These two great poems date from Shakespeare’s early years and are full of passion and invention. In Venus and Adonis, the goddess of love pleads with the beautiful boy to submit to her advances and become her love but he only wants to hunt boar. In the more serious Rape of Lucrece, Shakespeare draws on the Roman take of the Emperor Tarquin’s desire for Lucrece and its tragic consequences. These poems give prominent parts to the two heroines, and Clare Corbett and Eve Best shine.

This widely-studied play is one of the best sellers of the Shakespeare canon. This production is the seventh Shakespeare play in the series undertaken by Naxos AudioBooks in conjunction with Cambridge University Press.

A dark and humid night on a London highway… a ghostly woman asking directions… and the reader is away on a tale of deceit, murder, madness, stolen identities and scheming cads, elaborate plots and outrageous coincidences, in the company of some of the most extraordinary characters in fiction. Hailed as a classic the moment it was written in 1859, The Woman in White uses a dozen different narrators to tell the tale of a man’s determination to save the woman he loves, in the face of the wors...

Full-cast adaptations of three of Winifred Holtby’s best-known novels, plus short stories and bonus programmes about the authorWinifred Holtby was an acclaimed novelist, journalist, feminist and social reformer. Her work encompasses six novels, two short story collections, a play and the first critical study of Virginia Woolf, but she is best known for her posthumously published masterpiece South Riding, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Award. She d...

A collection of vintage thrillers from popular crime writer RD WingfieldWell known as the creator of Inspector Jack Frost, RD Wingfield scripted numerous twisty, suspenseful dramas for BBC Radio between 1968 and 1995. Many of the thirteen tales in this collection were originally thought to be lost, but thanks to the diligent efforts of Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle, who tracked down the missing audio, they are once again available to enjoy.In

Nine classic works by the Russian literary giant, adapted for BBC RadioIvan Turgenev stands alongside Tolstoy and Dostoevsky as one of the three great Russian novelists of the 19th century. He was also a consummate short story writer, poet and playwright, and the first Russian author to become popular in the West. This specially curated collection showcases his key works, from the most celebrated to the undeservedly underrated.Described as ‘one of the most ...

Full-cast productions of Seneca’s most famous tragedies, plus letters from the Roman philosopher read by Paul ScofieldStoic philosopher and playwright Lucius Annaeus Seneca lived through the reigns of Caligula and Claudius, and was tutor and adviser to Nero, before his untimely suicide in AD65. His gory, outrageous tragedy Thyestes inspired Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and is widely considered his masterpiece. It opens this col...

Elegant, enigmatic Jay Gatsby yearns for his old love, the beautiful Daisy. But she is married to the insensitive if hugely successful Tom Buchanan, who won’t let her go despite having a mistress himself. In their wealthy haven, these beguiling lives are brought together by the innocent and entranced narrator, Nick until their decadent deceits spill into violence and tragedy. Part morality tale, part fairy tale, The Great Gatsby is the consummate novel of the Jazz Age. Its tenderness and p...

Kenneth Branagh heads an outstanding cast in playing one of Shakespeare’s strongest characters. The eighth production in the widely admired series of Shakespeare plays presented by Naxos AudioBooks in association with Cambridge University Press.

""Our revels now are ended... this rough magic I here abjure...""In Shakespeare hinting at the end of his own magnificent career in these and others lines spoken by the great magician, Prospero? The Tempest was the last of Shakespeare's comedies, completed just before he retired to his native Stratford-upon-Avon; perhaps this delightful comedy was intended to signal the playwright's farewell to his beloved theater. The Tempest reflects Shakespeare...

Two couples—Benedick and Beatrice, and Hero and Claudio—must overcome deception, gossip, and, occasionally, their own misplaced pride if their love is to persevere. Aided by military commander Don Pedro and impeded by his brother Don John, the friends go to great lengths in the pursuit of marriage.

Most of us remember The Wizard of Oz as the film starring Judy Garland and Bert Lahr. But the film was based on L. Frank Baum's immensely popular Oz series, which was published in the early twentieth century. In these novels, Oz is the utopian land beyond the rainbow where threats are turned back with valor and ingenuity. The books' success lies in the way they induce children to look for the element of wonder in the world around them.Considered the first truly American fa...