When The Unbearable Lightness of Being was first published in English, it was hailed as ""a work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness"" by critic Elizabeth Hardwick and named one of the best books of 1984 by the New York Times Book Review. It went on to win the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and quickly became an international bestseller. Twenty years later, the novel has established itself as a modern classic. To commemorate the anniversary of its first English-language publication, HarperCollins is proud to offer a special hardcover edition. A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover -- these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel. Controlled by day, Tereza's jealousy awakens by night, transformed into ineffably sad death-dreams, while Tomas, a successful surgeon, alternates loving devotion to the dependent Tereza with the ardent pursuit of other women. Sabina, an independent, free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals -- of parents, husband, country, love itself -- whereas her lover, the intellectual Franz, loses all because of his earnest goodness and fidelity. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence we feel, says the novelist, ""the unbearable lightness of being"" -- not only as the consequence of our private acts but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine. This magnificent novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence. It juxtaposes geographically distant places (Prague, Geneva, Paris, Thailand, the United States, a forlorn Bohemian village); brilliant and playful reflections (on ""eternal return,"" on kitsch, on man and animals -- Tomas and Tereza have a beloved doe named Karenin); and a variety of styles (from the farcical to the elegiac) to take its place as perhaps the major achievement of one of the world's truly great writers.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

A heart-wrenching full-cast adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by John Steinbeck, starring Jeffrey Donovan and Shirley Knight. Set during the Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath tells the powerful story of the Joad family's trek from the dust bowl of Oklahoma to the promise of a new life in California. But what they find threatens to rip apart their lives, and sever the ties that bind them together. Starring Shirley Knight as Ma Joad, Frank Galati's play finds its timeless heart in the generous spirit of the common man. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Shirley Knight as Ma Joad Jeffrey Donovan as Tom Joad Emily Bergl as Rose of Sharon Michael Buie as Connie and others Daniel Chacon as Al Joad Maurice Chasse as Deputy Sheriff and others Shannon Cochran as Mrs. Wainwright and Elizabeth Sandry Trista Delamere as 2nd Narrator and Al's Girl Francis Guinan as Jim Casy Charlie Matthes as Willy and others Gas Station Attendant and Hooper Ranch Guard Rod McLachlan as Uncle John Robert Pescovitz as Pa Joad Joel Rafael as Car Salesman and Man with Guitar Stephen Ramsey as 1st Narrator and others Nick Sadler as Agricultural Officer and others Andy Taylor as Gas Station Owner and others Floyd Knowles and Weedpatch Camp Director Todd Waring as Hooper Ranch Bookkeeper and others Fredd Wayne as Grampa, Mayor of Hooverville and Camp Guard Michael Weston as Noah Joad and others Kate Williamson as Gramma and others Live music performed by the Joel Rafael Band. Adapted by Frank Galati. Directed by Richard Masur. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.

The Grapes of Wrath

'I wonder what I have to do for people to recognise me as a threat. Do I have to smash a glass over the head of every single man I come into contact with, just so I leave a mark?' Irina takes erotic photos of average-looking men. Always behind the lens, she watches, she moulds, and she stalks. These boys are putty in her hands, just the way she likes it. When the opportunity to show her photographs in a fashionable London gallery coincides with a new boy to obsess over, cracks begin to appear. How far can she push her new prey for the perfect shot, or has she already gone too far? Based on the critically acclaimed debut novel by Eliza Clark, which was a finalist for the Women's Prize Futures Award, Boy Parts is a pitch-black psychological thriller that subverts the erotic gaze and asks what happens when our need for connection gets twisted. This stage adaptation for one actor by Gillian Greer was premiered in 2023 at Soho Theatre, London, in a co-production between Metal Rabbit Productions and Soho Theatre, and directed by Sara Joyce. Praise for Eliza Clark's novel: 'Hilariously sardonic… Will make most readers howl with laughter and/or shut their eyes in horror'Guardian 'A carnival funhouse ride: terrifying, feverish, hilarious' Julia Armfield 'Boundaries are for breaking and if anyone can crash through and reinterpret the fear of our time, Eliza Clark can'Mslexia 'Hallucinogenic, electric and sharp' Jessica Andrews 'Delightfully and deviously rooted in the now with its delectable internet and culture references and evocative and real-feeling portrait of women'Dazed 'Smart, stylish, and very funny' Lara Williams 'Explores the darkest corners of artistic practice, sexuality and violence with bold wit and fearlessness. A dazzling, horrifying debut'Irish Times

NHB Modern Plays

Boy Parts

'Every winner might be the one who loses the next day.' Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working-class origins to the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and winning. But an unexpected event forces her to confront the patriarchal power of the law, where the burden of proof and morality diverge. Prima Facie by Suzie Miller is an award-winning play for a solo actor, taking us deep into a world where emotion and integrity are in conflict with the rules of the game. After several acclaimed productions in Australia and winning the Australian Writers' Guild Award for Drama, the play received its European premiere at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in April 2022. It was produced by Empire Street Productions, directed by Justin Martin, and starred Jodie Comer, the Emmy and Bafta Award-winning star of TV's Killing Eve, making her West End debut. It won Best New Play at both the Olivier Awards and the WhatsOnStage Awards in 2023.

Prima Facie

A two-play dramatisation of Philip Pullman's extraordinary award-winning fantasy trilogy, first seen at the National Theatre. His Dark Materials takes us on a thrilling journey through worlds familiar and unknown. For Lyra and Will, its two central characters, it's a coming of age and a transforming spiritual experience. Their great quest demands a savage struggle against the most dangerous of enemies. They encounter fantastical creatures in parallel worlds – rebellious angels, soul-eating spectres, child-catching Gobblers and the armoured bears and witch-clans of the Arctic. Finally, before reaching, perhaps, the republic of heaven, they must visit the land of the dead. This adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, by Nicholas Wright, was first performed at the National Theatre in London in 2003.

His Dark Materials

In this “compelling, bighearted, emotionally precise page-turner” (Sunday Times), the New York Times bestselling writer and acclaimed television host explores the aftermath of a tragedy on a small-town to illuminate the shame and longing that can flow through generations—and how the secrets of the heart cannot stay be buried forever. It is 1987 and a small Irish community is preparing for a wedding. The day before the ceremony, a group of young friends, including the bride and groom, are involved in an accident. Three survive. Three are killed. The lives of the families are shattered and the rifts between them ripple throughout the small town. Connor survived, but living among the angry and the mourning is almost as hard as carrying the shame of having been the driver. He leaves the only place he knows for another life, taking his secrets with him. Travelling first to Liverpool, then London, he eventually makes a home—of sorts—for himself in New York, where he finds shelter and the possibility of forging a new life. But the secrets—the unspoken longings and regrets that have come to haunt those left behind—will not be silenced. Before long, Connor will have to confront his past. A powerful and timely novel of emigration and return, Home Stretch demonstrates Norton’s keen understanding of the power of stigma and secrecy—and their devastating effect on ordinary lives.

Home Stretch

Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything—youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a fulfilling job. But something is missing in her life. So, one cold November morning, she takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up. But she does—at a mental hospital where she is told that she has only days to live. Inspired by events in Coelho’s own life, Veronika Decides to Die questions the meaning of madness and celebrates individuals who do not fit into patterns society considers to be normal. Bold and illuminating, it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the crossroads of despair and liberation, and a poetic, exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed opportunity.

Veronika Decides to Die

This short biography of William Shakespeare by world famous writer Bill Bryson brims with the author’s inimitable wit and intelligence. Includes an exclusive Q&A session with the author. Shakespeare’s life, despite the scrutiny of generations of biographers and scholars, is still a thicket of myths and traditions, some preposterous, some conflicting, arranged around the few scant facts known about the Bard – from his birth in Stratford to the bequest of his second best bed to his wife when he died. Following his international bestsellers ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ and ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’, Bill Bryson has written a short biography of William Shakespeare for the Eminent Lives series – which seeks to pair great subjects with writers known for their strong sensibilities and sharp, lively points of view.

Shakespeare

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. Inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922. During World War II, the novel experienced an abrupt surge in popularity when the Council on Books in Wartime distributed free copies to American soldiers serving overseas. This new-found popularity launched a critical and scholarly re-examination, and the work soon became a core part of most American high school curricula and a part of American popular culture. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the subsequent decades. Gatsby continues to attract popular and scholarly attention. Contemporary scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of social class, inherited versus self-made wealth, race, and environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American dream. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterwork and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel. Narrated by Michael Ward.

The Great Gatsby

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time. ‘This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.’ The searing tragedy of young student Hamlet, tormented by his father’s death and confronting each of us with the mirror of our own mortality in an imperfect world. The ghost of the King of Denmark tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and seeks revenge. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet. The play ends with a duel, during which the King, Queen, Hamlet's opponent and Hamlet himself are all killed. All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations. Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production. The full cast includes: Patrick Wymark; Anthony White; Miles Malleson; Ian Lang; Peter Orr; David Rowe-Beddoe; Philip Strick; John Tracy-Phillips; Giles Slaughter; George Rylands; Trevor Nunn; Michael Burrell; Julian Curry; David Coombes; Tom Bussman; Hugh Walters; Gary Watson; Ronald Allen; Roger Hammond; Margaretta Scot; Jeannette Sterke; William Devlin.

Argo Classics

Hamlet

Charles Bukowski examines cats and his childhood in You Get So Alone at Times, a book of poetry that reveals his tender side. The iconic tortured artist/everyman delves into his youth to analyze its repercussions. “The Walt Whitman of Los Angeles.”—Joyce Carol Oates “He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels.”—Leonard Cohen, songwriter

You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time. ‘By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.’ Shakespeare’s darkest psychological thriller. Three witches tell the Scottish general Macbeth that he will be King of Scotland. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth kills the king, becomes the new king, and kills more people out of paranoia. Civil war erupts to overthrow Macbeth, resulting in more death. All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations. Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production. The full cast includes: Toby Robertson; Roger Prior; Tony Church; John Barton; Gerald Mosbach; Gary Watson; Derek Jacobi; David Jones; Chris Renard; Terrence Hardiman; Donald Beves; Richard Marquand; John Tracy-Phillips; Michael Bates; Terrence Hardiman; George Rylands; John Arnott; Clive Swift; John Bird; John Kimber; Irene Worth; Freda Dowie; Mrs Shire; Willa Muir; Freda Dowie; Janette Richer.

Macbeth

This is Limmy’s second book. It’s a whole load of new, odd, and hilariously grim short stories. Tom is in a soft play with his daughters. He’s bored. He’s so bored he can move things with his mind. A man fills up a mate’s biscuit tin without ever telling him, to see what happens. Maggie’s boyfriend Iain bought a curtain. It keeps attacking them. She wants it out the house. A man is sitting in his wheelie bin at two in the morning, and he wants to tell you why. Kenny’s mate Scott is suicidal and ridden with guilt. Kenny takes him on holiday to Benidorm. It’ll be some laugh. Praise for Daft Wee Stories: ‘The comedy book of the year.’ – Time Out ‘Funny, peculiar and original.’ – Guardian ‘Didn't realise pieces of paper with no pictures on could be so funny. I mean I was cryin’ all day yesterday into this book. Hilarious’ – Someone on Amazon

That’s Your Lot

An adaptation for the stage of Jacqueline Wilson's popular novel. Ten-year-old Andy used to live happily at Mulberry Cottage with her family: Mum, Dad, and Radish the rabbit, who lives in Andy's pocket and shares all her secrets. But then it all went wrong: Mum went to live with Bill, and Dad went off with Carrie. And Andy is expected to shuttle between the two - living out of a suitcase - and come to terms with her strange new families. Vicky Ireland's stage adaptation of The Suitcase Kid was first staged at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in 2007. Seen all over the country, this resourceful dramatisation is suitable for young actors as well as young audiences. Vicky Ireland has provided production notes to indicate how the play can be staged even with minimal resources - plus a lot of ingenuity!

The Suitcase Kid

The most renowned and wittiest of Oscar Wilde's comedies, The Importance of Being Earnest ridicules Victorian sensibilities and is still strikingly relevant to this day. This full-cast audio adaptation featuring Tim Brooke-Taylor as Lady Bracknell is unique yet at the same time reassuringly familiar, with wonderful performances from the Offstage Theatre Group. The play itself is the story of two single gentlemen who have taken to bending the truth in order to put some excitement into their lives. John 'Jack' Worthing has invented a brother, Earnest, whom he uses as an excuse to leave his dull life behind to visit Gwendolyn Fairfax. When learning of this subterfuge, Algernon 'Algy' Montcrieff decides to take the name Earnest when visiting Jack Worthing's young and beautiful ward, Cecily Cardew. The pair struggle to keep up with their own stories and their adventures in romance begin to go awry when they end up together in the country. This leads to a tale of deception and disguise that becomes more and more tangled as the play goes on.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Caedmon is proud to release this archival full-cast recording of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire on cd for the first time! Blanche DuBois arrives at her sister Stella's New Orleans apartment seeking refuge from a troubled past—but her ethereal spirit irks Stella's husband, the loutish Stanley Kowalski. Crudely, relentlessly, he unmasks the lies and delusions that sustain Blanche, until her frail hold on reality is shockingly severed. This atmospheric recording of Tennessee Williams's powerful classic stars Rosemary Harris and James Farentino as Blanche and Stanley—roles they performed to acclaim in a smash revival at New York's Lincoln Center.

A Streetcar Named Desire

An epic new fantasy romance from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author C. L. Wilson After three long years of war, starkly handsome Wynter Atrialan will have his vengeance on Summerlea's king by taking one of the man's beautiful, beloved daughters as his bride. But though peace is finally at hand, Wynter's battle with the Ice Heart, the dread power he embraced to avenge his brother's death, rages on. Khamsin Coruscate, Princess of Summerlea and summoner of Storms, has spent her life exiled to the shadows of her father's palace. Reviled by her father, marriage to Wintercraig's icy king was supposed to be a terrible punishment, but instead offers Kham her first taste of freedom—and her first taste of overwhelming passion. As fierce, indomitable Wynter weathers even Khamsin's wildest storms, surprising her with a tenderness she never expected, Kham wants more than Wynter's passion—she yearns for his love. But the power of the Ice Heart is growing, dangerous forces are gathering, and a devastating betrayal puts Khamsin and Wynter to the ultimate test.

Weathermages of Mystral

The Winter King

The Sun Also Rises is a 1926 novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, his first, that portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early and enduring modernist novel, it received mixed reviews upon publication. However, Hemingway biographer Jeffrey Meyers writes that it is now "recognized as Hemingway's greatest work", and Hemingway scholar Linda WagnerMartin calls it his most important novel. The novel was published in the United States in October 1926 by Scribner's. A year later, Jonathan Cape published the novel in London under the title Fiesta. It remains in print. The novel is a roman à clef: the characters are based on real people in Hemingway's circle, and the action is based on real events, particularly Hemingway's life in Paris in the 1920s and a trip to Spain in 1925 for the Pamplona festival and fishing in the Pyrenees. Hemingway presents his notion that the "Lost Generation"—considered to have been decadent, dissolute, and irretrievably damaged by World War I—was in fact resilient and strong. Hemingway investigates the themes of love and death, the revivifying power of nature, and the concept of masculinity. His spare writing style, combined with his restrained use of description to convey characterizations and action, demonstrates his "Iceberg Theory" of writing.

The Sun Also Rises

Somewhere in shadowy post-war Vienna, where everyone has something to sell on the black market, lurks the third man who witnessed the murder of Harry Lime. Novelist Holly Martins is haunted by the death of his friend. His search for the killer makes electrifying drama, in this witty and sophisticated audio adaptation of the Graham Greene classic. An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance featuring: Ian Abercrombie as Captain Crabbin/Officer Rosalind Ayres as Anna Schmidt Ethan Glazer as Hansl Kelsey Grammer as Holly Martins John Mahoney as Major Calloway Wolf Muser as Baron von Kurtz/Priest/Official Barry Phillips as Sergeant Paine Andreas Renell as Porter/Driver Bettina Spier as Landlady Slav Troyan as Captain Brodsky/MP John Vickery as Harry Lime Tom Virtue as Mr. Tyler/Brigadier Norbert Weisser as Dr. Winkel/Sacher Concierge/Hansl's Father Original music by Raymond Guarna. Directed by Robert Robinson. Recorded before a live audience at the Guest Quarters Suite Hotel, Santa Monica in November of 1994.

The Third Man

'I know you're there… Miranda? Miranda!' On a summer's day in 1900, three Australian schoolgirls on a picnic expedition to the remote Hanging Rock abscond from their group. They are last seen heading towards the beckoning Rock… In Tom Wright's chilling adaptation of Joan Lindsay's classic novel, five performers struggle to solve the mystery of the missing girls and their teacher. Euphoria and terror reverberate throughout the community, as the potential for history to repeat itself becomes nightmarishly real. This adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock was first co-produced by Malthouse Theatre and Black Swan State Theatre Company, Perth, and first performed at Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, in 2016. The play received its European premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, in 2017.

Picnic at Hanging Rock

Professor of Parapsychology, Philip Goodman, is an arch-sceptic with a mission to debunk the paranormal, wherever it occurs. But when he embarks on an investigation of three apparent hauntings – as recounted by a night-watchman, a teenage boy, and a businessman awaiting his first child – Goodman finds himself at the outer limits of rationality, and fast running out of explanations. Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman's play Ghost Stories first started terrifying audiences at Liverpool Playhouse and the Lyric Hammersmith, London, in 2010, directed by its authors along with Sean Holmes – and has since become a worldwide cult phenomenon, with two West End transfers, productions in China, Australia, Canada and Europe, and an award-winning film adaptation. It was revived at the Lyric in 2019. This official tie-in edition features the complete script for the show, and an exclusive introduction by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, about the origins and development of the play.

Ghost Stories

Two young people and their dæmons, with everything at stake, find themselves at the centre of a terrifying manhunt. In their care is a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future. As the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others. Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage is set twelve years before the epic His Dark Materials trilogy. Bryony Lavery's stage adaptation was first performed at the Bridge Theatre, London, in December 2021, directed by Nicholas Hytner, whose groundbreaking production of His Dark Materials was a critical and commercial success at the National Theatre. 'Once in a lifetime a children's author emerges who is so extraordinary that the imagination of generations is altered' New Statesman on Philip Pullman

The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage (NHB Modern Plays)

""A novel full of miracles.” — Newsweek “Breathtaking. . . unforgettable. . . . This profound, funny, bighearted novel, in which people actually find love and kinship in surprising places, is also heavenly. . . . A rare feat and a triumph.” — Cosmopolitan In Pigs in Heaven, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver, recipient of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguish Contribution to American Letters, picks up where her modern classic The Bean Trees left off and continues the tale of Turtle and Taylor Greer, a Native American girl and her adoptive mother who have settled in Tucson, Arizona, as they both try to overcome their difficult pasts. When six-year-old Turtle Greer witnesses a freak accident at the Hoover Dam, her insistence on what she has seen and her mother's belief in her lead to a man's dramatic rescue. But Turtle's moment of celebrity draws her into a conflict of historic proportions. The crisis quickly envelops not only Turtle and her mother, Taylor, but everyone else who touches their lives in a complex web connecting their future with their past. Pigs in Heaven travels the roads from rural Kentucky and the urban Southwest to Heaven, Oklahoma, and the Cherokee Nation as it draws the reader into a world of heartbreak and redeeming love, testing the boundaries of family and the many separate truths about the ties that bind.

Pigs in Heaven

An exhilarating coming-of-age drama for a solo performer. Scorching heat. A fight. A car chase. A siege. When her boyfriend is attacked on the street, feisty eighteen-year-old Katie is thrust on a white-knuckle ride through one extraordinary evening. Amidst the baying for blood and the longing for love, Katie is forced to decide her future. Jack Thorne's play Bunny was first performed at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in a production by nabokov and Escalator East to Edinburgh in association with Watford Palace Theatre and Mercury Theatre, Colchester. It was awarded a Fringe First, and subsequently toured the UK from June 2011 before a run at Soho Theatre, London, in October 2011.

Bunny

On Christmas Eve, young Pip, an orphan being raised by his sister and her husband, encounters a convict in the village churchyard. The man, a convict who has escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. On Christmas Eve, young Pip, an orphan being raised by his sister and her husband, encounters a convict in the village churchyard. The man, a convict who has escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. This incident is crucial: firstly, it gives Pip, who must steal the goods from his sister's house, his first taste of true guilt, and, secondly, Pip's kindness warms the convict's heart. The convict, however, waits many years to truly show his gratitude. At his sister's house, Pip is a boy without expectations. Mrs. Joe beats him around and has nothing good to say about her little brother. Her husband Joe is a kind man, although he is a blacksmith without much ambition, and it's assumed that Pip will follow in his footsteps. Only when Pip gets invited unexpectedly to the house of a rich old woman in the village named Miss Havisham, does Mrs. Joe, or any of her dull acquaintances, hold out any hope for Pip's success.

Great Expectations

An electrifying, bittersweet love story with echoes of Romeo and Juliet, set in a society divided by racial bigotry and a world rocked by terrorism. Adapted from Malorie Blackman's best-selling novels. Sephy (a Cross) is the daughter of the Deputy Prime Minister. Callum is the son of a Nought agitator. United by a shared sense of injustice as children, and separated by intolerance as they grow up, their desire to be together begins to eclipse all family loyalty – sparking a political crisis of unimaginable proportions. 'I wanted to turn society as we know it on its head, with new names for the major divisions, i.e. Noughts (the underclass) and Crosses (the majority, ruling society)' - Malorie Blackman Dominic Cooke's adaptation of Noughts & Crosses was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2007.

Noughts & Crosses

Bruno has a friend called Shmuel. Like Bruno, Shmuel is nine years old. Their birthdays are on the same day. But Shmuel lives on the other side of a fence, and he's always wearing striped pyjamas... Based on the best-selling novel by John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a heart-wrenching tale of an unlikely friendship between two innocent boys. Angus Jackson's deeply affecting adaptation was produced by The Children's Touring Partnership and Chichester Festival Theatre on a UK tour in 2015.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

In the best known of P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves series, Bertie's aunt pressures him to steal a silver creamer, and he nearly gets lynched, arrested and engaged by mistake. As always, Jeeves is on hand with a last-minute brainstorm to set everything straight. Adapted by Mark Richard. A City Lit Theatre Company co-production. An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance featuring: Rosalind Ayres as Aunt Dahlia Patrice Egleston as Madeline Bassett Martin Jarvis as Jeeves/Roderick Spode Kelly Nespor as Stephanie 'Stiffy' Byng Kenneth J. Northcott as Sir Watkyn Bassett Henry M. Odum as Shopkeeper/Butterfield/Constable Eustace Oates Mark Richard as Bertie Wooster Nicolas Sandys as Harold 'Stinker' Pinker Thomas M. Shea as Gussie Fink-Nottle Directed by Mark Richard. Recorded before a live audience at the DoubleTree Guest Suites, Chicago in May of 1997.

The Code of the Woosters

'So, if you Americans already have cornflakes and Woolworths, what brings you to England?' It's 1973, and a young man from Des Moines, Iowa, has arrived on the ferry at Dover. He intends to conquer the whole of the island, like Caesar attempted before him. But Caesar didn't have to deal with counterpanes, kippers, Cadbury's Curly Wurlies, or Mrs Smegma the landlady's eccentric house rules. As Bill travels the length and breadth of Britain, through villages with names like Titsey and Little Dribbling, something strange starts to happen. Can it be true? Is he really starting to feel at home? Bill Bryson's smash-hit memoir Notes from a Small Island spent three years in The Sunday Times bestseller list, sold over two million copies, and was voted the book which best represents the UK. Tim Whitnall's hilarious stage adaptation was first produced at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury, in 2023. Written for an ensemble cast of seven (but suitable for a cast of dozens), it will appeal to amateur drama groups as a glorious celebration of one of the nation's most beloved books, and a brilliant dissection of the enduring quirks of our small island.

Notes from a Small Island

A group of friends decamps from 1920's Paris for the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain. Jake is in love with the aristocratic Bret Ashley, but Bret's wandering eye lands on a young matador. In the week of drinking, bullfighting, and jealousy that follows, friendships will be upended and hopes for love dashed. Recorded at The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood in April 2022. Directed by Anna Lyse Erikson Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording starring: Geoffrey Arend as Robert Cohn Seamus Dever as Bill Gorton Patrick Heusinger as Jake Barnes Derrick Kemp as Pedro Romero Rhian Rees as Lady Brett Ashley Herbert Sigüenza as Montoya and others André Sogliuzzo as Mike Campbell and the Count Devon Sorvari as Frances and Georgette Senior Producer: Anna Lyse Erikson Prepared for Audio by Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood Sound Design by Charles Carroll with Austin Halterman Recording Engineer and Mixer: Charles Carroll Senior Radio Producer: Ronn Lipkin Foley Artist: Jeff Gardner

A delightful British comedy from the wonderful world of P.G. Wodehouse! The perpetually misguided Bertie finds himself embroiled in a madcap adventure sparked by the abrupt departure of his beloved Jeeves. Adapted by Mark Richard. An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance featuring: Gregory Cooke as Chuffy Kenneth Danziger as Sergeant Voules Alastair Duncan as Brinkley/Seabury Dominic Keating as Constable Dobson Richard Riordan as J. Washburn Stoker Guy Siner as Sir Roderick Glossop Simon Templeman as Bertie Jennifer Tilly as Pauline Stoker Paxton Whitehead as Jeeves Directed by Rosalind Ayres. Recorded before a live audience at the DoubleTree Suites, Santa Monica in April of 1998.

Thank You Jeeves

FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY The World’s Leading Center for Shakespeare Studies The Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, brings A Midsummer Night’s Dream to life with this new full-length, full-cast dramatic recording of its definitive Folger Edition. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare stages the workings of love in unexpected ways. In the woods outside Athens, two young men and two young women sort themselves into couples—but not before they form first one love triangle, and then another. The king and queen of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, battle over custody of an orphan boy. Oberon uses magic to make Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom, in an effort to distract Titania from the custody battle. While all of this is going on, Bottom and his companions ineptly stage the tragedy of “Pyramus and Thisbe.” This new full-cast recording—based on the most respected edition of Shakespeare’s classic—expertly produced by the Folger Theatre, is perfect for students, teachers, and the everyday listener.

Folger Shakespeare Library Presents

A Midsummer Night's Dream

'It's hard to accept ourselves out there. But in here, with our people, we can accept each other.' The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, the only lesbian choir in the country, are trying to win their place on the Pride mainstage. In a run-down church hall with an OWL (Older, Wiser Lesbian) at the helm, the ragtag choir navigate love, loss and trying to agree on song choices. But despite their best intentions, they find that harmony comes at a price. Packed with laugh-out-loud moments and lots of lesbian drama, Iman Qureshi's play The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs was first performed at Soho Theatre, London, in 2022, directed by Hannah Hauer-King. This revised version of the play was published alongside the play's 2025 revival at Kiln Theatre, London.

The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs

Narrated with warmth, humor, exceptional candor and wisdom, The Sum of Our Days is a portrait of a contemporary family, tied together by the love, strong will, and stubborn determination of a beloved matriarch, the indomitable New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende. ""An inspiring and thought-provoking work."" –Denver Post Isabel Allende reconstructs the painful reality of her own life in the wake of the tragic death of her daughter, Paula. Narrated with warmth, humor, exceptional candor, and wisdom, this remarkable memoir is as exuberant and as full of life as its creator. Allende bares her soul while sharing her thoughts on love, marriage, motherhood, spirituality and religion, infidelity, addiction, and memory—and recounts stories of the wildly eccentric, strong-minded, and eclectic tribe she gathers around her and lovingly embraces as a new kind of family.

The Sum of Our Days

In the spirit of Khaled Hosseini, Nadia Hashimi and Shilpi Somaya Gowda comes this powerful debut from a talented new voice—a sweeping, emotional journey of two childhood friends in Mumbai, India, whose lives converge only to change forever one fateful night. India, 1986: Mukta, a ten-year-old village girl from the lower caste Yellama cult has come of age and must fulfill her destiny of becoming a temple prostitute, as her mother and grandmother did before her. In an attempt to escape her fate, Mukta is sent to be a house girl for an upper-middle class family in Mumbai. There she discovers a friend in the daughter of the family, high spirited eight-year-old Tara, who helps her recover from the wounds of her past. Tara introduces Mukta to an entirely different world—one of ice cream, reading, and a friendship that soon becomes a sisterhood. But one night in 1993, Mukta is kidnapped from Tara’s family home and disappears. Shortly thereafter, Tara and her father move to America. A new life in Los Angeles awaits them but Tara never recovers from the loss of her best friend, or stops wondering if she was somehow responsible for Mukta's abduction. Eleven years later, Tara, now an adult, returns to India determined to find Mukta. As her search takes her into the brutal underground world of human trafficking, Tara begins to uncover long-buried secrets in her own family that might explain what happened to Mukta—and why she came to live with Tara’s family in the first place. Moving from a traditional Indian village to the bustling modern metropolis of Mumbai, to Los Angeles and back again, this is a heartbreaking and beautiful portrait of an unlikely friendship—a story of love, betrayal, and, ultimately, redemption.

The Color of Our Sky

This edition is the prescribed text for the English Mastery Secondary programme. Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots. In these three intimately connected stories, hope and humanity meet stubborn reality, tracing the tangled history of Jamaica and Britain. Andrea Levy's epic novel Small Island, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, journeys from Jamaica to Britain in 1948 – the year that HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury. It premiered at the National Theatre, London, in April 2019, directed by Rufus Norris. 'Honest, skilful, thoughtful and important. This is Andrea Levy's big book'Guardian on Andrea Levy's Small Island

Small Island

'I sit on the loo and think about all the people I can have sex with now. I'm not obsessed with sex. I just can't stop thinking about it.' The Fleabag bites back. A rip-roaring account of some sort of female living her sort of life. Phoebe Waller-Bridge's debut play is an outrageously funny monologue for a female performer. Fleabag premiered at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performed by Phoebe herself, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London, for the first of several successful runs, followed by UK and international tours, a sold-out run in New York and a West End run in 2019. Fleabag won a Fringe First Award in Edinburgh, the Most Promising New Playwright and Best Female Performance at the Off West End Theatre Awards, The Stage Award for Best Solo Performer and the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. It received a Special Commendation in the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. In 2016, Fleabag was turned into a wildly successful and 'utterly riveting' ( Guardian) BBC television series, with a second series following in 2019. This edition features the original play, plus an introduction by the author.

Fleabag: The Original Play

A powerful exploration of machismo and sexual desire, by Peru's most acclaimed writer. A Peruvian desert town in the 1940s. When a young girl disappears it seems that only La Chunga, the barwoman, knows the truth, but refuses to tell. Undeterred, the local men make up their own version of what happened in an attempt to extract the full story. Mario Vargas Llosa's play Mistress of Desires ( La Chunga) was written in 1985 and first staged in January 1986 in the Teatro Canout, Lima, Peru, by the Grupo Ensayo. This English translation by Sebatian Doggart was first staged in February 1992 in Christ's Theatre, Cambridge University, by The Southern Development Trust.

Mistress of Desires

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time. ‘The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.’ Forced into exile in the Forest of Arden, lovers Rosalind and Orlando become entangled in a beguiling game of love, lust and mistaken identity. Rosalind and her cousin escape into the forest and find Orlando, Rosalind's love. Disguised as a boy shepherd, Rosalind has Orlando woo her under the guise of "curing" him of his love for Rosalind. Rosalind reveals she is a girl and marries Orlando during a group wedding at the end of the play. All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations. Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production. The full cast includes: John Barton; Tony Church; Peter Bingham; Anthony Jacobs; John Arnott; David Buck; Tony White; David Gibson; Denys Robertson; John Wilders; Gary Watson; Julian Pettifer; John Bird; George Rylands; Christine Baker; Wendy Gifford; Irene Worth; Mary Fenton.

As You Like It

In late 2006 the everyday life of the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The residents of London Road had struggled for years with the soliciting and kerb-crawling that they frequently encountered. As Steve Wright, the occupant of No. 79, was arrested, charged and then convicted of the murders, the immediate community grappled with the media frenzy and what it meant to be at the epicentre of this tragedy. London Road is a verbatim-theatre musical based on those events, with book and lyrics by Alecky Blythe, who recorded extensive interviews with the people of Ipswich, and music by Adam Cork, whose score is a response to the melodic and rhythmic speech patterns captured on those recordings. The musical was developed by the National Theatre, London, and first performed there in the Cottesloe auditorium in April 2011. It won the 2011 Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical. London Road is an experimental and challenging work which reveals the ways in which even the darkest experiences can engender a greater sense of our mutual dependence.

London Road

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. “#1 bestseller on AMAZON (eating disorders)” “A book that will make you cry and leave you with hope and lifted spirits.” Ira M. Sacker, M.D., (author: Regaining Your Self, and co-author: Dying to Be Thin) “The Mirror Lied is a heartfelt account of individuals suffering from eating disorders. This insightful, engaging, and masterful book is a must-read for individuals suffering from eating disorders and their loved ones.” Judy E. Marshel, Ph.D., RD, is a nutrition therapist specializing in eating disorders. The Mirror Lied is based on the true story of Jessica Gordon. Told in Jessica's voice, and based on extensive interviews with her, The Mirror Lied has been called “gripping,” “compelling” and “heart-wrenching” (AMAZON reviews). Before she turned twenty, Jessica was raped by the woman entrusted to protect her and nearly killed by her brother. But those events pale in comparison to the life and death struggles she faced for twenty-five years as she fought for her life against her battles with anorexia and bulimia, laxative abuse, and cutting. Readers are pulled into Jessica’s world of pain and struggle as they witness her effort to overcome this debilitating disorder. They also meet the people fighting to save her life. To quote Jessica: “To those in recovery, stay there. To those who seek help, may you find a good therapist who knows how to help you. To those in denial of their eating disorder problem – heaven help you.” Marc A. Zimmer, Ph.D., is an eating disorders specialist and co-author of the best-selling book, Dying to Be Thin. Dr. Zimmer has lectured extensively and he has published numerous journal articles on eating disorders. N.R. Mitgang is the co-author (Haskins / Mitgang) of Mr. Bojangles (William Morrow) and an acclaimed playwright (New York Times).

The Mirror Lied

“The Trojan Women“ is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. It was first presented at the City Dionysia of 415 BCE, along with two other unconnected tragedies, “Alexandros“ and “Palamedes“, and the comedic satyr play “Sisyphos“, all of which have since been lost to antiquity. The play is a famous and powerful indictment of the barbarous cruelties of war. It was first produced only months after the Athenians captured the city-state of Melos, butchering its men and reducing its women to slavery, and the mood of the drama may well have been influenced by Athenian atrocities. "The Trojan Women" follows the fates of Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra and the other women of Troy after their city has been sacked, their husbands killed, and their remaining families about to be taken away as slaves (it runs parallel to the events in Euripides‘ play “Hecuba“). It is often considered one of Euripides‘ greatest works, and among the best anti-war plays ever written.

The Trojan Women

The Brothers Karamazov  is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th century Russia, that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia.Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, is social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.

The Brothers Karamazov

The Yellow Wallpaper (original title: "The Yellow Wall-paper. A Story") is a short story by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. It is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's health, both physical and mental. Presented in the first person, the story is a collection of journal entries written by a woman whose physician husband (John) has rented an old mansion for the summer. Forgoing other rooms in the house, the couple moves into the upstairs nursery. As a form of treatment, the unnamed woman is forbidden from working, and is encouraged to eat well and get plenty of exercise and air, so she can recuperate from what he calls a "temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency". The story depicts the effect of understimulation on the narrator's mental health and her descent into psychosis.

The Yellow Wallpaper

The Poetic Edda is the most important collection of Norse-Icelandic mythological and heroic poetry, covering the creation of the world and the coming of Ragnarok, The Doom of the Gods. The mythological poems are an exploration of the wisdom of gods and giants, and tell of the adventures of the god Thor, against hostile giants, and rivalries amongst the gods. In the heroic poems we hear of the exploits of Helgi and his Valkyrie bride, the tragic tale of Sigurd and Byrnhild’s doomed love, and the terrible drama of Gudrun and her children. Many of the poems pre-date the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity and give us a glimpse of the pagan beliefs of the North. This recording is of Carolyne Larrington’s revised translation (OUP) and is read by the accomplished actor Gunnar Cauthery (himself of Icelandic heritage).

The Poetic Edda

'All happy families are alike. Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' Across the vast panorama of nineteenth-century Russia, everyone is searching for answers in a society on the brink of collapse. Anna Karenina is risking a dangerous love affair with the magnetic Count Vronsky. Levin is wrestling with his thwarted devotion to Kitty. Kitty's been left broken-hearted by Vronsky, and her sister Dolly struggles to reconcile the burdens of repeated childbearing with her husband's continual philandering. Phillip Breen's witty and sensual stage adaptation of Tolstoy's masterpiece takes us into the hearts and minds of its conflicted, very human characters, and offers a surprisingly funny and deeply moving portrait of infidelity, passion and the search for fulfilment. It was first performed at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2025, directed by Breen and starring Natalie Dormer in the title role.

Anna Karenina

Kefalonia, 1941. Captain Corelli, an enigmatic young Italian officer, is posted to the idyllic Greek island as part of the Axis occupying forces. Shunned by the locals at first, he proves to be civilised, humorous – and a consummate musician. The captain is soon thrown together with Dr Iannis's strong-willed and beautiful daughter, Pelagia, who discovers all of the complexities of love, and how it can blossom in the most unexpected and profound way. Rona Munro's adaptation of Louis de Bernières' much-loved epic novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, premiered on tour of the UK in 2019, before transferring to London's West End.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

'I wanted to put you bang in the picture. Apprise you of the difficulties. Because, in case you hadn't noticed, he's a human fucking boobytrap. And now, guess what, surprise surprise, boom!' A world-famous children's author under threat. A battle of wills in the wake of scandal. And a chance to make amends… It's the summer of 1983, The Witches is about to hit the shelves and Roald Dahl is making last-minute edits. But the outcry at his recent, explicitly antisemitic article won't die down. Across a single afternoon at his family home, and rocked by an unexpectedly explosive confrontation, Dahl is forced to choose: make a public apology or risk his name and reputation. Inspired by real events, Mark Rosenblatt's debut play Giant offers a nuanced portrait of a fiendishly charismatic icon – and explores with dark humour the difference between considered opinion and dangerous rhetoric. The play was first performed to great acclaim at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2024, directed by Nicholas Hytner with a cast including John Lithgow as Dahl. It transferred to the West End the following year, and won the Olivier and Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Play.

Giant

The acclaimed, award-winning author of the national bestseller The Financial Lives of the Poets returns with his funniest, most romantic, and most purely enjoyable novel yet: the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962 . . . and is rekindled in Hollywood fifty years later. “Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece.” —Richard Russo “A ridiculously talented writer.” —New York Times

Beautiful Ruins

In Arthur Miller's classic drama, World War II is over, and a family mourning a missing son plants a memorial tree and tries to go on with their lives. When a storm blows down the tree, a devastating family secret is uprooted, setting the characters on a terrifying journey towards truth. A 1947 Tony Award Winner for Best Author. A co-production with The Smithsonian Associates, Voice of America, and Arena Stage. An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance featuring: Julie Harris as Kate Keller James Farentino as Joe Keller Arye Gross as Chris Keller Mitchell Hébert as Dr. Bayliss Naomi Jacobson as Ann Barbara Klein as Lydia Paul Morella as George Michaeleen O'Neil as Sue Nathan Taylor as Bert Jerry Whiddon as Frank Includes an interview with historian Bill Yenne, author of The American Aircraft Factory in World War Two, one of his many works that chronicle the history of wartime aviation and manufacturing. Directed by Nick Olcott. Recorded before a live audience at Voice of America, Washington D.C. in February of 2000.

All My Sons

rank|desc

publishdate|desc

publishdate|asc

rating|desc

title|asc

audioduration|desc

audioduration|asc

Plays & Playscripts

BookBeat lets you enjoy over 1 million audiobooks and e-books on your mobile or tablet. Try for free!

BookBeat - Audiobooks and e-books directly in the mobile. Try for free!

Unless you're out on an adventure, it's better to sign up at the website of {country}.

Plays & Playscripts

About us

Follow us

Help and contact

Information

BookBeat

Download BookBeat