British Literature

The British Classics Collection: Volume One is a century-spanning collection of 24 classic works of fiction and poetry by British authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Stephen Fry, Joanne Froggatt, Jason Isaacs, Adjoa Andoh, and many more. Included here are stories by some of the greatest writers of all time, including Charles Dickens; Emily Brontë; Jane Austen; Thomas Hardy; George Eliot; D.H. Lawrence; George Orwell; and Mary Shelley, amongst a host of others.

A body in a shallow grave, a man buried alive, and an anonymous caller who vanished into the night. When a woman's secret rendezvous in a Lincolnshire forest leads to a horrifying discovery—a hand protruding from the earth—she makes an anonymous call to the police, then disappears. It's Sunday evening, and DCI Freya Bloom and DI Ben Savage are standing over the shallow grave of Oliver Trent, a well-respected family solicitor, still dressed in his suit with his wallet and car keys in his pockets.

Against the odds, former steel worker Harry Perkins has led the Labour Party to a stunning victory. His manifesto includes the removal of American bases, public control of finance and the dismantling of media empires. The Establishment is appalled. Something must be done. As MI5 conspires with the City and the press barons to bring Perkins down, he finds himself caught up in a no-holds-barred battle for survival.

Kitty Worthington couldn’t be happier. Her marriage to CDI Robert Crawford Sinclair is glorious, her detective agency is thriving, and her brother Richard is on the mend after a close brush with death. Now permanently home from his archeological excavations, Richard has taken a position at the British Museum. His lectures on Egyptian antiquities and the mummification process draw patrons like moths to a flame.

The British Classics Collection – Volume 2 steps into the grand world of 18th, 19th, and 20th-century British literature to create a compelling anthology featuring iconic works that span time and genres. From the whimsy of Alice in Wonderland to the mystery of The Woman in White, the philosophical insights of The Waste Land and the unforgettable detective stories of Sherlock Holme, this volume offers a rich variety of British literary masterpieces.

London, 1941. Miss Jane Treen is faced with another mysterious disappearance within her Secret Detective Agency’s team. Tabitha Moore, a government typist, was on her way to meet Jane with vital information about some secret codes. But she didn’t turn up for work and has seemingly vanished without trace. Then Jane and her colleague, handsome codebreaker Arthur Cilento, receive a call: a body has been found, and it matches Tabitha’s description…

A glorious collection of some of the finest British short stories ever written. The Dog – Arnold Bennet, Not On The Passenger List – Barry Pain, The Old Man’s Tale About The Queer Client – Charles Dickens, The Half Brothers – Elizabeth Gaskell, The Veiled Portrait – James McGovan, Markheim – Robert Louis Stevenson, The Bottle Imp – Robert Louis Stevenson, The Adventures Of The Kind Mr. Smith – William J. Locke, The Man Of Mystery – Barry Pain, The Brazilian Cat – Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

1894. A well-respected academic is found dead in a gentlemen’s convenience cubicle at the British Museum, the stall locked from the inside. Professor Lance Pickering had been due to give a talk promoting the museum’s new 'Age of King Arthur' exhibition when he was stabbed repeatedly in the chest. Having forged a strong reputation working alongside the inimitable Inspector Abberline on the Jack the Ripper case, Daniel Wilson is called in to solve the mystery, and he brings his expertise and archaeologist Abigail Fenton with him.

London, 1926. After a short leave of absence, Private Detective Posie Parker is back—and with a bang! Her first assignment? Interview the dazzling Eglantine DuBarry and Jack Smeaton of ‘The Banana Splits’, the most talked-about jazz band in town, who seem to have troubles aplenty. But before the ink is dry, Posie lands an even more notorious client: Lady Hilda Kilcoyne, a scandalous sportswoman convinced her war-hero husband wants her dead.

From No.1 bestselling author Andrew Taylor comes the sequel to the phenomenally successful The Ashes of London Over 1 Million Andrew Taylor Novels Sold! A time of terrible danger… The Great Fire has ravaged London. Now, guided by the Fire Court, the city is rebuilding, but times are volatile...

The Luke Sackville Crime Thriller series continues… Where secrets are worth more than lives Ex-DCI Luke Sackville is asked by a friend to locate a missing woman. It appears to be a routine case, but as he digs deeper he discovers that all is not as it seems. Meanwhile, his Ethics Team face a variety of cases ranging from harassment to online bullying to physical intimidation. As these seemingly unconnected investigations progress, a prestigious private school is revealed as a common thread.

INTRODUCED BY KATE SAUNDERS 'I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym' RICHARD OSMAN 'My favourite writer . . . I pick up her books with joy' JILLY COOPER 'Beneath the gentle surfaces of her novels is a slow-building comedy, salt wit in a saline drip' NEW YORK TIMES In a provincial university town, Caro...

Melissa couldn’t be happier that summer has arrived. She’s delighted to have her mother back by her side, and she is extending her beloved Hawthorn Cottage so her new family can live together. Meanwhile, Melissa’s mother, Sylvia, is back in good health and enjoying a brief stay at a stately retirement home. She loves getting to know the residents, until first a dog and then his owner are both found dead in the dining room. Like mother, like daughter, Sylvia decides to do a little investigating of her own.

C. S. Lewis offers a magisterial take on the literature and poetry of one of the most consequential periods in world history, providing deep insight into some of the greatest writers of the age, including Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, John Knox, Dr. Johnson, Richard...

A gripping collection of over 50 of the greatest short stories written by great British writers. 1."The Missing Years" by Barry Pain, 2. "His Brother's Keeper" by W. W. Jacobs, 3. "A Madman's Manuscript" by Charles Dickens, 4. "The House of Cobwebs" by Barry Pain, 5. "Old Fags" by Stacy Aumonier, 6. "A Long-Ago Affair" by John Galsworthy, 7. "August Heat" by W. F. Harvey, 8. "The Dabblers" by W. F. Harvey, 9. "Rose Rose" by Barry Pain

Sheilagh McCullough has been pretending to be someone else her entire life. When she takes her rebellious act too far, her overbearing brothers decide it’s time for her to grow up and face her future. After six years of procrastination and parties, Sheilagh is finally going to college. Dr. Alec Devereux is an ethical man, but when Sheilagh enrolls in his class, his morals, as a professor, are put to the test. Brilliant, tenacious, and a contradiction to herself in so many ways, Alec’s new student enchants and tempts him to break the rules.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore are as different as England and America themselves, and yet almost two centuries later these two iconic tales remain an important part of Christmas tradition all over the world. Now they are brought together in this very special holiday recording.

Agatha Christie, born in upper-middle-class British society during the late Victorian era, turned into one of the most prolific and popular mystery writers of all time. Her novels have been translated into 44 languages and have sold over two billion copies worldwide. Her mysteries continue to sell as new generations of readers discover the delights of her main characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. In addition, Christie’s plays have been a tremendous success, with The Mousetrap running in London for the past 70 years.

Bremen, 1951. An MI6 officer, haunted by an SS atrocity, kills a Nazi war criminal in the ruins of a U-boat bunker. The German turns out to be a CIA asset being rat-lined to South America. Britain, 1947. A young cabinet minister negotiates a deal with Moscow trading Rolls-Royce jet engines for cattle fodder and wood. The fates of the two men become entwined as one rises through MI6 and the other to Downing Street where, in the mid-1970s, a secret plot unfolds on both sides of the Atlantic to overthrow the prime minister. Can MI6 officers Catesby and Bone prevent it?

Read by Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow, A Literary Christmas is a seasonal anthology that collects together poems, short stories, and prose extracts by some of the greatest poets and writers in the English language. Like Charles Dickens’ ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, they are representative of times old and new - from John Donne’s Elizabethan hymn over the baby Jesus to Rudyard Kipling’s "Christmas in India", from Thomas Tusser counting the cost of a Tudor feast to Laurie Lee’s "Cider with Rosie".