‘Louis Wain invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world’. Broadcast in 1925 by H.G. Wells, these words characteristically foretold the future of the Wain cat which has, once more, become the century’s most recognisable image in cat art. During their heyday, in the time before the First World War, Louis Wain’s cats, dressed as humans, portrayed that stylish Edwardian world having fun: at restaurants and tea parties, going to the Race and the Seaside, celebrating at Christmas and ...

A collection of BBC radio full-cast dramatisations of Jane Austen's six major novels Jane Austen is one of the finest writers in the English language, and this volume includes all six of her classic novels.Mansfield Park: On a quest to find a position in society, Fanny Price goes to live with her rich aunt and uncle.Northanger Abbey: Young, naïve Catherine Morland receives an invitation to stay at the isolated Gothic mansion Northanger Abbey.Full chapter listing:

Benedict Cumberbatch reads these four new Sherlock Holmes stories by John Taylor'An Inscrutable Masquerade'/ 'The Conundrum of Coach 13'/ 'The Trinity Vicarage Larceny'/ 'The 10.59 Assassin'Inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes stories, John Taylor has written four more mysteries featuring the world's greatest detective. Read by acclaimed actor Benedict Cumberbatch, these new adventures share all the suspense of the original tales.In a drawer in ...

Beneath the streets of London there is another London. A subterranean labyrinth of sewers and abandoned tube stations. A somewhere that is Neverwhere... An act of kindness sees Richard Mayhew catapulted from his ordinary life into the strange world of London Below. There he meets the Earl of Earl's Court, faces a life-threatening ordeal at the hands of the Black Friars, comes face to face with the Great Beast of London, and encounters an Angel. Called Islington. Accompanied by the mysterio...

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young, devastatingly acute Horace Rumpole in this third thrilling collection of court casesRumpole and the Old Boy Net: With the help of his new pupil, Miss Phillida Trant, Rumpole must defend Mr Napier Lee, who is charged with blackmail. But the alleged victim of the blackmail went to public school with the defendant, and Mr Lee won't sneak on his old school chum...Rumpole and the Sleeping Partners: After a ...

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young Horace Rumpole in this second stellar collection of court cases, also starring Timothy West as the older RumpoleRumpole and the Man of GodIt is 1959, and Rumpole must defend a clergyman accused of shoplifting who, although he clearly did not commit the crime, is curiously reluctant to be cross-examined under oath. Meanwhile, Hilda (she who must be obeyed) has big news…Rumpole and the Explo...

Winner of Audiobook of the Year at The Specsavers National Book Awards 2018Penguin presents the audio edition of The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli, read by Benedict Cumberbatch.The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics takes us on an enchanting journey to discover the meaning of timeTime is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and poets have lon...

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Franz Kafka's famous story of man-turned-insect, MetamorphosisWinner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018After a night of troubled dreams, Gregor Samsa wakes to discover that he has turned into a huge, monstrous, cockroach-like creature, with an armour-plated back and multiple limbs.Gradually, he comes to terms with his new state - but his parents and sister are horrified and increasingly revolted. To the...

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Ian Kelly’s biography of one of the most beguiling and controversial individuals of any age.In this fascinating biography of the notorious libertine, Ian Kelly draws on documents by Casanova, his friends and his lovers (male and female) in order to bring fresh insights to the man’s life and world. The sights and smells of Eighteenth Century Europe are brought keenly to life, as are the colourful incidents of Casanova’s life. As the young cleric he embarke...

***"*In his remarkable performance of Edward St. Aubyn's newest novel, stage and screen actor Benedict Cumberbatch proves yet again that he is a master of pacing and characterization...When not delivering a silky, warm, and beautifully enunciated narration, Cumberbatch subsumes himself into a multiplicity of male and female roles." -- AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winnerDouble Blind follows three close friends and their circle through a year of extraordinary...

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young, feisty, devastatingly acute Horace Rumpole in this collection of cracking cases, also starring Timothy West as the older Rumpole.Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders:It is the fifties, and two war heroes have been shot dead. Defending the suspect is deemed hopeless, so the case is handed to a novice. But the novice's superiors didn't count on the tenacity and wit of the young and hungry Horace...

Benedict Cumberbatch reads five stories featuring the famous vegetarian railway detective, Thorpe Hazell, as heard on BBC Radio 4.In The Affair of the German Dispatch-Box, Hazell hatches a daring plan to retrieve a highly sensitive government document before it reaches the German Ambassador.In Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture, When an entire wagon containing valuable paintings disappears from a goods train, Hazell's skill is needed.In The Affair o...