Showing results by author "Thomas Hardy" in All Categories

When a stranger turns up at Shepherd Fennel's party, held in honour of his daughter's christening, he is welcomed and treated to home-brewed mead, a pipe and tobacco and a seat by the fire. When a second, altogether more sinister stranger arrives, he too is welcomed, although he makes rather too free with the host's liquor and sings a song revealing his terrible secret. When a third stranger arrives in the midst of the second stranger's song and taking one look into the room, flees in terror, the guests are mystified.

John Durbeyfield (Keith Barron) learns that he is descended from the aristocratic Norman family of d'Urbervilles. He encourages his daughter, Tess (Claire Rushbrook), to befriend the family of Stoke d'Urbervilles where she meets Alec d'Urberville (Adam Godley). Tess is ultimately seduced by Alec and the effects of their affair creates dramatic ripples in Tess's life. In an attempt to make a fresh start, Tess begins work in Wessex at the Talbothay's farm where she encounters Angel Clare (James D'Arcy), the younger son of a parson, who asks her to marry him.

A collection of Thomas Hardy's finest poetry read by Carleton Hobbs, John Glen, Richard Burton, and Edith Evans.

Distinguished actor and six-time Academy Award nominee Richard Burton reads a selection of his favourite poetry. Volume 2 in this dramatic audiobook series includes selections from William Shakespeare, John Donne, and Thomas Hardy....

A shameful act of drunken impetuousness results in Michael Henchard losing his wife and daughter in an auction. This evil deed remains secret for years, during which time Henchard climbs the social ladder from working as a roving hay-trusser to becoming the upstanding Mayor of Casterbridge.

A grisly collection of despicable crimes told by some of the world's best writers.

A scintillating collection of tales with unexpected endings.

A haunting collection of strange and macabre short stories, ideal for listening to around the fire on a cold winter evening.... 'The Last Leaf' by O. Henry, 'On the Northern Ice' by Elia W. Peattie, 'The Fire' by Charles John Cutcliffe Hyne, 'The Tiger' by Hugh Walpole, 'Cool Air' by H. P. Lovecraft, 'The Missing Model' by Lettice Galbraith, 'The Cold Embrace' by Mary E. Braddon, 'The Snow' by Hugh Walpole, 'Over an Absinthe Bottle' by W. C. Morrow, 'The Coffin Merchant' by Richard Middleton.

Full-cast performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the novel. Hardy's world is brought to life in this vivid drama that sets the scene, tells the tale, and puts the characters on trial using theatre-in-education techniques to examine "the leaden gloom of one who has lost all".

A Group of Noble Dames is an 1891 collection of short stories by great English novelist Thomas Hardy. The ten stories focus on "store of ladies, whose bright eyes rain influence". Hardy delves into the hidden depths of country families to reveal what went on behind the scenes.

Tess, the young and lovely heroine of Hardy's classic tale, knows instinctively that the path she is choosing is the wrong one. But, a child of her times, what can she do but follow the dictates of her family?

A wonderful anthology of 15 of the great classic Novellas. 1. Immensee by Theodor Storm 2. The Jew's Beech Tree by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff 3. The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad 4. The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy 5. Mad Monkton by Wilkie Collins 6. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 7. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot 8. England my England by D. H. Lawrence

Bathsheba Everdene flees her abusive husband and spends the night by a stagnant and spooky swamp. When light begins to break over her hiding-place, she sees strong parallels between her surroundings and the nature of her own experiences of relationships.

Jocelyn Pierston, a successful sculptor, is helpless in the face of "the well-beloved": the manifestation of perfect womanhood that seems to move like a will-o'-the-wisp from one acquaintance to the next. It shapes his whole life. Where his artistry involves permanence - cold stone objects - his heart is caught by ephemeral beauty. After years spent in London, a return to his rocky birthplace, the Isle of Slingers, sparks Pierston's extraordinary involvement with three generations of the Caro family.

Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of an impoverished family, must navigate a world of desire and romance once she meets Alec d'Urberville. The son of a rich widow, he takes a fancy to her and gets her a position as the poultry keeper on his family's estate. However, her good fortune is soon complicated by Alec's libertine ways, and Tess returns home shamed. Once recovered, she separates herself from the gossip by finding work at a dairy farm outside the village.

We absolutely adore novels written and set in the Britain of the 19th century, and late 18th century. We want to bring the stories from The Golden Age of the British Novel to life, and make them ’accessible’ to a modern audience.

In this collection of short stories, Thomas Hardy explores the lives of the people of Wessex, a fictional region in England. Through tales of love, loss, and tragedy, Hardy portrays the struggles and complexities of human relationships in rural Victorian England. With vivid descriptions and engaging characters, Wessex Tales is a must-listen for fans of classic literature.

The finest voices reading a wonderful selection of poetry accompanied by selected classical music.

> Far from the Madding Crowd is perhaps the most pastoral of Hardy's Wessex novels. It tells the story of the young farmer Gabriel Oak and his love for and pursuit of the elusive Bathsheba Everdene, whose wayward nature leads her to both tragedy and true love. It tells of the dashing Sergeant Troy whose rakish philosophy of life was "...The past was yesterday; never, the day after." And lastly, of the introverted and reclusive gentleman farmer, Mr Boldwood.

A bold new dramatisation of Thomas Hardy’s classic, giving his story a 21st-century resonance. Tess Durbeyfield is driven by poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urberville family. But meeting her cousin Alec proves to be her downfall. This classic criticism of social convention is given a new treatment in this full-cast adaptation which blows away the shepherd's pipe and heritage stereotype, foregrounding Hardy's social and sexual radicalism.