The Clan of the Cave Bear
Summary
This novel of awesome beauty and power is a moving saga about people, relationships, and the boundaries of love. Nominated as one of Americaâs best-loved novels by PBSâs The Great American Read Through Jean M. Auelâs magnificent storytelling we are taken back to the dawn of modern humans, and with a girl named Ayla we are swept up in the harsh and beautiful Ice Age world they shared with the ones who called themselves The Clan of the Cave Bear. A natural disaster leaves the young girl wandering alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous land until she is found by a woman of the Clan, people very different from her own kind. To them, blond, blue-eyed Ayla looks peculiar and ugly - she is one of the Others, those who have moved into their ancient homeland; but Iza cannot leave the girl to die and takes her with them. Iza and Creb, the old Mog-ur, grow to love her, and as Ayla learns the ways of the Clan and Izaâs way of healing, most come to accept her. But the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader sees her differences as a threat to his authority. He develops a deep and abiding hatred for the strange girl of the Others who lives in their midst, and is determined to get his revenge.Â
©1980 by Jean M. Auel. (P)1986 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Othello
Summary
This widely studied play is one of the "best sellers" of the Shakespeare canon. This production is the sixth Shakespeare play in the series undertaken by Naxos AudioBooks in conjunction with Cambridge University Press. The full cast also includes Roger May, Roy Spencer, Simon Weir, David Timson, Jonathan Keeble, Stephen Thorne, Peter Yapp, John McAndrew, and Alison Pettit. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
Public Domain (P)2010 Naxos Audiobooks
Countdown to Peace
Summary
An audio dramatisation in 6 episodes of With Our Backs To The Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918 by David Stevenson, Professor of International History at the LSE. 'How Germany, having seemingly come so close to victory in the Spring and Summer of 1918, was forced on to the defensive in September. By October, it had initiated negotiations for peace, signing an armistice on November 11th.' This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all 6 episodes to your Library now.
©2019 Audible, Ltd. (P)2019 Audible, Ltd.
A Trespasser's Guide to the Classics
Summary
Comedy troupe Peepolykus star in their own BBC Radio 4 sketch show, creating eight riotous reboots of literary classics. Peepolykus (pronounced 'people-like-us') have toured their irreverent brand of comic theatre in over 100 towns across four continents. Now they've taken to the airwaves, hijacking the great works of fiction to hilarious effect. Assuming the roles of minor characters in major works, they derail the plots through their own hapless buffoonery, and from Madame Bovary to Macbeth, familiar stories take an unexpected turn. Two painter/decorators do irreparable damage to the portrait of a certain Mr Gray. An early plastic surgeon has her work cut out when she meets a Frenchman with the most wonderfully large nose. A pair of sailors, hiding out on a deserted island, are discovered by a long-forgotten castaway and his Spanish manservant. And a Whitby magician, preparing to compete with Harry Houdini, notices strange bite marks on the neck of a woman he has just met. Anarchic, ridiculous and uproariously funny, A Trespasser's Guide to the Classics is written and performed by John Nicholson, Richard Katz and Javier Marzan. Production credits: Written and performed by John Nicholson, Richard Katz and Javier Marzan Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko (The Nose directed by Emma Harding and produced by Sasha Yevtushenko) Peepolykus is produced by Eleanor Lloyd Productions Episode Titles: Series 1 1 - Mr Gray's Decorators 2 - The Rat-Catchers of Yonville 3 - A Fistful of Sand 4 - Tell Me a Story Series 2 1 - The Neck 2 - The Nose 3 - The Prophecy 4 - The Auction
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Longbourn
Summary
Pride and Prejudice was only half the story If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, sheâd most likely be a sight more careful with them. In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs. When a mysterious new footman arrives, the orderly realm of the servantsâ hall threatens to be completely, perhaps irrevocably, upended. Jo Baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Jane Austenâs classic - into the often overlooked domain of the stern housekeeper and the starry-eyed kitchen maid, into the gritty daily particulars faced by the lower classes in Regency England during the Napoleonic Wars - and, in doing so, creates a vivid, fascinating, fully realized world that is wholly her own.
©2013 Jo Baker (P)2013 Random House Audio
Vanity Fair
Summary
Stephen Fry narrates this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of the famous Victorian comic novel.
Orphan Becky Sharp and wealthy Amelia Sedley are best friends at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies. On leaving school, ambitious, social-climbing Becky looks for a rich man to support her, while the sweet-natured Amelia meets her old friend Dobbin, who is instantly captivated.
Becky takes a job in the service of Sir Pitt Crawley, and uses her charm to hook his dashing son. However, marriage to Captain Rawdon of the Guards does not provide the fortune she seeks. Meanwhile, Amelia rejects the faithful Dobbin and becomes engaged to the handsome George Osborne â but destiny has some shocks in store for her, too.
As time goes by, the girls' fortunes rise and fall. War, financial disaster and the ruin of her reputation leave the resourceful Becky undaunted, but Amelia finds it harder to bear fate's blows. It will be many years before their story is played out, and their futures finally decided....
William Makepeace Thackeray's classic satire of passion and ambition, first published in 1847 and 1848, is a deliciously ironic portrait of English society and its mores. This engaging 2004 radio production, published for the first time on audio, features a distinguished cast including Emma Fielding as Becky Sharp, Katy Cavanagh as Amelia and Toby Jones as Jos Sedley.
Duration: 5 hours approx.
©2016 BBC Worldwide Ltd. (P)2016 BBC Worldwide Ltd.
Love's Labor's Lost: The Arkangel Shakespeare
Summary
A play replete with puns and double-entendres, this is one of Shakespeare's earliest and most lighthearted. The young king of Navarre and three of his courtiers have vowed to lock themselves away for three years of study and fasting, and to forswear the company of women for this period. No sooner is their vow made than it is tested, however, as the princess of France and three of her ladies arrive in Navarre on a diplomatic mission. The young men fall instantly and hopelessly in love, and the tension between their vow and their passion forms the subject of this charming and sparkling early comedy. Berowne is played by Alex Jennings and Rosaline by Emma Fielding. Samantha Bond is the princess, and Greg Wise the king of Navarre. Alan Howard plays Don Armado.
Public Domain (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Secret Asset
Summary
MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle learns from one of her agents that suspicious meetings have been taking place at an Islamic bookshop. She feels instinctively that a terrorist cell is at work and when she reports this to Charles Wetherby, the Director of Counter Terrorism, a surveillance operation is immediately put into place. An attack seems imminent. So Liz is surprised when Wetherby takes her off the case - this is just her sort of operation. However, Wetherby has some very disturbing news. He has received a tip-off that a mole has been planted in one of the branches of British Intelligence. If true, then the potential damage to the Service itself could be immeasurable. As her colleagues try to counter an impending terrorist strike, Liz must use all her skills to find out who the mole is, and what their intentions are, before it is too late. In Secret Asset, the second Liz Carlyle novel, Stella Rimington once again brings all her experience to bear in a truly compelling thriller that takes the reader into a world where no-one can be trusted and nothing is what is seems.
©2006 Stella Rimington (P)2006 Random House
Illegal Action
Summary
Liz Carlyle has been transferred to Counter-Espionage, along with her research sidekick Peggy Kingsolving. Although the department has downsized since the end of the Cold War, there are still spies: including Russian spies who now keep an eye on the international financial community as well as the wealthy, influential Russian "oligarchs" in London. Liz is assigned to stop a Russian government plot to "silence" one of these oligarchs, Nikita Brunovsky, who is an increasingly vocal opponent of the Putin regime. Almost simultaneously, Liz and Peggy learn of the presence of an Illegal Support officer in London, one Vladimir Rykov, who is putatively attached to the Russian embassy. An Illegal is someone who operates (often for many years) under a completely fabricated identity - and Rykov, it seem, has been sent to London to help an Illegal now based there. To protect Brunovsky from his Kremlin foes, Liz goes undercover and joins the oligarch's retinue. As she tries to determine who around the Russian might be willing to betray him, she has to consider too whether this traitor may not also be the Illegal she and Peggy are seeking.
© Stella Rimington; (P) Random House
The Turn of the Screw
Summary
Released in our new Young Adult Classics format, Henry James's classic ghost story is a masterpiece of the supernatural. The tale is taken from the diary of a governess, who describes her mounting sense of paranoia at the relationship between her two wards and the ghostly figures that haunt the estate. Menacing, ambiguous and haunted by a pervading sense of evil, The Turn of the Screw is one of the most powerful and enduring tales of the 19th century. Emma Fielding gives a compelling reading of a story in which nothing is certain, and madness lurks around every corner.
Public Domain (P)2009 Naxos Audiobooks
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Dramatised)
Summary
Here is Linda Marshallâs BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of L Frank Baum's children's classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, originally broadcast as part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season. When a tornado strikes her farmhouse in Kansas, young Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are lifted to the magical Land of Oz, the strange home of the Munchkins. There she embarks upon a perilous journey, befriending the Tinman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion, who join her quest to find the Wizard of Oz and a way back home. This timeless story, which has enchanted generations of children both young and old, is brought to life again in this dramatisation. It stars Amelia Clarkson as Dorothy; Jonathan Keeble as the Wizard of Oz, Kalidah, and Uncle Henry; Kevin Eldon as the Scarecrow; Burn Gorman as the Tinman; Zubin Varla as the Lion; and Emma Fielding as the witches of the North, South, and West, and as Aunt Em. It also stars Andrew Westfield and Graeme Hawley. With Original Music by Olly Fox and directed by Nadia Molinari.
©2010 AudioGO Ltd (P)2010 AudioGO Ltd
Sarah Thornhill
Summary
Sarah Thornhill is the youngest child of William Thornhill, convict-turned-landowner on the Hawkesbury River. Her stepmother calls her wilful, but handsome Jack Langland loves her and she loves him. 'Me and Jack', she thinks. 'How could it go wrong?' But there's an ugly secret in Sarah's family. That secret takes her into the darkness of the past, and across the ocean to the wild coasts of New Zealand. Among the strangers of that other place, she can begin to understand. Kate Grenville takes us back to the early Australia of The Secret River and the Thornhill family. This is Sarah's story. It's a story of love lost and found, tangled histories and how it matters to keep stories alive.
©2012 Kate Grenville (P)2012 Canongate Books
Lady Windermere's Fan
Summary
Oscar Wilde's first play confronts the hypocrisy of public "morality" compared with genuine, private kindness. When it opened in 1892, Lady Windermere's Fan was an instant success and now, more than a century later, it continues to be revived frequently. The reasons for its popularity are not difficult to identify: the play's witty dialogue contains many of Wilde's most quoted aphorisms, its stylish setting provides opportunities for elegant presentation, and its cast of memorable characters play out a story which is genuinely moving. This new audio production brings together a full cast worthy of Wilde's creative genius. The full list of narrators includes: Samuel West, Michael Sheen, Derek Waring, Peter Yapp, Nicholas Boulton, Benjamin Soames, Rod Beacham, Emma Fielding, Sarah Badel, Elaine Claxton, Delia Paton, and Juliet Stevenson.
©1997 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd. (P)1997 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.
Untold Story
Summary
When Princess Diana died in Paris's Alma tunnel, she was 37 years old. Had she lived, she would turn 50 on July 1, 2011. Who would the beloved icon be if she were alive today? What would she be doing? And where? One of the most versatile and bold writers of our time, Monica Ali has imagined a different fate for Diana in her spectacular new novel, Untold Story. Diana's life and marriage were both fairytale and nightmare rolled into one. Adored by millions, she suffered rejection, heartbreak, and betrayal. Surrounded by glamour and glitz and the constant attention of the press, she fought to carve a meaningful role for herself in helping the needy and dispossessed. The contradictions and pressures of her situation fueled her increasingly reckless behavior, but her stature and her connection with her public never ceased to grow. If Diana had lived, would she ever have found peace and happiness, or would the curse of fame always have been too great? Fast forward a decade after the (averted) Paris tragedy, and an Englishwoman named Lydia is living in a small, nondescript town somewhere in the American Midwest. She has a circle of friends: one owns a dress shop; one is a Realtor; another is a frenzied stay-at-home mom. Lydia volunteers at an animal shelter, and swims a lot. Her lover, who adores her, feels she won't let him know her. Who is she? Untold Story is about the cost of celebrity, the meaning of identity, and the possibility - or impossibility - of reinventing a life. Ali's fictional princess is beautiful, intrepid, and resourceful, and has established a fragile peace. And then the past threatens to destroy her new life. Ali has created a riveting novel inspired by the cultural icon she calls "a gorgeous bundle of trouble."
©2011 Monica Ali (P)2011 Simon & Schuster