bruising encounter with a terrorist group, Detective Kamil Rahman has decided to hand in his resignation to the Met and set up a detective agency with his friend Anjoli. But when his boss asks him to go to India to investigate the murder of a British engineer who was found with eighteen arrows stuck in his body, Kamil agrees to take the case, as long as Anjoli can accompany him.

When they arrive in Mumbai, they find someone is on a gruesome killing spree, striking down those connected to the engineer in increasingly macabre ways. Meanwhile, an old friend of Kamil’s gets in touch to beg for his help: he believes his family are cursed, and that he is going to die on his 47th birthday, just like his father and grandfather before him.

As the body count rises, Kamil is torn between solving a very real murder case and protecting his friend from a grisly – if far-fetched – fate. Can he catch a killer and prevent an ancient curse before more people lose their lives?

Praise for the Detective Kamil Rahman novels:

'Outstanding' SUNDAY TIMES

'Hugely entertaining' ANN CLEEVES

'A rip-roaring mystery that's engrossing from start to finish' ABIR MUKHERJEE

© Ajay Chowdhury 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

The Shadow written by Ajay Chowdhury and read by Mikhail Sen and Layla Chowdhury

An enlarged edition of Thomas Sowell’s brilliant examination of the origins of economic disparities

Economic and other outcomes differ vastly among individuals, groups, and nations. Many explanations have been offered for the differences. Some believe that those with less fortunate outcomes are victims of genetics. Others believe that those who are less fortunate are victims of the more fortunate.

Discrimination and Disparities gathers a wide array of empirical evidence to challenge the idea that different economic outcomes can be explained by any one factor, be it discrimination, exploitation, or genetics. This revised and enlarged edition also analyzes the human consequences of the prevailing social vision of these disparities and the policies based on that vision–from educational disasters to widespread crime and violence.

Discrimination and Disparities by Thomas Sowell read by Hassiem Muhammad

Middle School meets Percy Jackson in this exciting adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson, where Greek gods task an ordinary twelve-year-old with a big mission. 

Nick Andino isn’t exactly “hero” material. He’s perfectly happy working at his family’s Greek diner, pining over his crush, and avoiding his bully. His life isn’t very exciting…until destiny comes calling.

Dr. Zeus, the over-the-top king of the gods, zooms into town with a quest that Nick must complete to save Andinos past and present from being erased from history. Accompanied by a fast-talking Hermes, Nick journeys back to ancient Greece, where his ancestors await—along with new friends and a whole host of Greek gods and monsters. Can Nick be the hero the Andinos need, or will his story be another Greek tragedy?

This fast-paced, feel-good adventure from the world’s favorite storyteller has black-and-white illustrations throughout, and amphitheaters full of humor and heart. 

Dr. Zeus by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts read by Mark Sanderlin

 A sweeping global history of Islam, tracing the 1,400-year evolution of a diverse community of faith and its place in the modern world

“Anyone who wants to understand not just the past of Islam but its present and future should read Worlds of Islam.”—Reza Aslan, author of No god but God

From its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. Over the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants carried it to the edges of Europe, the coasts of Southeast Asia, and the remote interior of China. By the nineteenth century, Islam encompassed a world of great diversity, from Muslim-ruled empires to new nations where Muslims lived out their faith among many others. As empires fell and new superpowers rose, Muslims proved to be as adaptable and dynamic as modernity itself.

In Worlds of Islam, historian James McDougall explores Islam’s origins and transformations as Muslims adapted to changing times and conditions, from Late Antiquity to the digital age. In the twentieth century, while monarchs in the Gulf asserted dynastic privilege and fundamentalists in Egypt and Pakistan preached social morality, revolutionaries from Algeria to Indonesia fought for national self-determination, and activists in North America and Europe campaigned for civil liberties and social justice.

Sweeping and authoritative, Worlds of Islam narrates the epic story of how Muslims emerged as a community, built empires, traversed the globe, came to number in the billions, and became modern.

Worlds of Islam by James McDougall read by James McDougall

Based in London and Berlin, Let Spin are a cutting edge post-jazz quartet who have been making waves in the UK and European jazz scenes since their formation in 2012. The band comprises guitarist Moss Freed (Union Division; Spike Orchestra), saxophonist Chris Williams (Led Bib; Sarathy Korwar), bassist Ruth Goller (Skylla; Melt Yourself Down) & drummer Finlay Panter (Beats & Pieces Big Band), resulting in an explosive mixture of stylistic influences. Their collaborative way of working and focus on improvisation leads to incendiary live performances, allowing the music to venture into territories that are unforeseen even to the musicians themselves.