Posts by chatterb0x

The Hezbollah Hiking Club by Dom Joly

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Dom Joly has been at Chatterbox recording his new book The Hezbollah Hiking Club for Little Brown.

Dom was born in Beirut and lived there until he was eighteen. He lived through the civil war, went to school with Osama Bin Laden, and learned to ski and speak French and Arabic. At the age of seven he was sent to an English boarding school, where he would spend term times before returning to his war-torn home. Dom’s parents divorced when he was eighteen and he moved permanently to the UK, becoming a diplomat, a political journalist and then famous as a man who dressed as a giant squirrel. He has only been back to Lebanon twice since.


Upon approaching his fiftieth birthday, Dom had an idea: to walk The Lebanon Mountain Trail with his two best friends, Harry and Chris. He had also read about an attempt to promote tourism in Lebanon by encouraging people to take on this 30-day hiking trail. The Lebanon Mountain Trail runs from the Syrian border in the north of Lebanon, along the spine of the mountain range all the way down to the Israeli border in the south.

The Hezbollah Hiking Club is heart-warming, funny and incredibly fascinating. This will be a brilliant listen!

The Priory of the Orange Tree

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By Samantha Shannon

Narrated by Liyah Summers

It has been a pleasure having Liyah Summers at Chatterbox narrating The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, the internationally bestselling author of The Bone Season.

An enthralling, epic fantasy about a world on the brink of war with dragons – an the women who must lead the fight to save it.

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

This is such a fantastic read and Liyah has done such a wonderful job narrating it. It’s great to read a fantasy novel with brilliant female characters, too!

Right: Liyah Summers narrating The Priory of the Orange Tree at Chatterbox for Audible UK and Bloomsbury.

Queen: Behind Closed Doors – A talk by Peter Hince

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In October, Peter Hince came to the Chippenham studios to record the introduction and author’s note for his brilliant book, Queen Unseen,narrated by the wonderful Rupert Holliday-Evans.

Following the success of Queen Unseen and the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, Peter has been invited to give one of his talks, Queen: Behind Closed Doors, in Bristol on February 26th.


©️ Peter Hince

Peter first met Queen in 1973 when they were a support act and went on to work with them as head of their road crew until their last tour (with Freddie) in 1986. His intimate, reportage-style photos of the band are iconic.

This fascinating talk, with unique photos Peter took during his time with Queen, gives you an insight into life onstage, backstage and inside the recording studio and an understanding of how Queen became one of the biggest bands in the world. Find out the true story behind the Bohemian Rhapsody Film!

You can buy tickets to Peter’s talk in Bristol here:

https://uk.funzing.com/funz/queen-behind-closed-doors-bristol-21030?utm_campaign=Funz_21030&utm_medium=Host_262311&utm_source=SpeakersTraffic_GBh

You must book in advance as tickets are not available on the door.

Peter Hince’s website: https://www.peterhince.co.uk/

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

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Narrated by Drew Dillon

An absolute pleasure to work with Drew Dillon this week recording James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. A brilliant book and a fantastic listen!

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man represents the transitional stage between the realism of Joyce’s Dubliners and the symbolism of Ulysses, and is essential to the understanding of the later work.

This novel is a highly autobiographical account of the adolescence of Stephen Dedalus, who reappears in Ulysses, and who comes to realize that before he can become a true artist, he must rid himself of the stultifying effects of the religion, politics and essential bigotry of his background in late 19th century Ireland.

Terms and Conditions

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  1. The closing date is Friday 17th April 2015.
  2. Only one entry per competition, per reader.
  3. All prizes are subject to availability, and Chatterbox Audio reserves the right to replace the prize with an alternative product or colour of equal or higher value if necessary at the promoters’ discretion.
  4. No purchase necessary.
  5. Winner(s) will be selected at random after the closing date from all entries received. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
  6. Winner(s) will be notified by email or telephone (using the details provided at entry) within 4 weeks of the closing date. Following such notification, the winner will be required to send the Promoter full details of their postal address to which the Prize will be delivered (if applicable).
  7. If the Promoter cannot: (i) contact the winner (via the details provided at the date of entry) within a reasonable period of time (to be established at the Promoter’s sole discretion); or (ii) the winner does not return details of his/her postal address to the Promoter within 7 days of notification that they have won the Prize, the Promoter reserves the right to re-draw a winner of the Promotion and thereafter until a winner on these terms is found.
  8. Please allow 28 days for delivery of the Prize. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for the Prize being lost, damaged or delayed in the post.
  9. By entering any of Chatterbox Audio’s online prize draws and competitions you agree to having your name, details and photo published online.
  10. Unless otherwise stated, the promoter is Chatterbox Audio, The Lodge, Box Hill, Box, Wiltshire, SN13 8HN.