CONRAD, J.: Nostromo (Unabridged)

Considered the bridge between romanticism and modernism, Matthew Arnold wrote verse that is simple, unadorned and straightforward. From the hypnotic and beautiful lines of Dover Beach to the pastoral narrative of The Scholar Gipsy, Arnold cast a gaze at the main intellectual issues of the nineteenth century while giving a timeless insight into man and nature. This collection covers his major poetic works, including the narrative poems, sonnets and elegiac poems, illuminating the lyricism and serenity of Arnold’s best poetry. The collection includes: Dover Beach, Desire, Longing, A Summer Night, Consolation, Philomela, A Dream, The Scholar Gipsy, East London, West London, Thyrsis, Immortality, Growing Old, A Wish, Bacchanalia; Or, The New Age, A Modern Sappho, The Hayswater Boat, The River, Human Life, The Buried Life, Austerity of Poetry, A Farewell, Requiescat

Intended to be a defense of the Christian religion, Pensees is a penetrating collection of thoughts on faith, reason, and theology. Unfinished at the time of Pascal's death, the book consists of philosophical fragments on the 'wretchedness' of man and the controversial schisms of the church at the time. It includes the philosopher's infamous wager encouraging belief over agnosticism, as well as his thoughts on numerous other topics, including the great essayist Montaigne and the Stoic teacher Epictetus. Endlessly quotable, Pensees overflows with pearls of wisdom, with each elusive sentence pregnant with a universe of thought. Peter Wickham's elegant and personable reading makes Pascal's work immediately approachable and accessible.

Waverley by Sir Walter Scott is an enthralling tale of love, war and divided loyalties. Taking place during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, the novel tells the story of proud English officer Edward Waverley. After being posted to Dundee, Edward eventually befriends chieftain of the Highland Clan Mac-Ivor, and falls in love with his beautiful sister Flora. He then renounces his former loyalties in order actively to support Scotland in open rebellion against the Union with England. The book depicts stunning, romantic panoramas of the Highlands, and is famous for being one of the first historical novels. It's influence extended to many authors, including Dickens, Dumas, Gogol, Stevenson, Thackeray and Tolstoy. David Rintoul's finely tuned narration and characterization wonderfully evoke the atmosphere of the Scottish Highlands.

Grigori Aleksandrovich Pechorin is an enigma: arrogant, cocky, melancholic, brave, cynic, romantic, loner, socialite, soldier, free soul, and yet, victim of the world, he eludes definition and remains a mystery to those who know him. Just who is he? And what does he hope to achieve? Evolving from first person to third person, and then into a diary, A Hero of our Time takes on a variety of forms to interrogate Pechorin’s cryptic character and his unusual philosophy providing breathtaking descriptions of the Caucasus along the way. The novel has been hailed as an influence on such writers as Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov, and is a striking take on Lord Byron’s ‘superfluous man’; it hearkens back to the teaching of Machiavelli, while anticipating the future work of Nietzsche. Nicholas Boulton’s remarkable fluency and beauty of tone defy the listener to take a break from this unique story. Hailed by Vladimir Nabokov as one of the greatest Russian novels, the book has been referenced in novels by Albert Camus and Ian Fleming, and films by Ingmat Berman.

Following its successful run of unabridged Dickens titles, Naxos AudioBooks has turned its attention to Henry James. Further titles are planned for 2018. In the second novel of James’s celebrated late period, American Lambert Strether is sent to Paris on behalf of Mrs. Newsome, his fiance, to collect her son, Chad. When Strether finds Chad, he discovers an altered man and becomes introduced to a free and unconventional style of life that soon intoxicates him. His views begin to change; the morality of Woollett, his hometown, becomes foreign, and the ‘ambassador’ loses sight of his mission… Part tragedy, part comedy, The Ambassadors is a rewarding portrait about one man’s late awakening. John Chancer is an award-winning narrator of many audiobooks. His soft American accent lends an authenticity to James’s intercontinental tale.

Impoverished young aristocrat Eugène de Rastignac is determined to climb the social ladder and impress himself on Parisian high society. While staying at the Maison Vauquer, a boarding house in Paris's rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève, he encounters Jean-Joachim Goriot, a retired vermicelli maker who has spent his entire fortune supporting his two daughters. The boarders strike up a friendship and Goriot learns of Rastignac's feelings for his daughter Delphine. He begins to see Rastignac as the ideal son-in-law, and the perfect substitute for Delphine's domineering husband. But Rastignac has other opportunities too, as the notorious criminal Vautrin, 'The Death Dodger', offers to murder the brother of a wealthy woman, giving the ambitious young lawyer a clear path to her fortune... Profound and realistic, Father Goriot is a startling glimpse into the vanity and selfishness of 19th-century Paris. It is considered one of the finest works of Balzac's La Comédie Humaine.

Phineas Finn, a handsome young man of 23, comes to England to make his fortune in parliamentary politics. But despite all his aspirations, Finn is haunted by ethical questions as his personal convictions conflict with his duty towards his party. Loyalty versus honour, love versus money, and privacy versus prominence: our eponymous hero faces a variety of dilemmas as he navigates his way through the House of Commons. The second installment of Trollope’s celebrated Palliser series, Phineas Finn is a delightful and humorous look at the complexity of human relationships and the politics surrounding the Second Reform Bill of the 1860s.

First published in March 1722, 57 years after the event that struck more than 100, 000 people, A Journal of the Plague Year is a compelling portrait of life during London's horrific bubonic plague. Through the eyes of H.F. (speculated to be Defoe's uncle, Henry Foe, from whose journals the book was supposedly adapted) we witness great grief, depravity and despair: crazed sufferers roam the streets, unearthly screams resound across the city, death carts dump their grisly loads into mass graves, and quackery and skulduggery feed on fear. But there is kindness and courage too, as mutual support and caring are upheld through the worst of days. Defoe's Journal is considered one of the most accurate accounts of the plague, and includes many contemporary theories about the disease, along with rolls of the dead and a literary mapping of London, street by street, parish by parish. It is a fascinating and intimate account from one of the earliest proponents of the novel.

This exclusive 6-disc collection from the BR Klassik label features legendary voices in previous unreleased recordings from the archives of Bavarian Broadcasting in Munich. The "Munich Sunday Concerts" series of live radio shows began in 1952 (and continue to the present day) with an international cast appearing with the Munich Radio Orchestra. This "best-of " compilation features classic voices like Margaret Price, Hermann Prey, Lucia Popp, Elisabeth Grummer, Nicolai Ghiaurov and Mirella Freni. 6 top notch live recordings together in one set, and each one a gem

The Victorian era was a time of great change and rapid progress. Britain was undergoing the most tremendous development. Scientific discoveries had prompted the Industrial Revolution, which made Britain the world leader in iron and steel production. Science was undergoing a revolution, enabled by the groundbreaking work of Michael Faraday, who led the Royal Institution. Great swathes of Central Africa were mapped by the explorer David Livingstone and the understanding of humankind's place in the world was being redefined by the theories of the great naturalist Charles Darwin. Brunel's steam-driven ships were connecting continents and Florence Nightingale's work in hospitals helped lay the foundations for modern nursing. In literature, Charles Dickens put the lives of ordinary men and women at the centre of great novels for the first time, and in politics Britain was completely transformed by the reforms of William Gladstone. Written exclusively for Naxos AudioBooks, Great Victorians captures a fascinating period in world history.

Naples '44 is an unflinching autobiographical account of a year in Naples after the armistice and Allied landings in Sorrento in 1943. Working as a British counterintelligence officer under the Allied occupation, Lewis documents the rich pageant of life in the city and it's surrounding areas. There is suffering and squalor: criminal gangs are on the rise, along with typhus and black market commerce, and the female population is forced into part-time prostitution, simply to obtain food. Corruption is rife as a Genovese crime family member makes his way into the US army administration, and local hospitals, short on supplies, buy equipment back from those who stole it. There is farce and humor too, witnessed in the Roman uncle paid handsomely to simply appear at funerals and lend an air of gravitas, and in Lewis's own experience of vetting proposed marriages between British soldiers and local women. Unsparing, penetrating and profoundly humane, Naples '44 is a moving portrait of the costs of war, and the resilience of a society under extreme stress.

Spending their summer holidays with Farmer Braithwaite and his wife in Scatterbrook, John and Susan come across a particularly lifelike scarecrow in a nearby field. That evening, much to the children’s surprise, the scarecrow makes an appearance in the Braithwaites’ Kitchen to warm himself by the fire. He is Worzel Gummidge and he is no ordinary scarecrow. His tendency to cause mayhem wherever he goes sparks a series of mishaps and adventures, often with hilarious results. This is the first of the Worzel Gummidge novels written by Barbara Euphan Todd, originally published in 1936. Jessica Martin is a leading musical theatre actor, voice artist and graphic novelist. Her television credits include voice work for Spitting Image and the role of Mags in the Doctor Who story “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.” She has played numerous lead roles in West End musicals, including Me and My Girl and Elf. Her first graphic novel, Elsie Harris Picture Palace, was published in 2015.

Phineas Finn, a handsome young man of 23, comes to England to make his fortune in parliamentary politics. But despite all his aspirations, Finn is haunted by ethical questions as his personal convictions conflict with his duty towards his party. Loyalty versus honor, love versus money, and privacy versus prominence: our eponymous hero faces a variety of dilemmas as he navigates his way through the House of Commons. The second installment of Trollope’s celebrated Palliser series, Phineas Finn is a delightful and humorous look at the complexity of human relationships and the politics surrounding the Second Reform Bill of the 1860s.

The Decameron is one of the greatest literary works of the Middle Ages. Ten young people have fled the terrible effects of the Black Death in Florence and, in an idyllic setting, tell a series of brilliant stories, by turns humorous, bawdy, tragic and provocative. This celebration of physical and sexual vitality is Boccaccio’s answer to the sublime other-worldliness of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Known for its widespread influence including Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and poetry by Keats, The Decameron is also a valuable document of life at the time of the Black Death. This is the first unabridged cast recording in English and includes prolific stage actor Simon Russell Beale. Ten original songs are featured, composed by West End composer Steven Edis. Guido Waldman’s vibrant translation captures the exuberance of Boccaccio’s masterpiece.

A milestone in the history of the novel, Samuel Richardson's epistolary and elaborate Clarissa follows the life of a chaste young woman desperate to protect her virtue. When beautiful Clarissa Harlowe is forced to marry the rich but repulsive Mr. Solmes, she refuses, much to her family's chagrin. She escapes their persecution with the help of Mr. Lovelace, a dashing and seductive rake, but soon finds herself in a far worse dilemma. Lovelace is a devil in disguise: he promptly imprisons Clarissa, and is determined to break her will. Terrifying and enlightening, Clarissa weaves a tapestry of narrative experimentation into a gripping morality tale of good triumphing over evil. The recording is divided into three volumes, the present release being the first. Clarissa is one of the longest novels in the English canon; many critics agree that it is one of the greatest and most influential in English. For this first ever unabridged recording, a carefully selected cast of readers bring to life Richardson's intricate narrative.

AUSTEN, J.: Mansfield Park (Abridged)

In this collection are four of the finest cases of Mr Sherlock Holmes, narrated by his faithful friend and admirer Dr Watson. What was the mystery of the engineer' thumb? What was behind the disappearance of the race horse?

It could be argued that Fanny Hill: or the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is the greatest erotic classic in English literature. It is certainly, for the eighteenth century, the most explicit. Published between 1748&;1749 (in two parts) it led to the arrest of it's author John Cleland and publisher.

FITZGERALD, F.: Great Gatsby (The) (Abridged)

Chopin, K.: Awakening (The) (Abridged)

ELIOT, G.: Silas Marner (Abridged)

SHAKESPEARE, W.: Romeo and Juliet (Unabridged)