Showing results by narrator "Eleanor Bron" in All Categories

One of the most popular female sleuths in modern crime fiction, Chicago private eye V.I. Warshawski is a strong, smart, independent heroine in a male-dominated world. She tracks down corrupt businessmen, ruthless blackmailers and cold-blooded murderers - while trying not to get killed herself. Included in this collection are the first four best-selling V.I. Warshawski novels from Sara Paretsky - plus a short story featuring the hard-boiled PI, read by Buffy Davis.

Beautiful, sophisticated and endlessly ambitious Lily Bart endeavours to climb the social ladder of New York's elite by securing a good match and living beyond her means. Now nearing 30 years of age and having rejected several proposals, forever in the hope of finding someone better, her future prospects are threatened. A damning commentary of 20th-century social order, Edith Wharton's tale established her as one of the greatest British novelists of the 1900s.

The acclaimed BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Anthony Trollope's gently satirical tales of provincial life One of the most respected, successful chroniclers of nineteenth-century life, Anthony Trollope is still widely read and much-loved today. The Barchester Chronicles - witty moral comedies with...

Simon Russell Beale stars in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of John le Carré's first novel, which introduced his most famous character, George Smiley. This dramatisation, set in London in the late 1950s, finds Smiley engaged in the humdrum job of security vetting. But when a Foreign Office civil servant commits suicide after an apparently unproblematic interview, Smiley is baffled. Refusing to believe that Fennan shot himself, Smiley decides to investigate.

The funny and tragic, bestselling biography of The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, perfect for fans of Netflix’s The Crown. A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘I honked so loudly the man sitting next to me dropped his sandwich’...

gentle romance begins innocently enough in the stalls of a London theatre where Catherine is enjoying her ninth and Christopher his thirty-sixth visit to the same play. He is a magnificent young man with flame-coloured hair. She is the sweetest little thing in a hat. There is just one complication: Christopher is 25, while Catherine is just a little bit older. Flattered by the passionate attentions of youth, Catherine, with marriage and motherhood behind her, is at first circumspect, but finally succumbs to her lover's charms.

Eugenia, an American expatriate brought up in Europe, arrives in rural New England with her charming brother Felix, hoping to find a wealthy second husband after the collapse of her marriage to a German prince. Their exotic, sophisticated airs cause quite a stir with their affluent, God-fearing American cousins, the Wentworth's - and provoke the disapproval of their uncle, suspicious of foreign influences.

Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from Norfolk to New Zealand in search of new beginnings and prosperity. But the harsh land near Christchurch where they settle threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. When Joseph finds gold in the creek he is seized by a rapturous obsession with the voluptuous riches awaiting him deep in the earth.

Four spine-tingling short stories from masters of the genre, read by Michael Maloney, Eleanor Bron and Andrew Sachs: 'The Phantom Coach' by Amelia B. Edwards; 'The Judge’s House' by Bram Stoker; 'The Tapestried Chamber' by Sir Walter Scott; 'The Man of Science' by Jerome K. Jerome.

A dying woman confesses a terrible secret to her priest along with a cryptic list of nine names. Before he is able to uncover anything more, the priest is struck dead in the fog and the police discover the list in his shoe. Our hero Mark Easterbrook, a historian, learns of a secretive organisation known as The Pale Horse and of their supernatural connections in the village of Much Deeping. The list of names seems to foretell the deaths of several people and Mark must piece together the clues and unearth the connections between them all.

A BBC radio collection of full-cast dramatisations, bringing together Edith Wharton’s most popular and best-loved works. 

Marie Antoinette's dramatic life-story continues to arouse mixed emotions. To many people, she is still 'la reine mechante', whose extravagance and frivolity helped to bring down the French monarchy; her indifference to popular suffering epitomised by the (apocryphal) words: 'let them eat cake'. Others are equally passionate in her defence: to them, she is a victim of misogyny.

Lifelong friends, now in their sixties, James, a teacher, and Hugh, a TV personality, both live with attractive women 25 years their junior. But the age difference is a time bomb, ticking away at the heart of both relationships. Kate's hunger for a life more in keeping with her own age threatens to bring her eight years with James to an end. And how is Julia to cope when her own career begins to blossom while Hugh's is withering before their eyes? The arrival of Miss Beatrice Bachelor, a razor-sharp Oxford spinster, fuels the discontent in both girls.

The master turns sleuth and spy in this quintet of radio dramas. Actor, playwright, songwriter, director, author and star - as far as we know, Noël Coward never added ‘detective’ or ‘undercover agent’ to his astonishing achievements. But could the intriguing gaps in his memoirs be hiding a thrilling secret life? 

Clever, funny and poignant, Alan Bennett’s masterful plays are rightly regarded as modern classics. Kafka’s Dick is Bennett’s brilliantly clever comedy drama that examines the relationship between life and art, and asks what was Kafka’s embarrassing little problem... Alison Steadman...

The story follows the life of Tina, a young woman caught between the mother who adopted her - the beautiful, upstanding Delia - and her true mother, her plain, unmarried ‘aunt’ Charlotte, who gave Tina up to provide her with a socially acceptable life. The three women live quietly together until Tina’s wedding day, when Delia’s and Charlotte’s hidden jealousies rush to the surface.

Alone in a new country, wealthy Sara Crewe tries to make friends at boarding school and settle in. But when she learns that she'll never see her beloved father again, her life is turned upside down.

Archie Logan, a country doctor, and his wife Liza lead an orthodox-seeming life, and everything is well until Archie's father, a widower for over 30 years, falls in love. His choice, a woman of powerful charm, has a profound effect on all the Logans, adults and children alike. The house and family turn from being a refuge to being a cage. Archie and Liza risk losing everything they have built.

Moving between Nice and London, The Bay of Angels makes the point that not everyone needs conventional relationships to be happy. It relates the story of Zoe, whose life changes when her widowed mother marries a wealthy older man and moves to Nice.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams is one of the three most important American dramatists of the 20th century, alongside Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill. Acclaimed for their lyrical language, dark themes and vivid portrayal of the American South, his works have spawned several Oscar-winning films and been translated and performed worldwide. Collected here are some of the best, beginning with the play that launched Williams' career: The Glass Menagerie.