Showing results by narrator "Emilia Fox" in All Categories

The Complete Short Stories is a collection to be loved and cherished, from one of the finest short-story writers of the twentieth century. From the cruel irony of A member of the Family to the fateful echoes of The Go-Away Bird and the unexpectedly sinister The Girl I Left Behind Me, in settings that range from South Africa to the Portobello Road, Muriel Spark coolly probes the idiosyncrasies that lurk beneath the veneer of human respectability, displaying the acerbic wit and wisdom that are the hallmarks of her unique talent.

Twelve BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations of short stories by the Queen of Crime. First broadcast in the early 2000s, the stories were adapted and brought up-to-date for a contemporary audience. The stories are 'Philomel Cottage'; 'Swan Song'; 'Magnolia Blossom'; 'Witness for the Prosecution'; 'The Gates of Baghdad'; 'The Hounds of Death'; 'In a Glass Darkly'; 'The Dressmaker's Doll'; 'The Case of the Perfect Carer'; 'The £199 Adventure'; 'The Gypsy'; and 'The Last Seance'. Duration: 6 hours approx.

Twenty years ago 21-year-old Sophie Collier vanished one night. She left nothing behind but a trainer on the old pier - and a hole in the heart of her best friend, Francesca. Now a body's been found. And Francesca's drawn back to the seaside town she's tried to forget. Perhaps the truth of what happened to Sophie will finally come out. Yet Francesca is beginning to wish she hadn't returned. Everywhere she turns are ghosts from her past. The same old faces and familiar haunts of her youth.

There were dozens of us on the ship, all ages, boys and girls, and we were all up on deck for the leaving of Liverpool, gulls wheeling and crying over our heads, calling good-bye, I thought they were waving good-bye. None of us spoke. It was a grey day with drizzle in the air, the great sad cranes bowing to the ship from the docks as we steamed past. That is all I remember of England…

Politics and passion are inextricably bound together in this compelling drama. The Boleyn family is keen to rise through the ranks of society, and what better way to attract the attention of the most powerful in the land than to place their most beautiful young woman at court? But Mary becomes the king's mistress at a time of change. He needs his personal pleasures, but he also needs an heir. The unthinkable happens and the course of English history is irrevocably changed.

The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Miss Marple, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which reads: ‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.' A childish practical joke? Or a hoax intended to scare poor Letitia Blacklock? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, a crowd begins to gather at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out.

Evelyn Waugh is one of the pre-eminent English novelists of the 20th century. This collection comprises six of his finest works, dramatised by award-winning writer Jeremy Front, including Decline and Fall, Brideshead Revisited, Scoop and Sword of Honour (The Waugh Trilogy).

The head of the Mortmain family is Cassandra Mortmain’s father, a writer suffering from writer's block who has not published anything since his first book, a hit entitled, Jacob Wresstling. Ten years before the story begins, he took out a forty-year lease on a dilapidated but beautiful castle, hoping to find either inspiration or isolation there; now, his family is selling off the furniture to buy food.

The stories and the people involved in the history of murder are stranger, darker and more compulsive than any crime fiction. There’s Richard Parker, the cannibalized cabin boy whose death at the hands of his hungry crewmates led the Victorian courts to decisively outlaw a defence of necessity to murder. Dr Percy Bateman, the incompetent GP whose violent disregard for his patient changed the law on manslaughter. Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in England in the 1950s, played a crucial role in changes to the law around provocation in murder cases.

Growing up in the 1990s, twin brothers Nick and Simon are inseparable. They’ll do anything for each other. As Simon puts it, they are ‘one split in two’. But that bond turns into a curse when both become addicted to heroin and frequently undermine each other’s desperate attempts to get clean. Over a number of years, the boys and their family are thrown into emotional and financial chaos – until the terrible day when Nick pays the ultimate price for his addiction.

Gerry Wade had proved himself to be a champion sleeper, so the other house guests decided to play a practical joke on him. Eight alarm clocks were set to go off, one after the other, starting at 6.30 a.m. But when morning arrived, one clock was missing, and the prank had backfired with tragic consequences. For Jimmy Thesiger in particular, the words "seven dials" were to take on a new and chilling significance.

An anthology of over 50 classic children's poems, read by some of our finest actors. Full of fun, excitement, and magic, the poems in this collection are guaranteed to spark the imagination and open up a world of wonder. Favourites from authors such as Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, and Robert Louis Stevenson are all here, as well as less familiar but nonetheless hugely entertaining poems such as" The Camel's Complaint"and "The Elephant, or The Force of Habit".

Becky's life is blooming! She's house-hunting with her husband, Luke, and...she's pregnant! Everything has got to be perfect for her baby, from the designer nursery to the latest, coolest pram to the celebrity, must-have obstetrician. But when the celebrity obstetrician turns out to be her husband's glamorous, intellectual ex-girlfriend, Becky's perfect world starts to crumble. She's shopping for two...but are there three in her marriage?

It sounds idyllic: a leisurely drive through the sun-drenched landscape of Provence. But Charity's dream holiday turns into a nightmare when she becomes embroiled in a sinister plot to kidnap a young boy. She soon finds herself in a deadly pursuit and must uncover whom to trust...and whom to fall for.

The last Boleyn is Jane, Lady Rochford - widow of the disgraced George Boleyn. Caught in the intrigues of the Tudor court, she maneuvers for personal position as her family, in turn, tries to manipulate her. The king has married again; his bride is the deceptively astute Anne of Cleves. Her wits are tested as she senses a trap closing around her, with the Howards ready to take advantage of her fall.

This classic Victorian thriller was first produced in 1935. Jack Manningham is slowly, deliberately driving his wife, Bella, insane. He has almost succeeded when help arrives in the form of a former detective, Rough, who believes Manningham to be a thief and murderer. Aided by Bella, Rough proves Manningham's true identity, and finally Bella achieves a few moments of sweet revenge for the suffering inflicted on her.

Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in a Victorian mansion which doubles as a rehabilitation centre for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when a youth fires a revolver at the administrator, Lewis Serrocold. Neither is injured. But a mysterious visitor, Mr Gilbrandsen, is less fortunate - shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building. Pure coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and vows to discover the real reason for Mr Gilbrandsen's visit.

Things will never be the same again... Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works. A day like any other, except for Adam, who in a last despairing act jumps in front of Ben's car, and in killing himself, turns the teacher's world upside down. Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, Ben develops a friendship with Alice, Adam's widow, and her seven-year-old son, Max. But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could Ben go too far in trying to make amends?

In his first-ever short story collection, which spans forty years of work and features many never-before-published pieces, international bestselling author and legendary creator of From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and other modern classics, Alan Moore, presents nine stories full of wonder and strangeness, each taking us deeper into the fantastical underside of reality.

The story is narrated by two very different teenagers, who each inhabit two extraordinarily different worlds. Arianrhod Hyde's world (or Roddy, as she prefers to be called) is very much the world of magic, pageantry and ritual. Not unlike Britain in King Arthur's Day, Roddy is daughter of two Court Wizards and therefore part of the King's Progress, travelling round the Islands of Blest and ready to take part in whatever ritual or ceremony is required, as it occurs.