Debden Park Podcast

In 2006, a groundbreaking feature-length film revealed the great mystery of the universe—The Secret—and, later that year, Rhonda Byrne followed with a book that claimed to transform your life. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-secret-9781847370297/9781847370297 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Rhonda-Byrne/dp/1582701709

Aveline is thrilled when she discovers that the holiday cottage her mum has rented for the summer is beside a stone circle. Thousands of years old, the local villagers refer to the ancient structure as the Witch Stones, and Aveline cannot wait to learn more about them. Then Aveline meets Hazel. Impossibly cool, mysterious yet friendly, Aveline soon falls under Hazel's spell. In fact, Hazel is quit...

Marinka dreams of a normal life, where her house stays in one place long enough for her to make friends. But her house has chicken legs and moves on without warning. For Marinka's grandmother is Baba Yaga, who guides spirits between this world and the next. Marinka longs to change her destiny and sets out to break free from her grandmother's footsteps, but her house has other ideas... Buy the Book...

Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst - that Clara has died in care - the last thing she expects to hear is that her daughter has already been reclaimed - by her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why. Buy the b...

July is a slave girl who lives upon a sugar plantation named Amity and it is her life that is the subject of this tale. She was there when the Baptist War raged in 1831, and she was present when slavery was declared no more. In this episode, Madam Page reads an extract describing July's birth. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-long-song-now-a-major-bbc-drama/9781472268686 A...

In August 2018 a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day. Her actions ended up sparking a global movement for action against the climate crisis, inspiring millions of pupils to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen, and earning her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. This book brings you Greta in her own words, for the first time. Collect...

1891. Seventeen-year-old Léonie Vernier and her brother abandon Paris for the sanctuary of their aunt's isolated country house near Carcassonne. But Léonie stumbles across a ruined sepulchre - and a timeless mystery whose traces are written in blood. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/sepulchre/9781409159063 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sepulchre-Kate-Mosse/dp/140915906X

**This episode contains references to depression, anxiety and suicide** Aged 24, Matt Haig's world caved in. He could see no way to go on living. This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/reasons-to-stay-alive/9781782116820 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.u...

Bestselling PT James Smith aims to challenge everything you think you know about the path to success and happiness, encouraging his readers to take control of their future. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/not-a-life-coach-push-your-boundaries-unlock-your-potential-redefine-your-life/9780008404840?aid=2166 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-Life-Coach-Boundaries-Potential/dp...

It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual universe where you can be anything you want to be, on any of ten thousand planets. Like most of humanity, W...

This thrilling historical novel is the final in a trilogy, following the life of the Roman lawyer, Cicero, as he deals with the turbulent politics of Rome. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/dictator-9781784756161/9781784756161 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dictator-Cicero-Trilogy-Robert-Harris/dp/0099474190/ref =sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=dictator&qid=1620909236&sr=8-3

In this essay, Loretta Ramkissoon explores what life is like in a London tower block and the dynamics of communities of neighbours who aren't friends, but who do look out for each other. 'Which Floor?' is one of several essays published in the anthology 'Common People', published by Kit de Waal, showcasing the experiences of working class writers. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/bo...

Christmas 1943. A badly damaged American bomber is chased by a German fighter plane across the skies, capable of destroying the plane with a squeeze of the trigger. This Sunday Times bestseller follows both men's harrowing missions and gives a dramatic account of the moment when they would stare across the frozen skies at one another. What happened between them, the American 8th Air Force would la...

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a giant of a man called Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at...

This fantasy comedy novel follows the life of a cowardly wizard, who is unwittingly roped into a life of adventure. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-colour-of-magic-discworld-novel-1/9780552166591 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Magic-Discworld-Novel-Novels/dp/0552166596

In Chris Atkins' memoir of his 5 year stint in prison, he explores the numerous issues faced by our prison systems. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/a-bit-of-a-stretch-the-diaries-of-a-prisoner/9781838950170 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bit-Stretch-Diaries-Prisoner/dp/183895015X To read more on the challenges of the prison system, have a look at these articles: https://www...

There is a runaway trolley barrelling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing next to a lever which will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options: 1. Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five peop...

Shortlisted for the Carnegie Award and based on true events, this is the story of a group of boys put ashore a remote rocky stac off the island of St Kilda to collect birds for food. They are meant to be collected at the end of the summer, but no-one comes. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/where-the-world-ends/9781474943437 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-World-Ends-Ger...

Following two cousins, Joseph Kavalier and Sammy Clay, this Pulitzer prize winning novel charts their journey through World War II to become major figures in the comic book industry. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-amazing-adventures-of-kavalier-and-clay/9781841154930 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazing-Adventures-Kavalier-Clay/dp/1841154938/ref =sr_1_1?crid=3K29R7MI...

Madam Fonda reads Tom Lamont's article 'The invisible city: how a homeless man built a life underground', published in the Guardian on 5th March 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/mar/05/invisible-city-how-homeless-man-built-life-underground-bunker-hampstead-heath To read more about the issue of hidden homelessness in Britain, have a look at the articles below: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/...

Mr Greendale reads Katie Whyatt's article in the Athletic (18th March 2021), exploring how one footballer overcame sexism and racism in football to become a well known footballer, pundit and presenter. Read the article: https://theathletic.co.uk/2457969/2021/03/19/alex-scott/ If you want to read more about the issue of sexism in football, you might enjoy these articles: - The financial disparity f...

Lyra and her animal daemon, Pan, live in Jordan College, Oxford. When her friend goes missing, along with several other children, Lyra and Pan set out to find him. Their search takes them all the way to the Arctic and has consequences that reach far beyond Lyra's own life. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/northern-lights/9781407186108 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Northern-...

Dr Hogan reads one of the original James Bond stories in which James Bond is preparing for yet another mission. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/octopussy-the-living-daylights/9780099577027?aid=3306 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Daylights-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/0141195975

Madam Vitalis explores the problematic effects of climate change and what can be done to help resolve them. Buy the book: Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/a-life-on-our-planet-my-witness-statement-and-a-vision-for-the-future/9781529108279 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Our-Planet-Witness-Statement/dp/1529108276/ref =sr_1_1?crid=3N0RZNKPIS1V2&dchild=1&keywords=a+life+on+our+planet+dav...

Madam Russell reads an extract from Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'. Set in a near future America, 'The Handmaid's Tale' presents a society ruled by a patriarchal religious group. With fewer children being born than even, women are assigned as 'Handmaids' to conceive children for elite families. This classic dystopian novel explores a situation in which women have lost every right gained o...