Classics audiobooks

Gai-Jin

By: James Clavell

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 50 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

The dynamic epic novel of political upheaval and societal change in late 1800s Japan, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author and unparalleled master of historical fiction, James ClavellThis epic novel by master writer James Clavell, loosely based on the Namamugi Incident and Anglo-Satsuma War that took place in the late 1800s, is a richly... Read more

The Fyodor Dostoevsky BBC Radio Drama Collection

By: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Narrated by: Roy Marsden, Alex Jennings, Roger Allam, Paul R...

Length: 17 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

BBC radio productions of Dostoevsky's masterpieces, plus selected shorter fiction and bonus programmes exploring his life and work

One of the most important and influential Russian writers of the 19th Century, Fyodor Dostoevsky is admired worldwide for his great realist novels, exploring questions of morality, philosophy and the nature of... Read more

The Treasury of Romantic Poetry

By: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Wi...

Narrated by: Richard Burton, William Squire, Margaretta Scot...

Length: 2 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic fiction read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first time. A... Read more

1984

By: George Orwell

Narrated by: Andrew Jackson, Brian Edwards & Eva Jackman

Length: 9 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

"1984" by George Orwell is a dystopian novel that was published in 1949. The story is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, government surveillance, and manipulation of truth. The novel follows the life of Winston Smith, a low-ranking member of the Party who... Read more

The Oscar Wilde BBC Radio Drama Collection

By: Oscar Wilde

Narrated by: Diana Rigg, Full Cast, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench...

Length: 11 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

The collected BBC radio productions of the major works of Oscar Wilde, plus bonus play by Neil Bartlett

Loved for his flamboyant personality, sparkling wit and brilliant epigrams, Oscar Wilde was a comic genius and a literary icon.

This collection reflects the many facets of his dazzling talent. Here are dramatisations of his only novel, The... Read more

The Pickwick Papers

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 30 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

When a twenty-four-year-old writer named Charles Dickens was asked to write a serialized story about English country life, no one anticipated that he was about to become one of the most famous authors of all time. The Pickwick Papers, as it came to be called, enchanted readers with its lively humor and delightfully drawn characters. The members... Read more

Old Filth

By: Jane Gardam

Narrated by: Bill Wallis

Length: 9 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

'It's a cliche to compare novelists to Jane Austen, but in the case of Jane Gardam it happens to be true. Her diamond-like prose, her understanding of the human heart, her formal inventiveness and her sense of what it is to be alive - young, old, lonely, in love - never fades' Amanda Craig

'I love Jane Gardam, especially Old Filth' Nina... Read more

Howards End

By: E. M. Forster

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 11 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

Considered by many to be E. M. Forster's greatest novel, Howards End is a beautifully subtle tale of two very different families brought together by an unusual event. The Schlegels are intellectuals, devotees of art and literature. The Wilcoxes are practical and materialistic, leading lives of "telegrams and anger." When the elder Mrs. Wilcox... Read more

The Woman in White

By: Wilkie Collins

Narrated by: Tim McInnerny

Length: 26 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is performed by acclaimed British actor Tim McInnerny, known for his many roles on stage and screen including in Notting Hill and Blackadder. This definitive edition includes an introduction by Matthew Sweet.

The Woman in White famously opens with Walter Hartright's eerie encounter on a moonlit... Read more

The Iliad

By: Homer

Narrated by: Steve John Shepherd

Length: 17 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is performed by Steve John Shepherd, whose theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe, The Good Canary directed by John Malkovich, Bomber's Moon and Piaf. His TV and film credits range from the iconic This Life to Silent Witness and Eastenders. This definitive recording includes an... Read more

King Rat

By: James Clavell

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 15 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

The epic novel of war, savagery, and survival in a Japanese POW camp by the #1 New York Times bestselling author and unparalleled master of historical fiction, James ClavellJapanese POW camp Changi, Singapore: hell on earth for the soldiers contained within its barbed wire walls. Officers and enlisted men, all prisoners together, yet the old... Read more

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)

By: Jerome K. Jerome

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 6 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them just fine. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather forecasts, and tins of pineapple chunks—not to mention the devastation left in the wake of... Read more

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

By: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 10 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

A colonel receives five seeds in the mail—and dies within weeks. A young bride disappears immediately after her wedding. An old hat and a Christmas goose are the only clues to a stolen jewel. A son is accused of his father's murder. These mysteries—and many more—are brought to the house on Baker Street where detective Sherlock Holmes resides. No... Read more

A Tale of Two Cities

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 14 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities is a sprawling tale of London and revolutionary Paris with a complex plot portraying the results of terror and treason, love and supreme sacrifice.“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”—opening line of A Tale of Two CitiesIt was the time of the French... Read more

Notes from the Underground (Unabridged)

By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Length: 4 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

Notes from the Underground is Dostoevsky�s early masterpiece and is one of the first examples of existentialist literature. Dostoevsky�s narrator is the anonymous voice of the masterful novella. Retired and isolated from society, he is bitter, contemptuous, and contemplative as he presents his anecdotes and philosophical outlooks. Presented as... Read more

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

By: Washington Irving

Narrated by: Michael Ward

Length: 1 hour 20 minutes

Abridged: No

This quintessential classic just in time for Halloween. This famous tale by Washington Irving of Ichabod Crane, schoolmaster of Sleepy Hollow and his chance encounter with the spectral fiend, the Headless Horseman!
Narrated by Michael Ward Read more

Melmoth the Wanderer

By: Charles Maturin

Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien

Length: 28 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

Brought to you by Penguin.

Created by an Irish clergyman, Melmoth is one of the most fiendish characters in literature. In a satanic bargain, Melmoth exchanges his soul for immortality. The story of his tortured wanderings through the centuries is pieced together through those who have been implored by Melmoth to take over his pact with the... Read more

The Cricket on the Hearth

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 3 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

In the 1840s Charles Dickens wrote 5 short stories with strong social and moral messages. The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home, is the third of these stories. Following the home life of John Peerybingle, the story introduces the many people in John's family and life along with a cricket that acts as the guardian angel of the family.... Read more

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

By: Mark Twain

Narrated by: Tom Parker

Length: 9 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

Huck Finn is an orphaned drifter who loves freedom more than respectability. He isn’t above lying and stealing, but he faces a battle with his conscience when he meets up with a runaway slave named Jim, who provides him with his first experiences of love, acceptance, and a sense of responsibility.The title character of this famous novel tells... Read more

Don Quixote

By: Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 39 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

Don Quixote is the classic story. Called the first modern novel, this marvelous book has stood the test of time to become irrevocably intertwined with the fabric of society. Sixteenth-century Spanish gentleman Don Quixote, fed by his own delusional fantasies, takes to the road in search of chivalrous adventures. But his quest leads to more... Read more

The Secret Garden

By: Frances Hodgson Burnett

Narrated by: Tamaryn Payne

Length: 8 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

Told in the beautiful and charming words of Frances Hodgson Burnett, this classic children’s tale of redemption and transformation is full of so many priceless lessons.  After losing both of her parents, young Mary Lennox is sent from the lively and bustling world of India to the cold and secretive manor of an aloof relative in England.  On her... Read more

The Bell Jar

By: Sylvia Plath

Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal

Length: 7 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

A realistic and emotional look at a woman who falls into the grips of insanity written by the iconic American writer Sylvia Plath“It is this perfectly wrought prose and the freshness of Plath’s voice in The Bell Jar that make this book enduring in its appeal.” — USA TodayThe Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant,... Read more

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

By: Betty Smith

Narrated by: Kate Burton

Length: 15 hours 1 minute

Abridged: No

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 PickThe beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the twentieth century.From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for growing up in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn, New York demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit.... Read more

Love in the Time of Cholera

By: Gabriel García Márquez

Narrated by: Armando Durán

Length: 15 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

From the Nobel Prize–winning author of One Hundred Years of Solitude comes a masterly evocation of an unrequited passion so strong that it binds two people’s lives together for more than half a century.In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born... Read more