Top list: Classics and poetry

This brand-new unabridged audio book of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved is read by the BAFTA award-winning actor, director and author, Andy Serkis.The Hobbit

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day, to whisk him away on a journey ‘there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…

The prelude to THE LORD OF THE RINGS, THE HOBBIT has sold many millions of copies since its publication in 1937, establishing itself as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.

This brand-new unabridged audio book of , the second part of J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic adventure, , is read by the BAFTA award-winning actor, director and author, Andy Serkis.The Two TowersThe Lord of the Rings

The company of the Ring is torn asunder. Frodo and Sam continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin – alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.

This continues the classic tale begun in , which reaches its awesome climax in .The Fellowship of the RingThe Return of the King

George Orwell's nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the most definitive texts of modern literature. Set in Oceania, one of the three inter-continental superstate that divided the world among themselves after a global war, Orwell's masterful critique of the political structures of the time, works itself out through the story of Winston Smith, a man caught in the webs of a dystopian future, and his clandestine love affair with Julia, a young woman he meets during the course of his work for the government. As much as it is an entertaining read, nineteen Eighty-Four is also a brilliant, and more importantly, a timeless satirical attack on the social and political structures of the world.

This brand-new unabridged audio book of , the third and final part of J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic adventure, , is read by the BAFTA award-winning actor, director and author, Andy Serkis.The Return of the KingThe Lord of the Rings

The armies of the Dark Lord are massing as his evil shadow spreads even wider. Men, Dwarves, Elves and Ents unite forces to battle against the Dark. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam struggle further into Mordor in their heroic quest to destroy the One Ring.

The devastating conclusion of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic tale of adventure, begun in and .The Fellowship of the RingThe Two Towers

Celebrating 100 years of Agatha Christie stories, The Mysterious Affair at Styles is Hercule Poirot’s first case, performed on audio by Captain Hastings actor Hugh Fraser.

‘Beware! Peril to the detective who says: “It is so small – it does not matter…” Everything matters.’

After the Great War, life can never be the same again. Wounds need healing, and the horror of violent death banished into memory.

Captain Arthur Hastings is invited to the rolling country estate of Styles to recuperate from injuries sustained at the Front. It is the last place he expects to encounter murder. Fortunately he knows a former detective, a Belgian refugee, who has grown bored of retirement…

‘Agatha Christie is the gateway drug to crime fiction thanks to her storytelling skills. Just one book is never enough…’ VAL McDERMID

‘What a writer. A hundred years after her first novel, and we are all still standing in her shadow.’ ANDREW TAYLOR

‘Agatha Christie must surely be the most imitated author in the entire canon of literature – what greater acclaim could there be?’ PETER JAMES

Diana Gabaldon’s magnificent historical saga, begun with Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, continues with this New York Times bestseller. Set in the intriguing Scotland of 200 years ago, the third installment in the romantic adventures of Jamie and Claire is as compelling as the first.

Now that Claire knows Jamie survived the slaughter at Culloden, she is faced with the most difficult decision of her life. She aches to travel back through time again to find the love of her life, but, in order to do that, she must leave their daughter behind. It has been 20 years since she and

Jamie were forced to separate. Can she risk everything, maybe even her life, on a gamble that their love has withstood the long, rigorous test of time?

Look for The Land of Sweet Forever, a posthumous collection of newly discovered short stories and previously published essays and magazine pieces by Harper Lee, coming October 21, 2025.

Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American Read

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South—and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred

One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

The forerunner to , tells the earlier history of Middle-earth, recounting the events of the First and Second Ages, and introducing some of the key characters, such as Galadriel, Elrond, Elendil and the Dark Lord, Sauron.The Lord of the RingsThe Silmarillion

The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.

Included on the recording are several shorter works. The Ainulindalë is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabêth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age, and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings.

This brand-new unabridged recording is read by the acclaimed actor, director and author, Andy Serkis.

In this 1945 novella, barnyard animals rise up against the oppressive rule of human farmers and set about to create a better world for themselves. When two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, emerge as leaders of the new collective, a schism is created with dire implications for the erstwhile utopia. George Orwell's satirical story of Revolutionary Russia and Stalinism is a classic of anti-authoritarianism protest literature.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a haunting and thought-provoking novella that delves into themes of alienation, identity, and the human condition. The story begins with Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, waking up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. This surreal event triggers a cascade of personal and familial upheavals as Gregor struggles to adapt to his new reality.

As Gregor's condition isolates him from society and his family, Kafka masterfully explores the fragility of human relationships and the burden of societal expectations. The novella's sparse, yet evocative prose immerses readers in a world where the absurd becomes a lens for examining profound existential questions.

The Metamorphosis remains one of the most celebrated works of modernist literature, offering a timeless exploration of the boundaries of humanity, the nature of compassion, and the search for meaning in an indifferent world.

John Steinbeck (1902 – 1968) was the winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature. The novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ (1937) is the story of two migrant field workers in California during the Great Depression. Two friends, George Milton and the strong but simple-minded Lennie Small, share a dream of owning their own piece of land. When they get jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfilment of their dream seems to be within reach. Then tragedy strikes. The themes include kindness, the bonds of friendship and the cruelty of this world.

Juliet Stevenson reads , Agatha Christie’s last collection of short stories to feature the woman who had become the world’s most popular female detective, Miss Jane Marple.Miss Marple’s Final Cases

An unknown wounded man in a church. A fatal riding accident. A corpse and a tape measure.

Whether in St Mary Mead or further afield, there is always much wickedness lurking below the surface, should, like Jane Marple, you have the eyes to see it.

Published posthumously, this collection of tales, seven of them featuring Agatha Christie’s much loved Miss Marple, plus two stand-alone stories, is a treasure trove.

Never underestimate Miss Marple

‘She gives us an insight into human nature that few, if any, have surpassed.’Susan Lewis

‘The acknowledged queen of detective fiction.’Observer

Nine intriguing tales One unequalled storyteller

The most famous of Franz Kafka's works, The Metamorphosis describes a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, who wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant insect. This change in his condition does not surprise or shock his family, rather, they look on it as an impending burden. Subtexts include how society's perceptions of differences, the loneliness of isolation, and the absurdity of the human condition. The Metamorphosis is often cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world.

Jane Austen’s most popular novel, originally published in 1813, some seventeen years after it was first written, presents the Bennet family of Longbourn. Against the background of gossipy Mrs Bennet and the detached Mr Bennet, the quest is on for husbands for the five daughters. The spotlight falls on Elizabeth, second eldest, who is courted by Mr Darcy though initially she is more concerned with the fate of her other sisters. This marvellous account of family life in Regency England is read with vigour and style by Emilia Fox.

The most famous introduction in the history of crime fiction takes place in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, bringing together Sherlock Holmes, the master of science detection, and John H. Watson, the great detective's faithful chronicler. Included with this audiobook is the bonus Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Speckled Band."

Elegant, enigmatic Jay Gatsby yearns for his old love, the beautiful Daisy. But she is married to the insensitive if hugely successful Tom Buchanan, who won’t let her go despite having a mistress himself. In their wealthy haven, these beguiling lives are brought together by the innocent and entranced narrator, Nick – until their decadent deceits spill into violence and tragedy. Part morality tale, part fairy tale, The Great Gatsby is the consummate novel of the Jazz Age. Its tenderness and poetry make it one of the great works of the 20th century.

Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) was a novelist, short-story writer, journalist and sportsman. ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ is a short novel published in 1952, the last major work of fiction by Hemingway which was published during his lifetime. It is the story of the old fisherman Santiago who sets out before dawn on an odyssey that takes him far out to sea. He catches a gigantic marlin and suffers tremendous hardship to bring the great fish to land. In 1953, ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it was cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to their awarding of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature to Hemingway.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth, collected for the first time in one volume.

J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a ‘dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told’. And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dûr and the rise of Sauron.

It was not until Christopher Tolkien published The Silmarillion after his father’s death that a fuller story could be told. Although much of the book’s content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth, there were at its close two key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of Númenor. Raised out of the Great Sea and gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding the angelic Valar and the Elves in the defeat and capture of the Dark Lord Morgoth, the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth; but as the Númenóreans’ power increased, the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown, culminating in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

Even greater insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent publications, first in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, then expanded upon in Christopher Tolkien’s magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth, in which he presented and discussed a wealth of further tales written by his father, many in draft form.

Now, adhering to the timeline of ‘The Tale of Years’ in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts.

For a century Bram Stoker’s 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. In 1897 Bram Stoker wrote a story expressing the most persistent nightmare of the human condition. Take this opportunity to dream again…

Juliet Stevenson reads Agatha Christie’s , the series of linked short stories that introduced readers to the Tuesday Night Club and to the woman who would become the world’s most popular female detective, Miss Jane Marple.The Thirteen Problems

On a quiet Tuesday in St Mary Mead, a group of friends gather for dinner.

A policeman, a clergyman, a solicitor, an author, an artist, and an unassuming lady with a shrewd gaze – Miss Jane Marple. Conversation naturally turns to crime.

Each recounts a seemingly unsolvable mystery. Each thinks they know the answer.

But it’s the one they least expect who understands the true nature of each wicked act…

Never underestimate Miss Marple

‘Billions of readers can’t be wrong.’Dreda Say Mitchell

‘The plots are so good that one marvels . . . most of them would have made a full-length thriller.’Daily Mirror

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