Alex Jennings

The beating heart, the drumbeat, the very force of life. What then when we say ‘it breaks’? ‘I’m heart-broken’? Few of us escape a life without some measure of heartache and the pain it causes.In this volume we give full rein to our classic poets...

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters tells a series of apparently unconnected stories ranging from a woodworm’s-eye-view of the journey on Noah’s Ark to an astronaut’s quest for its final resting place. There is pastiche and learned disquisition;...

‘A dime a dozen’ as known in America, is perhaps equal to the English ‘cheap as chips’ but whatever the lingua franca of your choice in this series we hereby submit ‘A Rhyme a Dozen’ as 12 poems on many given subjects that are a well-rounded...

‘A dime a dozen’ as known in America, is perhaps equal to the English ‘cheap as chips’ but whatever the lingua franca of your choice in this series we hereby submit ‘A Rhyme a Dozen’ as 12 poems on many given subjects that are a well-rounded...

Continuing where Thus Spoke Zarathustra left off, Nietzsche’s controversial work Beyond Good and Evil is one of the most influential philosophical texts of the nineteenth century and one of the most controversial works of ideology ever written....

Honeymoons are a relatively modern concept in the western world, dating from the 19th Century and have since become a multi-billion dollar industry turning the beginning of wedded bliss into a smorgsboard of ‘must have this’ and ‘must do...

The meeting, the courtship, the wedding and the honeymoon have all now been completed.Having got this far the real journey lays before every married couple seeking the love, stability, support and joys of a long-term relationship. The state of the...

Two sides of the same coin most would say. And without doubt for the majority of authors in this wide-ranging collection that would be absolutely right.Shakespeare was equally at home with drama or poetry, but he was exceptional. We have not seen his...

‘Perchance to dream’ is an offer that most of us would accept in the blink of an eye. That mysterious ‘other world’ where the day’s reality is processed by our subconscious, really is a mystery, even to the experts and self-help books who decipher our...

Whilst those of us old enough to remember the sixties might have thought weddings would become obsolete for all but the faithful, they still seem for the majority of us to be the benchmark, the gold standard of a relationship.This symbol of love,...

The 150 Psalms contain some of the most inspiring lines in the Old Testament: Psalm 23 ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ and Psalm 121 ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills’. Yet few know them as a set, and this recording, in Alex Jennings’s clear...

Everyone knows something of Shakespeare’s sonnets, even if only in memorable fragments like ‘the darling buds of may’ or ‘remembrance of things past’ ‘the marriage of minds’. For centuries these wonderfully-crafted, intense lyrics have stood for...

"From the first paragraph of the first chapter the reader is drawn into this fastpaced drama, “Theft of theMaster.” Edwin Alexander has created an intricate story with a complex plot.Veit Stoss, one of Europe’s greatest sculptors was commissioned by...

Literature is a world of words and wonder, able to take us on almost unimaginable journeys from the wild and fantastic to the grind and minutiae of life.An author’s ideas are his building blocks, his architecture of the mind, building a structure on...

Thus Spoke Zarathustra was conceived and written by Friedrich Nietzsche during the years 1881–1885; the first three parts were published in 1883 and 1884. The book formed part of his ‘campaign against morality’, in which Nietzsche explored the ethical...

Some things in life are too serious to joke about. Assisted dying is not one of them.In 2017 Susie Kennaway asked her son Guy to kill her. 88 years old, with an older and infirm husband, Susie wanted to avoid sliding into infantilised catatonia. Her...

Volume 1Westminster Abbey has seen much during its long, rich history; the coronations of Kings and Queens, the burials of Prime ministers. However it is also a church that remembers the men and women of the arts. Dedicated writers and poets who spoke...