These are strange times for the English aristocracy. When hard-up William Fitz William Delamere Chalmers, Lord Dawlish—otherwise known as Bill—sets off for America to make a fortune, he does not expect to be left one by an American millionaire with whom he strikes up a passing acquaintance.Honor demands that Bill Dawlish should restore this unexpected windfall to the rightful heirs, but this involves him in complicated adventures with greedy relations, haughty dowagers, dogs, chick...

The description of his ancestral seat as an earthly paradise would, at present, have struck its proprietor as ironical, full as it was with unwanted and troublesome inhabitants. What Lord Emsworth needed above all was a rugged ally at his side to remove from Blandings its superfluous guests, leaving him in peace to tend his beloved pig, Empress of Blandings. However, when Lord Ickenham is on a sweetness-and-light-spreading expedition, there’s always apt to be trouble.

Contained here are nine glorious episodes from the idyllic world of Wodehouse. There’s a crime wave which broke out towards the middle of a fine summer afternoon and was to rock Blandings Castle to its foundations, Ukridge appears on Corky’s doorstep at three in the morning, wearing his yellow mackintosh and requesting a whisky and soda, while the Oldest Member warns of the folly of driving into the father of the girl you love …

Alice’s adventures, funny, inventive and disturbing, have fascinated children and adults alike since their publication. This is a new unabridged recording using many voices to take the parts of The White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat and, of course, Alice herself. It makes for a roller-coaster ride of delightful fantasy.

Clarence, ninth Earl of Emsworth, sank back in his chair looking like the good old man in a Victorian melodrama whose mortgage the villain had just foreclosed. He felt the absence of that gentle glow which customarily accompanied the departure of one of his sisters. Lord Emsworth needed Galahad. There are tricky corners to be rounded and assorted godsons, impostors, and pretty girls to be paired off. Fortunately, many years' membership of the Pelican Club means the Honourable Galahad Three...

Charles Dickens is a name that dominates the landscape of English literature. From his early years of hardship he rose to become one of the great novelists of any age. But amongst his other talents were that of short story writer, turning his pen to many subjects and genres as well as travel articles, speaking tours and as an advocate for social justice. He was also amongst the first to commercialise Christmas and a publisher of various periodical magazines for which he also contributed an...

Thomas Hardy was born in the hamlet of Upper Bockhampton about three miles east of Dorchester in Dorset, England, on 2nd June 1840.Despite a fairly wide education and being an avid reader his parents thought it unlikely he would lead a successful scholarly or clerical career and he was apprenticed in 1856, at age 16, to a local architect whose speciality was in church restoration. Hardy’s only opportunity to read was in the morning before work between the hours of five and eight.

Bill (Lord) Rowcester was well and truly in the gumbo. With the benefit of hindsight he could see that setting himself up as a Silver Ring bookie might not have been his smartest move ever. Particularly when being down on his dibbs threatens his oncoming nuptials with the sterling Jill Wyvern. Lucky for Bill he had the land-lease of Jeeves. Lucky indeed that the fish-fed mastermind’s formidable genius was at liberty to take a header into such teasers as borrowing the stellar Mrs. Spottswor...

Six gripping dramatised documentaries detailing the history of the turbulent Tudor period.Passion, power, sex and suspicious deaths – the Tudor story is one of drama and dysfunction, and it has kept us enthralled for over 400 years. In these six dramatised documentaries, we take a behind-the-scenes look at Tudor England and get to know the key characters we have grown to love and hate, such as Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Compiled from contempor...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Charles Dickens enjoyed entertaining his friends with readings of ghost stories, especially at Christmas time. In his classic tale The Signalman, the then high technology world of steam railway comes to contact with what looks like a good old fashioned haunting. A night at a desolate country inn dramatically changes Tom Smart's fortunes in The Bagman's Story. Together with Christmas Ghosts and Mr Testator’s Visitation, these tales are fine examples of Dickens’s spine-chilling talents. Thes...

Thomas Hardy – The Short Stories - An Introduction. Many giants of Literature originate from the shores of these emerald isles; Shakespeare, Dickens, Chaucer, The Brontes and Austen to which most people would willingly add the name Thomas Hardy. Far From The Madding Crowd, Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, The Mayor Of Casterbridge are but three of his literary masterpieces. But let us add to this his short stories. They are often overlooked as being the poor, under-developed relative of a greate...