The language of sex and death, as Chaucer and others capture English speech of the time. Melvyn Bragg travels to the great mediaeval cathedral of Canterbury, with its shrine to the martyr, St. Thomas … Becket. It inspired the pilgrims described by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1395 in The Canterbury Tales, as they set out from the Tabard Inn in Southw...

For Sasha, summer means time at her family's sprawling old house out on Long Island. For Ray, it's the same. Sasha and Ray aren't related-and they've never met-but long ago, before they were born, Sasha's dad and Ray's mom were married. Then came a bitter divorce, remarriages, and a new generation of children. Now, the two families have an arrangem...

Andrew Sachs stars as the famous clerical sleuth in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. With his black hat, huge umbrella, unwordly simplicity and 'beaming but breathless geniality', Father Brown is one of fiction's best-loved amateur detectives. Short and tatty, but with the wisdom and insight to unravel the most wayward of criminal minds, h...

London, 1907; Journalist Edward Malone, rejected by the woman he loves because he is too prosaic, decides to go in search of adventure and fame to prove himself worthy of her. Soon after, he meets Professor George Challenger, a controversial scientist who claims to have discovered a 'lost world' populated by pterodactyls and other prehistoric monst...

When Maxim de Winter brings his shy new bride to his beautiful stately home on the Cornwall coast, it seems like all her dreams have come true. But she soon finds that Manderley is haunted by the shadow of Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who died the year before. As the hot summer fades, the mystery of Rebecca's death grows, weaving a spell of fear an...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Shiang by C. F. Iggulden, read by Daniel Weyman. IF THESE STONES COULD SPEAK, THEY WOULD CALL FOR WAR. In Shiang, the young king rules without dissent. Mazer swordsmen stand watch on every corner, looking for the first sign of rebellion. This city is a place of quiet and slow dignity, like a man eating rice...

Three generations of Palestinian-American women living in Brooklyn are torn between individual desire and the strict mores of Arab culture in this heart-wrenching story of love, intrigue and courage. Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, t...

A second collection of eight BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations based on the popular books by Alexander McCall Smith. 'this full- cast production will charm listeners whether they already know and love these stories or are hearing them for the first time' - Audiofile Magazine 'How to Handle Men through the Application of Psychology': Precious Ram...

The history of crime detection has produced no more famous name than that of Sexton Blake...' William Franklyn stars as paperback hero Sexton Blake, with David Gregory as his assistant Tinker, in four original BBC Radio dramatisations from 1967. Lost from the BBC archives for over 40 years, these rediscovered episodes are presented for the very...

Cordelia Russell has been living on the French Riviera for twenty-five years, passing herself off as an English socialite. But her luck, and the kindness of strangers, have run out. The arrival of a visitor from her distant past shocks Cordelia. She reacts violently to the intrusion and flees her flat to spend a drunken night at a glittering party....

It only took a split second for an assassin's bullet to fell presidential candidate Clyde Ritter-and to destroy the career of Secret Service agent Sean King, the man in charge of protecting him at all costs. Eight years later another presidential candidate is abducted under the watchful eye of special agent Michelle Maxwell, begging the question: A...

Brother Medardus is chosen to take a message to Rome and he leaves the monastery with a bottle of Syracusan wine, said to have been wrested from the devil by St Anthony. On his journey he goes through delirious experiences - he is involved in a game of double impersonation and attempts to rape a woman - Aurelia. This is a story of religious fervor...

Be cruel to animals at your peril - this story extols the virtues of being kind to all creatures to achieve happiness in life, a lesson that our unhappy protagonist is far from learning, whether in regards to human or animal life. A shocking story told with a dry dark humor, this tale is to be heard to be believed and is a true classic from the mas...

This collection comprises the best of classic horror writing, with the atmospheric genius of Edgar Allen Poe, the invention and eeriness of Bram Stoker, and the suspense of Wilkie Collins amongst the terrifying gems contained. A veritable schooling in the origins of modern-day horror and fantasy, some of the best minds in the history of English lit...

In ''Atrophy,'' an unhappily married matron named Nora Fenway hears that her one-time clandestine lover, Christopher, is severely ill; she risks her reputation by going to visit him, but is turned away by his sanctimonious sister. A heartbreaking tale which emphasises the importance of human bonds but also examines the restraints we endure at the h...

A popular story in the acclaimed 'Pat Hobby' series. Poor Pat Hobby's fates go from bad to worse when he gets the wrong impression of a heated situation. Amusing and delightfully cringeworthy at times, Pat Hobby is a stubborn anti-hero who you won't be able to resist.

Bill Nighy returns as Charles Paris: unsuccessful actor, bad husband and dipsomaniac. Desperately in need of work, having been kicked out of the marital home, Charles jumps at playing a missing property developer in a crime reconstruction programme. But the missing person case soon turns to murder when severed body parts begin to appear. Television...

Never forgive, never forget. Jack Reacher lives for the moment. Without a home. Without commitment. But he has a burning desire to right wrongs - and rewrite his own agonizing past. Never apologize. Never explain. When Reacher witnesses a brutal kidnap attempt, he takes the law into his own hands. But a cop dies. Has Reacher lost his sense of right...

Sergeant Amy Callan and Lieutenant Caroline Cook have a lot in common. Both were army high-flyers. Both were acquainted with Jack Reacher. Both were forced to resign from the service. Now they're both dead. Found in their own homes, naked, in a bath full of paint. Apparent victims of an army man. A loner, a smart guy with a score to settle, a ruthl...

A woman wades into the waters of Morecambe Bay in a drunken bid to commit suicide. She finds herself instead saving the life of a young Chinese cockle picker, a survivor of a tragic mass drowning. Wen and Angie share neither language nor experience, but she agrees to let him stay with her and disappear. Within a short time their unlikely pairing bl...

Christmas Eve, 1814. Jane Austen has been invited to spend the holiday with family and friends at the Vyne, the gorgeous ancestral home of the wealthy and politically prominent Chute family. As the year fades and friends begin to gather beneath the mistletoe for the twelve days of Christmas festivities, Jane and her circle are in a celebratory mood...