From the Booker Prize–winning, bestselling author of Atonement and Saturday**, a genre-bending new novel full of secrets and surprises; an immersive exploration, across time and history, of what can ever be truly known.**2014: At a dinner for close friends and colleagues, renowned poet Francis Blundy honors his wife’s birthday by reading aloud a new poem dedicated to her, ‘A Corona for Vivien’. Mu...

"All human wisdom is contained in these two words—wait and hope."David Rintoul delivers a defining performance of Dumas' timeless tale.Revenge, justice, and reinvention collide in this electrifying classic.The Count of Monte Cristo follows Edmond Dantès, a young sailor betrayed by those he trusts and condemned to a life he doesn't deserve. After a daring escape and the discovery of a vast hidden treasure, he transforms himself into th...

Adventure, intrigue, and unforgettable heroes from one of literature's most thrilling storytellers.Step into the world of Alexandre Dumas, where honor, betrayal, love, and vengeance collide in stories that have captivated readers for generations. This essential collection includes two of Dumas's most celebrated novels, showcasing his talent for crafting unforgettable characters, breathtaking plots, and timeless drama.The titles included here are:The Count o...

Epic tales of justice, redemption, and the enduring power of the human spirit. This extraordinary collection brings together two of literature's most monumental works, each a masterful exploration of betrayal, morality, and the resilience of the human soul. From the treacherous intrigues of Parisian society to the relentless pursuit of justice across Europe, these novels offer readers timeless adventures and profound moral insight.The titles included here are:...

'There is a germ of revolt in every injustice.'Part of Zola's ambitious twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart, Germinal is one of the most notable novels written in the French tradition and is often considered Zola's masterpiece.First serialised in the periodical Gil Blas in 1884, Germinal is a profoundly gripping novel that explores the harsh realities of industrial life in nineteenth century France. When Étienne Lantier arrive...

Aion is one of the major works of C.G. Jung's later years.The title comes from the Greek word for aeon or age and refers to the age of Christianity, for, in Aion, Jung is concerned with the collective psychic development that the Christian era represents. How did it come about when it did? What psychic change did it represent? In exploring these questions, Jung (1875-1961) draws upon Christian symbolism and, in particular, the figure of Christ as a case study in the archetype of th...

Told by servant Ephraim Mackellar, The Master of Ballantrae is set at the time of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 and portrays the Durie family. James abandons his ancestral home to support the Jacobites while his younger brother, Henry, loyal to the English King, remains. However, years later James, who had been supposed dead, returns to claim his inheritance, resulting in a feud between the brothers that shifts from the Scottish Highlands to the Wild West of America.

In To the Island of Tides, Alistair Moffat travels to and through the history of the fated island of Lindisfarne. Walking from his home in the Borders, through the historical landscape of Scotland and northern England, he takes us on a pilgrimage in the footsteps of saints and scholars, before arriving for a secular retreat on the Holy Isle. Lindisfarne, famous for its monastery, has long been a place of sanctuary. It is an island rich in history: the Romans knew it as Insula Medicata; it ...

Xenophon’s The Art of Horsemanship is a highly unusual text in the corpus of Classical Greek literature. It is a short survey on the various aspects of care for horses as seen by a highly experienced rider from the 5th century BCE. It is particularly notable because so many of its observations are relevant to the modern rider. Xenophon, friend of Socrates and professional soldier, is best known as the author Anabasis, the vivid account of a failed military expedition deep into Persia....

The 12 Lays of Marie de France offer one of the most striking collections of short narrative poems of the 12th century - two centuries before Chaucer.Written in Anglo-French, they contain beguiling and entertaining stories of love and romance, of chivalry and adventure with sometimes even a magical twist. They are especially unique in early literature by being ascribed to a female poet, Marie de France: in the very first Lay - 'Guigemar' - is the introductory line: ‘Hear my Lords, ...

The influence of Plato, his Dialogues and his ‘Academy’, cast a long shadow. Around 35 Dialogues, almost all featuring Socrates as the principal figure, are generally ascribed to Plato and form one of the most important threads in Western philosophy These four Dialogues may fall into the ‘Attributed Texts’ category, but they are of sufficient interest to warrant study in our time and when set against the principal canon.The recording opens with Alcibiades I. Socrates’ interlocuter ...

One of the finest German medieval epic poems, The Lay of the Nibelungs is perhaps best known now as one of the principal sources for Wagner’s four-part music drama The Ring of the Nibelung. It is easy to see how Wagner was enthralled by the story and the poetry for the power of the tale drives the narrative: intense love, loyalty, jealousy, murder, duty, honour and massacre are all interwoven into a classic.Many of the figures known to us by Wagner’s opera cycle are here: Alberich,...