Jane, an orphan, has her fair share of hardship before becoming a governess in the house of Mr Rochester and falling for her employer. But what are the strange noises coming from the attic, and may they thwart her romantic intentions? Jane Eyre, an orphan, has to suffer appalling conditions when she is sent away to a correctional school, then lands...

The first modern tale of alien invasion, H. G. Wells's story of tentacled Martians attacking the Earth remains one of the most influential of all science fiction works. First published by H. G. Wells in 1898, The War of the Worlds is the granddaddy of all alien invasion stories. The novel begins ominously, as the lone voice of a narrator intones, "...

Black Beauty is a touching tale which takes a listener inside the head of a horse. A title featured in the BBC's 'Big Read Top 100', Black Beauty is a touching and enduring classic that appeals to adults and children alike. A young foal is told by his mother to always do his best, and so he does, despite the difficult situations he often finds hims...

No one dreamed something so hideous could grow in so beautiful a place...Many who visit the valley are overwhelmed by its majesty. Some wish they never had to leave. One didn't: a hiker whose decomposing corpse is discovered by an unsuspecting tourist. But this strange, incomprehensible murder is only the edge of the darkness that hovers over a sma...

Heroes Ralph, Jack and Peterkin... set sail on the Arrow and are the only three survivors of a fearful shipwreck. They are washed ashore on a seemingly idyllic coral island. This tranquillity is violently disturbed, first by a tribe of bloodthirsty cannibals and then by the invasion of a vicious pirate and his gang of cut-throats. Will the boys thw...

"I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire. . . . I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory i...

Madame Bovary is one of Europe's most famous pieces of literature causing a huge scandal when first published in 1856 as a serial in La Revue de Paris and then, after being acquitted at a trial, as a book in 1857. Ahead of its time, Madame Bovary shocked its readers when first published, with its candid themes of adultery and betrayal. Emma Bovary...

Orwell's darkly comic novel centres around the life of Gordon Comstock, onetime advertising copywriter turned bookshop employee and struggling poet. Gordon's disdain for money and artistic compromise preclude his earning enough of a living to escape constant public embarrassment. On top of this, it gives him terrible trouble holding on to his girlf...

A touching tale of companionship and redemption, that challenges the age-old 'blood is thicker than water' adage. Silas Marner, a weaver, is cast out from his religious community and arrives in Raveloe, where he is feared because of his mysterious nature and brooding manner. When he is left an unwanted child to care for, his love for the child grow...

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.

One of the most widely read novels of the twentieth century, W. Somerset Maugham's masterpiece Of Human Bondage gives a harrowing depiction of unrequited love. Philip Carey, a sensitive orphan born with a clubfoot, finds himself in desperate need of passion and inspiration. He abandons his studies to travel, first to Heidelberg and then to Paris, w...

The story of a handsome and ambitious carpenter's son, Julian Sorel, and of his life torn between the military (the scarlet) and the church (the black). Sorel is determined to rise above his humble peasant origins and make something of his life. To do this, he realises he must adopt the code of hypocrisy by which early 19th-century French Resoratio...

When Peter Pan flies into the night nursery of Wendy, John and Michael Darling, he takes them on the journey - and the adventure - of a lifetime. Mermaids, wolves and Indians weave their spell in the magical Never Never Land - where also lurks the wicked Captain Hook...Toyah Willcox stars as Peter Pan, with Ron Moody as Captain Hook, Roy Hudd as Sm...

Lady Chatterley's husband returns from the War paralysed from the waist down. Frustrated by his attitudes as much as his disability, she begins a love-affair with the gamekeeper, Mellors. She realises that to be fully alive she must live the life of the body as well as the mind, but in doing so she angers the conventions of her day. Banned for over...

What is the connection between a corpse with a missing face and a ruthless secret society which once terrorised a desolate region of the United States? With the aid of a local guidebook, a missing dumb-bell and Dr Watson's umbrella, Holmes unravels a tangled web which stretches over fifteen years and two continents; and in the centre of that web lu...

Helen Graham moves to Wildfell Hall in a shroud of mystery: where has she come from, and who exactly is she? Anne's novel is the story of the beautiful and mysterious Helen Graham, who arrives at Wildfell Hall suddenly one day. No-one knows who she is or where she has come from, and Gilbert Markham, a young farmer who has fallen in love with her, s...

To avoid tiresome family engagements, Algernon Moncrieff, a bachelor-about-town, has invented Bunbury, an invalid friend whose bedside he is frequently obliged to attend. At the same time, his friend Jack Worthing has invented a wicked brother called Ernest to disguise his own misdemeanours. When Algernon poses as Ernest, confusion reigns, and it t...

When young Lucy Graham marries Sir Michael Audley, all seems well and good. Sir Michael is thoroughly devoted to his new bride and Lady Audley takes great pride in her privileged position at Audley Court. But Sir Michael's daughter, Alicia, is frustrated and uncomfortable with her new stepmother's girlish ways. Shortly afterwards, Sir Michael's nep...

Young Huck Finn can't get along with the Widow Douglas' attempts to `civilise' him, or the smothering discipline which she and her sister serve up at home. So when his drunken, good-for-nothing father turns up and kidnaps him, Huck takes his cue to leave - and escapes to Jackson's Island. There he meets runaway slave Jim, and the two become firm fr...

Little Women begins the much-loved story of the March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. The girls grow up amidst the turmoil, adventures and hardships of the American Civil War. The household is presided over by Mrs. March, 'Marmee', who tries to rule with kindness and to create harmony amongst her four little women.

Woof! Woof! I am a spaniel called Flush and owned by Elizabeth Barret Browning and her husband Robert and this is my amusing but ultimately sad autiobiography. Virginia Woolf's biography of Elizabeth Barrett Brownings spaniel was what she called "a little escapade", begun to "ease my brain" in the wake of The Waves (1931). The intensities of that m...