***WITH AUDIO NARRATION***Step into the exquisite miniature world of the mice of Brambly Hedge in this beautiful new edition of the classic picture book.Bad weather is on the way and the autumn stores are still not gathered in!Quickly, all the mice of Brambly Hedge set to work to finish the harvesting before the rain begins. Primrose, Lord Woodmouse's daughter, meant to help, but somehow she daydreamed her way over the cornfield and into the Chestnut Woods, and befor...

Ariadne Oliver, Queen of Crime Fiction, has been asked to devise a Murder Hunt for a fate at Nasse House, the home of Sir George Stubbs. But she begins to suspect that someone is manipulating the scenario of her game and fears that something very sinister is being planned. She sends for her old friend Hercule Poirot. At first he is not inclined to take her very seriously but soon a series of events propels him to change his mind. Then suddenly all Ariadne's worst fears are realised when th...

Christmas brings out the best and the worst in us, as can be seen in this evocative anthology. Among what Thomas Love Peacock calls the ‘many poetical charms in the heraldings of Christmas’ there are eulogies by saints and diatribes from curmudgeons. Here, Christmas is expounded by divines, sung by rustics, deplored by philosophers and made mystical in stories. This collection includes complete versions of old favourites and new discoveries: a sermon by Lancelot Andrewes, an account of Chr...

John Moffatt stars as the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in seven more BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations.Evil Under the Sun: On holiday in Devon, Poirot becomes embroiled in the murder of a glamorous American starlet.Sad Cypress: A poison pen letter begins a chain of events which is to end in tragedy.Murder in Mesopotamia: When death occurs at an archaeological site in the Iraqi desert, Poirot is on hand ...

This remarkable poem, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I, was Spenser’s finest achievement: the first epic poem in modern English, The Faerie Queene combines dramatic narratives of chivalrous adventure with exquisite and picturesque episodes of pageantry. At the same time, Spenser is expounding a deeply-felt allegory of the eternal struggle between Truth and Error…

Tristram Shandy is an ironic masterpiece, a work of extraordinary originality, wit and learning. It is a work of considerable philosophical complexity but at the same time it is just a piece of flim-flam: it has been called the longest shaggy dog story in English literature. It is both a classic novel and an anti-novel. It includes passages of seemingly serious theology but it can also be read as an elaborate bawdy joke.

It is 1916. Captain Hastings has been invalided out of the Great War and goes to convalesce at Styles Court, the family home of his great friend, John Cavendish. By an extraordinary coincidence, billeted in the village is a brilliant little retired detective with an egg-shaped head, who made a considerable impression on the Captain when he was in Belgium. Styles is not a happy household and in the blistering summer heat, tensions mount. Even so, the tragic murder which occurs is not expect...

An exclusive hotel on a tiny picturesque island seems to be the ideal retreat from the stresses of criminal detection for Hercule Poirot. But with the appearance of the beautiful Arlena Stuart, the quiet and peaceful atmosphere becomes charged with an indefinable erotic tension. And when she is found viciously strangled in a secluded cove, there are few, especially among the women, who seem to feel either surprise or regret. As Poirot follows a twisting path of bizarre and bewildering clue...

A blizzard has hit England. In the tiny village of Sittaford, on the fringes of Dartmoor, a party of six is gathered in Sittaford House, home of Captain Trevelyan. He has rented the house out for the winter and is staying in a nearby village. As evening draws in, a seance is proposed. The lights are lowered and the table turning begins: various questions are asked, and the guests are delighted when the table jerks and rocks, revealing the answers. But the game turns sour when the board spe...

Here are some of the finest narrative poems in the English language, dating from an age of rich inspiration: the nineteenth century. All tell powerful stories of human passion and endeavour, often reflected in vivid evocations of the medieval world. Includes ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ Le Morte d’Arthur and ‘Peter Grimes’

The gruesome death of Mrs McGinty provokes Superintendent Spence to seek the help of his old ally Hercule Poirot. The victim's young lodger has been found guilty and is due to hang. But Spence is not convinced by the circumstantial evidence which influenced the verdict. So, at considerable personal discomfort, Poirot goes down to the sleepy village where the old lady lived and where, by chance, his good friend Ariadne Oliver is also staying. There he alights upon his first and most crucial...

To distract himself from his fear of flying, Hercule Poirot observes his fellow passengers on the noon flight from Le Bourget to Croydon. On his right sits a pretty young woman, clearly very aware of the handsome man opposite her; ahead of him is a nervous aristocrat and her maid; and across the aisle is a writer of detective novels, troubled by an aggressive wasp. Lulled into drowsiness by a sedative he has taken, Poirot abruptly awakens when the woman behind him is found dead. A reaction...