Showing titles in English, Irish, Scottish & Welsh

Oliver Twist is the well-loved tale of an orphan, who starts life in a workhouse and finds himself embroiled in London's criminal underworld, before being saved by a kind gentleman who knows something of his surprising family history. A satire and social commentary as well as a page-turning yarn, full of grit, wit, and some of the most memorable characters in English Literature. The second published serialised novel by Charles Dickens, The British Library remarks that "it has proven to be one of the best-loved novels in the history of literature".

The Oxford Inklings tells the story of the friendships, mutual influence, and common purpose of the Inklings - the literary circle which congregated around C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Meeting in pubs or Lewis' college rooms, they included an influential array of literary figures. They were, claimed poet and novelist John Wain, bent on 'the task of redirecting the whole current of contemporary art and life'. Tolkien and Lewis expert Colin Duriez unpacks the Inklings' origins, relationships, and the nature of their collaboration.

This is Virginia Woolf’s first collection of essays, published in 1925. In them, she attempts to see literature from the point of view of the ‘common reader’ - someone whom she, with Dr Johnson, distinguished from the critic and the scholar. She read, and wrote, as an outsider: a woman set...

Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centres on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new stepsister, Cynthia, enters Molly's quiet life. Loveable but worldly and troubling, Cynthia's arrival alters Molly's daily life. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.

Have you ever been to a King Lear performance with the impression of not having understood everything? It's normal. Shakespeare's plays are the most beautiful of the theatrical repertoire, but you cannot go to a Shakespeare play if you do not have a minimum prepared this show: understand the issues, characters, context, cultural or historical references is indispensable. The same is true if you intend to read a play by William Shakespeare: our summaries will help you better understand what you have read.

Man and Superman was the first drama to be broadcast on the BBC's Third Programme on October 1st, 1946. To celebrate Radio 3's 50th anniversary, the play was directed by Sir Peter Hall, and preserved for all time in this lush audio dramatisation. 'A comedy and a philosophy', Man and Superman is...

Gifted playwright George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan is based on the life and trials of Joan of Arc whose canonisation occurred shortly before he wrote this play. Based on both substantial information of her life in Medieval France and records of her trial, Shaw characterizes this unique woman caught between the forces of the Church and law in this classic production with a strong cast supporting Siobhan McKenna's fine interpretation of this tragic heroine.

The four Grace sisters love their quiet life in the country village of Chevis Green. To some, their insular world might seem dull, but the sisters never seem to run out of conversation, jokes, and pleasant ways to pass the time together. They truly are the happiest of families. That is, until Aunt Rona comes to town. Rona intends to stay with the Graces indefinitely, and her meddlesome attitude immediately sets the sisters' teeth on edge. Throw in another unexpected houseguest, some potential suitors and a case of mistaken intentions, and the members of the Grace family suddenly find themselves quite out of their element.

John Keats' letters paint an unforgettably vivid and moving picture of the richly productive but also tragic final years of the poet's life. As he ponders on the nature of the writer's craft, he must first confront his brother's death from tuberculosis and then the imminent prospect of his own, tormented by the fear that he will not live to consummate his relationship with Fanny Brawne.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Chaucer's 'Troilus and Criseyde' by poet and writer Lavinia Greenlaw. One of the great works of English literature, this powerful, compelling story explores love from its first tentative beginnings through to passionate sensuality and eventual tragic...

From 1938 to 1969 the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio’s most popular series. When young drama student Mary Dreisler is found murdered in her flat, her father instantly sends...

Beowulf is considered the finest heroic poem in Old English. It celebrates the character and exploits of Beowulf, a young nobleman and warrior, as he proves his superhuman strength and endurance. He also represents the ideal lord and vassal, rewarding his men generously and accomplishing glorious deeds to honor his king.

Fifteen-year-old Esperance Darbois, the only daughter of philosophy professor François Darbois, is determined to become a woman of the stage. But becoming an actress will sully the respectability of the Darbois family, damage her marriage prospects, and harm her father’s distinguished reputation. 

In this wickedly funny play, a seemingly ideal couple and their charming, privileged friends surmount such details as selling government secrets, theft, and bribery with love triumphant over all.

Only four years after publishing his fable Animal Farm, a biting satire of Joseph Stalin’s horrific regime of terror, George Orwell turned his attention to the future. But his next book was to be no satire, no fable. What emerged from Orwell’s pen in 1949 was the most grimly dystopian novel ever written: 1984.

A Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's early plays, known for its humorous and farcical plot. It revolves around two sets of identical twins, separated at birth, who are unaware of each other's existence. The play takes place in Ephesus, where one pair of twins, Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in search of their long-lost brothers. Unbeknownst to them, their twins, Antipholus of Ephesus and Dromio of Ephesus, already reside in the city.

Step into a world where logic loosens its grip and language begins to shimmer with delightful uncertainty. In this audio version of Lewis Carroll's classic nonsense tale, listeners are invited aboard an impossible voyage in search of a creature that may—or may not—exist. Led by a Bellman and accompanied by a most peculiar crew, the expedition unfolds through playful verse, absurd encounters, and a growing sense of unease. What seems to begin as nonsense gradually deepens into something stranger: a meditation on meaning, pursuit, and the fragile line between certainty and disappearance.

Bloomsbury presents Future Indefinite, with the unfinished Past Conditional, by Noël Coward, read by Arty Froushan. The definitive account, in his own words, of one of the most popular figures in British theatre. The second and concluding volume of Noël Coward's legendary autobiography...

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. What if the most dangerous words in a kingdom are spoken not by rebels, but by a conscience that refuses to bend? *Sir Thomas More* is one of the most fascinating and politically charged works connected to William Shakespeare: a dramatic portrait of law...

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. What if the world’s most famous love story was never only about love, but about the fatal speed of hatred? In *Romeo and Juliet*, William Shakespeare creates a tragedy of youth, passion, family violence, and destiny in a Verona divided by ancient feud...