Dave Gibbons

John Gibbons is an environmental journalist and commentator who has been speaking about climate change in Ireland for over a decade. The Lie of the Land is his first book.

John Gibbons

Stella Gibbons was born in London in 1902. She went to the North London Collegiate School and studied journalism at University College, London. She then worked for ten years on various papers, including the Evening Standard. Stella Gibbons is the author of twenty-five novels, three volumes of short stories, and four volumes of poetry. Her first novel Cold Comfort Farm (1932) was an immediate success and won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933. Among her works are Nightingale Wood (1938), The Bachelor (1944), Westwood (1946), and Starlight (1967). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1950. Stella Gibbons died in 1989.

Stella Gibbons

Edward Gibbon

Lewis Grassic Gibbon

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WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY LYNNE TRUSS 
 
'Stella Gibbons is the Jane Austen of the twentieth century' The Times 
 
Set in wartime London, Westwood tells the story of Margaret Steggles, a plain bookish girl whose mother has told her that she is not the type that attracts men. Her schoolfriend Hilda has a sunny temperament and keeps her service boys 'ever so cheery'. When Margaret finds a ration book on Hampstead Heath the pompous writer Gerard Challis enters both their lives. Margaret slavishly adores Challis and his artistic circle; Challis idolises Hilda for her hair and her eyes and Hilda finds Gerard's romantic overtures a bit of a bind. This is a delightfully comic and wistful tale of love and longing.

Westwood

Uprooted from war-torn London, Alda Lucie-Brown and her three daughters start a new life at Pine Cottage in rural Sussex. Unsuited to a quiet life, Alda attempts to orchestrate - with varying degrees of success - the love affairs of her neighbours. Her unwilling subjects include an Italian POW, a Communist field-hand, a battery-chicken farmer and her intelligent friend Jean.

The Matchmaker

Brother and sister, Constance and Kenneth Fielding live in calm respectability, just out of reach of London and the Blitz. But when a series of uninvited guests converge upon them – from a Balkan exile to Ken’s old flame and the siblings’ own raffish father – the household struggles to preserve its precious peace. In this full house, in a quiet corner of suburbia, no one expects to find romance.

The Bachelor

Johanna Lindsey

Beautiful, mischievous and shamelessly daring, young Amy was a Malory through and through - as wild and reckless as the most incorrigible of her male cousins.But now that she had reached a marriageable age, Amy had set her sights on the most unsuitable mate - the implacable ship's captain who had once almost had her Uncle James hung for piracy. 
 
Still tormented by the treachery of a past love, handsome Warren Anderson was shocked by the brazen advances of his despised enemy's spirited niece.But his firm resolve to resist was weakened by an irresistible yearning for the enchanting Amy - and his passion threatened to stoke the smouldering fires of a perilous family feud as he surrendered to... The Magic of You

The Magic Of You

India Holton

Two rival ornithologists. 
Seeking one dangerous, beautiful bird. 
Is the hunt of their lives also how they find the love of their lives? 
 
Professor Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare Deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, stealing both her bird and her imagination. 
 
For his part, Devon has never been more smitten than when he first set eyes on Beth. 
 
When a competition to become Birder of the Year by capturing an endangered caladrius bird is announced, Beth and Devon are forced to team up to have any chance of winning. 
 
They're hunting the rarest of species. But will these rivals discover something even more endangered – true love . . .

The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love

Love's Academic Series Book 1

Arundhati Roy

'At magic hour; when the sun has gone but the light has not, armies of flying foxes unhinge themselves from the Banyan trees in the old graveyard and drift across the city like smoke . . .' 
 
Anjum lives in a graveyard, gathering around her the misfits and outcasts of Delhi's bustling streets. Tilo is a Kashmiri woman, brilliant and beautiful, fated to be loved by three rival men. 
 
When Anjum takes in an abandoned baby, it is Tilo who claims the child as her own - and so begins a tale that will sweep across twenty years, crossing the cities and forests of a teeming continent . . .

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017

Iris Gower

A sensational story of tragedy, riches, poverty and love from bestselling author Iris Gower. If you like Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin, you will love this..! 
 
READERS ARE LOVING FIREBIRD! 
"Her characters come to life and feel as if they're [your] neighbours..." - 5 STARS 
"Can't put it down..." - 5 STARS 
"Excellent" - 5 STARS 
"Brilliant" - 5 STARS 
 
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PASSIONS RUN HIGH AMIDST THE WELSH HILLS... 
 
When Llinos Savage's mother dies an untimely death, she finds herself in charge of the family pottery while still a young girl, attempting to keep the business afloat and dealing with the plotting of Philip Morton Edwards, the powerful and rich owner of the rival pottery in Swansea. Her father's return, badly wounded, from fighting Napoleon in France should be a joyous reunion, but instead his presence only adds to her difficulties. 
 
Two men make her world even more complicated: Eynon Morton Edwards, Philip's son - a gentle and sympathetic figure yet despised by his father; and Joe, an exotic outsider, born of an unlikely union between a cultured English businessman and a Native American squaw. 
 
How will Llinos cope with running the pottery, while suffering from the hatred of the Morton Edwards family and battling to suppress her own feelings for the man who seems her most unlikely suitor? 
 
Firebird is the first novel in Iris Gower's Firebird series. The saga continues in Dream Catcher.

Firebird

(Firebird:1) An enthralling, heart-wrenching and moving saga set amongst the Welsh hills

Gracie Hart

From rags to riches? 
 
Eliza Wild has come a long way from her hungry childhood days in a rented miner's cottage on Pit Lane on the outskirts of Leeds. Her sewing skills have enabled her to go into business with a wealthy patron and to give her young niece, Victoria, a better life than she and her sister, Mary-Anne, ever dreamed of. 
 
There's also Eliza's sweetheart, Tom, who is determined to marry her but having worked so hard to get to where she is, will Eliza take a chance on love when it means she might lose everything she has ever worked for?

The Girl Who Came From Rags

Laura Madeleine

At the famous Patisserie Clermont in Paris, 1909, a chance encounter with the owner’s daughter has given one young man a glimpse into a life he never knew existed: of sweet cream and melted chocolate, golden caramel and powdered sugar, of pastry light as air. 
 
But it is not just the art of confectionery that holds him captive, and soon a forbidden love affair begins. 
 
Almost eighty years later, an academic discovers a hidden photograph of her grandfather as a young man with two people she has never seen before. Scrawled on the back of the picture are the words ‘Forgive me’. Unable to resist the mystery behind it, she begins to unravel the story of two star-crossed lovers and one irrevocable betrayal. 
 
'Delightful and delicious: a must read' Nina George, bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop 
 
'Mouth-watering and mysterious . . . a compelling read' Leah Fleming, bestselling author of The Girl under the Olive Tree 
 
Take a moment to savour a bittersweet love story that echoes through the decades – perfect for fans of Kate Morton, Santa Montefiore and Victoria Hislop.

The Confectioner's Tale

Charlotte Bingham

The war might be over but the hardship remains in this setting and story expertly portrayed by the million copy and Sunday Times bestselling author Charlotte Bingham, for fans of Louise Douglas and Dinah Jefferies. 
 
 'Heartwarming and full of period charm... One of Britain's most bankable novelists' - DAILY EXPRESS 
 
'A fitting sequel to the Chestnut Tree' - GOOD BOOK GUIDE 
 
'Bingham writes with her usual flair...' - HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW 
 
******************************************************************* 
 
WILL A NEW ARRIVAL MEAN A BRIGHTER FUTURE? 
 
It is 1947, the worst winter in England since records began. 
 
For the women living in the little fishing port of Bexham, the lack of everything from fuel to food has left them reeling. 
 
When Waldo Astley drives through thick Sussex snow into the village in his large American Buick, it is to find Bexham filled with frustrated wives and mothers, forced back behind their stoves after the joy of the victory for which they fought so hard on the home front. 
 
But Waldo is no ordinary character, his effect on all the residents is as warming as the electricity of which there is still such a shortage. 
 
For Judy, whose marriage to Walter has been badly affected by long years of separation, for Rusty, whose miscarriage has been mind-shattering, for Mathilda, whose single motherhood has put her eligibility in jeopardy, and for Meggie, still not recovered from her ordeal as a secret agent. 
 
No matter what the age or circumstances of the person, Waldo Astley is not just a breath of fresh air - but the wind off the sea...

The Wind Off The Sea

(The Bexham Trilogy Book 2): stay warm with this compelling and moving post-war saga set in the rolling winter hills of Sussex from bestselling author Charlotte Bingham

Manuel Rivas

It is the summer of 1936, the early months of the agonising civil war that engulfs Spain and shakes the rest of the world. In a prison in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela, an artist sketches the famous porch of the cathedral, the Portico da Gloria. He uses a carpenter's pencil. But instead of reproducing the sculptured faces of the prophets and elders, he draws the faces of his fellow Republican prisoners. 
 
Many years later in post-Franco Spain, a survivor of that period, Doctor Daniel da Barca, returns from exile to his native Galicia, and the threads of past memories begin to be woven together. This poetic and moving novel conveys the horror and savagery of the tragedy that divided Spain, and the experiences of the men and women who lived through it. Yet in the process, it also relates one of the most beautiful love stories imaginable.

Carpenter's Pencil

Jean Plaidy

A wonderful blend of history and romance with drama 
 
Even Tamar's mother believed that the child had been forced on her by the Devil when, against her judgement, she was persuaded to attend a midsummer sabbat of witches. In a world of superstition and intolerance, the wild and beautiful Tamar seemed doomed to a violent death. Intelligent though untutored, she attracts the wanted attentions of two gentleman, one passionate, the other pious. But all thoughts of romance are suspended when the terrifying witch-pricker comes to town... 
 
Daughter of Satan is a moving and exciting novel of fanaticism and persecution, of witches and puritan, pirates and savages. From Old Plymouth to New Plymouth in search of a new life, came Tamar, the passionate pilgrim, the woman whom many believed to be the daughter of Satan.

Daughter of Satan

Mavis Cheek

When city girl Molly Bonner arrives in the village of Lufferton Boney, she creates quite a stir. With her non-country-style boots, determined manner and alluring looks, she sets off a wave of intrigue that ripples through the lives of everyone there, from Julie the barmaid at the Holly Bush to antiques dealer Dryden Fellows and Montmorency the cat. 
 
For Molly is a girl on a mission: to discover the truth behind Lufferton Boney's most notorious resident, the giant (and slightly obscene) Gnome etched into the face of Pound Hill. And along the way, she has some personal demons to settle...

The Lovers of Pound Hill

Gabriel García Márquez

Sweeping through crumbling towns, travelling fairs and windswept ports, Gabriel García Márquez introduces a host of extraordinary characters and communities in his mesmerising tales of everyday life: smugglers, bagpipers, the President and Pope at the funeral of Macondo's revered matriarch; a very old angel with enormous wings. Teeming with the magical oddities for which his novels are loved, Márquez's stories are a delight. 
 
Gabriel García Márquez's Collected Stories are re-issued on Gabriel García Márquez 's birthday to celebrate the publication of his books as ebooks for the first time.

Collected Stories

John Fuller

Discovered in the secret compartment of a North Italian cabinet, this enchanting manuscript may or may not be complete, and it may or may not be intended for posterity. Undeterred by these uncertainties, John Fuller gives us the early nineteenth-century 'memoirs' of Laetitia Horsepole, painter, philosopher and femme fatale. Shelley, apparently, came across this formidable woman, aged ninety, on his travels through Italy, and became her confidant and neighbour. Why, the reader may wonder, is she not better known? Why indeed? That long spell in Madagascar certainly interrupted her career. She was prickly and disinclined to ingratiate herself with the arbiters of fashionable taste. And then her virtual disappearance to Italy didn't help matters. But her obscurity gives added piquancy to the memoirs which - her idiosyncratic art theory and philosophy apart - are above all a dramatic eighteenth-century adventure in five acts which reflect her tempestuous involvement with the five 'husbands' of her life, from the brutish Crowther and the dull and the rich but louche Count Chiavari. Laetitia reflects on the vagaries of love and erotic involvement, on art and men, on flora and fauna, and reveals for the first time what actually happened in Madagascar. Shamelessly enjoyable, teasingly allusive, irresistibly funny and sometimes sad, Laetitia's is quite simply a brilliant and bewitching romance full of truths that lie deeper than fact.

The Memoirs of Laetitia Horsepole

Eugene O'Neill

Nine classic plays from the award-winning American dramatist, plus a selection of his poetry 
 
Eugene O'Neill’s revolutionary 20th century dramas changed the direction of American theatre, introducing European realism and experimental techniques to the US stage. He wrote more than 50 plays, portraying characters on the margins of society and tackling controversial issues, winning a Nobel Prize, and four Pulitzer Prizes. 
 
We open our collection with his magnificent autobiographical magnum opus, Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Described by the playwright as having been ‘written in tears and blood’, it recounts one tragic day in the lives of the Tyrone family, as they struggle with addiction, disease and despair. Next is The Hairy Ape, based on O’Neill’s experiences as a labourer on a transatlantic liner. A Moon for the Misbegotten, the sequel to Long Day’s Journey Into Night, follows grief-stricken alcoholic Jamie Tyrone as he grasps at love under the Connecticut moonlight. Meanwhile, Desire Under the Elms plays out the themes of Greek tragedy in 1850s New England. 
 
Widely considered as O’Neill’s finest work, The Iceman Cometh is an epic tale chronicling the pipe dreams and shattered illusions of a group of no-hopers in a seedy New York bar. It is followed by another Manhattan-based drama, Hughie. Divided into three parts Mourning Becomes Electra retells the story of The Oresteia, Aeschylus’ tragedy of passion, murder, suicide, revenge and a family destroyed by Fate. In contrast, the comedy Ah, Wilderness! is a sentimental portrait of young love and small-town domesticity. And in Anna Christie, a prostitute finds a chance for redemption when she is reunited with her estranged sea-captain father and falls in love with a sailor. 
 
Also included is a bonus programme, The Quest for the Golden Girl, featuring some of O’Neill’s comic and romantic poems, read by John Fellows and Denis Lawson. 
 
NB: Some of these pieces contain language and attitudes that reflect the age in which they are set. 
 
First published 1920 (Anna Christie), 1922 (The Hairy Ape), 1925 (Desire Under the Elms), 1931 (Mourning Becomes Electra), 1933 (Ah, Wilderness!), 1940 (The Iceman Cometh), 1941 (Hughie), 1941-43 (A Moon for the Misbegotten), 1956 (Long Day’s Journey Into Night) 
 
Content List 
<ul><li>Long Day’s Journey Into Night</li><li>The Hairy Ape</li><li>A Moon for the Misbegotten</li><li>Desire Under the Elms</li><li>The Iceman Cometh</li><li>Hughie</li><li>Mourning Becomes Electra</li><li>Ah, Wilderness!</li><li>Anna Christie</li><li>The Quest of the Golden Girl</li></ul>'If you like the plays of Eugene O'Neill, then there's a lot to enjoy in this comprehensive collection, which provides listeners with almost nineteen hours' worth of material ... His ear for dialogue, brought to life by different generations of excellent actors, ensures that his words are a pleasure to listen to' - Greg Jameson. 
 
© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Eugene O’Neill: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

9 Full-Cast Productions including Long Day’s Journey into the Night, The Hairy Ape, The Iceman Cometh & more

Judith Saxton

A SAGA OF A YOUNG GIRL'S STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL ON THE ISLAND OF JERSEY DURING THE NAZI SECOND WORLD WAR OCCUPATION. After the death of Rochelle Dubois's parents, she is adopted by their employer, Charles Laurient, and together she and Charles work to rear his treasured rare orchids. But when war breaks out, Rochelle is left to do her best for herself and her precious seedlings, for Charles is taken away by the Germans. The arrival of his son Laurie from America could be her salvation.

This Royal Breed

Susan Sallis

They were just schoolgirls - evacuees - when they first met the Reid brothers. Berry was the one who dazzled them - handsome, funny, sexy, he somehow symbolized that golden summer of the war when they all worked together on the farm. Then their world collapsed around them. 
 
Morag, the strongest and quietest of the three girls, lost everything she held dear in one savage bombing. Vallery's beloved brother was killed in the desert war, and Jannie - well, Jannie had never had much to start with anyway. With a father away at war and a succession of 'uncles' passing through her mother's bedroom, she grew up both insecure and promiscuous. But still, she had Morag and Vallery. 
 
When the Reid boys returned from the war it was Berry, the vibrant one, who had changed. Crippled, both in mind and body, he held the dream of Morag in his mind, even though it was Vallery he married. As they settled to a life in the remote cliff-side Abbey, away from everyone, so the old ties between the three girls and the Reid brothers grew more intense, more confused - and Morag, Vallery and Jannie discovered that Berry still had the power to draw them all to him.

Touched By Angels

a compelling wartime saga capturing the lives and loves of three young women by bestselling author Susan Sallis

Set in the small fishing village of Bexham, this follows the fortunes of the characters we met in The Chestnut Tree and The Wind off the Sea. Million copy and Sunday Times bestselling author Charlotte Bingham has penned a novel so engaging and captivating, you won't be able to put it down. Fans of Louise Douglas, Dinah Jefferies and Kristin Hannah will not be disappointed. 
 
'Charlotte Bingham portrays the characters with great sympathy and sets them firmly in the sixties. There is tragedy, humour and warmth. If you like a good realistic story you will enjoy this.' -- HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW 
'I couldn't wait to go to bed each night to continue reading the story'-- ***** Reader review 
'Comfortable and stylish' -- ***** Reader review 
'Just wonderful!' -- ***** Reader review 
'I found I couldn't put it down... FANTASTIC!!' -- ***** Reader review 
******************************************************************************************* 
WAR IS LONG OVER, BUT NEW BATTLES ARE JUST BEGINNING... 
 
1962: times feel bleak again. The threat of atomic warfare feels real and, for many, life seems all the more bewildering as they struggle to understand the new generation of the Sixties, a generation for whom they made so many wartime sacrifices, for whom they had such high hopes. 
 
No sooner has the threat of nuclear war seemed to have passed than Judy, Mathilda and Rusty are facing a new, personal crisis brought about by their teenage children. Still grieving for his lost wife, Waldo Astley tries his best to help his three friends, only to find himself falling in love with one of them... 
 
 Meanwhile the younger generation have their own problems, all of which involve their families. 
 
That all the generations find themselves once more united in a battle, this time to save the village they love, is both an irony and finally, a saving grace. 
 
Once more an enemy has to be defeated, once more they must arm themselves, but this time for a war of a very different kind.

The Moon At Midnight

(The Bexham Trilogy: 3): a thoroughly engrossing story about the generational conflict during the 1960s from bestselling author Charlotte Bingham

Fans of Dilly Court, Rosie Goodwin and Kitty Neale will love this moving, emotional and riveting saga from the pen of bestselling author Iris Gower. 
 
READERS ARE LOVING DREAM CATCHER! 
"Captures the imagination" - 5 STARS 
"This was such a gripping story I enjoyed every page" - 5 STARS 
"Really captures the essence of the Welsh culture" - 5 STARS 
"Another fabulous book by Iris Gower" - 5 STARS 
 
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UNEXPECTED EVENTS THREATEN TO DESTROY HER MARRIAGE...AND HER LIFE. 
 
The wedding of Llinos Savage, the young saviour of the Savage Pottery, and the fascinating Joe Mainwaring sets the small sea front town of Swansea ablaze with gossip for Joe is always seen by the Swansea elite as a foreigner and an outsider. 
 
When Llinos's father dies after a long illness, she is devastated, but her grief turns to fear when Joe is accused of his father-in-law's murder by the local doctor and is imprisoned along with thieves and debtors. 
 
There among the filth and dirt, Joe makes friends with an old man, and this brief friendship, formed in the most ill-fated circumstances, proves to be the catalyst to a series of events which unexpectedly threaten to destroy the marriage and the very lives of Joe and Llinos... 
 
Dream Catcher is the second novel in Iris Gower's Firebird series. The saga continues in Sweet Rosie. Have you read Firebird, where the story began?

Dream Catcher

(Firebird:2) A dramatic and heart-wrenching romantic Welsh saga that will have you gripped

Anton Chekhov

BBC radio productions of some of Anton Chekhov's finest plays 
 
A master of Russian realism, Anton Chekhov is renowned for his meticulously observed plays and short stories exploring the human condition, in all its joys and sorrows. Included here are six of his best-known dramas, as well as Michael Frayn's adaptation of Wild Honey, drawn from an early, untitled Chekhov play; and one documentary exploring Chekhov's life and work. 
 
Wild Honey - The acclaimed radio version of Michael Frayn's adaptation and Olivier Award-winning comedy, in which village teacher Platonov's youthful ambitions are rekindled when the seductive Sofya arrives. Ian McKellen stars as Platonov 
 
The Seagull- Recorded on location in Russia, this much-praised version of Chekhov's classic set on a lakeside dacha features a star cast including Diana Quick, Alex Jennings, Robert Glenister and Helena Bonham-Carter. 
 
Ivanov - 19th Century landowner Ivanov is in debt and depressed - can the love of a beautiful young woman rejuvenate him? Alec McCowan, Maurice Denham, Maxine Audley and Judi Dench star in this vintage production, adapted by John Gielgud. 
 
The Cherry Orchard- Returning home from Paris, Madame Ranyevskaya and her daughter Anya discover that the family estate must be sold to cover their debts. Can they save their beloved cherry orchard? Starring Sinéad Cusack, Anna Massey, Patricia Routledge and Andrew Sachs. 
 
Three Sisters - Stuck in provincial Russia, Olga, Masha and Irina dream of one day returning to Moscow. But life keeps getting in the way... Hattie Morahan, Scarlett Alice Johnson and Flora Spencer-Longhurst star in Chekhov's poignant meditation on love and longing. 
 
Uncle Vanya - Life on a rural Russian estate is thrown into turmoil by the visit of the ailing Professor Serebryakov and his beautiful young wife Yelena. Anton Lesser stars as Serebryakov, with Lyndsey Marshal as Yelena and Neil Dudgeon as Vanya. 
 
Great Lives - Matthew Parris, William Boyd and Chekhov biographer Donald Rayfield consider the Russian writer's claim to greatness. 
 
First published 1887 (Ivanov), 1895 (The Seagull), 1898 (Uncle Vanya), 1900 (Three Sisters), 1904 (The Cherry Orchard), 1984 (Wild Honey) 
Wild Honey © Michael Frayn 1984, 1985, 2016 
Michael Frayn has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work 
All rights reserved 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Anton Chekhov 
Wild Honey translated and adapted by Michael Frayn 
Cherry Orchard - Translated by Richard Cottrell 
Uncle Vanya - Adapted by Christopher Hampton 
 
Contents list 
Wild Honey 
The Seagull 
Ivanov 
The Cherry Orchard 
Three Sisters 
Uncle Vanya 
Great Lives: Anton Chekhov 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Anton Chekhov: 6 Full-Cast BBC Radio Productions

The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, Wild Honey & More

'Suddenly, as if a whirlwind had set down roots in the center of the town, the banana company arrived, pursued by the leaf storm' 
 
A blizzard of slums descends on Macondo; the inhabitants reel at the accompanying stench. When the banana company leaves town as fast as it arrived, they are left with a void of decay. 
 
Living in this soulless wasteland is one last honourable man, who is determined to fulfil a longstanding promise, however unpalatable. 
 
Leaf Storm is re-issued on Gabriel García Márquez 's birthday to celebrate the publication of his books in ebook for the first time.

Leaf Storm

Emily Rath

James Corbin, Viscount Finchley, has two goals: guarantee his brother George gets married, and ensure his best friend Burke does not... at least not to the gorgon that is Lady Olivia Rutledge. 
 
Burke is fully onboard with this plan. Together with their friend Renley, the gentlemen concoct an elaborate ruse designed to set Burke free from his matrimonial snare. 
 
George is finally engaged, but as the day of his wedding approaches, secrets from their past emerge, threatening each of their futures. Can James survive his brother's debauchery? Can Burke survive the social politics threatening to confine him? Can Renley… survive? 
 
Rosalie Harrow, a young lady without family, fortune, or title, tears through their lives with plans of her own: save Burke from the altar, save Renley from the ghosts that haunt him, and save James from himself. 
 
For love of Rosalie, the gentlemen must prove willing to try anything, risk anything, and be anything she needs.

His Grace, The Duke

From the turn of the century, through two world wars and a depression, the Neyler family face heartbreak and tragedy together.

Book One in the compelling Neyler Quartet, following the triumphs and tragedies of a wealthy family through the first fifty tumultuous years of the twentieth century 
 
Book One in the compelling Neyler Quartet 
 
1901 
 
Tina Rose is the beloved daughter of a wealthy Jewish family, while Edward grew up with an abusive father in the wilds of New Zealand. 
 
Despite their differences, the two fall madly in love when Edward arrives in England, looking for a better future. 
 
However, the consequences of their love affair are terrible for Tina as she is shamed by the father she adores, and Edward is sent away. 
 
Against all the odds, Tina and Edward find each other again, and despite great hardship and tragedy, together they build a dynasty strong enough to withstand some of the worst catastrophes Britain has ever known. 
 
The Pride is a magnificent start to a stunning family saga.

The Pride

Book One in the Neyler Quartet

Trisha Ashley

A lost journal. A long-buried secret. A story waiting to be told. 
 
Cleo Finch has loved gothic literature all her life. She’s spent years researching and writing her thesis on the works of one gothic novelist in particular, Orlando Browne, and is determined to prove that Browne was the pen name of a female author, Alys Weston. 
 
But as her best friend Tris never fails to remind her, she still hasn’t succeeded in finding concrete evidence that proves this to be true. 
 
That is, until Cleo’s Uncle Ambrose gifts her Alys’ very own diary. 
 
As Cleo begins deciphering Alys' daily entries, she finds herself utterly absorbed by Alys' vivid descriptions - particularly of the rakish Lord Rayven - and the challenges Alys faced trying to keep Orlando’s true identity a secret. 
 
And so, newly inspired, Cleo sets aside her thesis to pen a gothic novel of her own . . .

The Book of Lost Stories

Jane Austen

A female-centred collection of four dramatisations celebrating Jane Austen’s classic novels - plus bonus series When I Met Jane Austen 
 
On 16 December 1775, a literary icon was born. Jane Austen’s groundbreaking novels pioneered the romantic comedy genre and put women front and centre, depicting their innermost thoughts and feelings. To celebrate her 250th anniversary, here are four new dramas, focusing on the fabulous, flawed, funny and fascinating women who blaze out from her books. Full of her characteristic wit and biting comedy, they feature star-studded casts including Tamsin Greig, Isabella Laughland, Luke Thompson, Miles Jupp, Adjoa Andoh, and Ben Hardy. 
 
Pride and Prejudice – Featuring one of the best-loved heroines in literature – lively, quick-witted Elizabeth Bennet – this dramatisation tells the story of the five Bennet sisters’ romantic escapades, as they endeavour to fulfil their mother’s dreams and marry well. 
 
Sense and Sensibility – When their father’s death turns their world upside down, rational, reserved Elinor Dashwood and her impulsive, emotional sister Marianne leave their old lives behind and embark on a voyage of romantic discovery. 
 
Northanger Abbey – Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is a kind, honest and unworldly young woman with a head full of Gothic novels and little experience of the real world. So when wealthy, handsome Henry Tilney invites her to Northanger Abbey, she is determined to discover its dark secrets... 
 
Mansfield Park – Aged just nine, Fanny Price is sent away from her impoverished parents to live with her rich relatives at Mansfield Park. Shaped by family and adversity, this displaced child becomes a fiercely moral young woman with an unshakable conscience – and as she navigates the complexities of love and jealousy, her true strength of character is revealed. 
 
When I Met Jane Austen – Ten of the world’s most prominent authors and thinkers talk to Jane Austen biographer Paula Byrne about when they first encountered the great writer. Featuring contributions from David Baddiel, Andrew Davies, Amy Heckerling, Marlon James, Philippa Perry, Gurinder Chadha, Val McDermid, Colm Toibin, Katherine Rundell and Kate Atkinson. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by Jane Austen 
 
Pride and Prejudice 
Starring Tamsin Greig, Isabella Laughland, Luke Thompson, Miles Jupp, Rosie Cavaliero, Lucy Doyle, Kitty O’Sullivan, Gaia Wise, Imogen Front, Louis Landau, Toby Regbo, Adjoa Andoh, Catherine Bailey, Josh Bryant-Jones, Sasha McCabe, Jasmine Hyde, Clive Haywood, and Sarah Thom 
 
Dramatised by award winning writer Rachel Joyce 
Produced by Tracey Neale 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 Dec 2025 
 
Sense and Sensibility 
Starring Tamsin Greig, Madeleine Mantock, Rose Basista, Ben Hardy, Enyi Okoronkwo, Richard Goulding, Ava Talbot, Jasmine Hyde, Carolyn Pickles, Clive Hayward, Django Bevan, Sasha McCabe, and Bethan Rose Young 
 
Dramatised by Claudine Toutoungi 
Produced by Anne Isger 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 Dec 2025 
 
Northanger Abbey 
Starring Madeleine Gray, Will Howard, Cecilia Appiah, Ella Smith, John Heffernan, Scarlett Courtney, Jasmine Hyde, Josh Bryant-Jones, and Django Bevan 
 
Dramatised by Clara Glynn 
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2-9 Nov 2025 
 
Mansfield Park 
Starring Lydia Wilson, Bryan Dick, Tala Gouveia, Tom Mothersdale, Janice Acquah, Madeleine Worrall, Joshua Riley, John Hollingworth, Samuel Valentine, Faith Alabi, and Hollie Burgess 
 
Dramatised by Clara Glynn 
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10-17 Jul 2022When I Met Jane Austen 
Presented by Paula Byrne 
With David Baddiel, Andrew Davies, Amy Heckerling, Marlon James, Philippa Perry, Gurinder Chadha, Val McDermid, Colm Toibin, Katherine Rundell and Kate AtkinsonProduced by Maggie Ayre 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 8-19 Dec 2025 
© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Jane Austen: The 250th Anniversary Collection

Four Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisations

Judith McNaught

No beauty in England could outshine Elizabeth Cameron, Countess of Havenhurst. But beneath her exquisite emerald eyes and cloud of golden hair, lived a girl of rare gentleness, good humour, and a splendid, even ferocious courage. In Ian Thornton's powerful embrace, Elizabeth felt the first stirrings of a passion that blazed through her senses. Yet for Thornton, a dangerously handsome man of secret wealth and mysterious lineage, the voyage to Elizabeth's heart was fraught with intrigue, scandal, and a venomous jealousy. From the elegant salons of London, to the wild beauty of the Scottish Highlands, their tempestuous, dramatic romance was played out, a romance between two lovers destined for each other, even though they refused to admit it.

Almost Heaven

Iris Costello

Spring 1937: Teresa, a young Basque girl, is evacuated to London in the wake of the Guernica bombing. She thinks she has reached safety in the lofty halls of Rochester Place and the soothing arms of Mary Davidson, but trouble seeks her out wherever she goes... 
 
Autumn 2020: Corinne, an emergency services operator, receives a call from a distressed woman called Mary. But when the ambulance arrives at Rochester Place - the address the woman gave them - she is nowhere to be found. No matter how hard she tries to forget, memories of Mary's raw fear haunt Corinne and secrets, long-hidden in Corinne's family tree, begin to surface. 
 
Is Mary calling from beyond the grave? And what actually happened at Rochester Place all those years ago? 
 
Set between the dusty halls of Rochester Place and the bustling streets of modern-day Tooting, this emotive, intricately layered mystery tells the spellbinding story of two people, separated by time, yet mysteriously connected through an enchanting Georgian house and the secrets within its walls. The perfect escapist read for fans of Kate Morton, Eve Chase and Lulu Taylor.

The Secrets of Rochester Place

Unravel this spellbinding tale of family drama, love and betrayal

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