Toby Stephens stars in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Raymond Chandler's second Philip Marlowe mystery. Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the '40s and '50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must strug...

The Kipling story Kidnapped was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on March 21st 1887, in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection.

This BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Elizabeth Gaskell's tale of Manchester life is set in the 19th century when a series of bad harvests placed a heavy tax burden on workers. Gaskell's powerful drama, adapted here for Woman's Hour, is regarded as one of the most important novels of its time.

Charles Chilton's classic science fiction trilogy stormed the BBC airwaves during the 1950s. Its gripping story lines, extra-terrestrial sound effects and atmospheric music engaged the listener as never before. Between 1953 and 1958, a devoted audience of adults and children attentively followed Captain Jet Morgan and his crew from one cliff-hanger...

The great Indian epic - the Ramayana - has been told and retold over thousands of years by poets, performers, and writers. It is a tale of courage and fear, love and hate, devotion and betrayal. The epic spans the three worlds of gods, humans, and demons. Here, the forces of good and evil collide, locked in a battle for the ultimate supremacy. Rama...

It's back! the Radio Four panel game that's not about sport, music, television, advertising, books, hats or gardening. Just funny rounds with funny ideas. Here are some quotes from last year's series: "The laughter that's worth every penny" Simon Garfield in The Mail On Sunday. "A hugely enjoyable addition to the comedy panel game genre" Heat magaz...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan, read by Robbie Daymond. The god Apollo, cast down to earth and trapped in the form of a gawky teenage boy as punishment, must set off on the second of his harrowing (and hilarious) trials. He and his companions seek the ancient oracles - restoring...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Girl Online Going Solo by Zoe Sugg, read by Hannah Tointon. Penny's life is back to normal. As Penny starts the school year she's ready to face the world - alone. Noah has gone off the radar after ending his world tour early and no one, including Penny, knows where he is. So when s...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Hotel Valhalla Guide to the Norse Worlds by Rick Riordan, read by Kieran Culkin. Discover the lore behind the fantastical world of Magnus Chase. Helgi - the hotel manager - created this book for each hotel guest, so that he wouldn't have to answer so many questions at the front desk...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli, read by star of Stranger Things Shannon Purser. When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat - but real life isn't always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she's the only child of a young, single mum, and her life is decidedly less privileged....

Jess Wong is Angie Redmond's best friend. And that's the most important thing, even if Angie can't see how Jess truly feels. Being the girl no one quite notices is OK with Jess anyway. If nobody notices her, she's free to watch everyone else. But when Angie begins to fall for Margot Adams, a girl from the nearby boarding school, Jess can see it com...

Kay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet, but the past is past, and she's reinvented herself entirely. Now she's a star soccer player whose group of gorgeous friends run their private school with effortless popularity and acerbic wit. But when a girl's body is found in the lake, Kay's carefully constructed life begins to topple. The dead girl h...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Snowman and the Snowdog based on characters by Raymond Briggs, read by Benedict Cumberbatch. The Snowman and The Snowdog is the much-anticipated sequel to The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. This enchanting audiobook reunites readers with the Snowman and introduces them to an adorable new puppy-friend, the S...

In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons can be whomever they choose. Tess is none of these things. Tess is. . . different. She speaks out of turn, has wild ideas, and can't seem to keep out of trouble. Then Tess goes too far. What she's done is so disgraceful, she can't even allow he...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada, read by Skye Bennett. When a lone soldier, Cole, arrives with news of Lachlan Agatta's death, all hope seems lost for Catarina. Her father was the world's leading geneticist, and humanity's best hope of beating a devastating virus. Then, hidden beneath Cole's genehacked enh...

From the phenomenal number-one bestseller David Walliams comes another collection of more hilariously horrible children! Illustrated in glorious and gruesome colour by artist genius, Tony Ross, these stories will appal and delight young readers. Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your bookshelf, 10 more horrendously hilarious stories a...

A short and dark story about three men, a father and two brothers, who make their living by poaching and other such illegal activities and are 'hard drinkers and quick fighters'. When tragedy strikes, the reaction of their community is not necessarily what they may have expected. An intense and brief study of a moody setting and unsettling characte...

What is art? Why do we value images of saints, kings, goddesses, battles, landscapes or cities in eras utterly remote from our own? This history of art shows how painters, sculptors and architects have expressed the belief systems of their age-religious, political and aesthetic. From the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece to the...

Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins offer you more than your fair share of laughs, songs and silliness in their imaginatively titled BBC Radio 4 series.

Rates of stress and anxiety are rising. A fast, nervous planet is creating fast and nervous lives. We are more connected, yet feel more alone. And we are encouraged to worry about everything from world politics to our body mass index. - How can we stay sane on a planet that makes us mad? - How do we stay human in a technological world? - How do we...

Where do we go when we die? Or is there nowhere to go? Is death something we can do or is it just something that happens to us? Now in his ninth decade, former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, has spent a lifetime at the bedsides of the dying, guiding countless men and women towards peaceful deaths. In The Last Bus, he presents a positive, me...