Audiobooks narrated by Ian Holm

Ivan Turgenev: A BBC Radio Full-Cast Drama Collection: First Love, Father and Sons, A Month in the C

Nine classic works by the Russian literary giant, adapted for BBC Radio Ivan Turgenev stands alongside Tolstoy and Dostoevsky as one of the three great Russian novelists of the 19th century. He was also a consummate short story writer, poet and playwright, and the first Russian author to become popular in the West. This specially curated collection showcases his key works, from the most celebrated to the undeservedly underrated. Described as ‘one of the most perfect things ever written’, the lyrical novella First Love tells the story of 16-year-old Vladimir, whose longing for the capricious Zinaida informs his whole life. Dramatised for Radio 4, it stars Simon Cadell, Rosalind Ayres and Bill Nighy. Succeeding it is Turgenev’s masterpiece, Fathers and Sons, an exploration of the eternal conflict between the reactionary older generation and the revolutionary younger one. John Castle stars as youthful nihilist Bazarov, with Maurice Denham as his father Nikolai. First published in 1855 as Two Women, Turgenev’s best-known play A Month in the Country centres around a landowner’s wife who finds herself attracted to her son’s tutor. Translated by Isaiah Berlin, our Radio 3 version stars Maureen O’Brien and Gerard Murphy. Written a few years before A Month in the Country, the little-known play The Poor Gentleman is an emotional comedy about an elderly man’s devotion to a daughter he can never recognise publicly. It stars Frank Finlay, Morag Hood and Colin Baker. Next up is Smoke, Turgenev’s only novel not to be set in Russia. Baden Baden is the setting for a tale that blends poignant love story and searing political satire, starring Garard Green, Rachel Gurney and Patricia Leventon. Meanwhile, in the short story ‘The Dog’, a mild Hussar (Timothy West) is the subject of a bizarre haunting… Turgenev’s debut novel, Rudin, features that archetypal character in Russian literature, the ‘superfluous man’. Ian Holm stars as the eponymous hero, an idealistic intellectual who is incapable of taking action: and suffers for it. Set just before the Crimean War, the romantic novella On the Eve has passion and patriotism as its themes. Amanda Root stars as the upper-class Elena, who embarks on a doomed affair with Bulgarian revolutionary Insarov (Philip Franks). We conclude as we began, with a tale of first love – Spring Torrents, one of Turgenev’s greatest and most autobiographical novellas. Adapted for Radio 4’s ‘Book at Bedtime’, it is read by David Horovitch. First published 1848 (The Poor Gentleman), 1855/1872 (A Month in the Country), 1857 (Rudin), 1860 (First Love, On the Eve), 1862 (Fathers and Sons), 1866 (‘The Dog’), 1867 (Smoke), 1872 (Spring Torrents) Production credits Written by Ivan Turgenev With thanks to Keith Wickham Contents List First Love Fathers and Sons A Month in the Country The Poor Gentleman Smoke The Dog Rudin On the Eve Spring Torrents © 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Ivan Turgenev (Author), Amanda Root, Bill Nighy, David Horovitch, Full Cast, Hugh Dickson, Ian Holm, Maureen O'brien, Norman Shelley, Patrick Troughton, Rosalind Ayres, Tim Pigott-Smith, Timothy West (Narrator)

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Wilkie Collins - A Short Story Collection

Wilkie Collins was born on 8th January 1824 in Marylebone, London. The family moved several times in his early years before, at 12, they travelled to France and Italy for 2 years where the sights and atmosphere made a deep and lasting impression on him.He resumed his education at Mr Cole’s private boarding school in Highbury, Islington. Here, he began his literary career under unusual circumstances: the school bully would give him no peace until he had been told a bedtime story. This ‘little brute’ helped create one of England’s greatest writers. On leaving school, in 1841, he became a clerk at a tea merchant before, 2 years later, publishing his first short story. However, his first novel was rejected and remained so during his lifetime. A brief stint at Lincoln’s Inn to please his father and to acquire a steady income was halted by his father’s death. Collins then wrote and published his fathers’ memoirs. He then completed his legal education though he would never practice. In March 1851, he was introduced to Charles Dickens and there now started a period of sustained literary output and a remarkable lifelong friendship. His stories were published in Dicken’s magazines, and he toured with Dicken’s theatrical before the two of them travelled to the Continent.By the early 1860’s worrying signs of ill-health appeared with rheumatic gout. As it worsened, he sought respite and cures in German spa towns and gave up writing to help his recuperation.His personal life had become very complicated. He was living with the widowed Caroline Graves and conducting an affair with a much younger Martha Rudd. With the serialised release of ‘The Moonstone’ and vicious attacks of gout Caroline left him and married another. Collins was now prescribed opium and was soon its lifelong dependent. Martha bore him two children and with the return of a now divorced Caroline Graves he now divided his time between the two women.In 1874 he set aside writing to tour North America on a reading tour.Throughout his later years he continued to write and publish. In all 30 novels, 14 plays, 60 short stories and over a 100 non-fiction essays as well as many more collaborations with Dickens.In 1884 the Society of Authors elected him as it’s Vice-President.Wilkie Collins died from a paralytic stroke on September 23rd, 1889, in London. He was 65.

Wilkie Collins (Author), Ian Holm (Narrator)

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3 Stories - Horror Stories in Diaries

There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes.Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.From their pens to your your ears.01 - 3 Stories - Horror Stories in Diaries02 - The Horror of the Heights by Arthur Conan Doyle03 - The Horla by Guy de Maupassant04 - The Tomb of Sarah by F G Loring

F G Loring, Guy De Maupassant, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author), Ian Holm, Mark Rice-Oxley (Narrator)

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The Top 10 Short Stories - Gothic

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author's brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted 'Top Tens' across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions - Why that story? Why that author? The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.The word 'Gothic' may be teamed with romance but here it brings an immediate feeling of unease. This unease, this disquiet, is sumptuously captured by ten masters of their art.01 - The Top 10 - Gothic - An Introduction02 - The Signalman by Charles Dickens03 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 1 by Edgar Allan Poe04 - The Fall of the House of Usher - Part 2 by Edgar Allan Poe05 - The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson06 - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving07 - The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling08 - The Phantom Coach by Amelia Edwards09 - The Yellow Wall Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman10 - Lost Hearts by M R James04 - Thurnley Abbey by Perceval Landon12 - The Vampyre. A Tale - Part 1 by John William Polidori13 - The Vampyre. A Tale - Part 2 by John William Polidori

Amelia B. Edwards, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edgar Allan Poe, John William Polidori, M R James, Perceval Landon, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Washington Irving (Author), Ian Holm, Liza Ross, Vincent Marzello (Narrator)

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Marriage - Short Stories

Love. Perhaps the one word solution for everything. An emotion, a state of mind that we strive for, search for. A wondrous force that binds, inspires, and a force that can spin out of control; unbalanced and fragile. Love reflects, changes and embraces us all. In this series we explore the many facets of love through literary talents that span both time and country. By a choice of vows each undertakes to stay with the other through the good times and the bad. And most probably there will be plenty of both and much in between. But the union of marriage comes in many shades and hues, some balanced, some destined to last a lifetime and others set to fizzle out or stumble to an ill-mannered conclusion in separation or divorce and, of course, death. In this volume our literary friends take on all manner of marriages and deliver stories that reveal every face and every facet of what marriage really is.1 - Marriage - Short Stories - An Introduction2 - Bliss by Katherine Mansfield3 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 1 by Oscar Wilde4 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 2 by Oscar Wilde5 - The Border Line by D H Lawrence6 - The Blizzard by Alexander Pushkin7 - The Dowry by Guy de Maupassant8 - The Wife of His Youth by Charles W Chesnutt9 - Right At Last by Elizabeth Gaskell10 - The Difference by Ellen Glasgow11 - The Dream Woman by Wilkie Collins12 - The Other Woman by Sherwood Anderson13 - Red Tape by Mary Sinclair14 - Two Offers by Frances Watkins Harper15 - The Star by W F Harvey16 - The Revolt of Mother by Mary Wilkins E Freeman17 - Foreordained by Anthony Hope18 - Odour of Chrysanthemums by D H Lawrence

Frances Watkins Harper, Oscar Wilde (Author), Darrell Joe, Ian Holm (Narrator)

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Love Beyond the Grave - Short Stories

Love. Perhaps the one word solution for everything. An emotion, a state of mind that we strive for, search for. A wondrous force that binds, inspires, and a force that can spin out of control; unbalanced and fragile. Love reflects, changes and embraces us all. In this series we explore the many facets of love through literary talents that span both time and country. The capture of love in this life is a very special happening, it may only strike us once, and for some perhaps never. But what if those on the ‘other side’ have designs on us? What if their desire is just so strong that we can’t resist? Can true love survive?1 - Love Beyond the Grave - Short Stories - An Introduction2 - The Testament of Magdalen Blair - Part 1 by Aleister Crowley3 - The Testament of Magdalen Blair - Part 2 by Aleister Crowley4 - The Dream Woman by Wilkie Collins5 - The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling6 - Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter by Sheridan Le Fanu7 - The Story of Salome by Amelia Edwards8 - The Moonlit Road by Ambrose Bierce9 - The Haunted Orchard by Richard Gallienne10 - The Mystery of the Semi Detached by Edith Nesbit11 - The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon12 - The Snow by Hugh Walpole13 - The Second Generation by Algernon Blackwood14 - Since I Died by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps15 - Wake Not the Dead - Part 1 by Ernst Raupach16 - Wake Not the Dead - Part 2 by Ernst Raupach

Aleister Crowley, Sheridan Le Fanu (Author), Ian Holm, Lisa Braverman (Narrator)

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The British Short Story - Volume 2 - Mary Diana Dods to Sheridan Le Fanu

These British Isles, moored across from mainland Europe, are more often seen as a world unto themselves. Restless and creative, they often warred amongst themselves until they began a global push to forge a World Empire of territory, of trade and of language.Here our ambitions are only of the literary kind. These shores have mustered many masters of literature. So this anthology's boundaries includes only those authors who were born in the British Isles - which as a geographical definition is the UK mainland and the island of Ireland - and wrote in a familiar form of English.Whilst Daniel Defoe is the normal starting point we begin a little earlier with Aphra Behn, an equally colourful character as well as an astonishing playwright and poet. And this is how we begin to differentiate our offering; both in scope, in breadth and in depth. These islands have raised and nurtured female authors of the highest order and rank and more often than not they have been sidelined or ignored in favour of that other gender which usually gets the plaudits and the royalties.Way back when it was almost immoral that a woman should write. A few pages of verse might be tolerated but anything else brought ridicule and shame. That seems unfathomable now but centuries ago women really were chattel, with marriage being, as the Victorian author Charlotte Smith boldly stated 'legal prostitution'. Some of course did find a way through - Jane Austen, the Brontes and Virginia Woolf but for many others only by changing their names to that of men was it possible to get their book to publication and into a readers hands. Here we include George Eliot and other examples.We add further depth with many stories by authors who were famed and fawned over in their day. Some wrote only a hidden gem or two before succumbing to poverty and death. There was no second career as a game show guest, reality TV contestant or youtuber. They remain almost forgotten outposts of talent who never prospered despite devoted hours of pen and brain.Keeping to a chronological order helps us to highlight how authors through the ages played around with characters and narrative to achieve distinctive results across many scenarios, many styles and many genres. The short story became a sort of literary laboratory, an early disruptor, of how to present and how to appeal to a growing audience as a reflection of social and societal changes. Was this bound to happen or did a growing population that could read begin to influence rather than just accept?Moving through the centuries we gather a groundswell of authors as we hit the Victorian Age - an age of physical mass communication albeit only on an actual printed page. An audience was offered a multitude of forms: novels (both whole and in serialised form) essays, short stories, poems all in weekly, monthly and quarterly form. Many of these periodicals were founded or edited by literary behemoths from Dickens and Thackeray through to Jerome K Jerome and, even some female editors including Ethel Colburn Mayne, Alice Meynell and Ella D'Arcy.Now authors began to offer a wider, more diverse choice from social activism and justice - and injustice to cutting stories of manners and principles. From many forms of comedy to mental meltdowns, from science fiction to unrequited heartache. If you can imagine it an author probably wrote it. At the end of the 19th Century bestseller lists and then prizes, such as the Nobel and Pulitzer, helped focus an audience's attention to a books literary merit and sales worth. Previously coffeehouses, Imperial trade, unscrupulous overseas printers ignoring copyright restrictions, publishers with their book lists as an appendix and the gossip and interchange of polite society had been the main avenues to secure sales and profits.

Charles Dickens, Mary Diana Dods, Sheridan Le Fanu (Author), Ghizela Rowe, Ian Holm, Tom Mclean (Narrator)

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The Horla

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France. Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband.After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life. Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing.After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department. Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing. Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature. For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions.In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming. Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique. This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career. With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year. The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy.In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth. On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat. Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris. It was here on July 6th, 1893 that Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42.

Guy De Maupassant (Author), Ghizela Rowe, Ian Holm (Narrator)

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The Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France. Maupassant's early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband.After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life. Maupassant's education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing.After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department. Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing. Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature. For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions.In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, 'Boule de Suif', (translated as as 'Dumpling', 'Butterball', 'Ball of Fat', or 'Ball of Lard') which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming. Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was 'a masterpiece that will endure.' Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique. This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career. With an audience now made available by the success of 'Boule de Suif' Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year. The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy.In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth. On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat. Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris. It was here on July 6th, 1893 that Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42. This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

Guy De Maupassant (Author), Ian Holm, Jake Urry, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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The Charles Dickens BBC Radio Drama Collection: 15 BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations

Riveting radio dramatisations of Charles Dickens' fifteen full-length novels.Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned authors of all time, and this digital volume of the dramatised canon of his work includes fifteen of his most popular novels.This collection includes the episodic adventure Nicholas Nickleby, comic tale The Pickwick Papers, poignant melodrama The Old Curiosity Shop, the much-loved Oliver Twist. Plus, the gripping historical novel Barnaby Rudge, picaresque comedy Martin Chuzzlewit and bittersweet tale of family relationships Dombey and Son. Also included is the epic masterpiece David Copperfield, described by Dickens as his ‘favourite child'; suspenseful mystery Bleak House; Dickens' most openly political novel, Hard Times and Little Dorrit, a sweeping tale of imprisonment, poverty and riches. Plus A Tale of Two Cities, set during the French Revolution; coming-of-age novel Great Expectations; sweeping satire of wealth and corruption Our Mutual Friend and Dickens' final, unfinished story The Mystery of Edwin Drood.With their compelling plots, larger-than-life characters and vivid descriptions of Victorian life, Dickens' stories have captivated generations of readers. These radio adaptations bring out all the hope and happiness, pathos and tragedy, satire and social realism of his seven classic masterpieces.Among the star cast are Anna Massey, Alex Jennings, Phil Daniels, Julia McKenzie, Tim McInnerny, Robert Glenister, Robert Lindsay, Honeysuckle Weeks, Kenneth Cranham, Sir Ian McKellen, Alison Steadman, Geraldine McEwan, Andrew Scott and Ian Holm, these radio adaptations bring Dickens' imaginative world to colourful, captivating life.

Charles Dickens (Author), , Alex Jennings, Alison Steadman, Andrew Scott, Anna Massey, Geraldine Mcewan, Ian Holm, Ian Mckellen, Indira Varma, Julia Mckenzie, Kenneth Cranham, Phil Daniels, Robert Glenister, Robert Lindsay, Tim Mcinnerny (Narrator)

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The Charles Dickens BBC Radio Drama Collection: The Later Years: Eight BBC Radio full-cast dramatisa

Enthralling radio dramatisations of eight of Charles Dickens' much-loved novels.Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned authors of all time, and this second digital volume of the dramatised canon of his work includes eight of his classic novels.This collection includes the epic masterpiece David Copperfield, described by Dickens as his ‘favourite child'; suspenseful mystery Bleak House; Dickens' most openly political novel, Hard Times and Little Dorrit, a sweeping tale of imprisonment, poverty and riches. Also included are A Tale of Two Cities, set during the French Revolution; coming-of-age novel Great Expectations; sweeping satire of wealth and corruption Our Mutual Friend and Dickens' final, unfinished story The Mystery of Edwin Drood.With a star cast including Robert Glenister, Robert Lindsay, Honeysuckle Weeks, Kenneth Cranham, Sir Ian McKellen, Alison Steadman, Geraldine McEwan, Andrew Scott and Ian Holm, these radio adaptations bring Dickens' imaginative world to colourful, captivating life.

Charles Dickens (Author), , Alison Steadman, Andrew Scott, Geraldine McEwan, Geraldine Mcewan, Ian Holm, Ian Mckellen, Indira Varma, Kenneth Cranham, Robert Lindsay (Narrator)

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Gothic Tales of Terror - Volume 5

Gothic Tales Of Terror - Volume5. This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales to bear macabre and chilling witness to writers as diverse as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elizabeth Gaskell, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins and Edith Nesbit. These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, as you sit back, and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you'd perhaps rather not visit on your own. Our stories are The Wedding Knell by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell, The Premature Burial by Edgar Allan Poe, Dream Woman by Wilkie Collins and Edith Nesbit by The Ebony Frame. These stories are read for you by many readers including Ian Holm, Ghizela Rowe, Bill Wallis and Richard Mitchley.

Edd Mcnair, Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Nesbit, Elizabeth Gaskell, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Wilkie Collins (Author), Ghizela Rowe, Ian Holm, Vincent Marzello (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Ian Holm