This spare, mesmerizing novel is Edith Wharton's money-can't-buy-happiness tale. Young Stephen Glennard is poor, but he has an unanticipated gambling chip: a collection of love letters from a scorned but now famous lover, the distinguished novelist Margaret Aubyn. To raise money for his forthcoming wedding to another woman, Stephen stoops to sellin...

One of the greatest works of fiction ever written, Crime and Punishment is at once an intense psychological study, a terrifying murder mystery, and a fascinating detective thriller instilled with philosophical, religious, and social commentary. Dostoevsky studies the psychological impact upon a desperate and impoverished student when he murders a d...

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, first published by Victor Hugo in 1831, is set in fifteenth century Paris. The archdeacon of Notre Dame, Claude Frollo, falls in lust with Esmerelda---a gypsy dancer who is much admired in Paris. At his instruction, Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer of Notre Dame who he has befriended, kidnaps her. Esmerelda is res...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, read by Daniel Weyman. After surviving a terrible shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe discovers he is the only human on an island far from any shipping routes or rescue. At first he is devastated, but slowly, with patience and imagination, he transforms his island into a tropical par...

Edna Pontellier is married, twenty-eight, and at a crossroads in her life. She is passionate and artistic but has no one who understands her deep yearnings. She jumps at the chance to spend a summer away from her husband and the heat of New Orleans at a small coastal retreat. Enveloped by a small circle of friends, she begins to throw off the stric...

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Andrew Scott, star of Sherlock, Fleabag and Black Mirror, also known for his on-stage roles in Present Laughter and Hamlet. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by Terence Brown. Joyce's first major work, written when he was only twenty-five, brought his city to the world...

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...

Discover the joy and wonder of Mary Poppins in the classic adventures! Read by Olivia Colman, this stunning performance lifts P. L Travers's words off the page, transporting us back to a time where classic story telling is at the heart of any story. When the East Wind blows Mary Poppins into the home of the Banks children, their lives go topsy-turv...

Germinal is one of the most striking novels in the French tradition. Widely regarded as Zola's masterpiece, the novel describes the working conditions of French coalminers in the 1860s in harsh and realistic terms it is visceral, graphic and unrelenting. Its strong socialist principles and vivid accounts of the miners' strikes meant that the novel...

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Jessica Brown Findlay, Jamael Westman and Sheila Atim. 'The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing' Written with barely controlled fury after she was confined to her room for 'nerves' and forbidden to write, Gilman's pioneer...

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Charlotte Ritchie, best known for her roles as Oregon in Channel 4's Fresh Meat, Hannah in the BBC Three comedy Siblings, and as Barbara Gilbert in BBC drama Call the Midwife. With neither friends nor family, Lucy Snowe sets sail from England to find employment in a girls' boarding sch...

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Blake Harrison, star of The Inbetweeners, also known for his role on screen in A Very English Scandal and Todd Margaret, as well as on London's West End in Waitress. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by David Carroll. Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. a...

In the small coastal city of Oran, Algeria, rats begin rising up from the filth only to die as bloody heaps in the streets. Shortly after, an outbreak of the bubonic plague erupts and envelops the human population. Albert Camus' The Plague is a brilliant and haunting rendering of human perseverance and futility in the face of a relentless terror bo...

In a dingy apartment on the Passage du Pont-Neuf in Paris, Th‚rŠse Raquin is trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille. The numbing tedium of her life is suddenly shattered when she embarks on a turbulent affair with her husband's earthy friend, Laurent. But their passion for each other soon compels the lovers to commit a crime t...

Antigone, daughter of Jocasta and Oedipus, faces great challenges when she must arrange a formal burial for her brother, Polynices. This rendition of Antigone by Sophocles is of the highest caliber audio. It's completely unabridged. Enjoy the classic story of Antigone narrated to perfection.

Drifters in search of work, George and his childlike friend Lennie, have nothing in the world except each other and a dream - a dream that one day they will have some kind of land of their own. Tackling universal themes, friendship and a shared vision, this is a hugely popular audiobook. A great piece of classic fiction which is studied by many at...

Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Myshkin is one of the great characters in Russian literature. Is he a saint or just na‹ve? Is he an idealist or, as many in General Epanchin's society feel, an 'idiot'? Certainly, his return to St. Petersburg after years in a Swiss clinic has a dramatic effect on the beautiful Aglaia, youngest of the Epanchin daught...

Victor Frankenstein decides to build a `man' from assembled body parts stolen from corpses. He becomes obsessed with his 'project' and believes that he is pioneering scientific discovery - without considering the potential consequences. What results, of course, is a `monster', who looks grotesque and frightens any living soul who ever comes into co...

The master of surreal and wonderful fiction presents a story about one of his most famous characters - the perpetually grinning and ever-riddling Cheshire Cat. Alice's friend/tormentor in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat has been immortalized in art, film, cartoon, television and now on audio.

Alice is so bored of listening to her sister read that she gazes around the garden and sights a curious white rabbit, who seems to be wearing a coat and a pocket watch. Following the rabbit, she reaches the rabbit hole and tumbles down it-and the very strange adventure starts. One of the most famous and a pioneering example of 'Literary Nonsense',...

He is the Little Prince, the mysterious, innocent and beautiful boy who appears to a pilot stranded in the desert and makes an extraordinary request. He has captured the hearts of millions of readers around the world since his story first appeared in 1943, written down by an aristocratic French aviator who soon after disappeared during a flight acr...