Showing results by narrator "Rachel Atkins" in All Categories

A thrilling radio re-imagining telling the story of Charles Dickens' last days and providing a brand-new conclusion to his famous unfinished novel. April, 1870. Bone-weary, sick and struggling with a hidden guilt, Charles Dickens is grappling with what will be his final book - The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Two months later, he is dead and the novel remains unfinished: only six of the 12 planned instalments had been completed.

On the day the comet came, a girl named Heloise was born. She would live a fine life and inherit a fortune but would meet a cruel, untimely death. Years later, strange dreams plague Katya Nemcová, a teenager burdened with a rare and curious gift. Memories come to Katya in her dreams - images and stories from a past that isn't her own. Are these ghosts real? And what of the memory she seems to have of Heloise's treasures, two centuries old?

Yesterday ended in disaster. Very late at night, I decided to write down everything that had happened; the only way I could think of coping. So here goes. So begins Michele Roberts’ intimate and honest account of the year after her latest novel has been rejected by her then publisher. Written with warmth and sensitivity, she navigates the difficult road from depression and anxiety to acceptance and understanding of the value of the friendships which nurture her and make life worth living - whatever happens.

You were the golden girl. The apple of your parents’ eyes. My beautiful, clever wife. I would do anything for you. But some things about me must stay hidden. One summer afternoon, it all begins to unravel. Because I’m not the only one with terrible secrets to hide.... And when the truth comes out, it seems we both have blood on our hands....

Brought to you by Penguin. Every July, the lucky owners of Cornish holiday homes set off for their annual break. They close up their desirable semis in smartish London suburbs - having turned off the Aga and turned on the burglar alarm - and look forward to a carefree, restful, somehow more...

A man lies half-drowned on a Cornish beach at dawn in the furthest days of this century. The old woman who discovers him, once a famous concert violinist, is close to death herself--or perhaps a new kind of life she can barely contemplate. Does death still exist at all, or has it finally been obliterated? And who is this strange man she's found? Is he a figure returned from her past, a new Messiah, or an empty vessel? God or the Devil?

Dive into the timeless wisdom of Aesop, where animals speak, and humans listen. This collection of fables—packed with clever plots and memorable characters—offers sharp life lessons wrapped in simple, unforgettable stories. From the tortoise and the hare's race to the self-serving fox and the grapes, Aesop's fables touch on themes of greed, kindness, wisdom, and the consequences of our actions. With enduring relevance and lessons that still ring true today, these stories are a powerful reminder of the virtues that shape a meaningful life.

A full-cast environmental mystery set against the evocative backdrop of the Norfolk fens Mist rising over the fens. The haunting cry of the nesting bittern. But not everything is as pristine as it appears to be. The protection of nature and the pursuit of progress collide in this thrilling...

The Essential Classics: Volume 8 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Emma Gregory, Lucy Scott, Mark Meadows, and Rachel Atkins. From the quiet introspection of Persuasion, where Anne Elliot faces the complexities of love and second chances, to the thrilling escapades of The Scarlet Pimpernel, this volume offers a diverse array of experiences. The Mysteries of Udolpho will immerse you in gothic suspense, while The Provincial Lady offers a humorous and sharp look at the life of a woman in the early 20th century.

The Essential Classics: Volume 2 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Juliet Stevenson, David Rintoul, Rachel Atkins, Stephen Hogan, Aoife McMahon, and Lucy Scott. Spanning a broad range of British and Irish literature, this collection includes hilarious stories of the 'gentleman's gentleman' in My Man, Jeeves, the revolutionary and intense tale of Jane and Rochester in Jane Eyre, as well as Joyce's grand modern masterpiece, Ulysses, and many more.

The Jerome K. Jerome Collection brings together 10 of Jerome's most celebrated works - including fiction, essays, and travelogues. From his much-beloved comedic travelogue, Three Men in a Boat (and the follow-up, Three Men on the Bummel), to a hilarious collection of essays, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, as-well as his memoir, My Life and Times, this collection spans Jerome's diverse catalogue of writing in all it's joyous forms.

The French Classics Collection brings together 18 of the greatest works of fiction ever written in French - here collected into one audiobook and all translated into English. Featuring grand epics of love, loss, and survival, as in Les Miserables, to tales of adventure in Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, and romances such as Madame Bovary, alongside many more grand stories from 17th, 18th, and 19th century France, this collection will whisk you away into other worlds with some of the greatest characters in literature within some of the greatest novels ever written.

The future of law enforcement has arrived, courtesy of private health contractor Janus Justice. Their ground-breaking ‘Offender Treatment Programme' has been hailed as the most effective way of tackling crime yet. As offenders move through the four-tiered system, their needs are dealt with, each tier more drastic in its methods. But Grace Gunnarsson, one of Janus' most highly regarded rehabilitation psychiatrists, has uncovered a terrible flaw in the system, one that is allowing people to get away with murder.

Comedian Stephen K Amos is one of eight children, whose parents came to London from Nigeria in the 60s. In these three series, co-written with multi-award-winning British playwright Jonathan Harvey, he takes us back in time to the 1980s, as he reminisces about his dysfunctional childhood and formative experiences, and shares the dramas and traumas of his teenage years.

Cartoonist Steven Appleby asks where reality ends and fantasy begins, as he gives us his distinctly abnormal insights into everyday life. In these two series, he takes a look at a few of life’s fundamental topics, including Love, Death, Science, Truth and Oceanography.

In the World of Ore, a 12-year-old kafarba girl holds the key to her people's future. When she fails to find her animal form, Geriana becomes a target for those intent on her banishment--or worse, her elimination. Legend of Geriana: Part One is a coming-of-age story written at a Middle-Grade level. This first installment explores themes of rejection and self-acceptance while introducing a unique and wonderful world of new and familiar races.

Silas Marner is the third novel by George Eliot, published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, Eliot's celebrated novel is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging from religion to industrialisation to community.

Wuthering Heights: Lockwood is an unwanted guest, forced by a snowstorm to pass the night at the lonely and inhospitable house of Wuthering Heights. A child’s ghost pleads at the window to be let in; a waif who has wandered the moor for 20 years. Jane Eyre: Orphaned Jane emerges from a cold, hostile upbringing at Lowood Institution to take her place as governess at Thornfield, home of Mr Rochester. Her petulant but loving charge, Adele, and the housekeeper, Mrs Fairfax, are her sole company, while Rochester remains a distant, mysterious and yet imposing presence.

Following the death of Mr Dashwood, his wife and three daughters are forced to leave their estate and live in a small cottage in Devon. Austen's novel follows the sisters through love, loss, and heartbreak, until they find their way towards a happy ending.

The shocking true story of a young woman forced into spying for Russia under the KBG. What would make you agree to work as a KGB agent? Love, blackmail, desperation? For this young woman, there is only one thing that could make her agree to a life of service under the brutal regime that she hates. They took her baby. So begins the most compelling and revealing story about spying you're ever likely to hear.