TUNNEL 29 by Helena Merriman, read by Helena Merriman - audiobook extract

08/05/21 • 5 min

The true story of the most remarkable escape tunnel under the Berlin Wall, from the creator of the acclaimed BBC podcast. He's just escaped from one of the world's most brutal regimes. Now, he decides to tunnel back in. It's summer 1962 and Joachim Rudolph, a student, is digging a tunnel under the Berlin Wall. Waiting on the other side in East Berlin - dozens of men, women and children, all willing to risk everything to escape. From the award-winning creator of the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 podcast, Tunnel 29 is the true story of the most remarkable escape tunnel dug under the Berlin Wall. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with the survivors and thousands of pages of Stasi documents, Helena Merriman brilliantly reveals the stranger-than-fiction story of the ingenious group of student-diggers, the glamorous red-haired messenger, the American News network which films the escape and the Stasi spy who betrays it. For what Joachim doesn't know as he burrows closer to East Germany, is that the escape operation has been infiltrated. As the escapees prepare to crawl through the cold, wet darkness, above them, the Stasi are closing in. Tunnel 29 is about what happens when people lose their freedom - and how some will do anything to win it back.

Previous Episode

A FATAL MOVE by Rose Temple, read by Penelope Rawlins - audiobook extract

If you enjoyed Midsomer Murders, you will love the third instalment of the Nosy Neighbour Mysteries. PC Jemima Cotton escapes to Little Cote from London for a quieter life...but she soon discovers she's moved into the nosiest, and the deadliest, neighbourhood imaginable. The sleepy village of Little Cote was meant to be a quieter pace of life for ex-Met PC Jemima Cotton. But she soon discovers, here a petty rivalry can erupt into full-blown murder.... When a young couple buy their first home in Little Cote, they're so excited to make it their own. The house has been up for sale for months, and it's idyllic on the outside but needs a complete overhaul on the inside. However, while the garden is overrun with meets, the house is falling down, there's a horrid concrete patio that, while ugly, looks absolutely brand new. The couple hate it, and seeing as they're doing the house from top to bottom, they decide to rip the concrete up too. But when two bodies are discovered under the patio, Jemima Cotton is the first on the scene. But the first question is, who are the victims? And who in this cosy little town wanted them dead? Perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Helen Cox, Betty Rowlands, and the Midsomer Murders series by Caroline Graham.

Next Episode

ROSE WEST by Jane Carter Woodrow, read by Lucy Paterson - audiobook extract

ane Carter Woodrow goes right back to the start of the infamous serial killer Rose West's life, to try to piece together what happened to turn her into the violent monster she became. A gripping listen on the real story of Rose West who, together with her husband, Fred West, became Britain's biggest and most notorious murderers. As seen on the Channel 5 documentary Making a Monster. Although it's hard to believe now, Rose West was an exceptionally beautiful little girl with long, glossy dark hair and big brown eyes. Looking at photos of young Rosie as a child, it is almost impossible to comprehend that she would grow up to become one of Britain's most notorious female murderers. But Rose's early life made her the perfect partner for Fred West, and the two committed a string of murders in Gloucester throughout the '70s and '80s. Her part in the killings is very different to that which many people believe even today. What happened to that little girl to make her capable of such violence? Or was there something wrong - a predisposition to cruelty - which she was born with? Crime writer Jane Carter Woodrow goes back to the start of Rose's life to piece together what it was that turned her into a monster. In doing so, she presents us with a profile of the young Rose West and a fascinating insight into the mind of a killer. Rose West is a gripping listen that sheds light for the first time on the real story of Rose West - taking the listener on a journey from her childhood through to her becoming the country's biggest and most infamous female sexual predator and serial killer.