Classics

Told with exceptional grace and read beatifully by Indira Varma, The Light Years is a modern classic of twentieth-century English life and is the first novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s extraordinary, bestselling family saga, The Cazalet Chronicles. 'Compelling, moving, unputdownable...

The ultimate, full-cast dramatisations of Homer’s two epic Greek masterpieces, with exceptional casts including Derek Jacobi, Christopher Eccleston, Tim McInnerny and Benedict Cumberbatch REDISCOVER THE EPIC MYTHS BEFORE YOU SEE CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S MAJOR MOTION PICTURE Attributed to the Greek...

A collection of RD Wingfield’s finest thrillers from the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties Best known for his ‘Inspector Jack Frost’ series of novels, RD Wingfield also penned a string of gripping thrillers for BBC Radio. Initially thought lost, many of the 14 dramas in this collection were...

Beautifully read by Indira Varma and poignantly told, Marking Time is the second novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s bestselling family saga The Cazalet Chronicles, set during the onset of World War II. 'Compelling, moving, unputdownable . . . Maybe my favourite books ever' - Marian Keyes...

A selection of Euripides’ renowned Greek tragedies, adapted for BBC Radio Acclaimed by Aristotle as ‘the most tragic of the poets’, Euripides was one of the pre-eminent playwrights of 5th century Athens. Included here are seven of his masterpieces: powerful, shocking tales of passion...

"A Descent into the Maelström" is an 1841 short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. In the tale, a man recounts how he survived a shipwreck and a whirlpool. It has been grouped with Poe's tales of ratiocination and also labeled an early form of science fiction. Inspired by the Moskstraumen, it is couched as a story within a story, a tale told at the summit of a mountain climb in Lofoten, Norway. The story is told by an old man who reveals that he only appears old—"You suppose me a very old man," he says, "but I am not.

"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe and a work of horror fiction. It was first published in 1842 in the literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, and is set very loosely during the Peninsular War between Spain and Napoleonic France (1808–1814), although it invokes the feared Inquisition of earlier centuries. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured.

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, written and published in 1838, is the only complete novel by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The novel is set between 1827 and 1828 and relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaler called the Grampus. Various adventures and misadventures befall Pym, including shipwreck, mutiny, and cannibalism, before he is saved by the crew of the Jane Guy. Aboard this vessel, Pym and a sailor named Dirk Peters continue their adventures farther south.

The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ball in seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. Prospero dies after confronting this stranger, whose "costume" proves to contain nothing tangible inside it.

Berenice — A Tale. Misery is manifold. The wretchedness of earth is multiform. Overreaching the wide horizon like the rainbow, its hues are as various as the hues of that arch, as distinct too, yet as intimately blended. Overreaching the wide horizon like the rainbow! How is it that from Beauty I have derived a type of unloveliness? — from the covenant of Peace a simile of sorrow?

"The Purloined Letter" is a short story by American author Edgar Allan Poe. It is the third of his three detective stories featuring the fictional C. Auguste Dupin, the other two being "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt". These stories are considered to be important early forerunners of the modern detective story. The unnamed narrator is with the famous Parisian amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin when they are joined by G—, prefect of the Paris police.

From his cradle to his grave a gale of prosperity bore my friend Ellison along. Nor do I use the word prosperity in its mere worldly sense. I mean it as synonymous with happiness. The person of whom I speak seemed born for the purpose of foreshadowing the doctrines of Turgot, Price, Priestley and Condorcet — of exemplifying by individual instance what has been deemed the chimera of the perfectionists.

During a pedestrian tour last summer through one or two of the river counties of New York, the narrator finds himself lost as day declines, the land undulating remarkably and his path winding confusedly through valleys in effort to keep in them. A smoky mist, resembling that of Indian summer, enveloped all things and added to his uncertainty. Not caring much about the matter, he remained unconcerned, prepared to bivouac in the open air with his knapsack for a pillow and his hound as a sentry.

This edition contains four short stories: Ligeia, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, The Imp of the Perverse, and the Pit and the Pendulum. Edgar Allan Poe is a giant of American literature and a master of the macabre, as proven in these four classic short stories. These innovative and evocative works are just a few of Poe's writings that helped define the gothic and horror genres in the 19th century.

Powraca jeden z najzabawniejszych duetów literatury humorystycznej! Bertie Wooster i Jeeves wkraczają do akcji! Bertie jest niezbyt rozgarniętym londyńskim arystokratą, na tyle zagubionym w tajnikach dorosłego życia, że z pewnością już dawno przepadłby z kretesem, gdyby nie jego lokaj Jeeves. Ów lokaj, błyskotliwy i inteligentny, miłosiernie ratuje swojego pracodawcę ze wszystkich tarapatów dzięki temu, że posiada nad nim władzę niemal absolutną.

Have you ever wondered why the rage of a single man could doom an entire civilization? The Iliad is the ultimate testament to the glory and misery of the human condition. Set during the final year of the Trojan War, this foundational epic captures the moment the invincible Greek army begins to crumble—not from enemy swords, but from the internal strife of their own leaders. When the proud warrior Achilles is slighted by his commander, his withdrawal from the fight shifts the tides of war.

Have you ever wondered why the journey home is often the most dangerous adventure of all? The Odyssey is the cornerstone of Western literature. While the Iliad chronicled the glory of war, this sweeping saga explores the agony of the aftermath. It is the story of a hero stripped of his army and ships, left with nothing but his sharp mind and an indomitable will to survive. As Odysseus battles mythical beasts and wrathful deities across the wine-dark sea, his wife Penelope fights a different kind of war at home, holding off over a hundred suitors to preserve their fragile world.

Have you ever wondered why we let our prejudices blind us to true love? The arrival of the wealthy Mr. Bingley and his stoic companion, Mr. Darcy, sends the Bennet household into a frenzy. For the intelligent and independent Elizabeth Bennet, it is the beginning of a complex dance of manners, misunderstandings, and sharp social satire. While her sister Jane falls for the gentle Bingley, Elizabeth clashes with the proud Mr. Darcy.

Have you ever wondered why the heart remains loyal even after hope is gone? In Jane Austen's most mature novel, Persuasion, Anne Elliot lives with the quiet agony of a past mistake. Swayed by a trusted mentor eight years ago, she rejected the man she loved—Captain Frederick Wentworth—because he lacked wealth and status. Now, the tables have turned. Anne's vain family is on the brink of ruin, while Wentworth returns from war a wealthy, eligible bachelor. As fate forces them back into the same social circle, Anne must navigate the painful awkwardness of his apparent indifference.

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. Wuthering Heights is a haunting classic of English literature, a story of passion, revenge, obsession, and emotional destruction set against the wild Yorkshire moors. At the center of the novel is the intense bond between Catherine Earnshaw and...

Te Lake–– to––: Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories. In spring of youth it was my lot To haunt of the wide earth a spot The which I could not love the less— So lovely was the loneliness Of a wild lake, with black rock bound, And the tall pines that tower'd around.

"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a visit by a mysterious raven that repeatedly speaks a single word. The lover, often identified as a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further antagonize the protagonist with its repetition of the word "nevermore".

An Enigma: Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories. "Seldom we find," says Solomon Don Dunce, "Half an idea in the profoundest sonnet. Through all the flimsy things we see at once As easily as through a Naples bonnet— Trash of all trash!—how can a lady don it?

"MS. Found in a Bottle" is an 1833 short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The plot follows an unnamed narrator at sea who finds himself in a series of harrowing circumstances. As he nears his own disastrous death while his ship drives ever southward, he writes an "MS.", or manuscript, telling of his adventures which he casts into the sea. An unnamed narrator, estranged from his family and country, sets sail as a passenger aboard a cargo ship from Batavia (now known as Jakarta, Indonesia).

"The Oval Portrait" is a horror short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, involving the disturbing circumstances of a portrait in a château. It is one of his shortest stories, filling only two pages in its initial publication in 1842. The tale begins with an injured narrator seeking refuge in an abandoned mansion in the Apennines. The narrator spends his time admiring the paintings that decorate the strangely shaped room and reading through a reference book, found on a pillow, that describes them.