Audiobooks by Cat Jarman

The Rabbit Hole Book: 99 adventures into the history of stuff

Brought to you by Penguin. Have you ever wondered why pubs have certain names? Or why jet lag exists? Or perhaps you have speculated about the origin of the paperclip? If any of these ring true or if you can relate to spending far too much time down an internet rabbit hole then you are in the right place/ this is the book for you! Trivia lovers and general knowledge enthusiasts rejoice as we introduce the first book from the trio behind the hit history podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives. Join your favourite investigators, Richard Coles, Charles Spencer and Cat Jarman, as they uncover the weird and wonderful provenance behind your favourite and surprising historical objects both real and metaphorical. Forensically researched, beautifully observed, and using humour and their vast historical knowledge, The Rabbit Hole Detectives Book is a feast of historical trivia and unknown facts. Packed full with a stimulating and moreish mix of longer entries, lists, trivia, amazing factoids and hysterical banter, this book is addictive, fun and endlessly informative. Whatever you think you know, guess again. © Richard Coles, Charles Spencer and Cat Jarman 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Cat Jarman, Charles Spencer, Richard Coles (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Bone Chests: Unlocking the Secrets of the Anglo-Saxons

‘A diligent historian and a superb writer’TIMES, BOOK OF THE WEEK From bioarchaeologist and bestselling author of River Kings, a gripping new history of the making of England as a nation, told through six bone chests, stored for over a thousand years in Winchester Cathedral. In December 1642, during the Civil War, Parliamentarian troops stormed the magnificent cathedral, intent on destruction. Reaching the presbytery, its beating heart, the soldiers searched out ten beautifully decorated wooden chests resting high up on the stone screens. Those chests contained some of England’s most venerated, ancient remains: the bones of eight kings, including William Rufus and Cnut the Great – the only Scandinavian king to rule England and a North Sea empire; three bishops ; and a formidable queen, Emma of Normandy. These remains belong to the very people who witnessed and orchestrated the creation of the kingdom of Wessex in the seventh century, who lived through the creation of England as a unified country in response to the Viking threat, and who were part and parcel of the Norman conquest. On that day, the soldiers smashed several chests to the ground, using the bones as missiles to shatter the cathedral’s stained glass windows. Afterwards, the clergy scrambled to collect the scattered remains. In 2012, the six remaining chests were reopened. Using the latest scientific methods, a team of forensic archaeologists attempted to identify the contents: they discovered an elaborate jumble of bones, including the remains of two forgotten princes. In The Bone Chests, Cat Jarman builds on this evidence to untangle the stories of the people within. It is an extraordinary and sometimes tragic tale, and one of transformation. Why these bones? Why there? Can we ever really identify them? In a palimpsest narrative that runs through more than a millennium of British history, it tells the story of both the seekers and the sought, of those who protected the bones and those who spurned them; and of the methods used to investigate.

Cat Jarman (Author), Cat Jarman (Narrator)

Audiobook

River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads

An acclaimed bioarcheologist, Catrine Jarman has used cutting-edge forensic techniques to spark her investigation into the history of the Vikings who came to rest in British soil. By examining teeth that are now over one thousand years old, she can determine childhood diet-and thereby where a person was likely born. With radiocarbon dating, she can ascertain a death-date down to the range of a few years. And her research offers enlightening new visions of the roles of women and children in Viking culture. Three years ago, a Carnelian bead came into her temporary possession. River Kings sees her trace the path of this ancient piece of jewelry back to eighth-century Baghdad and India, discovering along the way that the Vikings' route was far more varied than we might think-that with them came people from the Middle East, not just Scandinavia, and that the reason for this unexpected integration between the Eastern and Western worlds may well have been a slave trade running through the Silk Road, all the way to Britain. Told as a riveting history of the Vikings and the methods we use to understand them, this is a major reassessment of the fierce, often-mythologized voyagers of the North-and of the global medieval world as we know it.

Cat Jarman (Author), Christine Rendel (Narrator)

Audiobook

River Kings: A New History of Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads

'Astonishing and compelling' Bernard Cornwell ‘A thrilling read … Illuminates Viking culture in an utterly intriguing new light’ Charles Spencer ‘Extraordinarily imaginative … You’ll never see the Viking Age in the same way again’ Michael Wood Follow bioarchaeologist Cat Jarman – and the cutting-edge forensic techniques central to her research – as she uncovers epic stories of the Viking age and follows a small ‘Carnelian’ bead found in a Viking grave in Derbyshire to its origins thousands of miles to the east in Gujarat. Dr Cat Jarman is a bioarchaeologist, specialising in forensic techniques to research the paths of Vikings who came to rest in British soil. By examining teeth that are now over one thousand years old, she can determine childhood diet, and thereby where a person was likely born. With radiocarbon dating, she can ascertain a death date down to the range of a few years. And her research offers new visions of the likely roles of women and children in Viking culture. In 2017, a carnelian bead came into her temporary possession. River Kings sees her trace its path back to eighth-century Baghdad and India, discovering along the way that the Vikings’ route was far more varied than we might think, that with them came people from the Middle East, not just Scandinavia, and that the reason for this unexpected integration between the Eastern and Western worlds may well have been a slave trade running through the Silk Road, and all the way to Britain. Told as a riveting story of the Vikings and the methods we use to understand them, this is a major reassessment of the fierce, often-mythologised voyagers of the north, and of the global medieval world as we know it.

Cat Jarman (Author), Cat Jarman (Narrator)

Audiobook