Showing results by narrator "Juliette Stevenson" in All Categories

In Madame Bovary, one of the great novels of 19th-century France, Flaubert draws a deeply felt and sympathetic portrait of a woman who, having married a country doctor and found herself unhappy with a rural, genteel existence, longs for love and excitement. However, her aspirations and her desires to escape only bring her further disappointment and eventually lead to unexpected, painful consequences. Flaubert’s critical portrait of bourgeois provincial life remains as powerful as ever

Eve and Liza, Mother and Daughter, live a quiet life in their remote home; a rustic gatehouse of a country mansion. At first glance their lives appear quite ordinary, except that Liza has almost no knowledge of the outside world, has never played with a child her own age and has witnessed her mother commit murder, on multiple occasions.

Night and Day, is a story about a group of young people trying to discover what it means to fall in love. It asks all the big questions: What does it mean to fall in love? Does marriage grant happiness? What is happiness? Night and Day is a conventional novel; however, it maps out for us the world of Virginia Woolf in its wondrous prose: for her it was the beginning, leading on to a prolonged engagement with her search for the means to express the 'inner life'.

Bright, attractive and well-connected, in any other family the Churchill sisters - Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary - would have shone. But they were not in any other family; they were Churchills, and neither they nor anyone else could ever forget it. From their father - ‘the greatest Englishman’ - to their brother, golden boy Randolph, to their eccentric and exciting cousins, the Mitford Girls, they were surrounded by a clan of larger-than-life characters which often saw them overlooked.

Mrs. Harris is a salt-of-the-earth charlady, content with her lot, cleaning the homes of the rich. However, her knack of setting things straight often has the tendency to stray beyond keeping things neat and tidy. In Mrs Harris MP, the honest as-ever old char impresses her employer with her no-nonsense political views to such an extent that he—an MP, no less—encourages her to become a voice for the people of Battersea and stand for election herself.

The Girls of Slender Means is the third Muriel Spark audio release of 2012, following The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and The Complete Short Stories. It is 1945; a time of cultural and political change, and also one of slender means. Spark's evocative and sharply drawn novel focuses on a group of women living together in a hostel in Kensington who face new challenges in uncertain times. The novel is at once dramatic and character-based, and shows Muriel Spark at the height of her literary powers.

For 70 years now Desert Island Discs has managed that rare feat - to be both enduring and relevant. By casting away the biggest names of the day in science, business, politics, showbiz, sport, and the arts, it presents a cross-sectional snapshot of the times in which we live. As the decades have passed, the programme has kept pace; never frozen in time yet always, somehow, comfortingly the same.

BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs celebrates its 70 birthday in 2012.

The Complete Charles Dickens Collection: Part One contains all of Charles Dickens' major published works from 1836 to 1849. From the short stories by 'Boz' which began Dickens' journey as an author, to the great works of literature that have inspired generations - including Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, and more - and essays that give us a deeper insight into his life, opinions, and travels, this collection is an essential addition to your library.

Man and Superman was the first drama to be broadcast on the BBC's Third Programme on October 1, 1946. To celebrate Radio 3's 50th anniversary, the play was directed by Sir Peter Hall, and preserved for all time in this lush audio dramatization. 'A comedy and a philosophy', Man and Superman is based on the Don Juan theme, and using all the elements from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Shaw reordered them so that Don Juan becomes the quarry instead of the huntsman.

Voices of History celebrates the great speeches of world history and cultural life. In this exuberant collection, Simon Sebag Montefiore takes us on a journey from ancient times to the 21st century: some speeches are heroic and inspiring; some diabolical and atrocious; some are exquisite and poignant; others cruel and chilling. The speakers themselves vary from empresses and conquerors to rock stars, novelists and sportsmen, dreamers and killers, from Churchill and Elizabeth I to Stalin and Genghis Khan, and from Michelle Obama and Cleopatra to Bob Dylan, Nehru and Muhammad Ali.

Christopher Lee's highly acclaimed and award-winning BBC Radio 4 history of the British Empire.

Ailsa Tilson moves with her husband and children to Trinity Fields in search of the new. New project - a house to renovate. New people - no links to the past. New friends - especially her next-door neighbour, the lonely Verity, who needs her help. Verity has lived in Trinity Fields all her life. She's always resisted change. Her home and belongings are a shield, a defence to keep the outside world at bay. But something about the Tilsons piques her interest. Just as her ivy creeps through the shared garden fence, so Verity will work her way into the Tilson family....

This audiobook narrated by Juliet Stevenson shares the story of a world-renowned physicist who seeks gravity’s true nature and finds wisdom in embracing its force in her life.

For most people, giving up the day job and moving to a beautiful area of France and living off the vines is an impossible but delicious dream. In 1990, Patricia Atkinson and her husband decided to sell up in Britain and emigrate to the Dordogne. Their idea was to buy a house with a few vines attached and employ someone to tend to the wine while they earned their living with some financial consultancy work.

In Letters of Note: Dogs, Shaun Usher brings together a delightful collection of correspondence about our canine friends, featuring affectionate accounts of pups’ playful misdemeanours, heartfelt tributes to loyal fidos and shared tales of remarkable hounds.

Wealthy Maggie Verver has everything she could ever ask for - except a husband and a title. While in Italy, acquiring art for his museum back in the States, Maggie’s millionaire father, Adam, decides to remedy this and acquire a husband for Maggie. Enter Prince Amerigo, of a titled but now poor aristocratic Florentine family. Amerigo is the perfect candidate.

Jennifer Quinn has a secret. Her love of baking has just won her a spot as a contestant on a primetime TV show. It's only the second time in fifty-nine years that she's kept something from her beloved husband Bernard. She's about to be whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras, timed challenges and celebrity judges. She could be in with a chance of being crowned the best baker in Britain. But, as Mrs Quinn's quiet ambitions turn into unexpected stardom, the other secret she's been keeping is in danger of resurfacing. It was supposed to stay hidden forever.

Of all Jane Austen's books, Pride and Prejudice has earned a special place in the hearts of the reading public as her best-loved and most intimately known novel. From its famous opening sentence, the story of Elizabeth and Darcy, told with a wit that its author feared might prove "rather too light and bright, and sparkling," delights its most familiar readers as thoroughly as it does those who encounter it for the first time.

Argonautika is the story of Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. This epic story of gods and goddesses, mythical beasts, thrilling adventures, and narrow escapes may be the oldest surviving Greek myth, which Homer referred to as something "familiar to all." Listen to this masterpiece of classical literature in an all-new translation that captures the timeless magic and quiet humor of this ancient legend.

These four works show Samuel Beckett at his most penetrating. Both Krapp's Last Tape (1958) and Not I (1972) are among the most striking pieces written for the theatre in the 20th century. An old man sits at a table, playing back old tapes made when he was younger, mixed glimpses of past feelings. In Not I, we have just a mouth expressing memories and torment in a torrent of words.