Audiobooks narrated by Jane Slavin

My Dear Bessie: A Love Story in Letters: A BBC Radio 4 adaptation

Benedict Cumberbatch and Louise Brealey read a love story in letters, played out against the backdrop of the Second World War. 'Can you feel, as you read these words, that I am thinking of you now; aglow, alive, alert at the thought that you are in the same world, and by some strange chance loving me. ' A small blue box opened in 2008 revealed a wartime world of love, longing and frustration. Inside were bundles and bundles of letters written neatly in pen, in pencil, on thin blue airmail paper or headed army notepaper. Envelopes covered in postmarks, redirections, censor 's stamps. A love affair in letters, between two people who barely knew each other, thousands of miles apart, in the middle of a war, with no idea when or whether they will ever see each other again. On September 5th 1943, Chris Barker, a signalman stationed near Tobruk in North Africa, decided to write to a former work colleague, Bessie Moore, a Morse code interpreter at the Foreign Office back in London. The unexpected warmth of Bessie's reply changed their lives forever. Chris and Bessie's love letters first appeared in Simon Garfield's book To The Letter. They toured literary festivals as part of Letters Live before being published in a book, My Dear Bessie. Written by Chris Barker and Bessie Moore Letters compiled by Simon Garfield Adapted by Sara Davies Produced and Directed by Gemma Jenkins Cast Chris . Benedict Cumberbatch Bessie . Louise Brealey Irena . Jane Slavin

Bessie Moore, Chris Barker (Author), Benedict Cumberbatch, Jane Slavin, Louise Brealey (Narrator)

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Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life

Brought to you by Penguin. A blazing, genre-bending masterpiece from one of the most inventive writers of our time Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own . . . When she uncovers his forgotten wife, it's a revelation. Eileen O'Shaughnessy's literary brilliance shaped Orwell's work and her practical nous saved his life. But why - and how - was she written out of the story? Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder recreates the Orwells' marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and WW II in London. As she rolls up the screen concealing Orwell's private life she is led to question what it takes to be a writer - and what it is to be a wife. Compelling and utterly original, Wifedom speaks to the unsung work of women everywhere today, while offering a breathtakingly intimate view of one of the most important literary marriages of the 20th century. It is a book that speaks to our present moment as much as it illuminates the past. PRAISE FOR ANNA FUNDER 'Funder skilfully deploys fictional techniques to make the material jump off the page: crafted scenes with their own story-arcs, naturalistic dialogue, fully-realised characters with their own plotlines' Independent on Sunday 'Meticulous and compassionate' London Review of Books 'Rigorously researched, tenderly told' Independent ©2023 Anna Funder (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Anna Funder (Author), Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood, Jane Slavin (Narrator)

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Writing on the Water

Ellen Millar is an independent soul. An actress whose star is in the ascendant, she also has a partially decorated flat, a mountain of debt and some seriously good friends to sustain her. Into the equation of her life comes Aedan. An Irishman. Their attraction is instant; their affair intense and all-consuming. This five-day courtship is the prelude to a life together, until Aedan returns to Ireland and realizes that some emotional entanglements are impossible to untie.

Jane Slavin (Author), Jane Slavin (Narrator)

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Death of a She Devil

In Fay Weldon's 1983 classic, The Life and Loves of a She Devil, women fought men for power and won. In 2017, men take the ultimate step to get their power back. Ruth Patchett, the original 'She Devil,' is now eighty-four and keen to retire. But who can take up her mantle? Enter Ruth's grandson Tyler, a confident twenty-something: beautiful, resentful and unemployed. Tyler won't be satisfied until he can transition into the ultimate symbol of power and status. A woman.

Fay Weldon (Author), Jane Slavin (Narrator)

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Dot: The Complete Series 1-3

A rollicking wartime comedy set in the personnel department of the Cabinet War Rooms, starring Fenella Woolgar as Dot. "Little chills the blood so much as the phrase 'new Radio 4 comedy'. But, dear reader, be un-chilled... a lovely, period-mocking script delivered with its eyebrow at precisely the right level of archness," - The Times "Dot's quirky wit is all of her own," - The Observer "Excellent, eccentrically comic," - The Daily Mail. Dot's had quite enough of making tea in the Cabinet War Rooms. When she finds a cryptic message in the newspaper she enlists the help of her gals - will this be the big break Dot's been waiting for? Follow Dot as she gets squiffy over Agent Bertie Whiff-Whaff, concocts stirring yet pithy slogans for the war effort, and goes on a mission to St Horribly Vulture's School for Boys to enlist a teacher for... "shhhh... Bletchley Park!" Dot will do her bally utmost for King and Country in these spiffing tales of derring-do (and, occasionally, derring-don't), whether investigating suspicious deaths, outwitting dastardly spies, or helping the Prime Minister with his French vocab. Cast: Dot...Fenella Woolgar Myrtle...Kate O'Flynn Peg...Freya Parker Millicent...Jane Slavin Peabody...David Acton Other parts played by Roslyn Hill, Stephen Critchlow, Adie Allen, Alicia Ambrose-Bayly, Susan Jameson, Sean Baker, Brian Protheroe, Sam Rix, Nick Underwood, Scarlett Brookes, David Sterne, Nicholas Murchie, John Dougal, Emma Handy, Ryan Whittle, Stephen Hogan, Elizabeth Counsell, Sean Murray, John Lightbody, Lauren Cornelius and introducing Officer Background as himself. Written by Ed Harris. Produced and directed by Jessica Mitic (Series 1 and 2) and Sasha Yevtushenko (Series 3)

Ed Harris (Author), , David Acton, Fenella Woolgar, Freya Parker, Jane Slavin, Kate O'flynn (Narrator)

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The Pale Horse: A new BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

A new BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of the novel by Agatha Christie, first published in 1961. Mark Easterbrook learns of a mysterious organisation called the Pale Horse, and in the village of Much Deeping he is told of the organisation's supernatural connections. A piece of paper with a list of names seems to foretell the deaths of several people, and Mark must discover what connects them all, and who is behind the strange powers of the Pale Horse.

Agatha Christie (Author), , Clive Haywood, Elaine Claxton, Eleanor Bron, Georgia Groome, Georgie Fuller, Jane Slavin, Jason Hughes, Michael Bertenshaw, Nicholas Jones, Phoebe Pryce, Ron Cook (Narrator)

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Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness

A new investigation from Dr Mark Aldridge, exploring a lifetime of Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple. In Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness,‘Agathologist’ Dr Mark Aldridge looks at nearly a century of St Mary Mead’s most famous resident and uses his own detective skills to uncover new information about Miss Jane Marple’s appearances on page, stage, screen and beyond. Drawing on a range of material, some of which is newly discovered and previously unpublished, this book explores everything about Miss Marple, from her origins in a series of short stories penned by Christie, to the recent bestselling HarperCollins collection Marple: Twelve New Stories. This accessible, entertaining and illustrated guide to the world of Miss Marple pieces together the evidence in order to tell you everything you need to know about the world’s favourite female detective.

Mark Aldridge (Author), Jane Slavin, To Be Announced (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Jane Slavin