Following a chance meeting at a European gambling hall, the separate lives of Daniel Deronda and Gwendolen Harleth are immediately intertwined. Daniel, an Englishman of uncertain parentage, becomes Gwendolen's redeemer as she, trapped in a loveless marriage, finds herself drawn to his spiritual and altruistic nature. But Daniel's path is set when he rescues a young Jewish woman from suicide... Daniel Deronda, George Eliot's final novel, is a remarkable work, encompassing themes of religion, imperialism and gender within it's broad scope. Juliet Stevenson is one of the UK's leading actresses, her film credits including Truly, Madly, Deeply and Emma. For Naxos AudioBooks she has recorded Lady Windermere's Fan, Sense and Sensibility, To the Lighthouse, Middlemarch and many more.

When his ship is wrecked in a storm, Robinson Crusoe finds himself stranded on a desert island with no one to help him and no chance of rescue. Scared and alone, he tries to make a life for himself, building shelters, hunting food, taming animals, crafting boats and making clothes. But just as his life appears to be settled, he sees someone else's footprint on the beach and a different struggle for survival begins, this time against cannibals and pirates. Published in 1719, the novel was an immediate success and continue to fascinate new generations.

The Return of the Native (Unabridged)

Petronius' Satyricon is a rampant and vivacious Roman adventure dating back to the first century, during the reign of Nero. It follows the exploits of Encolpius, an impoverished ex-gladiator, and his boy-lover Giton. The action is fleet and the narrative sweeping: over the course of their journey we meet a host of lewd and comical rogues, including beggars, prostitutes, poets, sodomites and pedants, and witness many strange and curious events, including a remarkably vulgar multi-course feast, hosted by the pompous nouveau riche Trimalchio. Considered the Odyssey of the illicit and debaucherous, the Satyricon is an exhilarating look at the underbelly of Roman society. Jonathan Keeble captures the energy and spirit of this ancient comedic romance.

In Volume V (Chapters XLVII-LVI), Edward Gibbon further explores the influence of Christianity on the fall of the Roman Empire. He looks at the growth of the worship of Christian images and the resulting persecution by Leo III, emperor of the East. The conflict is intensified as a split develops between the Eastern and Western churches, a weakness that encourages attacks from Lombardy. Gibbon then moves to the foundation of the Moslem religion and the attempts by the Arabs to besiege Constantinople.]

Remembrance of Things Past, Vol. 4: Sodom and Gomorrah (Unab

LAWRENCE, D.H.: Sons and Lovers (Unabridged)

L.P. Hartley’s heartbreaking novel The Go-Between is a haunting, moving, and evocative work about social constraints and childhood innocence. The story is set during the long hot summer of 1900 and follows young Leo Colston who is invited to stay for a month at an aristocratic manor in Norfolk. While there he falls in love with his friend’s sister who commissions him to carry secret notes to her lover, the local farmer. This story has been adapted multiple times for stage and screen, most recently the BBC One TV film starring Jim Broadbent. The story is exclusively licensed to Naxos Audiobooks. Sean Barrett gives a tender and sympathetic interpretation, full of warmth and insight.

WILDE, O.: Picture of Dorian Gray (The) (Unabridged)

Gogol' great Russian classic is the Pickwick Papers of Russian Literature. It takes a sharp but humorous look at life in all it's strata, but especially the devious complexities in the country with it's landowners and serfs. We are introduced to Chichikov.

There is a need for accessible short biographies of key people for younger listeners. Following the success of Famous People, Volume I, Nicolas Soames presents another varied group of men and women who have changed the course of history.

In 1897 Bram Stoker wrote a story expressing the most persistent nightmare of the human condition, and now for over a century Dracula has reigned supreme as the undisputed masterpiece of horror writing. We have all grown up beneath the shadow of the elegant Count, at once an attractive, brutal and erotic creature of the night. Read by David Horovitch, Jamie Parker, Joseph Kloska, Alison Pettitt and cast, this Complete Classic Unabridged Edition, spans a total of 14 CDs. David Horovitch's long and distinguished theatre career includes many West End, National Theatre and RSC stage appearances. Among his many readings for Naxos Audiobooks are Lampedusa's The Leopard, Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, Ovid's Metamorphoses and Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Known for roles in film, TV and theatre, Jamie Parker has read Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd and Under the Greenwood Tree for Naxos Audiobooks. Joseph Kloska has appeared in over 100 plays, readings and live broadcasts for the BBC.

Presses Universitaires de France and Fremeaux & Associates offer this biography of Caligula by Nicolas Tran, professor at the University of Poitiers and specialist of the Roman Empire in the first centuries of our era. Caligula is an infamous Roman emperor. He embodies a model of tyrant, from ancient times to the present day. It is interesting to analyze the violence attributed to this emperor as revealing the political and institutional tensions peculiar to the imperial regime during the first century of it's history. For a truly historical biography is not about judging but about placing a singular personality and work in their historical context. Despite the scarcity and complexity of historical sources, Nicolas Tran traces the course of Caligula, the prince to the monster, the emperor to the black legend.

Wealthy Maggie Verver has everything she could ever ask for - except for 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. Delighted, Maggie then reciprocates by choosing a partner for her widower father: childhood friend Charlotte Stant. The stage is set, and what unfolds is a deep and gripping exploration of fidelity and the politics of love and marriage. Published in 1904, The Golden Bowl displays Henry James at his finest: James weaves scene upon scene, set piece upon set piece, into a seamless whole, through a richly dense tapestry of beautiful, flowing prose. Along with The Ambassadors and The Wings of the Dove, it constitutes James's final, and most rewarding, phase as a novelist. Juliet Stevenson is an outstanding narrator. She is consistently showered with critical acclaim for her thoughtful, intelligent performances.

On May 8, 1373, 30-year-old Julian of Norwich, sick and near death, had a series of visions of Christ. In these 16 visions she learnt about God's loving nature. God in Julian's visions was not angry and wrathful. Instead, the three properties of God were presented as life, love and light, and all of His creation was good, including his servant, man. In Julian’s version, Man is not to blame for his sin; instead it is something that he must experience and overcome in his spiritual journey with God. The version of Christian theology presented in Revelations of Divine Love – the first published book in English attributed to a woman – was highly liberal and incredibly progressive for its time. The book contains some of the most profound spiritual writing ever written and remains a perennial favourite among Christians.

Set in the court of Urbino in 1507, Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier presents an invaluable look at court life and culture during the Renaissance. Over four nights of dialogue, the book explores the key question, 'What should a courtier be like?' and presents a deep and timeless discussion that is reminiscent of Plato's Symposium and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and invites comparisons with Machiavelli's The Prince. It is absorbing and enlightening, and encompasses a wide range of topics that include dancing, fencing, war, religion, culture, courtly and corporeal love and gender relations, with a surprisingly modern defense of women and equal rights. Nicholas Boulton is an exemplary narrator. He leads us through Castiglione's fascinating courtesy book with great fluency.

After the collapse of her marriage to an illustrious German prince, Baroness Eugenia Münster arrives in America with her brother, in search of wealthy New England relatives. The duo have an immediate impact on their American cousins, the Wentworths. The Baroness captures the eye of young Clifford Wentworth, and his girlfriend’s older brother Robert; meanwhile, Felix falls for his American cousin Gertrude. The Wentworths are overawed by their European cousins and their frivolous lifestyle. What unfolds is a delightful comedy of manners that contrasts the apparently sophisticated and light-hearted Europeans with the serious and puritanical Americans. At times reminiscent of Jane Austen, The Europeans contains beautiful and vivid descriptions of mid-19th century upper-class New England life. Adam Sims trained at LAMDA. His screen and theatre credits include Band of Brothers, Lost in Space and Alice in Wonderland. For Naxos Audiobooks, he has read Mowat’s Never Cry Wolf, and James’s Washington Square and The Aspern Papers, among other titles.

Written from the perspective of an unbeliever, Fear and Trembling explores the paradox of faith, the nature of Christianity and the complexity of human emotion. Kierkegaard examines the biblical story of Abraham, instructed to sacrifice his son Isaac, and forces us to consider Abraham's state of mind. What drove Abraham, and what made him carry out such an absurd and extreme request from God? Kierkegaard argues that Abraham's agreement to sacrifice Isaac, and his suspension of reason, elevated him to the highest level of faith. He explores more comprehensible alternatives, but in each one Abraham fails the test of faith, thus showing that true faith cannot be explained, understood, or made rational. His thesis is a compelling counterpoint to Hegel, who maintained that reason was the highest form of thought, and proved a significant source of inspiration to later existentialist philosophers such as Camus and Sartre.

Four classic dramas adapted from the novels of Charles Dickens. These episodes of Theater Royal were first broadcast in 1952-3. This was the only radio series in which Laurence Olivier took part and these vintage adaptations find new life with each new generation of fans. In this set, Olivier leads in all four episodes, with a top (anonymous) supporting cast selected by the BBC.

In this hapless state I looked myself over and saw that I was now no bird, but an ass.... In this ancient picaresque adventure, Lucius, an insatiably curious young man, finds himself transformed into a donkey after his fascination with black magic and witchcraft goes awry. While trapped in his new body, he becomes the property of thieves, farmers, cooks, soldiers and priests, and observes the hypocrisy and ineptitude of Imperial Roman society. The Golden Ass is considered the only novel to survive the Roman period, and the earliest novel to survive complete in the Western literary tradition. It is brimming with slapstick humor and sexual escapades, and foreshadows later works by Boccaccio, Rabelais, Cervantes and Chaucer, upon whom it was a direct influence.

The March sisters are among the most beloved characters in children’s literature, and Little Men picks up the story of fiery, headstrong Jo where Little Women left off. Intelligent, funny, perceptive and genuinely touching, the novel is set at a rather unusual boarding school run by Jo and her husband, where the pupils are encouraged to pillow fight and keep pets. When the penniless but talented orphan Nat Blake shows up on her doorstep, Jo takes him in, and his arrival sets in motion a chain of events that will affect all their lives. Liza Ross has read several titles for younger listeners. Her warm and personable voice perfectly complements Alcott’s gentle tone. Little Women, the first volume, is currently available on Naxos Audiobooks as well. This release is presented for the junior audience as always with attractive classical music.

CONRAD, J.: Nostromo (Unabridged)

This new audio release features the music and speeches from the 2014 Royal Shakespeare Company productions Love’s Labour’s Lost and Love’s Labours Won, directed by Christopher Luscombe. Music by Nigel Hess is featured, as well as music by Raymond Leppard from the 1956 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre production of Love’s Labour’s Lost and music by Louis Applebaum from the 1961 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Love’s Labour’s Won. In 2014 the Royal Shakespeare Company paired Love's Labour's Lost with Love's Labour's Won (Much Ado About Nothing) at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The action took place either side of World War One and both productions featured the same company of actors and shared a set based on Charlecote Park, the National Trust stately home near Stratford-upon-Avon. The director Christopher Luscombe had an earlier connection with the play, having been a memorable 'Moth' in Ian Judge's 1993 production of Love's Labour's Lost. The production was broadcast live into cinemas worldwide in Spring 2015 and also streamed into schools.

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.