Ian Botham arrived on the international scene just in time to ride sport's first big financial wave and exploit the Thatcherite mantra of go-out-and-get-what-you-want. He certainly needed the cash, having been regularly short since leaving state school in Yeovil at 15. In an era short on glamour and personalities, Botham brought an irresistible cocktail of talent, energy and swagger. With the stench of economic failure still in the air, he made the country feel good about itself again. He ...

Dorian Gray, a handsome and narcissistic young man, lives thoughtlessly for his own pleasure—an attitude encouraged by the company he keeps. One day, after having his portrait painted, Dorian makes a frivolous Faustian wish: that he should always remain as young and beautiful as he is in that painting, while the portrait grows old in his stead.The wish comes true, and Dorian soon finds that none of his wicked actions have visible consequences. Realizing that he will appear fresh an...

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel which shocks us still. The sensibilities of its original Victorian readership may have blanched at the exoticism and barely disguised eroticism which drip from Wilde’s prose, but for us today who barely look twice at such things, we find something much more horrific at the heart of the book.Narration and music performed by Simon Hester.

The four tales gathered here reveal Oscar Wilde’s gift for blending wit, irony, and moral reflection within the form of the short story.Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime is a darkly comic exploration of fate and free will, where polite society collides with the absurd.The Canterville Ghost playfully turns the traditional ghost story on its head, offering satire as sharp as it is humorous.In The Sphinx Without a Secret

A London Times bestseller, this rousing historical debut rescues one of England's forgotten heroes from the mists of medieval history and brings him to brutal and bloody life.1062, a time many fear is the End of Days. With the English King Edward heirless and ailing, across the grey seas in Normandy the brutal William the Bastard waits for the moment when he can drown England in a tide of blood. The ravens of war are gathering. But as the king's closest ad...

The Battle of Hastings has been lost and the iron fist of William the Bastard has begun to squeeze the life out of England, but there is one who still stands against the foreign invasion—Hereward, the winter warrior.Following the devastating destruction of the Battle of Hastings, William the Bastard and his men have descended on England. Villages are torched; men, women and children are put to the sword as the Norman king attempts to impose his c...

Golden Voice narrator Simon Jones perfectly narrates these sweet, tender fairy stories about princes, giants, nightingales, and roses.The collection begins with the timeless story of The Happy Prince, a young nobleman who in life sought only pleasure but in death, as a gold-encrusted statue, provides help to those in need.Currently starring in the HBO t.v. series The Gilded Age, Simon Jones’ film and theater credits run to multiple pages from Monty Python’s The Meaning of L...

When the Otis family—brash, modern Americans—move into the ancient and supposedly haunted Canterville Chase, they’re met not with terror, but with sarcasm, oil, and detergent. Poor Sir Simon, the resident ghost, has frightened generations of Cantervilles into madness and despair, but now finds himself humiliated and ignored by skeptical newcomers who care more about removing bloodstains than respecting the supernatural.Witty, satirical, and surprisingly moving, The Canterville ...

It is all to easy to be familiar with Oscar Wilde the aesthete. The limpid sophisticate ever ready with a witty epigram designed to both shock and stimulate.However, here in this set of short stories Wilde, at least partly, lays aside his barbs and is careful to not let cynicism cloud the parable like innocence of these tales.There is an undeniable purity in these tales which Wilde’s simple lyrical style beautifully enhances. For all the hypocrisy of the Remarkable Rocket a...

Written during his time in Reading Gaol, De Profundis is Oscar Wilde’s moving letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, whose relationship with Wilde led to the poet’s imprisonment. Here Wilde repudiates Lord Alfred and reflects on his ordeal, acknowledging how the depths of his sorrow have helped liberate him towards a fuller, freer wisdom. Brimming with beautiful passages, De Profundis is a profound and inspiring treatise on the meaning of suffering. With an Introduction Written and Read by Merlin ...

Just when Tokyo thinks life can't get any worse . . . she loses her sister. Depression rears its ugly head, and she finds herself in a hole she's barely able to climb out of. As a result of the darkness she can't seem to escape, a friendship that was once dear to her shockingly comes to an end. Surprisingly, through it all, Haram is there for her in ways that she never would have imagined.It isn't long before Haram succumbs to his mental woes, too. Mental woes that threaten his uni...

Gracie Porter’s life is in a tangle. Her television cookery show is flailing and her boyfriend’s affections are waning. It's time for a change…Best friend Faith rescues her place on the small screen when she unwittingly lands them both starring roles in a steamy spin-off that becomes an instant hit.The new show is more about relationships, sex and stonking big vegetables than cooking.Throw in a fluctuating crush on her surprisingly irresistible agen...