Biographical Fiction

The epic story of Rani Jindan Kaur, one of the most fierce and fearless women of the nineteenth century. An inspiration for our times. 'I am Rani Jindan, Mother of the Khalsa. That is my identity. That is my fate.' While we have all heard tales of Rani Lakshmi Bai and Padmavati, not many of us...

The classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman. Miyamoto Musashi becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and by whom he has been touched. Inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival....

This program is read by renowned English actor Ben Miles, best known for his narration of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy. “Ben Miles's English accent is perfect for the text of this recent, award-winning translation. He delivers narrative sections in a consistent tone, and his expression is...

First published in 1923, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is the fictionalized biography of Jesse Livermore, one of the greatest speculators who ever lived....

Low-life writer and unrepentant alcoholic Henry Chinaski was born to survive. After decades of slacking off at low-paying dead-end jobs, blowing his cash on booze and women, and scrimping by in flea-bitten apartments, Chinaski sees his poetic star rising at last. Now, at fifty, he is reveling in...

A landmark BBC radio production of Proust's epic masterpiece, starring Derek Jacobi as the narrator, Marcel. Waking in the small hours, Marcel Proust embarks on a retrospective journey, endeavouring to capture the elusive moments that shaped his life. A sip of tea and the taste of a madeleine...

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls....

A BBC Radio six-part dramatisation of Marcel Proust’s groundbreaking series of novels, tracing the extraordinary story of the author’s own life. Starring James Wilby and Jonathan Firth, and with a distinguished cast including Harriet Walter, Imogen Stubbs and Corin Redgrave, this rich...

ബഷീറിന്റെ ഏറ്റവും മികച്ച കൃതിയായി എക്കാലവും വിലയിരുത്തപ്പെട്ടിട്ടുള്ളത് 'ബാല്യകാല സഖി' യാണ്. അദ്ദേഹം തന്നെ...

When Donaldina Cameron arrives at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls in 1895, she intends to teach sewing skills to young Chinese women immigrants, but, within days, she discovers that the job is much more complicated than perfect stitches and even hems....

With opportunities for black men limited in post-World War II London, Rick Braithwaite accepts a teaching position that puts him in charge of a class of angry, unmotivated, bigoted white teenagers....

Over one million copies sold! The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Good Morning America* Book Club Pick! Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! Named a Notable Book of the Year by the Washington Post! “Historical fiction at its best!”* A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal...

The politics of empire-building and the hypocricies, back-stabbings and corruptions of Rome's first family come to light....

The Dalai Lama's cat is back - older, a bit wiser and as curious as ever....

In the tradition of The Paris Wife and Mrs. Poe, The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein's enormous shadow. This is the story of Einstein's wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special...

Her beauty saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee....

WINNER of the 2022 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WORKING WOMEN AWARD for BEST FICTION OF THE YEAR! LONGLISTED for 2022 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD! She rose from commoner to become the last reigning queen of India’s Sikh Empire. In this dazzling novel, based on true-life events, bestselling author...

Corbin College, not quite upstate New York, winter 1959-1960: Ruben Blum, a Jewish historian—but not an historian of the Jews—is co-opted onto a hiring committee to review the application of an exiled Israeli scholar specializing in the Spanish Inquisition....

Seventeenth-century India. Chhatrapati Shivaji's dominion has been firmly established over the Deccan peninsula. Troubled by the mounting European threat along the Konkan coast, the Maratha empire turns to Kanhoji Angrey, master mariner, excellent swordsman and astute strategist, to lead its...

In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, a convicted killer becomes the first prisoner to be executed in the United States. The Executioner's Song follows the true story of cold-blooded murderer Gary Gilmore, who, after being tried and convicted, insisted on being executed for his crimes. To do...

This remarkable book is the only novel by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), the greatest German-language poet of his time. It is, in a sense, a true curiosity - dark and intense - and possesses, not surprisingly, strong elements of autobiography....

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Kirsty Besterman, an experienced TV and theatre actress known for her leading role as Lady Macbeth in the National Theatre Tour, as well as a number of roles with Shakespeare's Globe and the RSC. 'January 22nd - Robert startles me...

Also known as Demons, The Possessed is a powerful socio-political novel about revolutionary ideas and the radicals behind them. It follows a political terrorist who leads a group of nihilists....

"The others form the human being, I depict him; and here I present an individual who is quite poorly formed and whom I would certainly make...

My Struggle: Book One introduces American listeners to the audacious, addictive, and profoundly surprising international literary sensation....

In early 2021, the stock value of PwnShop—a dead to rights bricks-and-mortar retailer disrupted by the digital downloading of video games—inexplicably ballooned overnight. While much has been written about the mechanics of the meme stock short squeezes, no one has yet clarified the chaotic drama of what was happening inside such a company during its zeitgeist moment.

Caroline Herschel has always lived in the shadows. Beholden to her wildly popular older brother, William, who rescued her from servitude, she's worked hard to build a life for herself–one where she can go unnoticed and repay the debt she believes she owes him. But when her brother becomes obsessed with sweeping the stars, everything changes.

A sweeping, sensational novel of America’s first “It Girl,” whose dramatic journey to center stage echoes through the decades—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post “As stunning as the incomparable leading lady who inspired it...

Queen Elizabeth Tudor is wary of the cousins. Ever since the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey nearly wrested the throne from her family, Elizabeth has been keen to ensure the fate of England doesn't land in Grey hands. She has banished Catherine Grey from court, along with her two children, but her unwed sister Mary remains at Whitehall Palace as one of Elizabeth's courtiers.

Maggie's Mountain Song takes the reader on a journey through the Appalachian Mountain region near Boone North Carolina during the 1930's-1940's. The story is told through Maggie's Mountain dialect as she recalls her idyllic childhood ,and the highs, and lows of her life from her later years. Maggie takes the reader on a descriptive ramble over the farm she grew up on and the days of family togetherness, work, school, community, and human relationships and World War Two.