Showing results by narrator "Paul Scofield" in All Categories

Dickens' final novel, left unfinished at his death in 1870, is a mystery story much influenced by the 'Sensation Novel' as written by his friend Wilkie Collins. Dickens' final novel, left unfinished at his death in 1870, is a mystery story much influenced by the 'Sensation Novel' as written by...

Heloise and her allies are marching on the Imperial Capital. The villagers, the Kipti, and the Red Lords are united only in their loyalty to Heloise, though dissenting voices are many and they are loud. The unstable alliance faces internal conflicts and external strife, yet they’re united in their common goal. But when the first of the devils start pouring through a rent in the veil between worlds, Heloise must strike a bargain with an unlikely ally, or doom her people to death and her world to ruin.

In London, Little Nell lives in The Old Curiosity Shop with her grandfather, who has a weakness for gambling. Hoping to mend his finances, the old man borrows money from Quilp, a moneylender and swindler. After losing that money as well, the grandfather flees to the country with Nell in a desperate attempt to escape the clutches of Quilp, who has designs on Nell and believes that the grandfather is secretly a rich miser. Out of devotion to Nell, Kit Nubbles, the shop's errand boy, pursues the pair and in the process earning the wrath of Quilp.

This comic masterpiece is read by Paul Schofield. It has been noted also by Dickens’ biographer, Forster, that it marked a crucial phase in the author's development as he began to delve deeper into the 'springs of character'. "Martin Chuzzlewit" is Charles Dickens' comic masterpiece about...

On Christmas Eve, young Pip, an orphan being raised by his sister and her husband, encounters a convict in the village churchyard. The man, a convict who has escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. On Christmas Eve, young Pip...

One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays is here performed by The Marlowe Society with Anthony Jacobs, Corin Redgrave, Paul Scofield and many other very fine actors. The story itself follows on from that of Shakespeare’s Richard II (also available in this series) and begins with Hotspur's battle at Homildon against the Douglas late in 1402 and ends with the defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury in the middle of 1403.

""How shall we beguile the lazy time,if not with some delight?"" Features a unique cover illustration by Maurice Sendak (Where the WildThings Are), specially commissioned for the Shakespeare on Compact Discseries. An introductory essay by Harvard scholar Harold Bloom accompanies the CD...

"Bleak House" is one of Dickens' finest achievements, establishing his reputation as a serious and mature novelist, as well as a brilliant comic writer. Read by Paul Schofield. "Bleak House" is one of Dickens' finest achievements, establishing his reputation as a serious and mature novelist, as...

"The Ghost Chamber" is the story of a wife's destruction and the love of a young man for an imprisoned girl. "Mr. Testator's Visitation" portrays an eerie character who visits an impoverished, unhappy lawyer. "A Child's Dream of a Star" is the sad story of a little girl who becomes an angel and waits for her brother to join her.

The classic Victorian tale of the little orphan who dared to ask for ‘more’ retains its heartwarming charm and relevance in our era. Oliver’s story is full of pathos and excitement, from abandonment in a workhouse to falling in with Fagin’s gang in London’s murky underworld and his...

From Edgar Allan Poe—the master of the short story and lyric poem—comes this rare treasury of classics. The outstanding works "A Descent into the Maelstrom," "Annabelle Lee," "Eldorado," "The Bells," and "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall," illustrate Poe's meticulous sense of construction, with signature themes of romance and melancholy that characterized his short and troubled life.

The welfare of children—a theme of many novels by Charles Dickens—is central to Nicholas Nickleby, the story of a fatherless young man, his mother, and his sister who find themselves at the mercy of a greedy and unscrupulous relative. Nicholas Nickleby is both a vivid indictment of the exploitive, brutal boarding schools of the late 19th century and a celebration of a little family's resilient generosity of spirit. Actor Paul Scofield's performance captures the warmth and charm of this story and its array of colorful characters.

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606. READ BY PAUL SCHOFIELD AND CAST. King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606. It is considered one of his greatest works. King Lear descends...

The novel that launched Dickens as an international celebrity, The Pickwick Papers is a loose collection of Samuel Pickwick’s adventures with his friends, and became a serialisation phenomenon upon its release. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club or more commonly known as The Pickwick...

A pauper's child reared in a workhouse, young Oliver Twist serves an apprenticeship in a loveless house. Despairing, he runs away and is befriended by a gang of young pickpockets who offer him the only welcome home he has ever known. Falling under the influence of villainous company, the young orphan struggles to escape from a life of poverty and crime, in search of the love he longs for. Oliver Twist is one of Dickens' greatest achievements, a vivid depiction of London's outlaw society with an array of memorable characters.

In the squalor of a textile town, successful businessman and arch-pragmatist Thomas Gradgrind, proclaiming that he is a self-made man, teaches his children to suppress their imaginations and embrace hard facts. He arranges the marriage of his daughter Louisa to Josiah Bounderby, an unattractive, boastful manufacturer who is thirty years older her senior, and Gradgrind's son Tom goes to work in Bounderby's bank. But after Tom steals from his employer and Louisa flees the horrors of her marriage, Gradgrind must reconsider his lifelong devotion to facts and utility.

Pip—the orphaned hero of Great Expectations—is one of Charles Dickens's best-loved characters. Young Philip Pirrip—nicknamed Pip—is apprenticed to his blacksmith brother-in-law, but an anonymous benefactor changes the boy's future. After he is lifted to what seems a higher station in life, Pip shuns his kind friends and slips into debt. But as he matures, he progresses from thoughtless selfishness to humble industry.

Nearly two centuries after The Pickwick Papers first appeared in 1837, listeners continue to enjoy the vigorous humor and heartwarming optimism of Dickens' first great literary achievement. Actor Paul Scofield evokes all the warmth and laughter of the unlikely adventures of the immortal Samuel Pickwick, Esq., and the other members of the Pickwick Club. Abetted by Pickwick's faithful manservant, Sam Weller, the Pickwickians bumble through hilarious misadventures, romantic escapades, and other twists of plot, encountering many delightfully Dickensian characters along the way.

On Christmas Eve, miser Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley, who warns Scrooge that three more ghosts will visit him before the night is over—the ghost of Christmases Past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas yet to come.

This unique presentation combines classic children's favorites with an anthology of stories, poems, and songs of the holiday season.