The Trojan War is over and Odysseus, the cunning King of Ithaca, sets out for home, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. It proves a long, 10-year journey, fraught with dangers, from Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops, and the seductive Sirens, to the love of Calypso on her all-too-comfortable isle. When he arrives in Ithaca, he has to contend with a group of suitors who have been pressing his wife to forget about her husband, admit she is a widow, and marry one of them. Anton Lesser, o...

In Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens created one of his most penetrating satires on the weaknesses of government in the Victorian era. He chose Marshalsea debtors’ prison as the setting, where his own father had been imprisoned. The story revolves around a complex mystery involving conspiracy, debt and a disputed will that results in unexpected consequences for the main characters.

Laurence Sterne’s most famous novel is a biting satire of literary conventions and contemporary eighteenth-century values. Renowned for its parody of established narrative techniques, Tristram Shandy is commonly regarded as the forerunner of avant-garde fiction. Tristram’s characteristic digressions on a whole range of unlikely subjects (including battle strategy and noses!) are endlessly surprising and make this one of Britain’s greatest comic achievements. A cast of strange characters po...

Hard Times is Dickens’s most political novel. Set in the industrial north of England, in Coketown, he examines the lives of working people, who are taught by the capitalists Gradgrind and Bounderby to think only of the facts of life and not to indulge in imagination. Gradgrind’s own children have been so educated and as a result are dysfunctional and disconnected from their feelings. Only the travelling circus company of Sleary seems to offer any hope of humanity in Coketown. Hard Times is...

‘Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the World, and all our woe.’ So begins the greatest epic poem in the English language. In words remarkable for their richness of rhythm and imagery, Milton tells the story of man’s creation, fall and redemption ‘to justify the ways of God to men.’ Here, unabridged, and told with exceptional sensitivity and power by Anton Lesser, is the plight of Adam and Eve, the ambition and vengefuln...

Death, innocence, sacrifice and corruption The Old Curiosity Shop is vintage Dickens. Provoking an unprecedented outpouring of public grief when it was first published, it follows the story of Little Nell and her feckless grandfather. Forced to leave their magical shop of curiosities in London, they are pursued across the English countryside by the grotesquely evil dwarf Quilp. They escape but at what cost? Part tragedy, part allegory, this is Dickens at his most intense; drawing on his ow...

This thoughtful collection of John Milton’s finest poetry marks the quatercentenary of the poet’s birth in 1608. It is read by several of Britain’s foremost classical actors, including Anton Lesser, Samantha Bond and Derek Jacobi. Milton’s uncompromising views set him firmly on the side of Cromwell, putting his life in danger when the Stuart monarchy was restored. But he is now remembered for Paradise Lost and a strong collection of other poetry which influenced successive generations. Thi...

William Dorrit has been a resident of the Marshalsea debtors prison for so many years that he has gained the nickname ‘The Father of the Marshalsea’. However, his suffering is eased by his close bond with youngest daughter Amy, or ‘Little Dorrit’. The dashing Arthur Clennam, returning to London after many years in China, enters their lives and the Dorrits’ fortunes begin to rise and fall. A biting satirical work on the shortcomings of nineteenth-century government and society.

‘It was the best of times and the worst of times’ In one of the most famous openings of any novel, Dickens masterfully presents the turmoil of the French Revolution which is the backdrop for a novel of love, patience, hope and self-sacrifice. It is read by Anton Lesser whose award-winning Dickens recordings in their abridged form have now resulted in the opportunity to read the full unabridged text. His singular characterisations led to him being chosen by Peter Ackroyd to play Dickens him...

Narrated in the first person, Great Expectations tells the story of Philip Pirrip (known as Pip) from his disadvantaged start as an orphan in the Kent marshes to the improvement in his position following an anonymous allowance. Pip moves to London where, only after many trials, does he learn humility and the value of loyalty. Key Dickens characters abound the convict Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and the pompous Pumblechook. Great Expectations was first published as a complete nove...

Michael Henchard, drunk at a country fair, sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas. The following day, in despair and remorse, he forswears alcohol and sets out to redeem himself. In time, he becomes a respected merchant and eventually the mayor of the town. But Fate is not to be so easily appeased, and Henchard finds his past actions resonate through and destroy his plans for the future. One of the greatest novels in the English language, The Mayor of Casterbridge sees Thomas Ha...

Perhaps the greatest poem of the Western world, The Iliad tells the story of fifty critical days towards the end of the Trojan war. Achilles has quarrelled with Agamemnon and sulks in his tent, while Hector brings his Trojans to the brink of victory; but fate will have the last word. Anton Lesser, one of Britain’s finest audiobook stars, brings this great classic to life in the new and imaginative translation by Ian Johnston.