Showing titles in English, Irish, Scottish & Welsh

Sparkling repartee and wicked witticisms pervade this play concerning a son born out of wedlock and an American girl's introduction into British society.

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is the fascinating tale of Henry Higgins, a professor of speech and phonetics who takes on the task of teaching Eliza Doolittle, a lower-class flower seller, how to "act like a lady".

In The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses, Patrick Hastings provides comprehensive support to readers and listeners of Joyce's magnum opus by illuminating crucial details and reveling in the mischievous genius of this unparalleled novel. Written in a voice that offers encouragement and good humor, this guidebook maintains a closeness to the original text and supports the first-time reader or listener of Ulysses with the information needed to successfully finish and appreciate the novel.

Seamus Heaney had the idea to form a personal selection from across the entire arc of his poetry, small yet comprehensive enough to serve as an introduction for all comers. He never managed to do this in his lifetime, and no edition exists which has such a broad range, drawing from first collection to last.

Old Michael Snowdon returns to London with an inheritance that he determines should go towards helping the poor—but goodness and charity are not to play a part here. Everyone has an agenda, and scheming spreads through the story like a disease. Gissing’s own experience of London as an outsider in a vast city that both fascinated and appalled him gave him the tools and the drive to create a visceral sense of place. Life is unremittingly grim for just about everyone, from the weak and well-intentioned Jane to the coarse, cunning Clem Peckover and her feckless rival Pennyloaf Candy.

From a critically acclaimed biographer, an engrossing narrative of Robert Louis Stevenson’s life, a story as romantic and adventurous as his fiction.

Read by the author and poet, Brian Bilston. Why do we write poetry? Who should write it? And where do you even start? Well, Brian Bilston, one of the UK’s most hilarious and best-loved poets, is here to take us through the hows, whys and whats of reading, writing and enjoying poetry every day...

Anne of Green Gables, one of the most widely read and best-loved stories in the world, is brought to life on this abridged, downloadable audiobook edition by actress Kate Harper. The Cuthberts are in for a shock. They are expecting an orphan boy to help with the work at Green Gables - but a...

Bloomsbury presents Dickens the Enchanter: Inside the Explosive Imagination of the Great Storyteller by Peter Conrad, read by David Rintoul and Peter Conrad A kaleidoscopic investigation of Dickens’s imagination and the world he created. See Dickens as never before in this creative biography...

James Bennet is the perfect heir to Longbourn. He is always looking out for his sisters and mother, making sure they have the opportunity to receive proper education, and always making sure they have the guidance and direction they need. He purchased a small cottage to ensure that his mother and sisters had somewhere to live in the event that something happened to him and his father. He works tirelessly on the estate to ensure that Longbourn is profitable. 

C. S. Lewis offers a magisterial take on the literature and poetry of one of the most consequential periods in world history, providing deep insight into some of the greatest writers of the age, including Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, John Knox, Dr. Johnson, Richard...

A leading scholar draws on fifty years of reading and studying J.R.R. Tolkien to explain how he created an entire world.

Read, with his trademark charm and humour, by Brian Bilston. If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston - Richard Osman, author of We Solve Murders 'There is poetry to be found in anything if you look hard enough.' You Took the Last Bus Home is a...

Fanny Price, in Mansfield Park, tells her persistent suitor that "we have all a better guide in ourselves . . . than any other person can be." Sometimes, however, we crave external guidance: and when this happens we could do worse than seek it in Jane Austen's own subtle novels. Written to coincide with Austen's 250th birthday, this approachable and intimate work shows why and how—for over half a century—Austen has inspired and challenged its author through different phases of her life.

Read by Eimear McBride, an electrifying analysis of one giant of twentieth-century literature by another: Beckett on Proust. The whole of Proust's world comes out of a teacup . . . When he was only 25, Samuel Beckett published his first ever book: an electrifying dissection of Marcel Proust's...

Introduced by Sinéad Gleeson, John McGahern's Booker Prize-shortlisted Irish 'masterpiece' (Colm Tóibín) is essential reading for admirers of Claire Keegan. As he weakened, Moran became afraid of his daughters. Moran's life is defined by his days of glory as a guerrilla leader in the Irish...

An immersive drama series exploring six turning-points in the career of the legendary statesman Winston Churchill has gone down in history as the man who led Britain to victory in the Second World War. But his legacy was not always guaranteed, and his path to greatness was a rocky one. This...

A splendid new volume of missives about art, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections. Vincent Van Gogh curses the stare of the blank canvas. Salvador Dali contemplates mailing a piece of his 'lobster-colored pajamas' to Federico Lorca. Hollis Frampton, to the MoMA, demands...

A fascinating new volume of messages about motherhood, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections. In Letters of Note: Mothers, Shaun Usher gathers together exceptional missives by and about mothers, celebrating the joy and grief, humour and frustration, wisdom and sacrifice...

Explore the extraordinary legacy of W.B. Yeats through a collection that brings together his finest poetry, personal reflections, and writings on Ireland's literary revival. Known for his romantic and lyrical style of poetry, Yeats's work was often inspired by Irish myths, spiritualism, love, longing and loss. His later work became more modernist in style, challenging poetic conventions and shifting to a political focus. This audiobook edition is expertly read by Aidan Kelly.