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, ten-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, ...

One the earliest and greatest epic poems 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. While the heroes fight before the walls of Troy the gods have also drawn up battle lines, and it is their disagreements as much as the heroes’ efforts which will decide the conflict. Despite the ...

This much-loved novel was, by Dickens’s own admission, his ‘favourite child’. It is easy to see why, with its colourful characters ranging from the repulsive Uriah Heep to the endlessly improvident Micawbers, and dominated throughout by the moving story of David’s search for a family and a home…

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...

‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’. A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens’s only historical novel, sets personal happiness against the terrors of the French Revolution where the search for social justice sacrifices individual rights. Dr Manette has emerged from eighteen years’ unjust imprisonment in the Bastille: by an ironic twist of fate, his daughter Lucie’s marriage draws the family into a terrifying web of circumstance which, it seems, can only end in death by the guillotin...

Perry Keenlyside tells the remarkable story of the world’s richest literary resource. The story-telling, the poetry, the growth of the novel and the great histories and essays which have informed the language and the imagination wherever English is spoken. This is the fourth in the Naxos AudioBooks Histories series.

King Henry is married to Catherine of Aragon, but he has been smitten by the charms of the queen's maid of honor, Anne Boleyn, and is tempted to divorce his dignified and noble wife.Meanwhile, the lords of England resent the influence of Henry's trusted advisor, Cardinal Wolsey, who is gradually drawing power into his own hands. As Catherine and Wolsey suffer their tragic falls, new figures rise to fill their places, but they, too, will be brought low by the inexorable sweep of tim...

In Paradise Regained, Satan again is on the prowl, having successfully tempted Adam and Eve and forced their departure from the Garden of Eden, here he sets out to tempt again this time Jesus himself as he comes to the end of his forty days in the desert. The magisterial poetry of Milton enriches the encounter and, while not matching the greatness achieved in Paradise Lost, provides drama and depth.

One of Dickens’s earlier novels, dating from 1839, Nicholas Nickleby charts the fortunes of an honourable young man who has set out to make his way in the world. Dickens presents his remarkably vivid display of Victorian characters and the life they lead, from the generous to the fated to the crushed. Hope springs eternal, however, and righteous persistence brings rewards. Anton Lesser, the outstanding Dickens interpreter, brings all his narrative expression to bear on this exciting tale.

A Christmas Carol is the best-known and best-loved of Dickens’ ‘Christmas Books’, and the story of the miser Scrooge’s redemption has become as much part of the Christmas tradition as plum pudding and carols themselves. Will Tiny Tim live to see another Christmas? Can Scrooge recover his humanity and learn to love the fellow men he seems to despise? Dickens will make you laugh and make you cry as you follow Scrooge’s supernatural adventures on Christmas Eve…

‘Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit of the Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the World, and all our woe…’ Paradise Lost is 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’. Milton produced characters which have become embedded in the consciousness of English literature the frail, human pair, Adam and Eve; ...

The Dhammapada is the single most important extant Buddhist text. It is unquestionably ‘the voice of the Buddha’ where many of his key ideas are presented in a cogent verse form. It opens ’All that we are is the result of what we have thought’ and each of the twenty-six sections is clearly introduced. Also included on this recording are other key Buddhist concepts illustrated by original texts. A unique concept recording.