A comprehensive collection of dramatisations of Daphne du Maurier’s works'Containing performances from well-known actors from past and present, Daphne du Maurier: The BBC Radio Collection is a rich feast for all fans of the writer's work.' - Entertainment FocusDaphne du Maurier was one of the 20th century’s most popular writers. Extraordinarily prolific, she produced a string of bestsellers, many of which were adapted as a...

Towering over the other characters, Tolstoy’s beautiful tragic heroine, Anna Karenina, dominates the action of the great book which bears her name. Anna is sensitive, generous, warm-hearted and intelligent, but all her virtues count for nothing when she is overcome by passionate love for Count Vronsky. Handsome and sensual, Vronsky is everything Anna’s dry, legalistic husband is not. Their love, which flouts the rigid laws of marriage, proves disastrous. Russian high society will not forgi...

An epic BBC radio adaptation of John Galsworthy's complete Forsyte Chronicles, narrated by Dirk Bogarde and with an all-star cast'Hallmarked with elegance and craftsmanship' The Evening StandardFirst broadcast in 1990, this monumental adaptation of John Galsworthy's Nobel Prize-winning novel series was a radio event. It was the most expensive drama serial ever produced, featured one of the biggest, most star-studded casts ...

‘An absolute belter of a biography’ MARINA HYDE A Times Literary Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022 An LA Times Best Book of the Year 2022An intimate, revealing and profoundly moving biography of Jean Rhys, acclaimed author of Wide Sargasso Sea.An obsessive and troubled genius, Jean Rhys is one of the most compelling and unnerving writers of the twentieth century. Memories of a con...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s classic poem, read by Diana Quick.Written in blank verse, Aurora Leigh is Browning’s self-styled ‘novel in verse’, a first-person narration of the lives of Marian Erle and the eponymous Aurora. Travelling across Florence, London, and Paris, and playing off the works of Anne Louise Germaine de Staël and George Sand, Aurora Leigh is one of the greatest poems of the nineteenth century.

A collection of full-cast dramatisations of Sophocles’ finest Greek tragediesOne of the three great tragic playwrights of ancient Greece, Sophocles wrote over 120 plays during his 60-year career, though only seven survive today. The most famous of these are the Theban Plays, all three of which are included in this collection alongside adaptations of Electra and Philoctetes, brought to life by celebrated writers, poets, and playwrights....

Penguin Classics presents Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, adapted for audio and now available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by the actress Diana Quick.'How am I to dress up in my finery, and go off and away to smart parties, after the sorrow I have seen today?'Elizabeth Gaskell's compassionate, richly dramatic novel features one of the most original and fully-rounded female characters in Vic...

BBC adaptations of four of Rosamond Lehmann’s best-known novels, plus short stories and a bonus documentaryRosamond Lehmann’s first novel, Dusty Answer, was published in 1927 when she was just 26. It was a scandalous success, and was followed by six more acclaimed novels exploring human relationships and the emotional lives of girls and women. Four of the finest are dramatised here, alongside readings of two of her short stories and a fascinating profile o...

Married to a man of importance in 19th century St.Petersburg, Anna's world crumbles when she falls passionately in love with the handsome Count Vronsky, and is forced to choose between her lover and her young son. Her tragedy lies in the cruelty meted out to her in high society by those who had been her friends.A masterpiece of 19th century fiction, Tolstoy's classic romantic tragedy remains as moving and powerful as ever. Evocative and emotional reading by Diana Quick.

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Virgil's sweeping epic, starring Ralph Fiennes as Aeneas and Derek Jacobi as the Narrator. One of the classics of all time, The Aeneid was Virgil's last and greatest work. In it, he recounts in vivid imagery the legendary origin of the Roman Empire. The story begins after the Greeks have destroyed the city of Troy. The Trojan Prince Aeneas, defeated and depressed, leads his remaining citizens to a new land and a new destiny foretold by the Gods. The journey t...

A BBC Radio 4 drama of mesmerising delicacy from Julia Blackburn, winner of the Pen Ackerley prize for memoir 2009, and daughter of poet Thomas Blackburn. Originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 29 March 2011. Thomas Blackburn was an alcoholic before he became a poet, but in spite of his drunken rages, his erratic behaviour and his crazy obsession with death, Julia always knew that he loved her. She learnt the transforming power of words from him, and she clung to them, a life raft...

This powerful political allegory by George Orwell begins on a small farm where overworked animals rise up against their human owner, driven by dreams of freedom, equality, and a life without cruelty or exploitation. United by hope and the promise of shared power, they overthrow their master and set out to build a new society based on fairness, cooperation, and justice. At first, the dream feels real—work is shared, food is divided more evenly, and the future seems bright with possibility a...