Essential Classics

This carefully curated collection brings together some of the most influential and enduring works in American literature. Spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, these novels explore love and loss, identity and ambition, innocence and disillusionment—offering a powerful reflection of the American experience in all its complexity. Timeless in their themes and revolutionary in style, The Essential American Classics Collection is a must-have for readers seeking the heart and soul of American fiction.

This collection brings together some of the most influential and beloved novels in the English literary canon. From dystopian futures to sweeping romantic tales, these works explore human nature, social class, morality, and the quest for identity. Spanning genres and centuries, The Essential British Classics Collection is a celebration of the best of British storytelling, offering profound insights into the human experience.

The Essential Classics: Volume 1 brings together some of the most astute, gripping and tragic works written in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, beautifully read by Miranda Raison, Pearl Mackie, Jonathan Keeble, Peter Noble, and Olivia Dowd. Spanning English, Russian and German literature, in this collection you will find the terrifying trials of iconic detective Sherlock Holmes, Dickens’s cutting social commentary in Bleak House, as well as classic coming-of-age narratives with The Magic Mountain and Tolstoy’s realist masterpiece in Anna Karenina.

This Audiobook contains the following works: "The prophet" [Khalil Gibran], "Treasure Island" [Robert Louis Stevenson], "White fang" [Jack London], "The Time machine" [H. G. Wells], "The Battle of Life" [Charles Dickens], "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes" [Arthur Conan Doyle], "The Three Musketeers" [Alexandre Dumas], "The adventures of Pinocchio" [Carlo Collodi], "Robinson Crusoe" [Daniel Defoe], "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" [Mark Twain].

Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of Christmas in Five Staves when he was 31. Now with numerous adaptations for film, television, radio, stage - and indeed in audio - it has become an essential part of Christmas for many. Raconteurs Audio has created this collection to include Dickens’ two Christmas novellas, The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth, as well as some of his lesser known short stories with a Christmas theme.

From Tolstoy's introspective reflections on the passage of time in Boyhood, Childhood, Youth to Dostoevsky’s exploration of ideological turmoil in Demons, these stories present the raw complexities of personal and societal transformation. Dombey and Son captures Dickens' powerful critique of Victorian society, while Shirley examines the life of a strong, independent woman challenging the conventions of her era.

The Essential Classics: Volume 8 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Emma Gregory, Lucy Scott, Mark Meadows, and Rachel Atkins. From the quiet introspection of Persuasion, where Anne Elliot faces the complexities of love and second chances, to the thrilling escapades of The Scarlet Pimpernel, this volume offers a diverse array of experiences. The Mysteries of Udolpho will immerse you in gothic suspense, while The Provincial Lady offers a humorous and sharp look at the life of a woman in the early 20th century.

The Essential Classics: Volume 5 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Juliet Stevenson, David Rintoul, Rachel Atkins, Stephen Hogan, Aoife McMahon, and Lucy Scott. Spanning a broad range of British and Irish literature, this collection includes hilarious stories of the 'gentleman's gentleman' in My Man, Jeeves, the revolutionary and intense tale of Jane and Rochester in Jane Eyre, as well as Joyce's grand modern masterpiece, Ulysses, and many more.

The Essential Classics: Volume 7 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Jonathan Keeble, Kristin Atherton, Emma Gregory, and Matt Bates. From the charming and compassionate world of Cranford to the ambitious and tragic tale of Jude the Obscure, this volume is a rich tapestry of human experience. Daniel Deronda challenges notions of identity, morality, and destiny, while Evelina offers a sharp yet humorous commentary on social class and manners.

In 1976, a mysterious "Inner Voice" spoke to Helen Schucman, dictating what would come to be known as A Course in Miracles - a spiritual classic that would go on to sell over two million copies and influence countless people worldwide. Those who study this 1,333-page course can struggle for years to progress through its resonant but often difficult-to-comprehend truths.

The Essential Classics: Volume 4 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Nathan Osgood, David Rintoul, and Jonathan Keeble. Spanning British, Russian, and Irish literature, this collection includes stories of war and brutality in A Farewell to Arms, love and loss on an epic scale in War & Peace, as well as Hammett's devilishly clever detective thriller, Red Harvest, and many more.

The Essential Classics: Volume 2 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Adjoa Andoh, David Rintoul, Kobna Holdbrook Smith, and Jonathan Keeble. Spanning the Atlantic, this collection includes stories of vampiric horror in Dracula, Poirot's first outing in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, as well as Emily Brontë's timeless tale of love on the moors, and more.

The Essential Classics: Volume 3 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Robert G. Slade, Olivia Dowd, Karen Cass, Nathan Osgood, and Peter Noble. Spanning British, German, and American literature, this collection includes stories of the high seas in Moby Dick, Twain's beloved tale of childhood adventure in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as well love, honour, and betrayal in Far From the Madding Crowd, and more.

The Essential Dickens Collection brings together four of the most well-known and beloved novels written during Dickens' lifetime, as well as one of his most famous essays about London: Night Walks. In this collection you'll hear Stephen Fry narrating Great Expectations, Scrooge's ghostly journey narrated by Jason Isaacs, David Rintoul leading us through David Copperfield, and other award-winning narrators bringing Dickens' most beloved stories to life.

The Essential Classics: Volume 9 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Emma Gregory, Ben Allen, George Blagden, and Peter Noble. From the gripping tale of social confinement in Little Dorrit to the dark exploration of ambition and desire in Nana, this volume covers a range of emotions and struggles. The Immortalist delves into fate and the choices that shape our lives, while Dead Souls brings wit and satirical brilliance to the human condition.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American classic, a book that has inspired troves of writers in its wake, and that has sparked generations of discussion and debate. It is noted for its depiction of people and locations along the Mississippi River. One of the first major American novels to employ vernacular English, Adventure of Huckleberry Finn offers a satire on Southern Antebelleum society, particularly regarding attitudes of racism. Told in the first person by protagonist Huckleberry Finn, the book is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

This curated collection brings together five iconic works from some of Ireland's greatest writers, each offering a distinct voice and vision that helped shape modern Irish literature. From gothic horror to modernist experimentation, biting satire to fading aristocracy, these novels capture the complexities of identity, society, and imagination across centuries.

From sweeping tales of war and philosophy to darkly comic journeys through bureaucracy and haunting visions of dystopia, this collection gathers some of the most profound and provocative works ever written. Each novel offers a unique window into the complexities of the human condition, set against the backdrop of Russia's rich and turbulent history.

It may be the twenty-first century but religious tensions and conflicts continue all across the world. Even today, religion continues to play an unparalleled role in the lives of individuals and nations with people and leaders pitting one religious identity against another. But the question that...

The Essential Leo Tolstoy Collection gathers the monumental works of a writer whose insight into the human soul, society, faith, and moral responsibility has shaped world literature. From sweeping epics to intimate tales of conscience, this volume offers both the grandeur and the depth that define Tolstoy’s legacy.