Showing results by narrator "Patrick Howell" in All Categories

Renowned novelist and poet Thomas Hardy is best known for his fatalistic, often tragic novels set in the 'realistic dream-country' of Wessex, in south and south-west England. Drawing on his own life, he created some of the most memorable characters and stories in Victorian literature—many of which are included here. In five dramas taken from Radio 4's 'Hardy's Women' season, we meet a few of Thomas Hardy's most compelling female protagonists.

"You must hear my tale. You must hear my terrible, terrible tale." Committed to the deadly pursuit of the monster he created, Victor Frankenstein tells his chilling story. It all began with a desire to help mankind, but where will it end? Frankenstein leads us through vast mountainous landscapes and over frozen seas. Can he stop the fiend’s murderous course? Is he prepared to do what the monster demands? The reader will be shocked and surprised. Is the monster as evil as he seems?

When Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to sell a house, he little expects the horrors that await. As the guest and prisoner of the sinister Count Dracula, Jonathan is plunged into a terrifying world of ancient evil and unbearable fear. Back in England Jonathan’s wife, Mina, is concerned about her friend, Lucy, who is mysteriously ill and growing weaker by the day. Can Lucy’s friends save her from the worst horror of all, or are they all doomed to a similar fate?

"‘Breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!’ cried Ahab. ‘Thy hour and thy harpoon are at hand!’" Why does Captain Ahab look like a man who’s being crucified? How did he come by that hideous scar and the false leg made of a whale’s bone? And why is he obsessed with Moby Dick, the great white whale?Ishmael, the new recruit, has other strange shipmates. There’s Queequeg, for instance, covered in weird tattoos and selling shrunken human heads.