The Read

Christopher Eccleston narrates Barry Hines's heartbreaking coming-of-age tale in this fresh take on a classic British novel. It's the story of teenager Billy Casper, whose life can be described as bleak. Bullied at home and at school, he finds solace in a love of falconry. He devours books to help him learn how to rear a young hawk, which becomes a distraction from the challenges of life at home with his mum and brother Jed. But a miscalculation while running an errand for his brother has drastic consequences for his new-found hobby.

Alex Kingston breathes life into Mary Shelley’s timeless gothic horror story. Young, gifted scientist Victor Frankenstein unwittingly creates a monster. Written more than 200 years ago, the classic masterpiece still resonates today as a tragic romance that examines the battle between ambition and morality.

Heartbreak and longing are centre stage as BAFTA-winning actor Steve Pemberton narrates Kazuo Ishiguro’s contemporary classic. The Remains of the Day is Ishiguro's beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a great English house, told from the perspective of its stoic head butler, Stevens. In the summer of 1956, Stevens embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the English countryside and deeper into his past. Has tradition and reserve led to aching loss? Winner of the 1989 Booker Prize and one of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World', The Remains of the Day is a tale of convention, love and regret in an interwar stately home that is both deeply affecting and richly atmospheric.