Set in the world of the Victorian professional and landed classes, this book centres on Mr Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity, who is nevertheless in possession of an income from a...

Jocelyn Pierston, a sculptor of growing fame, is determined to find his ideal in womanhood, a quest that has led to many fruitless encounters. For just as it seems that he has found his heart’s...

Maurice Hall is born into a privileged way of life, well aware of his role in society. Modest and generally conformist, he nevertheless finds himself increasingly attracted to his own sex. Through...

Little Women is recognized as one of the best-loved classic children's stories of all time. Originally written as a "girls' story," its appeal transcends the boundaries of time and age, making it...

A beautiful novel in itself, ‘Swann’s Way' (‘Du côté de chez Swann') is also the introduction to the great seven-part work ‘Remembrance of Things Past' ('A la Recherche du Temps Perdu')...

At nineteen, Sebastian is a duke and heir to a vast country estate. A deep sense of tradition binds him to his inheritance, though he loathes the social circus he is a part of. Deception,...

Simon Russell Beale and Clare Higgins read some of Shakespeare's best-loved stories, skilfully abridged and adapted by Leon Garfield. The plays featured include: As You Like It, Hamlet, Julius...

Lottie and Kezia stood on the patch of lawn just inside the gate, all ready for the fray in their coats with brass anchor buttons...

In the realm of the short story, Katherine Mansfield...

A Radio 4 dramatisation of John Galsworthy’s gripping trilogy that concludes 'The Forsyte Saga', featuring a star cast including Sophie Thompson, Dorothy Tutin, John Moffatt and Miranda...

'An Old Man’s Love', Trollope’s last complete novel, was finished seven months before his death, when he was suffering from ill health and was in constant pain. The old man of the title,...

Prunella Scales reads the classic tale by Elizabeth Gaskell - complete and unabridged.

'It is very pleasant dining with a bachelor... I only hope it is not improper; so many pleasant...

'Two on a Tower' is Hardy's ninth novel and contains perhaps his most complete treatment of the theme of love across the class and age divide, and also the fullest expression of his fascination...

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there...

A man in his sixties looks back on his boyhood for the first time in fifty years, recalling events that took place on...

In this brilliant piece of social comedy, E. M. Forster is concerned with one of his favourite themes: the ‘undeveloped heart’ of the English middle classes, who are here represented by a...

Buried treasure, treacherous buccaneers, a young hero and a one-legged villain, ‘Treasure Island' has all the ingredients of a classic adventure story.

From the outset at the Admiral...