Audiobooks by Thomas Hardy

Book at Bedtime: A BBC Radio Collection: 10 Unmissable Classics

A bumper collection of accessible classics from the perennially popular BBC Radio 4 series This diverse, wide-ranging anthology features readings of 10 of the greatest books in the English language, taken from the BBC's Book at Bedtime and performed by a stellar cast of narrators. Here are nearly 27 hours of sensational stories, from iconic romances and humorous travelogues to pioneering Modernist masterpieces and compelling explorations of the human heart. Comprising much-loved favourites as well as neglected classics, this genre-spanning selection has something for everyone. This collection includes abridged readings of: Persuasion by Jane Austen: Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth get a second chance at love following their broken engagement seven years earlier. Read by Juliet Stevenson. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: An orphaned young woman discovers romance when she meets the charming Mr Rochester. Read by Anne-Marie Duff. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: Independent Bathsheba Everdene must contend with three very different suitors all vying for her affections. Read by Douglas Hodge. Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson: Stephenson's travelogue from his 12-day hike, taken to distance himself from his love affair with a married woman. Read by Alan Cumming. The Aspern Papers by Henry James: A nameless narrator goes to Venice to persuade American poet Jeffrey Aspern's lover to let him read Aspern's letters. Read by Samuel West. Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome: The Three Men in a Boat return for a bicycle tour through the German Black Forest. Read by Hugh Laurie. Dubliners by James Joyce: Form-defining stories about life in Dublin at the start of the 20th century. Read by Stephen Rea. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford: Two couples, two marriages; both seemingly perfect. But beneath the surface lies deception and betrayal. Read by Toby Stephens. The Rector's Daughter by F.M. Mayor: Mary has spent thirty-five years taking care of others, but with the arrival Robert Herbert her quiet, ordered existence is changed forever. Read by Juliet Stevenson. Orlando by Virginia Woolf: A playful mock biography of a chameleonic historical figure, immortal and ageless, who changes sex and identity on a whim. Read by Amanda Hale. First published 1817 (Persuasion), 1847 (Jane Eyre), 1874 (Far from the Madding Crowd), 1879 (Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes), 1888 (The Aspern Papers), 1900 (Three Men on the Bummel), 1914 (Dubliners), 1915 (The Good Soldier), 1924 (The Rector's Daughter), 1928 (Orlando) © 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Charlotte Bronte, F.M. Mayor, Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, James Joyce, Jane Austen, Jerome K. Jerome, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy, Virginia Woolf (Author), Alan Cumming, Amanda Hale, Anne-Marie Duff, Douglas Hodge, Hugh Laurie, Juliet Stevenson, Samuel West, Stephen Rea, Toby Stephens (Narrator)

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Jude, l'obscur

Tout en exerçant son métier de maçon, Jude Fawley rêve d’une vie meilleure et s’acharne à acquérir le savoir et la culture. La passion qui naît en lui pour sa cousine Sue, mariée à un maître d’école, va lui faire entrevoir d’autres horizons de bonheur et les conduire tous deux à la perdition.

Thomas Hardy (Author), Emmanuelle Lemée (Narrator)

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Tess d'Urberville

Jeune paysanne innocente placée dans une famille, Tess est séduite puis abandonnée par Alec d'Urberville, un de ses jeunes maîtres. L'enfant qu'elle met au monde meurt en naissant. Dans la puritaine société anglaise de la fin du XIXe siècle, c'est là une faute irrémissible, que la jeune fille aura le tort de ne pas vouloir dissimuler. Dès lors, son destin est une descente aux enfers de la honte et de la déchéance.

Thomas Hardy (Author), Emmanuelle Lemée (Narrator)

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Short Stories About Suicide

Life has the capacity of great moments and attainment, of lives well lived, fulfilling for ourselves and for those we touch.But for others life is arduous. There is no spark to ignite the curiosity, to explore and achieve a stability and a growth to their lives. Indeed their lives, in their own eyes, become almost meaningless, their sense of themselves subsumed under a myriad of problems, whether real or imagined. Seismic events in a life might crush them; the loss of a loved one for instance. Coping is difficult, support hard to find and isolation abounds. We never really know the reason or motivation but sometimes one final, dreadful way out is the solution. In this volume our authors including, Amy Levy, Willa Cather, Honore de Balzac, O Henry, Franz Kafka and a wealth or others explore stories that help us to understand and recognise a tragic circumstance.1 - Short Stories About Suicide - An Introduction2 - Suicides by Guy de Maupassant3 - The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostovesky4 - A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka5 - The Legacy by Virginia Woolf6 - The Informer by Joseph Conrad7 - Claude Gueux by Victor Hugo8 - The Furnished Room by O Henry9 - The Mourner by Mary Shelley10 - The Victory by Rabindranath Tagore11 - A Passion in the Desert by Honore De Balzac12 - An Imaginative Woman by Thomas Hardy13 - An Egyptian Cigarette by Kate Chopin14 - Volodya by Anton Chekhov15 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather16 - A Slav Soul by Alexander Kuprin17 - Cohen of Trinity by Amy Levy18 - The Story of A Conscience by Ambrose Bierce19 - The Cold Embrace by Mary Elizabeth Braddon20 - Blessed Are the Meek by Mary Webb21 - The Crystal Man by Edward Page Mitchell22 - The End of a Show by Barry Pain23 - An Outcast of the People by Bithia Mary Croker24 - A Responsibility by Henry Harland25 - When Spirits Steal by Philippa Forest26 - The Spider by Hanns Heinz Ewers27 - The Quadroons by Lydia Maria Child28 - Sokratics in the Strand by Amy Levy29 - In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka

Ambrose Bierce, Amy Levy, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostovesky, Guy De Maupassant, Honore de Balzac, Joseph Conrad, Kate Chopin, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, O Henry, Rabindranath Tagore, Thomas Hardy, Victor Hugo, Virginia Woolf (Author), Laurel Lefkow, Mark Rice-Oxley, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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A Changed Man and Other Tales

A Changed Man and Other Tales is a collection of eleven tales written by Thomas Hardy. There are eleven short stories and a novella The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid. At the end of the book there is a map of the imaginary Wessex of Hardy's novels and poems. Six of the stories were published before 1891 and therefore lacked international copyright protection when the collection began to be sold in October 1913. Alicia's Diary is a short story written by Victorian novelist Thomas Hardy in 1887. It is the diary of a girl named Alicia that is a tragic romance. The story was reprinted in the 1913 collection A Changed Man and Other Tales. A Mere Interlude is a short story by Thomas Hardy. It was first published in The Bolton Weekly Journal in October 1885. The story was reprinted in the collection A Changed Man and Other Tales. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.

Thomas Hardy (Author), David Wales (Narrator)

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Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

A bold new dramatisation of Thomas Hardy's classic, in which his famous heroine evolves from a 'ruined maid' into a doomed but dignified woman in love. When Tess Durbeyfield's father discovers that their family is descended from the aristocratic Stoke-D'Urbervilles, he insists that Tess visits them to 'claim kinship'. Arriving at the great house, she is given a job by the D'Urbervillles' son, Alec, who is attracted by her innocence and beauty and attempts to seduce her. But this is not a man used to being rejected, and he will not leave her alone... Tess of the D'Urbervilles attracted fierce criticism on first publication for its challenge to Victorian moral and sexual attitudes, and its depiction of a heroine who did not conform to the familiar binary stereotypes of virgin and whore. This fresh, compelling full-cast dramatisation puts Tess centre stage as the narrator of her own life - wrestling with her conscience, searching for solutions and making her own decisions - revealing her as a complex, modern woman and illuminating Thomas Hardy as a man ahead of his time. Produced and directed by Mary Peate and Emma Harding

Thomas Hardy (Author), Full Cast (Narrator)

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Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891, then in book form in three volumes in 1891, and as a single volume in 1892. Though now considered a major 19th-century English novel, even Hardy's fictional masterpiece, Tess of the d'Urbervilles received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual morals of late Victorian England.

Thomas Hardy (Author), Adrian Praetzellis (Narrator)

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B. J. Harrison Reads The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion

'The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion' is a short story by Thomas Hardy that follows the encounter between a young woman and a homesick soldier. The sparks of passion immediately set their souls on fire, but their love is hampered by social conventions and prejudice. In a direct, almost fatalistic way, Thomas Hardy paints a rather gloomy picture of the social conditions of the time, and how often human relationships fell victim to its whims. An extremely touching and heartbreaking story, it is definitely recommended to fans of the author and of Victorian literature in general. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories. He masterfully plays with a wide array of voices and accents and has since then produced over 500 audiobooks. Now in collaboration with SAGA Egmont, his engaging narration of these famous classics is available to readers everywhere. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was a British writer and poet from the Victorian era. Influenced by Romanticism and the Enlightenment, many of his stories have a hint of the supernatural. He is famous for his semi-fictional world of Wessex, where his most memorable characters suffered their passions and life choices. His most famous works include the novels 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles', 'Far From the Madding Crowd', and 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', as well as the collection of short stories 'Wessex Tales'.

Thomas Hardy (Author), B. J. Harrison (Narrator)

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B. J. Harrison Reads Barbara of the House of Grebe

'Barbara of the House of Grebe' is a short story from Thomas Hardy’s collection 'A Group of Noble Dames'. It is a dark that intertwines madness and desire. Barbara Grebe is already promised to a wealthy lord when she elopes with another young man, Edmond Willowes. He suffers a terrible disfigurement, and the couple’s love begins to falter. Hardy’s pessimism is revealed in his total rejection of the idea of eternal love, certain of its ephemerality. He writes a tale of female desire, madness, doomed love, and social roles giving 'Barbara of the House of Grebe' immense psychoanalytic depth. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories. He masterfully plays with a wide array of voices and accents and has since then produced over 500 audiobooks. Now in collaboration with SAGA Egmont, his engaging narration of these famous classics is available to readers everywhere. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was a British writer and poet from the Victorian era. Influenced by Romanticism and the Enlightenment, many of his stories have a hint of the supernatural. He is famous for his semi-fictional world of Wessex, where his most memorable characters suffered their passions and life choices. His most famous works include the novels 'Tess of the D’Urbervilles', 'Far From the Madding Crowd', and 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', as well as the collection of short stories 'Wessex Tales'.

Thomas Hardy (Author), B. J. Harrison (Narrator)

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The Poetry of Dogs

Man's best friend. An always faithful ally.Whether the dog is domesticated as a pet and there to enjoy life with a family or as a work-dog herding sheep, helping to hunt, police or guard, the dog has proved time and time again to have many invaluable uses. They come in all shapes and sizes from sought after breeds to lowly mongrels each with an array of qualities that give them distinct personalities. From earliest times dogs have been able to find a unique place fulfilling the needs of their keepers and often there is equal devotion from master to servant. A dog's life no longer has to have negative connotations as so many pooches are loved, extravagantly fed, groomed, petted and pawed over, all perhaps more than our fellow man. Dogs were even worshipped as deities in Mesopotamian times and across several cultures and civilisations including Hindu, Chinese and Greek, they are the helpers, the watchers or guardians of sacred or sensitive sites. Between then and now poets have written verse, both serious and humorous, in attempts to keep a poetic track both of feelings and as a tribute to our four-legged friends and their adventures.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson, Thomas Hardy (Author), Laurel Lefkow, Nigel Planer, Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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The Ultimate Poetry Collection: Poetry of War, Romantic Poetry, Victorian Poetry

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 collection of the greatest poetry from the Romantic period, the battlefield, and the Victorian era, read by some of the 20th century’s most renowned actors. Themes of war, love, nature, sexuality, and much more are played out in these timeless readings of poetry from the 19th and 20th century. Performed by Sir John Gielgud; Richard Burton; William Squire; Richard Marquand; Peggy Ashcroft; Margaretta Scott; Tony Church; Derek Godfrey; Patrick Garland; Gary Watson; Margaretta Scott; and Janette Richer; Gwen Watford; and David King. This collection includes poems from: • William Wordsworth • Samuel Taylor Coleridge • William Blake • Thomas Hardy • WB Yeats • Robert Browning • Lord Alfred Tennyson • Christina Rossetti • Lord Byron • Wilfred Owen • Siegfried Sassoon • Percy Bysshe Shelley • John Keats • Gerard Manley Hopkins • Dante Gabriel Rossetti • Ted Hughes

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Keats, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Siegfried Sassoon, Ted Hughes, Thomas Hardy, Wb Yeats, Wilfred Owen, William Blake, William Wordsworth (Author), Full Cast, Gwen Watford, Richard Burton, Sir John Gielgud (Narrator)

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The Poetry of War

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 collection of the greatest war poetry ever written, read by some of the 20th century’s most renowned actors. Tragedy, war, and humanity are played out in these timeless readings of poetry written about, or on, the battlefield. Performed by Sir John Gielgud; Peter Orr; Gwen Watford; and David King. This collection includes poems from: • Thomas Hardy • WB Yeats • Wilfred Owen • Siegfried Sassoon • Ted Hughes • Edward Shanks • Robert Nicholls • WN Hodgson • Patrick Mac Gill • Julian Grenfell • Edmund Blunden • Edgell Rickword • David Jones • Robert Graves • E A Mackintosh • Edward Thomas • Isaac Rosenberg • Rupert Brooke • Ivor Gurney • CH Sorley • John Masefield • Edward Lucie-Smith • Willougby Weaving • John McRae • IA Williams • David Gascoyne • Henry Reed • C Day Lewis • Stephen Spender • Dylan Thomas • Louis Max Niece • Alan Ross • Sidney Keyes • Ruthven Todd • Michael Roberts • John Betjeman • Alun Lewis • Roy Fuller • Charles Causley • Keith Douglas • Herbert Read • Patric Dickinson • Hugh MacDiarmid

Dylan Thomas, John Betjeman, Siegfried Sassoon, Ted Hughes, Thomas Hardy, Wb Yeats, Wilfred Owen (Author), David King, Gwen Watford, Peter Orr, Sir John Gielgud (Narrator)

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