Unpublished at the time of her death, The Professor is the first novel written by Charlotte Brontë, and the seed of her later books, Jane Eyre and Villette. The narrator of the tale, William Crimsworth, tells a story of courage and ambition among jealousy and envy: orphaned from a young age, William rejects life in the clergy, and then as a tradesman, to the chagrin of his cruel uncles and elder brother. Instead he pursues a career in education and ends up in Brussels, where he meets stude...

Mary Shelley’s poignant exploration of the true depths of human ambition has had a profound effect on readers since its conception in 1816. When scientist Victor Frankenstein forms a creature from the body parts of corpses, thus shattering the perceived limits of scientific understanding, the consequences are devastating. As Frankenstein becomes disgusted with his experiment, he thwarts the creature’s desire for a companion, and what ensues is singularly chilling.

This widely-studied play is one of the best sellers of the Shakespeare canon. This production is the sixth Shakespeare play in the series undertaken by Naxos AudioBooks in conjunction with Cambridge University Press.

In the village of Iping, a strange man arrives at a local inn wrapped in bandages. He refuses to leave his room where he is carrying out experiments to make himself invisible. The stranger's success has grave implications for everyone. When he realises that he cannot reverse the experiment, he is gradually driven insane.This seminal tale acts as a powerful warning about unintended consequences. The journey on which the invisible man embarks turns out to be a penetrating, unflinchin...

From the Stone Age to the 21st century, The History of Britain chronicles the epic story of this small but turbulent kingdom.Listen to the incredible events of the Norman invasions, the execution of Charles I, the uprisings in Dark Age Wales, the birth of tabloid newspapers in Victorian Britain and much more. Fully revised and updated to include the latest political developments, this fascinating audiobook helps readers to navigate this vast and enthrallin...

This widely-studied play is one of the best sellers of the Shakespeare canon. This production is the seventh Shakespeare play in the series undertaken by Naxos AudioBooks in conjunction with Cambridge University Press.

Featuring some of Lewis Carroll’s most famous and best-loved poems including Jabberwocky and The Hunting of the Snark as well as lesser-known gems such as Brother and Sister and My Fairy, this disc wonderfully illustrates Carroll’s fondness for impish satire, verbal wizardry and pure imagination. The selection ranges from pieces written when Carroll was just thirteen to his mature work.

'I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.'One of the most significant novellas of the twentieth century, Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis is a deeply haunting exploration of identity, isolation and the existential shadows that follow the human experience.Gregor Samsa, a seemingly average salesman and cloth merchant, awakes one morning to find himself transformed into a monstrou...

Blending fact and fiction, this trilogy by a very young Tolstoy centres on the inner life of Nikolai as he navigates the universal challenge of growing up. In relating his thoughts and feelings, his self-awareness and embarrassing mistakes, the work is timeless: regardless of era, location and environment, we are given an unvarnished portrait of one boy both self-important and self-deprecating as he tries to find his place in the world. The sense of nostalgia, with its strange blend of sad...

"Money, money, always money."In Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Orwell draws on many of his own experiences as a struggling writer in 1930s London to offer a sharp critique of capitalist values and the quiet desperation of those caught between ideals and survival.Disillusioned would-be poet Gordon Comstock rebels against the materialism of middle-class life by rejecting a steady job and the pursuit of money, chosing poverty as a form of protest. But as he naviga...

The George Orwell Fiction Collection contains unabridged recordings of the 6 full-length novels written by one of the twentieth century's finest writers and political commentators. Orwell's writing is defined by a distinctive blend of clarity, political urgency, and stylistic restraint, as seen in the warnings against totalitarianism found in the dystopian novel 1984, the biting social commentary of Keep the Aspidistra Flying, the thoughtful examination of the ef...

At a dinner party in Richmond, the host tells an astonishing story of his travels into the future. At first it seems that man has moved on to a higher plane of existence suffering and war seem to have been eliminated. But in fact there are two races living on the Earth the Eloi, a leisured, decadent, androgynous group; and the Morlocks, an underground tribe of bestial workers. When his time machine is stolen, the traveller is stranded in this strange new world and discovers that the truth ...