Showing results by narrator "Michelle Fairley" in All Categories

Christmas is the perfect time to curl up with a good story, and this cracking collection brings you 30 wonderfully diverse tales inspired by this most special of seasons. From Santa Claus, gift-giving and family gatherings, to an unexpected encounter in a snowstorm and an alternative take on the Nativity, they're sure to get you in the festive mood.

Set against the backdrop of America's Great Depression and Dust Bowl, a family of farmers from Oklahoma head west in search of work, only to discover thousands like them are also on the move. Following a violent altercation with some locals, they head back on the road with their dream of a promised land in tatters. And life is set to get much worse for the Joads....

Northern Ireland was a very dark place in the 1980s. A hunger strike was looming, street violence and tit for tat murders were an everyday occurrence, but in a small corner of West Belfast something extraordinary was happening. In a factory in Dunmurry a unique new sports car was being built, a DMC 12, a style icon for the late 20th century. For 2 years John DeLorean brought hope to communities flattened by the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

When prominent don and celebrity TV historian Peter Devanti dies after dining at High Table, his colleague Gilbert suspects foul play and invites his former student Simon Harrison, a disillusioned health and safety officer, to investigate. Meanwhile, Simon’s former girlfriend Zoe, a freelance journalist, arrives to write an article about Devanti’s death, reopening old wounds for Simon.

The Shootist is John Bernard Books, the last surviving top gunfighter in a vanishing American West. He rides into El Paso in the year 1901, to be told by a doctor that he has a terminal illness. As word spreads that the famous assassin has reached the end, an assortment of vultures gather to feast upon his corpse. Most men would end their days quietly, but Books outwits them all by selecting the where, the when and the manner of his death.

Every New Year's Eve, strange, screechy music wafts down from the mountains of Glencoe, but just who is playing it, and why, is a mystery? After delivering some porridge to his Granny, who lives in a house at the foot of Glencoe Pass, Curious McAye, a daydreaming young fool, decides to go and find out, despite Granny having told him a story of three witch sisters who once lived there and of their strange friends, the Gobin Pipers. When Curious hears the sound of bagpipes playing, and sees a silver pathway leading up into the mountains, his curiosity gets the better of him.

Every New Years Eve, strange screechy music wafts down from the Scottish Mountains of Glencoe, but just who is playing it, and why? After delivering some porridge to his Granny, young Curious McAye, riding his horse, Whiskymac, decides to go and find out. At the end of a silvery pathway high in Glencoe's mountains he finds the oddest array of creatures and characters from Scottish myth and legend, having a New Year Ball. Curious dances out onto the moonlit heath to join the party and dancing, but when the midnight bells toll and Auld Lang Syne is sung, will he find his way back home?

This is one story with three storytellers, each with their own perspective on their shared history. Each tale brings new revelations through a spellbinding narrative that enters the realm of a deep, shamanic ritual, guiding the listener through the hearts and minds of faith healer Frank, his wife Grace and his manager Teddy. Faith Healer is recognised as a masterpiece of modern theatre.