There was a delicate tracery of gold foil on the back of the dress. How strange that such a consummately made garment should be worn for this one day only. But, as every girl growing up understood, her wedding day was the most significant she would know: a woman's crowning glory.Catherine Havisham was born into privilege. Handsome, imperious, she is the daughter of a wealthy brewer, and lives in luxury in Satis House. But she is never far from the smell of hops and the arr...

Mariel Baxter, a famous American soprano, has suddenly cancelled all her recitals and flown to Vienna. In the 1980s she came to the city to study the art of lieder singing with the reclusive Ursule Kroll, one of the brightest stars of the Nazi era and a favourite of the Führer himself. The two haven't communicated since Mariel's unexpected departure over twenty-five years ago. So why has Mariel come back? As Ursule and Mariel play a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, terrible revelations about ...

A BBC Radio full-cast drama which tells a story of love and deception set during the Cold War. Written by Ronald Frame for BBC Radio Scotland and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the 'Drama on 3' collection in September 2008. Throughout the period of the Cold War in the late 1960s and early 1970s, 'romeo spies' were operating, targeting bright and susceptible young women. Alice Reeves, a young secretary from London, unwittingly becomes romantically involved with Otto Hanhart - an East G...

All three series of Ronald Frame’s acclaimed drama set in a luxury hotel in the Scottish Highlands, plus ten spin-off storiesThe Carnbeg Hydro is a high-class spa resort set amidst the scenic wooded foothills of the Grampians. Over 100 years old, it’s a grand country hotel in the old tradition – but times have changed, and the Hydro must change with them. Following her husband’s death in a speedboat accident, Fee Drummond has taken over as managing director, and is...

Ronald Frame’s BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation starring Forbes Masson as the detective Allan Pinkerton, originally broadcast in the 'Afternoon Play' slot on Tuesday 2 March 2010.In the new immigrant community of 1840s America, Scotsman Allan Pinkerton turns detective when an influx of counterfeit dollars threatens the local economy. With Forbes Masson as Allan Pinkerton, Rachel Ogilvy as Joan Pinkerton and Sam Dale as John Craig. Also starring Marcella Riordan, Robert Jezek, Alison Pet...

A collection of three comic tales from BBC Radio 4, ‘The Greengrocer’s Apostrophe’, inspired by those hand-written signs offering ‘Apple's and Banana's’ which can be found in every town in Britain. Originally broadcast in the ‘Afternoon Reading’ slots from 28-30 September 2010. ‘Penny's from Heaven’ by Anneliese Mackintosh: James Anthony Pearson reads a quirky story about the apostrophe that ends a relationship. Produced by Eilidh McCreadie. ‘Alice, Hanging in There’ by Ronald Frame: When ...

Three men, three lives and three eras sinuously entwine in a dark, startling and unsettling narrative of sex, exploitation and dependence set against London's strangely constant gay underworld.Jack Rose begins his apprenticeship as a rent boy with Alfred Taylor in the 1890s, and finds a life of pleasure and excess leads him to new friendships -- most notably with the soon-to-be infamous Oscar Wilde. A century later, David tells his own tale of unashamed decadence while waiting to be releas...

How far would you go to save your child? A nail-biting thriller, 'perfect reading for a dark winter's night' (Richard and Judy).Cass's husband is missing, presumed dead in Afghanistan. Floored by grief, Cass is left alone to take care of her son, Ben, who has been traumatised by his father's death.So when a renovated mill becomes available in the remote Lancashire village of Darnshaw, Cass decides it will be the perfect place for her family to heal....

A Narey & Winter crime fiction novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author, Craig Robertson. Perfect for fans of Steve Cavanagh, Stuart MacBride, Mark Billingham and Ian Rankin.SHORTLISTED FOR A CWA NEW BLOOD DAGGERGlasgow is being terrorised by a serial killer the media have nicknamed The Cutter.The murders have left the police baffled. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason behind the killings; no kind of pattern o...

New York Times #34 best thriller of the 21st Century'To say Tana French is one of the great thriller writers is really too limiting. Rather she's simply this: a truly great writer' GILLIAN FLYNN'[Crime fiction's] biggest contemporary star' GUARDIAN'One of the finest writers of contemporary crime fiction' DAILY MAIL-------------------------------------------------------...

In the quiet of a New Zealand winter's night, a rescue helicopter is sent to airlift a five-year-old boy with severe internal injuries. He's fallen from the upstairs veranda of an isolated farmhouse, and his condition is critical. At first, Finn's fall looks like a horrible accident; after all, he's prone to sleepwalking. Only his frantic mother, Martha McNamara, knows how it happened. And she isn't telling. Not yet. Maybe not ever.Tragedy isn't what the McNamara family expected wh...

From the million-copy Sunday Times bestseller comes a breathtaking story of family secrets and forbidden love.Secrets from the past, unravelling in the present… Uncovering secrets that span generations, Rachel delivers intriguing, involving and emotive narrative reading group fiction like few other writers can.Idyllic Cornwall, a lost garden, a love story from long ago . . .A hundred years ...