Redemption Island is set on an unused Second World War military base off the coast of South Carolina, where sixty convicted inmates are given one opportunity to earn their freedom. Removed from bars, cells, and concrete, they must live, work, study, and change together under strict rules and constant supervision.The island becomes a place of hard labor, education, discipline, and accountability. Prisoners plant fields, build shelters, learn to read, teach one another, and confront ...

King John of England is pitted against the united powers of France, Brittany, Austria, and the papacy. Will England be destroyed by his fatal indecision?As alliances are made, broken, and remade, the paranoid and erratic John reveals his weakness and reliance on those around him—including his powerful mother Queen Elinor and Faulconbridge, the cynical and witty bastard son of the dead King Richard I.In this early history play, King John is played by Michael Feast, the Basta...

The Diary of Samuel Pepys is perhaps the most well known collection of reminiscences. He maintained it, in secrecy, from 1660, the year of the Restoration, until 1669 when fear of blindness prevented his daily labours. Though it covers less than a decade, it offers a lively and detailed insight into a period and a personality for he noted events in both public and private life. Famous passages include descriptions of The Plague and the Great Fire of London. In this presentation, key sectio...

Proteus loves Julia in Verona, Valentine loves Silvia in Milan. But when Proteus meets Silvia, he falls for her too, and the heartbroken Julia sets out in pursuit.This delightful and sometimes disquieting early comedy of love lost and found offers lyrical poetry, disguise, clowning, outlaws, and a most unreliable dog.Proteus is played by Michael Maloney and Valentine by Damian Lewis. Silvia is Saskia Wickham, Julia is Lucy Robinson, and John Woodvine plays Launce.

‘A truth we all know... but agree not to talk about...’ was how the Clapping Lady from the secretive Consilience Foundation described it to a teenage Methuen Pryce in 2012 as they discussed his Segmented World model.But it was also a ‘truth’ that Nick O’Grady, ambitious young CEO of the high-tech Allied Answers, had not ‘talked about’ – that was until he invited Methuen to his plush New York office in the summer of ’23.Against expectations, the bearded academic and slick bu...

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a collection of narratives written between 1387 and 1400, tells of a group of thirty people from all layers of society who pass the time along their pilgrimage to Canterbury by telling stories to one another, their interaction mediated (at times) by the affable host Chaucer himself. Naxos AudioBooks’ third volume presents the tales of six people, here in an unabridged modern verse translation (by Frank Ernest Hill, (1935)). This is an ideal way to appreciate...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream must be one of the most enduringly popular of Shakespeare’s plays, and it is not difficult to see why: the work blends several kinds of comedy with a powerful atmosphere of magic and mystery and a satisfying set of contrasts between city and country, reason and imagination, love and infatuation.

A fascinating foray into British military history revealing the life of the British soldier at war. From the Roman invasion of Britain to the retreat from Dunkirk, from the horrors of Culloden to the courage of Rourke’s Drift, we experience first-hand the stories behind the triumphs and tragedies that make up the history of the British Army. Told entirely in the words of those who were therePerformed by an outstanding company of award-winning actors including Dame Eileen Atkins, Ch...

Naxos AudioBooks begins its new series of Great Poets represented by their most popular poems on one CD with William Blake, whose 250th anniversary of birth falls this year. This CD contains all of his most popular works Tyger, the Auguries of Innocence, Jerusalem, as well as some lesser-known poetry that demonstrates the range and power of his verse. They are strikingly read by Robert Glenister, Michael Maloney and Stephen Critchlow.

This anthology contains many of Kipling’s most famous poems, If, Mandalay, Gunga Din. Though sometimes still regarded as a product of the colonial era, Kipling touches a very popular nerve in Britain’s literary tradition, and is regarded more generously now as a master of popular verse. It is often forgotten that he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907.

Denis Stone, a self-conscious young poet, is invited to Crome, renowned for its gatherings of intellectuals. Hosted by Henry and Priscilla Wimbush, the house party has much to offer the naïve Denis. The guests include the self-contained Anne, whom Denis adores; the handsome artist Gombauld, his rival for Anne’s affections; and the cynical Mr. Scogan. All have their stories and ideas to unfold but, as Denis comes to realize, ideas cannot compensate for reality.

Samson Agonistes, the ‘dramatic poem’ by John Milton, was published in 1671, three years before the poet’s death. Written in the form of a Greek tragedy, with the Chorus commenting on the action, it follows the biblical story of the blind Samson as he wreaks his revenge on the Philistines who have imprisoned him. A powerful subject, with a personal resonance for the blind Milton, it is a perfect work for the medium of audiobook where poetry and drama can be balanced equally. This productio...