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D.H. Lawrence’s controversial classic, The Rainbow, follows the lives and loves of three generations of the Brangwen family, between 1840 and 1905. Their tempestuous relationships are played out against a backdrop of change as they witness the arrival of industrialisation – the only constant being their unending attempts to grasp a higher form of existence, symbolised by the persistent, unifying motif of the ‘rainbow’. Lawrence’s fourth novel, and the prequel to Women in Love, is an invigorating, absorbing tale about the undying determination of the human soul.

Timeless Classics

The Rainbow

Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent is a tale of anarchism, espionage and terrorism. Our agent, a man named Mr Verloc, minds his own business while he keeps his shop in London’s Soho, alongside his wife, who attends to her aged mother and disabled brother. Their lives are turned upside down when Verloc is reluctantly employed to plant a bomb and destroy an observatory in London. What was once the perfect bomb plot inevitably turns awry and Verloc, his family and his associates are forced to face the consequences. Conrad’s later political novel bears all the hallmarks of his captivating style: The Secret Agent brims with melodious and poetic language, alongside crystal- clear psychological insights that could only be the work of a uniquely gifted storyteller.

The Secret Agent

"The Chuzzlewits are a family divided by money and selfishness; even young Martin, the eponymous hero, is arrogant and self-centred. He offends his grandfather by falling in love with the latter’s ward, Mary, and sets out to make his own fortune in life, travelling as far as America – which produces from Dickens a savage satire on a new world tainted with the vices of the old. Martin’s nature slowly changes through his bitter experience of life and his enduring love for Mary. Martin Chuzzlewit is one of Dickens’s most humorous and satirical novels, and it contains two great comic creations: the hypocrite Pecksniff and the drunken nurse Sarah Gamp."

Martin Chuzzlewit

"In The Pickwick Papers, his first novel, Dickens displays the talents and skills that became his trademark; observational humour, pathos and social comment abound as we follow Mr Pickwick and Sam Weller, his sharp-tongued cockney servant, travelling around England with his friends in search of adventure and knowledge. Brilliantly comic scenes at the Eatanswill election, and the trial of Mrs Bardell vs Pickwick contrast with the horrors of the debtors prison. It was Thackeray who described the novel as ‘that great contemporary history’, and it presents a nostalgic view of England just before the coming of the railway."

The Pickwick Papers

A novel about a boy growing to manhood in the last quarter of the 19th century. The first in a trilogy, it includes a portrait of an autocratic father.

Clayhanger

"In the village of Cranford, decorum is maintained at all times. Despite their poverty, the ladies are never vulgar about money (or their lack of it), and always follow the rules of propriety. But this discretion and gentility does not keep away tragedy; and when the worst happens, the Amazons of Cranford show the true strength of their honest affections. A masterpiece of social comedy, Cranford is as moving as it is funny, and as sharp as it is tender."

Cranford

Fiona Shaw gives a wonderfully fresh reading of Carroll’s classic tale, making his fantastical characters thoroughly believable through an impression of voices. Vivid sound effects together with music by Delius, Parry and Bruckner complete this delightful production.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Set in the literary and journalistic buzz of late 19th-century London, New Grub Street depicts a world that George Gissing knew inside out. Elements of his own experience are diffused in different characters – in particular the struggling, talented Edwin Reardon and the young, ‘modern’ Jasper Milvain – through which he explores the sense of crisis for writers at the time: the gulf between aesthetic integrity and commercial success. It was the first major novel to place the concept of authorship at the heart of the plot, and allowed late-Victorian readers a tantalizing glimpse behind the scenes of literary production. Written in a white heat of determination, New Grub Street marked a shift in Gissing’s fortunes – a triumphantly readable, engaging work of fiction that opened doors to the recognition he deserved.

New Grub Street

Originally written for Charles Dickens’ Household Words magazine, The Poor Clare is a dark, gothic short novel of thwarted love and a family curse that vividly illustrates the social tensions of Victorian England. The intentional killing of a woman’s dog unleashes a torrent of rage. In her desire for revenge, the woman curses the dog’s killer: All that the murderer loves most, he will lose. This haunting tale brilliantly demonstrates Elizabeth Gaskell’s understanding of the tensions between Catholics and Protestants and the harsh realities of class society.

The Poor Clare

A vivid love story and adventure tale, Oroonoko is a heroic slave narrative about a royal prince and his  fight for freedom. The eponymous hero, Oroonoko, deemed royalty in one world and slave in another, is torn from his noble status and betrayed into slavery in Surinam, where he is reduced to chains, fetters and shackles. But his high spirit and admirable character will not be suppressed... The book was groundbreaking at the time and is considered to be one of the  first novels written in English. Its condemnation of slavery and Europeans, and striking portrayal of sexuality and violence, shrouded Behn’s name in controversy for years after it was published.

Oroonoko

Here is one of the greatest English comic novels read by incontrovertible king of English comic audiobook readers – Martin Jarvis. Three men, worried about their health and in search of different experiences, set off ‘up the river’ in a boat. Jerome’s delightful novel, dating from 1900, paints a vivid picture of innocent fun.

Three Men in a Boat

Dramatic, fast-moving and brutal, Gissing’s highly regarded early novel lays bare the reality of urban poverty in 1870s London. Old Michael Snowdon returns to the city with an inheritance that he determines should go towards helping the poor – but goodness and charity are not to play a part here. Everyone has an agenda, and scheming spreads through the story like a disease. Gissing’s own experience of London as an outsider in a vast city that both fascinated and appalled him gave him the tools and the drive to create a visceral sense of place. Life is unremittingly grim for just about everyone, from the weak and well-intentioned Jane to the coarse, cunning Clem Peckover and her feckless rival Pennyloaf Candy. The author offers no escape from the gloomy cycle, and there is something alarmingly timeless in the unvarnished portrait of human nature.

The Nether World

Vanity Fair, with its rich cast of characters, takes place on the snakes-and-ladders board of life. Amelia Sedley, daughter of a wealthy merchant, has a loving mother to supervise her courtship. Becky Sharp, an orphan, has to use her wit, charm, and resourcefulness to escape from her destiny as a governess. This she does ruthlessly, musing: ‘I think I could become a good woman, if I had £5,000 a year.’ Thackeray’s story is set at the time of the battle of Waterloo, in which the Sedley fortunes are lost – and Amelia is back to square one – while Becky rises with contemptuous ease.

Vanity Fair

Sons and Lovers, Lawrence’s third published novel, was written by the author at the height of his literary powers. The story of class differences (the relationship between a middle-class woman and a miner) in the tough world of coal mining brought a refreshing realism to literature. It remains a challenging text and is studied widely. It is particularly effective on audiobook in the hands of Nottinghamshire reader Paul Slack.

Sons and Lovers

Who is this woman? The townspeople think she may be from a foreign country and gossip runs rampant. Having arrived in the middle of the night at Wildfell Hall with her paints and her easel, Helen sets up shop as a single mother in mid -19th century England. Although Gilbert could not say from where or whence she came, there is something in Helen that resonates with something in him and it is nothing short of divine. A universal tribute to the artist; you'll need a cup of tea for this. Hear the characters come to life in this audiobook.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Charles Dickens was a master of the macabre. His stories of madness, murder and revenge, often imbued with a sympathetic moral undertone, have continued to thrill and chill readers ever since they were written. Here then are 15 tales that display the full range of Dickens’s Gothic talents. The Signalman, perhaps the most well-known, is a chilling story about a mysterious figure and its deathly omen; The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain shows the consequences for those who make deals with the dead; The Portrait-Painter's Story follows an artist who paints a non-living person by memory; and Captain Murderer and the Devil's Bargain, a bedtime story from Dickens’s own childhood, tells of a bloodthirsty man who kills his brides and bakes them into pies. Among others, the collection also includes A Christmas Carol, The Baron of Grogzwig from The Pickwick Papers, and The Ghost in the Bride’s Chamber, a novella co-written with Wilkie Collins.

Ghost Stories

A story of small-town intrigue that begins with a large sum of money being entrusted and then mysteriously disappearing. The novel was extremely popular and one of Bennett's greatest successes.

The Price of Love

Charles Dickens was a major contributor to the Victorian romantic revival of Christmas traditions. With their heart, humour and good morals, Dickens’s Christmas stories have made the author’s name synonymous with the season. Here we present four charming novellas to complete his series that began with A Christmas Carol, with echoes of sleigh bells throughout.

Christmas Stories

Set in Ireland prior to its achieving legislative independence from Britain in 1782, Castle Rackrent tells the story of three generations of an estate. One of the main sources of inspiration for the novel was a chronicle of her own family history called The Black Book of Edgeworthstown, which contain legal struggles of the Edgeworth's similar to those portrayed in the novel.

Castle Rackrent

Dickens' final novel, left unfinished at his death in 1870, is a mystery story much influenced by the 'Sensation Novel' as written by his friend Wilkie Collins. Dickens' final novel, left unfinished at his death in 1870, is a mystery story much influenced by the 'Sensation Novel' as written by his friend Wilkie Collins. The action takes place in an ancient cathedral city and in some of the darkest places in Victorian London. Drugs, disappearances, sexual obsession, disguise and a possible murder are among the themes and motifs. A sombre and menacing atmosphere, a fascinating range of characters and Dickens' usual command of language combine to make this an exciting and tantalising story. Also included in this volume are a number of unjustly neglected stories and sketches, with subjects as different as murder, guilt and childhood romance.

Timeless Classics

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