Showing results by narrator "John Rowe" in All Categories

Swann's Way is Marcel Proust's literary masterpiece and the first part of the multivolume audiobook Remembrance of Things Past. In the opening volume, the narrator travels back in time to recall his childhood and to introduce the listener to Charles Swann, a wealthy friend of the family and celebrity in the Parisian social scene. He again travels back, this time to the youth of Charles Swann in the French town of Combray, to tell the story of the love affair that took place before his own birth.

Ten guests travel to an island at the invitation of someone named U.N. Owen. All are strangers, but they have two things in common: they have all been responsible for someone's death, and none will leave the island alive. Over the next two days and nights, each of the guests is killed off in a...

Inspector Purbright is a thoroughly English policeman: affable, polite, dogged and decent. Created by award-winning crime writer Colin Watson, he appeared in 12 Flaxborough mysteries, four of which were adapted for BBC TV under the title Murder Most English. These five radio dramatisations star Peter Jeffrey, John Pullen and John Rowe as Purbright.

Acclaimed author JG Farrell came to fame with his Empire Trilogy, exploring the collapse of British colonialism and its repercussions in three different countries. The first book in the series, Troubles, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Lost Man Booker Prize, while the second, The Siege of Krishnapur, was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction. Included here are three BBC Radio adaptations of the trilogy, plus an edition of Witness History exploring Farrell's tragic accidental death.

In the second volume of Proust's great novel, the narrator emerges as an actor in the drama of his own life. Swann has now dwindled into a husband for his former mistress, Odette, and their daughter, Gilberte, becomes the adolescent narrator's playmate and tantalising love object. We move from Paris to the seaside town of Balbec, from ritualised social performances to midsummer spontaneity and from Gilberte to her successor Albertine.

Trevor Peacock (The Vicar of Dibley) stars as inspired chef Warwick Hedges, in this comedy drama set in an idiosyncratic restaurant in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Warwick’s son Jack works alongside his father, which makes him permanently anxious. They are assisted by Samuel, an earthy odd-job man...

Poet, novelist, critic and campaigner Walter Scott invented the historical novel and shaped the world’s image of Scotland. His tales of heroism, romance and adventure were hugely successful, outselling Jane Austen and Lord Byron, and are still popular today. Included here are adaptations of five of the best-loved books in his ‘Waverley’ series, as well as two bonus programmes.

Wonderful comedy drama adapted from the beloved novels featuring an all-star cast Welcome to Thrush Green, a small and peaceful village in the Cotswolds, where everything and nothing happens. This wonderful, gentle comedy features and all-star cast including Adam Godley (Charlie and the...

The renowned masterpiece from one of the most influential writers in history, Machiavelli "It's very, very good...an engaging exploration of one of the most influential political works ever written." - Entertainment Focus The Prince, written during the Italian Renaissance by author Niccolò...

Marjorie Steel is still healing from the events of the past year, and she’s happy to put her plans to study culinary arts on hold to help her best friend deal with a difficult pregnancy and two recently adopted troubled boys. The fact that Bryce Simpson spends a lot of time at the Steel Ranch is a benefit, and she’s ready to see if her attraction to him might be something more.

Marjorie Steel and Bryce Simpson have finally declared their love for each other, but their chance for happiness is once again yanked out from under them. As Marjorie is forced to confront her demons and find an inner strength to save herself and another, Bryce rushes to solve the puzzles his dead father left behind. An ominous lawyer, twins with a secret, and a premature birth present new obstacles as the two lovers scramble to escape the conundrum and leave their families in peace, all while their desire for each other becomes more and more insatiable.

After getting canned from her dream job this morning and played in spectacular fashion by her boyfriend this afternoon, Savannah “Savvy” Valentine is having a truly awful day. Which is why she’s currently drowning her sorrows in whiskey and self-pity in a shabby bar along the route to Las Vegas. In light of today’s double whammy, Savvy isn’t sure why she’s still heading in the direction of her five-year high school reunion.

Full-cast adaptations of four works by Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. A descendant of judge John Hathorne, who oversaw the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, he wrote several works inspired by Puritan New England, with themes of guilt, sin and retribution...

Miner's son David Powlett-Jones returns from the carnage of the Western Front in 1918, shell-shocked and bitterly hardened by the violence of war. He begins life again as a master at a remote Devon school, controlling the destiny of boys barely his junior. As the years pass David becomes a teacher of rare talent, begins to find peace, and is able to adjust to the changes which are overwhelming society. But soon he will have to face up to the prospect of another terrible war...

Darkness tempts Dante Gabriel at every corner, and he struggles to maintain the control he was never taught when he came of age. His ghost father, his cousin, and the voodoo priestess under Claiborne Bridge continue to help, even as he descends further toward madness. Erin Hamilton is more in love than ever. She doesn’t fear Dante, even when he’s not himself, and she’s willing to do anything to put an end to his suffering and to find her best friend and the others. An unexpected visitor who arrives with a valuable gift could be the key.

It’s 2025, and advances in gene therapy have led to the eradication of many once-common diseases. But the ability to engineer and re-engineer the brain has provoked fear – for it means that a truly artificial consciousness is within reach. The idea that humans may no longer be the only sentient species is so unthinkable that legislation is hastily passed, rigorously controlling genetic experiments. But there are certain people who seek to circumvent the law...

Breaking into a cemetery isn’t anything Dante Gabriel ever thought he’d do, but he has no choice. He must recover his father’s body, so he can claim his estate. Help arrives from two unexpected sources, but their plan is interrupted. Erin Hamilton’s best friend is a wolf shifter. The man she loves is a vampire. His father is a ghost. She can deal with all of that, but new worries have surfaced. The missing doctor has returned to the hospital, and his strange actions are disturbing but not as disturbing as the odd dreams that begin to plague her.

This is the story of the battle between appeasers and anti-appeasers in the period before - and just after - the start of the Second World War, and the formation of the 1940 coalition government which, like the election of 2010, abruptly ruptured all previous political alignments. Based on real events, this is a fascinating and little known tale of idealism, blackmail, and political skulduggery.

One of the most prolific playwrights of the Jacobean era, Thomas Middleton achieved great success with his cynically satirical comedies and bloodthirsty tragedies. Considered the only true rival to Shakespeare, Middleton is widely believed to have collaborated with the Bard on several plays, including Timon of Athens. This dazzling collection comprises dramatisations of his most famous works, including his two masterpieces, The Changeling and Women Beware Women.

One of the finest storytellers of her time, Joan Aiken wrote over 100 books for both adults and children. Among her best-known works are the 'Wolves Chronicles', a sequence of novels set in an alternate 19th-century England ruled by Stuart kings. Included here are three tales from that magical, wolf-infested world - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Black Hearts in Battersea and The Story of Is.