Showing titles in English, Irish, Scottish & Welsh

At the Tabard Inn, thirty travelers of widely varying classes and occupations are gathering to make the annual pilgrimage to Becket’s shrine at Canterbury. It is agreed that each traveler will tell four tales to help pass the time and that the host of the inn will judge the tales and reward...

The Soul of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe will transport listeners into the heart of the Chronicles of Narnia. Listeners will discover that Narnia is more than just a magical place—it is a story reflective of the world we live in, our human condition, and our need for a Savior. Written...

Ever since Colin Firth's Mr Darcy emerged from the lake in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, the novels of Jane Austen have become more popular than ever, delighting millions of fans all over the world. Now, Alison Larkin's critically acclaimed narrations of Austen's six completed novels are brought together in this very special 200th anniversary audio edition. "Alison Larkin's narration will captivate listeners from the first sentence" raves AudioFile magazine about the Earphones Award-winning recording of Sense and Sensibility, which starts the collection.

These are powerful poems of loss, betrayal and desire. In her prize-winning fourth collection, Mean Time, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy dramatizes scenes from childhood, adolescence and adulthood, finding moments of grace or consolation in memory, love and language amid the complexities of life...

The blowhards, the know-it-alls, the scrupulous and the impecunious are all targets for Shaw's incisive wit in his classic satire of the medical profession. A well-respected physician is forced to choose whom he shall save: a bumbling friend or the ne'er-do-well husband of the woman he loves.

Often considered the greatest epic in any modern language, Paradise Lost tells the story of the revolt of Satan, his banishment from Heaven, and the ensuing fall of Man with his expulsion from Eden. It is a tale of immense drama and excitement, of innocence pitted against corruption, of...

Sherlock Holmes is the most famous fictional detective in history, with a popularity that has never waned since catching the imagination of his late-Victorian readership. This companion explores Holmes' popularity and his complex relationship to the late-Victorian and modernist periods; on one hand bearing the imprint of a range of Victorian anxieties and preoccupations, while on the other shaping popular conceptions of criminality, deviance, and the powers of the detective.

Never one to shy away from difficult subjects, in Love, Of a Kind Dennis brings awkwardness, pain and intimacy together in an inimitable and pithy way. In over 50 new poems, accompanied by woodcut engravings, not only does Dennis present us with a different kind of love, but he also presents us...

The Waste Land is a seminal work of modernist poetry by T.S. Eliot. Written in 1922, this five-part poem is a portrait of its time, a work that expresses the disillusionment of the modernist era and the desperation that the generation of writers of that time was feeling....

Have you been lately to Lake Pipple Popple? Perhaps you have spotted the Pobble who has no toes? Or maybe you have roosted in the Quangle Wangle’s hat? Certainly Mr. Edward Lear has (he’s written all about it). And now, you can listen to his tales read aloud, full of rhyme, rhythm, and words that you won’t find in the dictionary!

Anne Kingsmill was born in April 1661 (an exact date is not known) in Sydmonton, Hampshire. Throughout her life, Anne was involved in several Court cases that dragged on for years. These involved both a share of her parent’s estate for her education and later her and her husband’s share of an inheritance. In 1682, Anne became a maid of honour to Mary of Modena (wife of James, Duke of York, and later King James II) at St James’ Palace. Anne's interest in poetry began at the palace, and she started writing her own verse.

Parisina was first published in 1816. The tragic narrative poem is the sixth, and shortest, in the series of Byron's "Oriental Romances" or "Heroic Tales". Prince Azo, overhearing his wife, Parisina, muttering in her sleep, discovers that she is having an affair with his illegitimate son, Hugo. Parisina and Hugo were engaged to be married before Azo claimed her for his own bride. Hugo is sentenced to death, and Parisina is forced to watch the execution as her punishment.

"The Siege of Corinth" is a tragic narrative poem first published in 1816. It was inspired by the Ottoman siege of the Venetian-held Acrocorinth in 1715.

The Jumblies and Other Nonsense Verses by Edward Lear. Narrated by Denis Daly, Sarah Bacaller, and Lucy Bacaller. These 14 poems have been drawn from the Nonsense Books of Edward Lear.

The Frozen Deep was originally written as a play by Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens. With Dickens himself gracing the stage as Wardour, the play was met with success, drawing audiences to tears night after night, and even performing for Queen Victoria herself. Drawing on reports of the real-life Franklin expedition of 1845, in which a crew had set out from England to discover the North Passage and disappeared without a trace, Collins and Dickens recreated the events of the ill-fated journey.

This play is a fictionalized account of the life of William Shakespeare, beginning from his humble origins in Stratford-upon-Avon with his wife, Anne Hathaway, to his life as a successful playwright in London. This play uses several biographical speculations about Shakespeare's life to tell a fascinating tale, such as his relationship with his wife (to whom he famously left his "second-best bed" in his will), his friendship with fellow playwright and competitor Christopher Marlowe, his interactions with Queen Elizabeth I, and an extramarital dalliance with the queen's maid of honor.

Count Lara returns home after a long absence abroad. He is accompanied by a single page, the faithful Kaled. In his youth, prior to his travels, Lara had led a dissolute life. On his return he is much changed - haughty, reserved, and world-weary. Nothing is known of his life in the interim. During an evening function given by the Count Otho, a local magnate, the host's cousin, Sir Ezzelin, angrily confronts Lara with accusations of unnamed crimes abroad. Otho intervenes and an appointment is made for the following day for the local nobles to hear and judge the accusations.

Conrad, the Corsair, is the chieftain of a pirate band, and plans to attack the Pacha, Seyd, and seize his possessions. Conrad's wife, Medora, prevails upon her husband to abandon his plan and remain at home. Confident in his plan and assured of his safe return, Conrad and his pirate crew set sail for the Pacha's island.

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (46 ce - after 119) was born in Chaeronea, Boeotia, to a wealthy Greek family and assumed his full Latin name on becoming a Roman citizen. He made the most of his varied background and experience as a philosopher, magistrate, ambassador and priest at the Delphic Temple...

According to George Bernard Shaw, Joan of Arc was in fact one of the first Protestant martyrs. She was one of the first apostles of nationalism, and the first French practitioner of Napoleonic realism in warfare. She also refused to accept the specific woman's lot, and dressed and fought and lived as men did. Shaw's exploration of the story of this ingenuous and eponymous heroine is set in six scenes and an epilogue, which takes place in 1456, when the church cleared Joan of the charge of heresy and condemned her accusers of corruption.