Enter the world of Catherine Havisham, the haunting character from Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, in this mesmerizing prelude to the classic novel.Before she became the iconic Miss Havisham of Great Expectations, she was Catherine, a young woman with a promising future. The spirited daughter of a wealthy brewer, Catherine is never far from the smell of hops and the arresting letters on the brewhouse wall—HAVISHAM—a reminder of her family na...

All three series of Ronald Frame’s acclaimed drama set in a luxury hotel in the Scottish Highlands, plus ten spin-off storiesThe Carnbeg Hydro is a high-class spa resort set amidst the scenic wooded foothills of the Grampians. Over 100 years old, it’s a grand country hotel in the old tradition – but times have changed, and the Hydro must change with them. Following her husband’s death in a speedboat accident, Fee Drummond has taken over as managing director, and is...

A collection of three comic tales from BBC Radio 4, ‘The Greengrocer’s Apostrophe’, inspired by those hand-written signs offering ‘Apple's and Banana's’ which can be found in every town in Britain. Originally broadcast in the ‘Afternoon Reading’ slots from 28-30 September 2010. ‘Penny's from Heaven’ by Anneliese Mackintosh: James Anthony Pearson reads a quirky story about the apostrophe that ends a relationship. Produced by Eilidh McCreadie. ‘Alice, Hanging in There’ by Ronald Frame: When ...

HAVISHAM IS THE ASTONISHING PRELUDE TO CHARLES DICKENS'S GREAT EXPECTATIONS.Before she became the immortal and haunting Miss Havisham of Great Expectations, she was Catherine, a young woman with all of her dreams ahead of her. Spry, imperious, she is the daughter of a wealthy brewer. But she is never far from the smell of hops and the arresting letters on the brewhouse wall—HAVISHAM—a reminder of all she owes to the family name and the family business.

A BBC Radio full-cast drama which tells a story of love and deception set during the Cold War. Written by Ronald Frame for BBC Radio Scotland and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the 'Drama on 3' collection in September 2008. Throughout the period of the Cold War in the late 1960s and early 1970s, 'romeo spies' were operating, targeting bright and susceptible young women. Alice Reeves, a young secretary from London, unwittingly becomes romantically involved with Otto Hanhart - an East G...

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Women, a historical novel about three women’s lives on a California islandOn a tiny, desolate, windswept island off the coast of Southern California, two families, one in the 1880s and one in the 1930s, come to start new lives and pursue dreams of self-reliance and freedom. Their extraordinary stories, full of struggle and hope, are the subject of T. C. Boyle’s haunting new novel.Thirty-eig...

After the start of the Civil War, Emily Hudson—an orphan who lost her family to consumption and fever—finds herself the begrudged guest at the home of her relatives in Newport. Emily's longing to be an artist is dismissed by her puritanical uncle, who wants nothing more than to rid himself of her through marriage. Her only friend is her aesthete cousin, William, an ailing young writer. When a promising engagement to the eligible Captain Lindsay is broken, William rescues Emily from an unce...

One dark and stormy night in 1956, a stranger named Fludd mysteriously turns up in the dismal village of Fetherhoughton. He is the curate sent by the bishop to assist Father Angwin-or is he? In the most unlikely of places, a superstitious town that understands little of romance or sentimentality, where bad blood between neighbors is ancient and impenetrable, miracles begin to bloom. No matter how copiously Father Angwin drinks while he confesses his broken faith, the level of the bottle do...

'Tis the season to get Pink! Lauren Willig's beloved Pink Carnation series gets into the holiday spirit with this irresistible Regency Christmas caper.Arabella Dempsey's dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she accepts a position at the quiet girls' school in Ba...

In a time of approaching war and terrorism, spectacular wealth and financial disasters, the private world of three famous Londoners becomes a public scandal. Lord Derby - unhappily married and the richest as well as the ugliest man in the House of Lords - is the relentless suitor of England's reigning queen of comedy, Eliza Farren. His chief rival is the aristocratic widow Anne Damer, a sculptor who, as the rumor has it, loves women. Set in parliament, on stage, the racetrack as well as th...

The acclaimed author of The Borrower returns with a dazzlingly original, mordantly witty novel about the secrets of an old-money family and their turn-of-the-century estate, Laurelfield.“Rebecca Makkai is a writer to watch, as sneakily ambitious as she is unpretentious."–Richard RussoMeet the Devohrs: Zee, a Marxist literary scholar who detests her parents’ wealth but nevertheless finds herself living in their carriage house...