GCSE

ABOUT A BOY

by Nick Hornby

read by Richard Ratcliffe

running time 8hrs 45mins

Will is single and doesn't want children but when he meets Marcus, aged 12, they both discover they can benefit from their friendship. Strong language.

BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS

by Dai Sijie

read by Andrew Burt

running time 5hrs 15mins

In the midst of Mao's cultural revolution, two boys are sent to 're-education' camps and have to rely on each other and the daughter of a local tailor to keep going. Their lives are changed when they find a suitcase packed with Western novels, and after listening to the stories of Balzac so is the little seamstress.

THE CANTERBURY TALES

by Geoffrey Chaucer

read by Miscellaneous

running time 22hrs 20mins

These tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from Southwark to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Chaucer used the tales to depict a critical portrait of the society of his time and particularly the Church.

THE DIARY OF A NOBODY

by Weedon Grossmith & George Grossmith

read by Terrence Hardiman

running time 5hrs

Mr Pooter is a man of modest ambition and content with his lot. So why is he always in trouble with tradesmen, colleagues and friends? However hard he tries, life always seems to pile mishaps onto him - but he's not about to give up.

EMILY DICKINSON

by Emily Dickinson

read by Teresa Gallagher

running time 1hr 20mins

Emily Dickinson is one of America's greatest writers. This selection includes 147 of her best-known poems and is a perfect introduction to her unique voice.

FASTING, FEASTING

by Anita Desai

read by Hazel Douglas

running time 7hrs 45mins

Whilst Uma, a plain spinster, lives in India smothered by her overbearing parents, her over-indulged younger brother Arun is studying in Massachusetts. He is bewildered by the freedom and culture he finds in the home of the Patton family.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

by Charles Dickens

read by Martin Jarvis

running time 16hrs 30mins

Pip is brought up by his sister and her husband Joe Gargery, the village blacksmith. At the house of the strange Miss Haversham he falls in love with Estella, and aspires to become a gentleman. When money comes to him from a mysterious source he assumes his benefactor is Miss Haversham.

HALF OF A YELLOW SUN

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

read by Adjoa Andoh

running time 18hrs

In 1960s Nigeria, a country blighted by civil war, three lives intersect. When the shocking horror of the war engulfs them, their loyalties are severely tested as they are pulled apart and thrown together in ways that none of them imagined… Orange/Baileys Prize. Richard & Judy Bookclub

I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS

by Maya Angelou

read by Grace Dives

running time 9hrs 30mins

Maya Angelou grew up in Arkansas during the 1920's. She and her brother were brought up by their grandmother at the centre of the black community, but were all too aware of the 'whitefolks' who ruled from the other side of the town.

THE JOY LUCK CLUB

by Amy Tan

read by Elizabeth Charles

running time 11hrs 10mins

Four mothers who have moved from pre-revolutionary China to San Francisco meet and form the Joy Luck Club to eat dim sum and to share stories. Forty years on they and their daughters tell stories of hope, loss and their struggle to come to terms with their cultural identity.

KING RICHARD III

by William Shakespeare

read by Miscellaneous

running time 3hrs 20mins

Richard emerges from the chaos which surrounds the reign of Henry VI determined to become king by removing his elder brother Edward IV, by convincing him that their brother Clarence is plotting against the crown. The series of murders and conspiracies that Richard masterminds confirms his claim that "I am determined to prove a villain".

LITTLE DORRIT

by Charles Dickens

read by Anton Lesser

running time 35hrs

For all of her 22 years, Amy Dorrit has lived in Marshalsea prison, trapped with her family because of her father's debts. Her only escape is to work as a seamstress for the kind Mrs Clennam. But when it is unexpectedly discovered that her father is heir to a fortune, some shocking truths emerge and Amy's life changes for ever.

MACBETH

by William Shakespeare

read by Marlowe Dramatic Society

running time 2hrs

Promised a golden future as ruler of Scotland by three sinister witches, Macbeth murders the king to ensure his ambitions come true. But he soon learns the meaning of terror - killing once, he must kill again and again, and the dead return to haunt him.

NEVER LET ME GO

by Kazuo Ishiguro

read by Emilia Fox

running time 9hrs

Kathy, Tommy and Ruth are all products of Hailsham House, a school where they are sheltered from the outside world and subjected to frequent medical checks. As the children grow and mature into adults the sinister purpose of Hailsham becomes apparent.

OF MICE AND MEN

by John Steinbeck

read by Billy Howle

running time 3hrs 9mins

Drifters in search of work, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie, have nothing in the world except each other - and a dream. A dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch, but their hopes are doomed as Lennie - struggling against extreme cruelty, misunderstanding and jealousy - becomes a victim of his own strength.

PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA

by Roddy Doyle

read by Charles Armstrong

running time 7hrs

Paddy Clarke is ten in 1968 and loves George Best, Geronimo and the smell of his hot water bottle. He hates zoos, kissing and boys from the Corporation houses and his brother. He knows that his mother is crying, that Da leaves the house in silence, but he doesn't know why... Man Booker Prize Winner.

RABBIT-PROOF FENCE

by Doris Pilkington

read by Rebekah Germain

running time 4hrs 20mins

The captivating true story of the author's mother, Molly, one of three young sisters uprooted from their community in South-western Australia and taken to a native settlement, where they were taught to be culturally white. The girls escaped and followed a 1,000 mile long rabbit-proof fence back to their home.

SELECTED POEMS: ALFRED LORD TENNYSON

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

read by Douglas Hodge et al

running time 2hrs 30mins

Tennyson's poetry epitomises the Victorian age. His finest poems are either steeped in melancholy, as in 'Maud', or are heroic and allegorical, as in 'The Lady of Shalott'.

TAKING ON THE WORLD

by Ellen MacArthur

read by Jill Hetherington

running time 16hrs 45mins

In February 2001, 24 year old Ellen macArthur completed the Vendee Globe, the world's toughest yacht race. In doing so she bacame the youngest Briton and the fastest woman to circumnavigate the globe. This is the story of the young woman from a small Derbyshire village who overcame all obstacles to make her dream come true.

WESSEX TALES

by Thomas Hardy

read by Terrence Hardiman

running time 9hrs 45mins

A collection of seven short stories including: The Three Strangers; A Tradition of Eighteen Hundred and Four; The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion; The Withered Arm, Fellow-Townsman, Interlopers at the Knap and the Distracted Preacher.