Full Cast

The American Civil War rages while President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son lies gravely ill. In a matter of days, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy's body. From this seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of realism, entering a thrilling,...

'I write this sitting in the kitchen sink...? This is the diary of Cassandra Mortmain, which tells of her extraordinary family and their crumbling castle home. Cassandra's father was once a famous writer, but now he mainly reads detective novels while his family slide into genteel poverty. Her sister Rose is bored and beautiful, and desperate to marry riches. Their step-mother Topaz has habit of striding through the countryside wearing only her wellington...

'There exists in all of us a song waiting to be sung which is as heart-stopping and vertiginous as the peak of the cathedral. That is the meaning of this quiet city, where the spire soars into the blue, where rivers and stories weave into one another, where lives intertwine.' One quiet evening in Salisbury, the peace is shattered by a serious car crash. At that moment, five lives collide - a flower seller, a schoolboy, an army wife, a security guard,...

When Lyra's friend Roger disappears, she and her daemon, Pantalaimon, determine to find him. The ensuing quest leads them into the bleak splendour of the North, where armoured bears rule the ice and witch-queens fly through the frozen skies.

12 BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations of short stories by the Queen of Crime. First broadcast in the early 2000s, the stories were adapted and brought up-to-date for a contemporary audience. The stories are ''Philomel Cottage'; 'Swan Song'; 'Magnolia Blossom'; 'Witness for the Prosecution'; 'The Gates of Baghdad'; 'The Hounds of Death'; 'In a Glass Darkly'; 'The Dressmaker's Doll'; 'The Case of the Perfect Carer'; 'The �199 Adventure'; 'The Gypsy';...

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast drama starring Derek Martin, the precursor to the popular TV series and novels. Jack Frost is disheveled, disorganised and disrespectful. His superiors don't like him. He has a habit of doing things his way - and getting results. But when Denton CID is faced with a spate of major crimes, Frost finds himself under pressure. A young woman becomes the sixth victim of a multiple rapist, a teenage girl goes missing, there's a robbery...

In this thought-provoking and moving collection of fourteen essays, gal-dem's writers use raw material from their teenage years - diaries, poems and chat histories - to explore growing up. gal-dem have been described by the Guardian as "the agents of change we need", and these essays essays tackle important subjects including race, gender, mental health and activism, making this essential reading for any young person.

A breathtaking epic, the award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy spans a multitude of worlds. The second instalment, The Subtle Knife, introduces Will Parry - a young boy in search of his long-lost explorer father. Will's discovery of an extraordinary 'window in the air' near the Oxford ring road leads him out of our world and into the strange and unsettling Citt�gazze. There he meets Lyra, a girl who is herself searching for something: the secret...

Peter returns home to poverty in Newcastle, from active service in Northern Ireland. He has been horribly injured, and his relationship with his wife and friends deteriorates. His status as the outsider allows him to see the corruption of everyday existence, but he is unable to salvage any dignity from his situation. 'Gristle' is based on Ernst Toller's 'Hinkerman', which deals with the impact of war on ordinary people's lives. By the author of Billy...

From the Russian Revolution to America?s declaration of war and the lasting horror of Passchendaele, this unique collection of historic recordings contains the voices of those who were there Among the memorable voices in this compilation are Commander William Ibbett, who experienced the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution at close quarters, Sir Edward Spears on the mutiny in the French Army and Royal Flying Corps pilots whose life expectancy could...