AuthorThomas Hardy
NarratorFull Cast
Duration3h 45m
CategoriesAdult Fiction, Plays and Dramatisations
Key StageKS4
PublisherBBC Audiobooks
VersionUnabridged
A new dramatisation of the Thomas Hardy classic, `Tess Of The d'Urbervilles', to be transmitted as the Radio 4 Classic Serial in four hour-long episodes. John Durbeyfield learns that he is descended from the Norman family of d'Urbervilles. He and his wife Joan encourage their daughter Tess to befriend the family of Stoke d'Urbervilles. In doing so she is seduced by their son Alec, and she bears him a child which dies. In order to make a fresh start, Tess goes to work in Wessex on the Talbothays farm, where she meets Angel Clare, the younger son of a parson who asks her to marry him - and after some uncertainty she agrees. However, when Angel learns of her past on their wedding night he rejects her. When he goes to Brazil, Tess begins work at another farm, in the employ of the tyrannical Farmer Groby. She once again meets Alec d'Urberville - and so begins a chain of events which culminate in tragedy for all.
The Withered Arm and Other Wessex Tales
Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator Various
Duration 7h
Hardy's first collection of short stories was written between 1879-1888, with many of the tales set before Hardy's birth in 1840. These humorous and affectionate observations of rustic life include the following tales: 'An Imaginative Woman', 'The Three Strangers', 'The Withered Arm', 'Fellow-Townsmen', 'Interlopers at the Knap' and 'The Distracted...
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Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator John Rowe
Duration 12h 30m
In a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success there always lurks the shameful secret of his past and a personality pr...
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Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator Stephen Thorne
Duration 14h 15m
Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and com...
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Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator Alan Rickman
Duration 17h 25m
The passionate Eustacia Vye feels herself imprisoned in the wild, isolated Egdon Heath, and although she longs for a love that will free her from it, her marriage to returning native Clym Yeobright only serves to trap her deeper within it.
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Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator
Duration 2h 22m
Tess goes through her life at the mercy of unscrupulous men, who take advantage of their positions in society and of her. But how far can a woman be pushed before she is forced to take revenge? Tess of the D'Urbervilles is an early exercise in girl power, Tess spends her life being bullied by men and is pushed to the brink. A dramatic and tragic s...
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Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator Eleanor Bron
Duration 6h
When beautiful Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her `cousin' Alec proves to be her tragic downfall and results in a child born out of wedlock. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose...
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Winter Words: Poetry and Personal Writings
Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator
Duration 2h 16m
This selection of Hardy's poetry and prose ranges from charming anthology pieces such as 'Weathers' to the great love poems he wrote after the death of his first wife and meditations on war and philosophy.
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Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator Stephen Thorne
Duration 15h 30m
When beautiful Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her `cousin' Alec proves to be her tragic downfall and results in a child born out of wedlock. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose...
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Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator Anton Lesser
Duration 12h 20m
In a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success there always lurks the shameful secret of his past and a personality pr...
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Author: Thomas Hardy
Author Thomas Hardy
Narrator Robert Powell
Duration 2h 21m
A gritty and absorbing glimpse into the lives of women and men living in a small community, and the often unpleasant truths that relationships can sometimes hold. Bathsheba Everdene flees her abusive husband and spends the night by a stagnant and spooky swamp. When light begins to break over her hiding-place, she sees strong parallels between her...
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