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  After London or Wild England...

  Richard Jefferies

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  The meadows were green, and so was the rising wheat which had been sown, but which neither had nor would receive any further care. Such arable fields as had not been sown, but where the last stubble had been ploughed up, were overrun with couch-grass, and where the short stubble had not been ploughed, the weeds hid it.Jefferies' novel can be seen as an early example of post-apocalyptic fiction. After some sudden and unspecified catastrophe has depopulated England, the countryside reverts to nature, and the few survivors to a quasi-medieval way of life.

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  The Idiot

  Arnold Bennett

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  When William Froyle, ostler at the Queen's Arms at Moorthorne, learns that his betrothed has betrayed him, he determines to hang himself in the inn's coach house. 
  
  
  His first, unsuccessful attempt, is witnessed by Daft Jimmy, the village idiot. Daft Jimmy offers to help with the process of fixing the noose and takes a great deal of interest and delight in the proceedings. 
  
  
  As events unfold, it becomes less clear who is the fool and who is the wise man.

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  Tom Thumb and Other Stories

  Grimm The Brothers

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  This charming collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales includes "Tom Thumb", "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", "The Fisherman & His Wife" and "The Willow-Wren & The Bear". Grimms' Fairy Tales was first published in Germany in 1812 as "Kinder und Hausmärchen". This series of recordings is based on the original 1823 English translation by Edgar Taylor, with subsequent editing by Marian Edwardes.

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  The Enchanted April

  Elizabeth von Arnim

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  A charming Italian castle holds the key to happiness for four English women in this classic by the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden.   It begins on a rainy London afternoon in February. Four ladies, whose only common trait is dissatisfaction with life, answer an ad placed in the advice column of The Times. Addressed “To Those Who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine,” it offers the opportunity to rent a fully-furnished medieval Italian castle in Portofino along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea for the month of April—servants included. A peaceful holiday is all the ladies are expecting, but the sunny warmth of the Italian spring is about to change their lives . . .   “The Enchanted April sounds as if it would be an appallingly cloying cream puff of a fairy tale, but that would be to ignore that the author habitually kept a pot of lemon juice mixed with vinegar beside her ink-pot. With this bracing element there is additionally what can only be called a feast of flowers, hanging from every wall and pouring scent over the company.” —The Times Literary Supplement   “[A] restful, funny, sumptuous, and invigorating vacation for the mind and soul.” —500 Great Books by Women   “[A]n expression of the propensity of people to be blind to the real secret of happiness, and . . . how exquisitely men and women get upon each other’s nerves and how they suffer from each other’s egos.” —National Review   “Lyrical . . . Dry, delicious humor . . . An April does not satisfy my greedy heart. I want all year.” —Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

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  The Hound of the Baskervilles -...

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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  Dr. James Mortimer asks Holmes to investigate the death of his friend, Sir Charles Baskerville. Sir Charles died at his Devonshire estate, Baskerville Hall, and Mortimer now fears for Sir Charles's nephew and sole heir, Sir Henry Baskerville. The death was attributed to a heart attack, but Mortimer is suspicious, because Sir Charles died with an expression of horror on his face, and Mortimer noticed "the footprints of a gigantic hound" nearby. The Baskerville family has supposedly been under a curse since the era of the English Civil War, when Hugo Baskerville offered his soul to the devil for help in abducting a woman and was reportedly killed by a giant spectral hound. Sir Charles believed in the curse and was apparently running away from something when he died…

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  The Man Who Was Thursday - A...

  G. K.Chesterton

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  To categorise Chesterton’s tale "The Man Who Was Thursday" is near impossible and ultimately fruitless. Nightmare? Dream? Allegory? It matters little; like all Chesterton’s writing it is packed with rich imagery, whimsical humour and universal wisdom.  
  Like Gabriel Syme, at the conclusion of the story, we may not be quite sure whether we too, were dreaming or not. 
  Narrated by Simon Hester. With original music.

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