All of us here at Silksoundbooks would like to wish star audio book reader Alan Howard a very happy birthday.

Alan was born on August the 5th in 1937 into a long standing theatrical dynasty. His father was the actor Arthur Howard and his mother’s family had been acting for five generations begun by his great-great grandfather Henry MacKenzie who journeyed to London and become the actor Henry Compton. The diverse clan also includes the world famous author Sir Compton MacKenzie.

His career began, as family tradition demanded, as an Assistant Stage Manager sweeping the stage at The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, but he fairly swiftly rose to a prominence in the English theatre enjoyed by very few actors. He was named a Commander of the British Empire in 1998.

Amongst his many film roles have been Cromwell in The Return of the Musketeers, Michael in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, and the voice of the ring in the recent Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

For Silksoundbooks, Alan has recorded four wonderful audio books written by Robert Louis Stevenson... The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Markheim, A Lodging for the Night and The Pavilion on the Links are all read in Alan's own unique way and are available to download only from silksoundbooks.com

Happy Birthday Alan !

Today, all of us here at Silksoundbooks would like to wish a really big Happy Birthday to our star audiobook reader Geoffrey Palmer

Geoffrey was born in London on June 4, 1927. Following a brief career in business, he discovered his acting talent in amateur theater, becoming first a stage manager and then eventually a full-time performer. Like so many other outstanding British actors, he studied and acted in the great works of Shakespeare. His role as Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream is well known to viewers of BBC Shakespeare productions.

But Geoffrey is probably most widely known for his long and vastly successful screen partnership with Dame Judi Dench in the BBC series As Time Goes By, and has had a long and successful career on British TV in hit comedies such as The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin and Butterflies. Thanks to his wonderfully expressive and resonant voice, Geoffrey is also in great demand for commercial voiceover work.

Geoffrey is one of the most popular readers at Silksoundbooks. His two unabridged audio books - The Diary of a Nobody and Father and Son - as well as his cameo appearance in Evelina are available as audio book downloads from Silksoundbooks.com

Happy Birthday Geoffrey!

On this day, the 2nd of June in 1840,the writer Thomas Hardy was born in the village of Higher Bockhampton near the town of Dorchester in Dorset, England. He was the first of four children in the family of Jemima and Thomas Hardy Senior, who was a builder and stonemason. His birthplace, built by his great grandfather, is now a museum owned by the National Trust.

Young Thomas was given to quieter childhood pursuits, often spending time alone wandering the countryside, exploring the flora and fauna, gaining a profound connection with nature and the familiar sights and sounds of his rural home county. His mother had a great influence on his imagination, entertaining him with stories and songs, many of which would later inspire his Wessex tales.

During his lifetime he wrote almost a thousand published poems and fourteen published novels including Tess of the D’Urbervilles and my absolute favourite Far From the Madding Crowd, which was made into an unforgettable movie starring our very own audiobook performers Julie Christie and Terence Stamp.

One of Hardy's best loved novels is The Return of the Native brought to you as an unabridged Silksoundbooks audiobook by the well known actor Oliver Cotton.

Enjoy!

This weekend, on the second of May, is the anniversary of the birth of the writer Jerome Klapka Jerome - better known as Jerome K Jerome, the author of Three Men in a Boat. He was born in 1859 into a middle class family in Staffordshire, England - his father had interests in the local coal and iron industries and was a prominent non-conformist preacher. They lived in comparative comfort until 1861 when, following the collapse of the family business, the Jeromes ended up in the East End of London, where they lived in relative poverty.

The young Jerome wished to go into politics or be a man of letters, but the death of both his parents in 1872, when he was 13 years old, forced him to quit his studies and find work to support himself, working variously as a clerk, a hack journalist, a schoolmaster and an actor.

Though a relaxed, urbane man, Jerome was a relentless explorer of new ideas and experiences. He travelled widely throughout Europe, was a pioneer of skiing in the Alps and visited Russia and America several times. He was a prolific writer whose work has been translated into many foreign languages, but as Jerome himself said: 'It is as the author of Three Men in a Boat that the public persists in remembering me.' The Silksoundbooks audio book version read by the wonderful actor Nickolas Grace has brought this hilarious account of a boating holiday on the Thames to an even greater audience.

Here's a TV programme not to miss on BBC Four tonight in the UK. On Expenses is a true-life drama about one of the greatest political scandals of the 21st Century.

Silksoundbooks star audio book reader Tim Pigott-Smith is one of the stars in this story of American journalist Heather Brooke's fight for the disclosure of MP's expenses under the Freedom of Information Act, and how it resulted in dramatic newspaper revelations and even resignations that rocked both the government and the opposition.

On Expenses
If' like me, you are a fan of Tim, you really should check out his unabridged audio book reading of Plain Tales from the Hills. These, wry, evocative and extremely witty stories of the British at play in the hills of Simla, escaping the fire of the Indian high summer, are the work of Rudyard Kipling and his love for the society he was born into and worked with really shines out.

Seven hours of joy - and only from Silksoundbooks!

2010 has started in a flurry of snow here in the UK. Airports have been shut, trains delayed and roads closed. Perfect weather for staying indoors, downloading a Silksoundbooks audiobook and listening to a great story by the fire!

The heavy snow in Kent has led to the postponement of the opening event of The Plaxtol Festival. Star actor and Silksoundbooks audio book reader Timothy West and his wife Prunella Scales were due to give a reading of some of their favourite literature entitled 'Battle of the Sexes' last weekend, but this has now been re-scheduled for Sunday, January 24.

If you'd rather stay indoors, Timothy's great audio book download - Treasure Island - will take you on an adventure far removed from the snow of England!

In this great classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson we follow the adventures of young Jim Hawkins and his quest for the buried treasure.

This great audiobook is available to download only from Silksoundbooks.

All of us here at Silksoundbooks would like to wish you a very happy Christmas.

Although we'll soon be enjoying a night in by the fireside with a good audiobook and a glass of something festive, please do email if you've got a question or need help with a download. One of us will answer!

So it just remains to say a big thank you to all the audio book fans that have enjoyed downloading our unabridged classics in 2009.

With very best wishes.

The Silksoundbooks Team

If you are giving - or receiving - an iPod or other music player as a Christmas gift, here's an alternative to simply filling it up with music. Audiobooks!

The great thing with an audio book on an iPod is that it remembers where you stopped listening, so if you switch it off you can resume the story exactly where you left off. Brilliant!

But where do you start ? To help you, we've produced a series of Mini-Libraries to suit all tastes.

For the younger iPod owner, we've brought together four wonderful stories in the very special collection Classics for Children.

Julia McKenzie reads Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 'Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!' said the White Rabbit..

One of the most famous children’s stories ever written, Black Beauty, is read by star actor Colin Salmon.

The great George Cole relishes every word in his unabridged audiobook of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol .

And then my absolute favourite of all - The Just So Stories, read perfectly by Art Malik is a wonderful audiobook for children of all ages.

Add all four of these exclusive audiobooks to your basket with just one click - download them and make your iPod happy!

Classics for Children - only from Silksoundbooks.

Happy Listening

I know that I'm being a bit northern-hemisphere-centric, but here in the UK it's cold and the nights are dark!

This is a perfect time to curl up and lose yourself in a wonderful unabridged audiobook. To help you choose, we've come up with A Library for Those Dark Nights, four audiobooks read by four great actors that you can download and enjoy within minutes.

Sir Derek Jacobi reads Frankenstein, probably the most chilling horror story ever told.

In The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Alan Howard tells of the tale of the most famous case of a split personality ever written.

Set far away in the unbearable heat of Africa, Toby Stephens reads Heart of Darkness with a brooding intensity you must hear to believe.

And finally, in Tales of Terror and Mystery, the great Scottish actor Bill Paterson reads some of the gripping stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that don't feature the great detective....

Four audio books for you to enjoy, whether in the Wintery North or the Warmth of the South.

Happy Listening

At Silksoundbooks we've really got into the festive spirit. With snow all around us here in London, it's hard not to think of sitting by a roaring fire listening to a great audio book. To help you choose, we've brought together The Christmas List, a collection of stories perfect for this time of year.

We'll start with one of the most famous of them all. The wonderful George Cole reads the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Why not listen to the original before you see the new movie?

Greta Scacchi reads the classic stories of Hans Christian Andersen in The Snow Queen and other Fairy Stories. This audiobook download contains nearly five hours of wonderful stories including The Little Mermaid.

Next is my all time favourite, The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit. Multi award winning actress Margaret Tyzack reads this wonderful story - perfect for children of all ages!

Finally, another in Charles Dickens' series of Christmas novels. In The Chimes, also read by George Cole, we learn the story of Toby Veck and the spirits of the bells....

There is something for everyone, young, old and in between in The Christmas List.

Happy listening.

Good news for audio book fans with a soft spot for the romantic... We've brought together four great all time classics in the Silksoundbooks Mini-Library of downloads Pure Romance.

Persuasion is our first choice. Olivia Williams, a name you'll remember from the movie Miss Austen Regrets reads Jane Austen's classic novel.

The Mill on the Floss The life of Maggie Tulliver and her romantic relationships are told by the great actress Fiona Shaw in this unabridged audio book of the George Eliot classic.

Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert's novel is full of intense romantic fantasy and passionate but doomed love affairs, read exclusively for Silksoundbooks by the wonderful actress Julie Christie.

Wuthering Heights. Cathy, Heathcliffe... the stormy Yorkshire moors. What more do I need to say? Juliet Stevenson - I'll never forget her role in Truly, Madly, Deeply - reads Emily Brontë’s great classic in this intensely moving audiobook.

Four great audiobooks and just one click to purchase ! This Mini-Library of unabridged audiobook downloads would make a great gift to anyone with even the most hidden romantic side.

And on an iPod, only you know what you are listening to !

Here at Silksoundbooks we love audiobooks and every day we welcome more and more people to our download website. But as a newcomer to the world of downloadable audio books, where do you start?

If this is what you have been thinking, help is at hand. We've come up with eight themed Silksoundbooks Mini-Libraries , each with a special selection of audio books that are sure to provide hours and hours of entertainment.

First in the series is The Greatest Adventures, four classic stories read by star performers.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. An extraordinary journey across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland read by a real Scot - Nicholas Rowe.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. David Warner tells the story of the most famous desert island of them all...

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson read by Timothy West. Ah Jim lad! Buried treasure and adventure on the high seas....

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Andrew Sachs brings this gripping story of revolution and Madame Guillotine to life...

So, if you are looking for the perfect gift for someone with an iPod.. or just for yourself, check out the Silksoundbooks Mini-Libraries. Just one click and they are all in your basket !

Tommorrow's featured Mini-Library ? Pure Romance. As irresistable as a box of chocolates.. but entirely calorie free!

Where has 2009 gone? Yes, it really is Christmas next week and my present buying is nowhere near complete.

Thank goodness for Silksoundbooks Gift Certificates . It's so easy to send the gift of a great audiobook to friends and family anywhere in the world. You can e-mail them, or to make the gift a bit more personal, just print them out and pop them in a card.

All the lucky person who recieved the gift need do is visit silksoundbooks.com, choose the audio books they want and enter the certificate number at the checkout. Simple!

The only tricky thing is choosing just which audiobook to download, but we're working on an answer to that - watch this space for news!

Happy listening

Here's something for your Christmas television viewing diary. The BBC will be screening a two-part Cranford special this Christmas - starring not one, but two of Silksoundbooks audio book readers - Dame Judi Dench and Julia McKenzie.

The dramas are based on the novels of Elizabeth Gaskell and regularly attracted audiences of over seven million during the last series, which won both Bafta and Emmy awards, a remarkable success for a 'Bonnet Drama'.

What is the secret of the show's success? Well, apparently the actresses who star in Cranford believe they have identified the secret of its success - a lack of Botox! Their willingness to embrace their age and shun cosmetic surgery has made the series more believable, they said.

If you are not able to watch these wonderful actresses on TV , here are a couple of suggestions.

Evelina by Frances Burney was an eighteenth century best-seller. Read by Judi Dench, her daughter Finty Williams and Geoffrey Palmer, this wickedly funny audio book download would make a great gift - or just keep it for yourself!

Julia McKenzie has two unabridged audio books in the Silksoundbooks collection
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There are the classic stories written by Lewis Carroll and are perfect for children of all ages !

And just one more thing - if you enjoy Cranford, why not listen to Susannah York reading Elizabeth Gaskell's classic novel My Lady Ludlow ?

So many audio books to enjoy !!

On this day, December 5th in 1830, Christina Rossetti the English poet was born in London.

She wrote romantic, devotional and children’s poems. She began writing at age 7 but it was not until she was 31 before her first work was published - Goblin Market and Other Poems which gained much critical praise.

Goblin Market is Rossetti’s best known work - at first glance you might think it is a nursery rhyme, but listen further and it is revealed to be a surprisingly complex tale that follows two sisters through a pilgrim’s progress of temptation, punishment and redemption, laden with sexual undertones. ...

Read for Silksoundbooks by the celebrated actress Natascha McElhone, Goblin Market and Other Poems is a wonderful audiobook that leads us through over fifty of Christina Rossetti’s soulful and lyrical poems.

Perfect for a cold winters evening!

Have you seen the movie trailer for the forthcoming Tim Burton production of Alice in Wonderland?

The movie stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter along with an all star cast which includes Silksoundbooks star audio book readers Tim Pigott-Smith , Lindsay Duncan and Geraldine James.

We can expect a mixture of live action and animation - and if the trailer is anything to go by, it will look and sound absolutely amazing.

Alice in Wonderland is not due to be released until March 2010, so until then, why not listen to the two Alice audio books we have at Silksoundbooks? Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the second of Lewis Carroll’s whimsical tales Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There are read unabridged by the wonderful English actress Julia McKenzie.

Perfect for children of all ages!

This week marks the anniversary of the birth of that most prolific writer Robert Louis Stevenson. We have no less than six of his works read as unabridged audio books in the Silksoundbooks collection.

Stevenson was born in Edinburgh into a prestigious family of lighthouse designers and engineers on his father’s side and moral philosophers on his mother’s. His mother’s legacy to the young Stevenson was rather more damaging however in that he inherited her weak lungs which dominated his short life until his death forty-four years later.

Stevenson did not begin writing seriously until he was twenty-five after he had acquired a legal qualification, at his family’s insistence. Maybe through the stress of completing a legal degree under duress, his health was however seriously failing and Stevenson was sent abroad to seek warmer climates.

He travelled to France where he felt an immediate affinity with the more easy going Southern culture, changing his name from Lewis to Louis following the French spelling and it was here that he wrote the bulk of his best work - well known novels such as Treasure Island read by the highly acclaimed English actor Timothy West , and Kidnapped read by star performer Nicholas Rowe. The great Alan Howard reads The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the Stevenson short stories - Markheim, A Lodging for the Night and The Pavilion on the Links.

Robert Louis Stevenson died in 1894. A memorial in Edinburgh stands in West Princes Street Gardens below Edinburgh Castle; it is a simple upright stone inscribed with 'RLS - A Man of Letters 1850 -1894'

Walk down any high street here in the UK and you'll see the shop windows decorated for the Chrismas holiday season - and it's not even November yet! People must be planning their gift buying earlier and earlier I guess. So with that in mind, over the next few weeks the team at Silksoundbooks will try and come up with some audio book related gift ideas.

The first suggestion just has to be a Silksoundbooks Gift Certificate. Sent by email, this could be the perfect gift for friends and family, no matter where they are in the world. Each certificate is worth one audio book download and the choice of book is entirely up to the recipient.

Staying with the audio theme, The Royal Shakespeare Company has released 'The Essential Shakespeare Live Encore' a 2 CD set featuring scenes and speeches taken from RSC productions in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. Notable actors include Ian Holm, David Suchet, Jonathan Pryce, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Silksoundbooks star audio book readers Juliet Stevenson and the late Ian Richardson.

Two great gift ideas - and many more to come!

Today it is our great pleasure to wish a very happy birthday to the ledgendary actor and Silksoundbooks audio book reader Sir Derek Jacobi.

Derek was born in Leytonstone, East London to non-theatrical parents. His father managed a department store and his mother was a secretary and were both of German descent. Derek's interest in drama started at a very young age, making his theatrical debut at the age of six in his local drama group.

He went on to play Hamlet at the English National Youth Theatre, before earning a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where he initially studied history before focusing completely on the stage. His performance as Edward II at Cambridge led to an invitation to join the Birmingham Repertory where he caught the catch the interest of the great actor Laurence Olivier, who took him under his wing. He was later to become one of the eight founding members of Olivier's National Theatre Company.

It was television that really brought Derek the huge popularity that he enjoys today, with his performance in the epic BBC series I, Claudius winning him a BAFTA for the stammering, weak-minded Emperor Claudius. With countless Stage, Television and Movie performances to his name, Sir Derek is truly one of the greatest British actors of all time.

In his unabridged audio book reading of the Mary Shelley classic novel, Frankenstein, Sir Derek will mesmerise you with his astonishingly powerful performance. It really feels as though he is reading just for you, such is the talent of this amazing actor!

Happy Birthday from all of us at Silksoundbooks.

If by some strange feat of time travel you were one of the fortunate 500 in October 1847, I know what you were doing this weekend!

Readers of the first edition of 'Jane Eyre - an autobiography' edited by Currer Bell apparently stayed up reading all night long, gripped by the story of the orphan Jane and her search for equality, freedom and happiness.

A second and third edition quickly followed to keep up with the public's thirst for this wonderful novel and Currer Bell was revealed to be the pseudonym of Charlotte Bronte. Although the work was well received by many, some objected to the strong undercurrents of sexual desire inherent in the plot. The Oxford Companion to English Literature drily notes, 'it was considered by many to be unsuitable for young ladies.'

If you want a genuine first edition of Jane Eyre today, a quick internet search reveals one for sale at £39,500 !! But I've got a much better idea - the Silksoundbooks unabridged audio book (it's over 20 hours long), read by the wonderful Emily Woof can be downloaded for a tiny fraction of that price!

What a great way to spend the weekend!!

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

This and countless other wonderful one-liners were the work of one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era - Oscar Wilde.

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on this day in 1854 in Dublin and educated at Trinity College Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford. His writing made him a real celebrity - and his plays are still widely performed today, but it was the famous trial for 'Gross Indecency' and his subsequent imprisionment that was to be his downfall.

Although he was an incredibly versatile writer, Wilde wrote only one novel - The Picture of Dorian Gray - which was published in 1891. This is the intriguing story of the beautiful, vain, sinful and indulgent young Dorian Gray, the subject of a portrait painted by the artist Basil Hallward. The novel tells how Dorian sells his soul to ensure the portrait would age rather than himself. Then, with his wish fulfilled, it slowly and hideously decays while he, ever more indulgent and debauched, remains untouched by age… but at a terrifying price.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is read for Silksoundbooks as an unabridged audio book by Crispin Bonham-Carter in a stunning performance that really brings the story to life in all its gothic horror.

I'll leave the last words to Oscar - 'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.' Happy Birthday !

This weekend - in 1885 - marks the end of the frenzied week of writing that Robert Louis Stevenson undertook following a dream he’d had which gave him the story of Jekyll and Hyde.

'In the small hours of one morning' said his wife 'I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis. Thinking he had a nightmare, I woke him'. He said angrily, 'Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey tale!!'

In the following 6 days and nights he completed the first version of the book - fuelled by cocaine to keep him going.. 'That an invalid in my husband's condition of health should have been able to perform the manual labour alone of putting 60,000 words on paper in six days, seems almost incredible' said his astonished wife, Fanny. But she was scathing about the first draft, most likely about what she thought was the inappropriate sexual content, so it is said that he ceremoniously burnt it.

But all was not lost - he refined and continued to work on the story for 4 to 6 weeks, producing the work that lives on today, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. As an unabridged audio book the novel is truly gripping, Alan Howard brings out all the horror of the dual personality of the upright and moral Dr Jekyll and his horrific and uncontrollable other within - the wild Mr Hyde.

Download Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and receive A Lodging for the Night, also by Robert Louis Stevenson, FREE!

Two great unabridged audiobooks for the price of one from Silksoundbooks - forget the drugs, where's my iPod ??

On October 6th in 1847 Jane Eyre was first published by the British publishing firm Smith, Elder and Company. The book's author used the pseudonym Currer Bell because she had, in her own words, 'a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice...' Of course, that would never happen today would it ??

Following the enormous success of her novel, she was persuaded by her publisher to visit London occasionally, where she revealed her true identity - Charlotte Brontë.

The success of Jane Eyre has continued to this day. There have been countless television, cinema and musical adaptations that tell the story of Jane, an orphan girl and her emotions and experiences that accompany her growth to adulthood and her search for happiness.

Now, 162 years after its first appearance in print, you can enjoy all 20 hours of this captivating story read as an unabridged audio book by the wonderful Emily Woof.

Emily's reading of Jane Eyre is available only from silksoundbooks.com

On this day in 1836 HMS Beagle sailed into Plymouth after almost 5 years exploration. Aboard was a young naturalist - Charles Darwin - and his observations and conclusions have been the subject of fierce debate ever since.

Take Edmund Goss for example. His parents were both members of the religious sect known as the Plymouth Brethren. After his mother's death, he was brought up in stifling isolation by his father, an eminent naturalist and zoologist whose faith overcame his reason when confronted by Darwin's theory of evolution.

In Father and Son, which was subtitled A Study of Two Temperaments, Edmund Goss tells of his childhood which was stripped of nearly all fun by his parents' puritanical and stern religion. But interestingly, his father is presented not as a cruel, vicious, and hypocritical. Instead, he is shown as a caring parent, a completely earnest practitioner of his religion, but fanatically concerned to eliminate all activities that do not lead to increased religious devotion and moral seriousness.

Perhaps everyone has a swipe at their parents and the way they were brought up at some point in their lives, but very few are able to exact revenge to the extent that Edmund Goss did upon his father in his superbly funny, agonising account of a very strange childhood.

Geoffrey Palmer reads Father and Son in his famously lugubrious voice as an unabridged audio book for Silksoundbooks.

On this day in 1856 the first part of Madame Bovary was published in the Revue de Paris, a French literary magazine.

The novel, about the romantic illusions of a country doctor's wife and her adulterous affairs, scandalized French traditionalists - so much so that its author, Gustave Flaubert complete with fine moustache, was brought to trial for obscenity in 1857. He was acquitted, the book became a popular success and Flaubert's reputation as one of the most popular of literary geniuses was established.

For the Silksoundbooks unabridged audiobook of Madame Bovary we chose the Eleanor Marx Aveling translation which was published in 1918 in New York. It’s a classically respected version, but it’s also got the added interest of Eleanor being Karl Marx’s youngest child – educated by him at home, they used to chatter away in French together whilst deciding on the future of the working man…and more importantly for Madam Bovary, a woman!

And to read it ? Who else but Julie Christie, the iconic British actress and star of so many great movies - Doctor Zhivago, Far From The Madding Crowd, The Go-Between, Heaven Can Wait...

A great story and a great actress - what a fabulous combination for you iPod !

This day - September 29th - in 1810 saw the birth of Elizabeth Gaskell (née Stevenson) in London.

She was raised in the rural Cheshire town of Knutsford, a town she would later immortalise as Cranford. Her time here became the source for much of her highly accurate portrayals of mid-nineteenth century Britain, and as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.

She married William Gaskell, a lecturer at Manchester University and a Unitarian Minister and they embarked on a life of social and educational work and the raising of their large family.

Whilst Elizabeth Gaskell is perhaps best known for her biography of Charlotte Brontë , her writings include novels and short stories, including My Lady Ludlow, read as an unabridged audio book for Silksoundbooks by the wonderful actress Susannah York.

Stage, Film and Silksoundbooks star Susannah York will be appearing from tomorrow in the Tennessee Williams play The Lady of Larkspur Lotion.

The one-act play will be part of the New End Theatre's Tennessee Williams Triple Bill, which starts on September 23. The other two plays are This Property Is Condemned and Talk To Me Like The Rain. All three plays will be directed by Ninon Jerome.

The plays are full of the perception of life as it is and the passion for life as it might be. In This Property is Condemned we meet Willie, a young girl who has worked out her own survival strategy as her friend Tom looks helplessly on. In Talk to Me Like the Rain a couple try to cling to each other when there is little left in their relationship. In The Lady of Larkspur Lotion a faded Southern belle, despite being reduced to prostitution, tries gamely to maintain a façade of gentility while living in a fleabag hotel. These are three of Williams’ most poignant and moving plays.

If a London theatre is too out of the way for you, all is not lost! Susannah brings her wonderful voice to her Silksoundbooks unabridged audio book My Lady Ludlow written by Elizabeth Gaskell.

James Caan, Silksoundbooks audio book reader, entrepreneur and star of BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den series, believes he has found a product to encourage the change to green power for personal home use.

Smart Power Products Limited, a British company that recently secured a substantial £80,000 Dragons’ Den investment from James, has developed the Secret Energy Turbine, a vertical axis wind turbine discreetly housed in a traditional chimney pot, providing ample energy to supply most domestic lighting and light-duty electrical needs.

'With the Government targeting a 34% cut in emissions by 2020, we need to find a way to make wind power practical, cost-effective, efficient and visually attractive,' said James. 'The Secret Energy Turbine does exactly that.

Rupert Sweet-Escott, a British aviation specialist, serial inventor, designer of the Secret Energy Turbine and founder of Smart Power Products, added: 'Wind power remains the most commercially viable and technically mature option for green energy - three times the amount of wind blows across our island than is needed to meet our electricity needs.'

James Caan’s investment for a 49% stake in Smart Power Products covers all of the inventor’s products, including Airbike, a pedal-driven power system for paragliders.

James tells his own incredible story from his childhood as a Pakistani immigrant to the phenomenal success he enjoys today in his autobiography The Real Deal available to download from Silksoundbooks.

On September 12th Elizabeth Barrett eloped with Robert Browning. Elizabeth was already a respected poet who had published literary criticism and Greek translations in addition to her poetry. Robert Browning, the son of a bank clerk, had studied at the University of London and continued his education at his parents' home, reading extensively and writing poetry. His early work was harshly criticized but Elizabeth Barrett defended it. Browning wrote to thank her for her praise and asked to meet her.

Her strict father disliked Browning, whom he viewed as an unreliable fortune hunter, so while her family was away, Barrett sneaked out of the house and met Browning at St. Marylebone Parish Church, where they were married. She returned home for a week, keeping the marriage a secret, then fled with Browning to Italy. She never saw her father again.

The Brownings lived happily in Italy for 15 years. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's weak health improved dramatically, and the couple had a son in 1849. She published her best-known work, Sonnets from the Portuguese, in 1850.

The sonnets, which chronicle the couple's courtship and marriage are read in a wonderful Silksoundbooks audio book by Jane Horrocks.

September 11th is the birthday of D.H. Lawrence the great English author, poet, playwright, essayist and literary critic.

David Herbert Lawrence was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire in 1930, the fourth child of a barely literate miner and a schoolmistress. His output was both prolific and diverse including novels, plays, short stories, poems, essays, travel books, paintings, translations and literary criticism.

His views on the dehumanising effects of modern life and issues relating to emotional health and human sexuality earned him many enemies and official censorship. At the end of his life he was considered to be a pornographer - largely because of his novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover - who had squandered his talents. It took the critic F.R. Leavis to challenge this and now Lawrence is regarded as a visionary thinker and one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century.

Here at Silksoundbooks we have two audiobooks of Lawrence' work. Love Among the Haystacks and Other Stories read by Geraldine James OBE is a selection of short stories, mostly about women.

Samantha Bond reads Lady Chatterley's Lover, the story of an aristocratic lady's love for her husband’s gamekeeper that outraged the sensibilities of Edwardian England and was not published officialy in England until 1960.

Released on DVD in the USA in June, Playing Shakespeare is the original 1982 masterclass conducted by the legendary John Barton of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Featuring 21 legendary British actors including Silksoundbooks star readers Judi Dench and Alan Howard.

How does this world-renowned troupe make classic plays accessible to modern audiences, without compromising the text’s integrity? How do actors search Shakespeare’s verse for hidden clues to their characters’ motivations? How do they balance intellect and passion to make theatre’s most famous soliloquies seem fresh? There's only one way to find out - serach the internet for Playing Shakespeare and get the 4 DVD set for yourself!

Dame Judi also stars in Evelina, the unabridged audio book of Frances Burney’s wickedly funny eighteenth century best-seller which follows the trials and romantic adventures of a young beauty as she tries to make her way through Eighteenth Century Britain.

Alan Howard has recorded four fantastic Robert Louis Stevenson audio books - check out The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Markheim, A Lodging for the Night and The Pavilion on the Links. Look out for the buy one get one free offers too!

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born in London on August 30th 1797, to the celebrated feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft and the radical philosopher William Godwin.

We know her better as Mary Shelley, the British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, who also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley.

In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein, one of the most chilling and gruesome horror stories ever written and certainly one of the most famous.

The story of Doctor Frankenstein and the horrendous monster he unleashes on the world when he tinkers with the laws of nature is told in a wonderfully chilling audiobook by the great English actor, Sir Derek Jacobi . His unabridged reading of Frankenstein is available only from Silksoundbooks.

Here at Silksoundbooks, we've really enjoyed watching our star audiobook reader Olivia Williams in a great new drama - Dollhouse - on the UK Sci-Fi satellite channel.

Created by Joss Whedon, who brought us the cult favourite Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse follows the lives of an elite, underground group of beautiful and seductive operatives known as the Dolls, or Actives.

The Actives are assigned to different engagements by the Dollhouse handlers led by Olivia Williams.

Hired by the wealthy, powerful and connected, the Actives don't just perform their hired roles, they wholly become -- with mind, personality and physiology -- whomever the client wants or needs them to be. Whether imprinted to be a lover, an assassin, a corporate negotiator or a best friend, the Actives know no other life than the specific engagements they are in at that time. When the mission is complete they return to the mysterious Dollhouse where their thoughts, feelings, experiences and knowledge are erased.

By contrast, thoughts, feelings and experiences are magnified in Persuasion by Jane Austen. Olivia Williams reads this unabridged audiobook of one of the world’s favourite classic novels exclusively for Silksoundbooks, giving a particular sting all of her own to Austen’s great description of how to resist the persuasions of those around you who think they know what it is to be successful.

Dollhouse is on the Sci-Fi channel on Saturday August 28th starting at 8pm

It's been lights, camera, action in the Berwickshire countryside for the past few weeks with the filming of a new romantic comedy. The cast and crew of Cosi have been hard at work at Manderston, near Duns, taking advantage of both its interior and famous gardens. The actors who have been shooting this week include Silksoundbooks star audio book reader Richard E. Grant who plays the lead role of Sir Adam Drummond in the £5 million picture, directed by BAFTA-award winner Chris Menaul.

Cosi is described as 'a movie which fuses the stately grandeur of Gosford Park with the magical music of Amadeus for a unique story of love’s fluctuating fortunes, set against a sumptuous backdrop of visual and vocal beauty. As the cast, drama and score all tread the tightrope of tone between humour and pathos, what unfolds is a timeless romantic comedy ' which sounds pretty good to me!

If you are a fan of Richard E. Grant, or an Arthur Conan Doyle afficionado, then check out A Study in Scarlet which introduces us to the most famous detective in literature - Sherlock Holmes. Read with Richard's famous off beat delivery and eccentric wit, this unabridged audio book is available to download only from silksoundbooks.com

It's great to see that the wonderful English actress and star Silksoundbooks audio book reader Virginia McKenna will soon be back on the big screen in her first movie appearance for 11 years.

Virginia is joined by fellow BAFTA winner Keith Michell in a new movie Love/Loss which finished filming this weekend in the English village of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. The 90-minute film is written and directed by documentary film maker Guy Daniels and is about two childhood sweethearts who are reunited after 60 years. With three weddings, two funerals and plenty of dancing, Love/Loss is decribed by the producers as a thoughtful and romantic film for all ages, that will have you smiling and crying.

Virginia McKenna won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1956 film, A Town Like Alice and two years later was nominated for Best Actress again for her role in Carve Her Name with Pride’. She is best remembered for her 1966 role as Joy Adamson in the true-life film Born Free for which she received a nomination for a Golden Globe. She won the 1979 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a British musical for her performance opposite Yul Brynner in The King and I. She established The Born Free Foundation in 1991 and was awarded an OBE in 2004.

Virginia's unabridged audio book, The Secret Garden written by Frances Hodgson Burnett is available to download from silksoundbooks.com

On August 19th 1886, Joseph Conrad , born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in Poland, became a British citizen.

Conrad's father had been a Polish poet and patriot. He was arrested in 1861 for his political activism and exiled to northern Russia where he was joined by his wife and young son. Both his mother and father died of tuberculosis when Joseph was about 12 and he was raised by his uncle, until he set out at the age of 17 for Marseilles, France, to join the merchant navy. His many harrowing adventures at sea were to set the scene for much of his work.

In 1878, when Conrad was 21, he travelled to England as a deck-hand on a British freighter. He learned English during six voyages on a small British trade boat and spent 16 years with the British merchant navy. He had numerous adventures around the world and got his first command in 1888. The following year, he captained a Congo River steamboat for four months, which was to be the inspiration for his well-known story Heart of Darkness.

Classical actor and James Bond villain Toby Stephens brings his brooding intensity to this terrifying and exhilarating exploration of evil that served as the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola’s movie Apocalypse Now. Silksoundbook's unabridged audio book Heart of Darkness follows Conrad’s iconic characters, Marlow and Kurtz, on a journey to the very depths of human nature.

This weekend we have not one, but two Silksoundbooks author's birthdays to celebrate!

Edith Nesbit, born on 15 August 1858 was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Party. Perhaps the most enduring favourite of her stories is The Railway Children originally published in 1906.

Also born on August 15th, in 1771, was Sir Walter Scott, a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe during his time. One of Sir Walter Scott’s greatest novels is the story of Ivanhoe. Set amongst the roaring battles during the struggle between the Normans and the Saxons for control of Medieval England, it deals with the rivalry between King Richard the Lion-Heart and his brother John. We follow the adventures, skirmishes and romances of the hero, Ivanhoe, a Saxon knight.

The award winning actress Margaret Tyzack brings to life the joys and adversities of the delightful Waterbury family lovingly and touchingly in her unabridged audio book of The Railway Children.

The unabridged Silksoundbooks audio book Ivanhoe is read by James Cosmo, famous for his many many film roles including Battle Of Britain, Highlander, Trainspotting, Braveheart, and The Adventures Of Greyfriars Bobby.

Two birthdays, two great authors and two wonderful audiobooks read by two of the UK's most talented actors - what a great weekend !

It's the 14th August and on this day in 1867 the English writer John Galsworthy was born in the town of Kingston, Surrey.

The son of a wealthy shipping magnate, he was educated at Harrow and then went on to read law at New College, Oxford University. Although his heart was not in his chosen subject, he qualified as a barrister and was called to the bar in 1890. However as soon as the legal training was finished he abandoned the law and took a job travelling abroad looking after his families’ shipping business interests. During this time he met a young Polish Merchant Seaman named Joseph Conrad. The pair met up on a ship moored in Adelaide harbour in Australia, and having established that they both preferred writing to sailing, struck up a strong friendship. It was following his time with Conrad that Galsworthy returned to London to begin his writing career.

He is best known for his novels and particularly The Forsyte Saga, a series of three novels that chronicle the lives of the leading members of an upper-middle-class British family.
The Man of Property is the first in this hugely successful series of novels and is brought to life by the wonderful British actor Michael Cochrane in an exclusive Silksoundbooks unabridged audio book.

Veteran actor and star Silksoundbooks audio book reader Edward Fox has penned a moving tribute to Metric Martyr Steve Thoburn for a book in aid of injured soldiers. Edward, the star of films including The Day of the Jackal, A Bridge Too Far and Gandhi, described the late Sunderland greengrocer as a people's champion in the Food for Heroes cookbook, which will benefit the charity Help for Heroes.

Mr Thoburn, who died suddenly in 2004 aged 39, hit the headlines in 2001 after being prosecuted for selling fruit and vegetables by the pound. His appeals against conviction were taken to the House of Lords and European Court of Human Rights. In 2007, the European Commission published proposals that would permit the use of price and quantity marking using imperial measurements alongside, but not instead of, metric units.

Edward Fox wrote: Steve became the people's champion for his courage in standing up for his customers' rights to buy their fruit and vegetables in imperial measures. He was a good and brave man.

Fans of Edward Fox will love his audio book of the engrossing story of the downfall of Septimus Harding, the gentle and respected warden of Barchester Cathedral, in The Warden the first of Anthony Trollope’s hugely successful Barchester Chronicles. This exclusive and unabridged audiobook is available for you to download from silksoundbooks.com

On this day, July 30th, in 1818 Emily Brontë was born in Thornton near Bradford, England. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children.

In 1824, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father was a curate, and it was in these surroundings that their literary leanings flourished. In childhood, after the death of their mother, the three sisters and their brother Patrick Branwell Brontë created imaginary lands, which were featured in stories they wrote. Sadly, little of Emily's work from this period survived.

She is now best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights and although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, the book subsequently became an English literary classic.

At Silksoundbooks, we knew we had to add this classic book to our audio book selection - and who better to read it than Juliet Stevenson ? Best known for her leading role in the film Truly, Madly, Deeply, Juliet's passionate and moving audiobook of Wuthering Heights is available to download only from silksoundbooks.com

This week in 1881 Treasure Island appeared for the first time serialised in Young Folks, a children’s magazine.
The book is an exciting tale of pirates, buried treasure and danger.It tells the story of young Jim Hawkins and his adventures in the search for the buried treasure of the evil Captain Flint. Timothy West,the highly acclaimed English actor, reads Treasure Island in a Silksoundbooks unabridged audio book, available for download now.

The author, Robert Louis Stevenson conceived the idea for Treasure Island during a rainy summer holiday in the Highlands of Scotland in an attempt to amuse his step-son. It all began with a map that young Lloyd Osbourne had drawn. Stevenson, looking over the boy’s shoulder, began to elaborate, christening various curves and smudges the famed names of Skeleton Island, Spyglass Hill and finally adding the three red crosses marking the buried treasure. From this gentlest of beginnings has come one of the best loved novels of piracy and fortune in the history of literature. It is Lloyd’s lasting legacy that he insisted there be no girls in the story!

Treasure Island would make a wonderful story to listen to on a long journey, it's available to download now at silksoundbooks.com

A brand new series of the long running UK TV drama Midsomer Murders is currently in production.

The new episodes will be the first to be screened since John Nettles announced his forthcoming departure from the popular show. But for the moment it’s business as usual - work has already started on the 13th series which will keep DCI Barnaby on TV screens until well into 2011.

Silksoundbooks star audio book reader Anna Massey joins the stellar line-up of acting talent featured in the new episodes.

Anna brings her famously rich and evocative voice to her reading of Fairy Stories by The Brothers Grimm , a collection of tales that includes the classics Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel.

This original and unabridged audiobook is avilable to download from silksoundbooks.com

Eighties sitcom Butterflies could be on for a revival, if writer Carla Lane and star Wendy Craig have their way.
Both have said they would like to return to the story of bored housewife Ria contemplating adultery, to see how things worked out 25 years later.

Butterflies ran on BBC television from 1978 to 1983, and also starred Silksoundbooks audiobook reader Geoffrey Palmer as husband Ben and Nicholas Lyndhurst as youngest son Adam.

‘I am ready to get back into writing TV comedy. I always loved Butterflies and I have an idea for how Ria and Ben might have changed over the years.’ said Carla Lane in a recent interview.

Fans of Geoffrey Palmer's famously lugubrious voice have a treat in store in the unabridged audio books The Diary of a Nobody, Father and Son, and Evelina, available to download exclusively from Silksoundbooks.

One of the most infamous scandals in financial history becomes a theatrical epic in Lucy Prebble’s play Enron, with a cast that includes Silksoundbooks star audio book reader Tim Pigott-Smith.

Mixing classical tragedy with savage comedy, it follows a group of flawed men and women in a narrative of greed and loss which reviews the tumultuous 1990s and casts a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself in 2009. Based on real life and using music, movement and video, Enron explores one of the most infamous scandals in financial history.

The arch villain, former Enron chairman and CEO, Ken Lay is played by Tim Pigott-Smith. Enron opens at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester on 11 July 2009 and transfers to The Royal Court in London's West End later in September.

Tim's exclusive audiobook Plain Tales from the Hills, written by Rudyard Kipling, is available to download from silksoundbooks.com

All of us at Silksoundbooks would like to wish our star audio book reader Fiona Shaw a very happy birthday.

Fiona was born in County Cork in Ireland and trained as an actress at RADA - The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her acting career so far has ranged from award winning stage performances, including many with the National Theatre, to her role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter series.

She was awarded an Officier des Arts et Lettres in France in 2000 and an honorary CBE in the 2001 UK New Years Honours.

Fiona Shaw's definitive reading of The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot is available as a downloadable audio book from Silksoundbooks.

Last Of The Summer Wine, the world's longest-running sitcom, is to return for a further six episodes in a move that finally ends speculation that it could be dropped from the BBC schedule.

BBC1 controller, Jay Hunt, has confirmed that a new 31st run of the whimsical series, first broadcast in 1973, would go into production this summer.

The main cast members, including Peter Sallis, Russ Abbot, Frank Thornton, Brian Murphy and Silksoundbooks audio book reader June Whitfield will also return.

At it's peak in 1985, Last Of The Summer Wine had an audience of over 18.8 million in 1985. Its creator, Roy Clark, said We don't get enormous ratings these days. No one would be surprised if it goes. The new run of six shows will again be filmed in and around the Yorkshire town of Holmfirth. It might not be big in the ratings, but at Silksoundbooks, we are really pleased that this delightful series is back for another run.

June Whitfield is joined by Ioen Meredith, Hywel Simons and Suzy Aitchison in a similarly delightful reading of The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker by Tobias Smollett ,available as an audiobook download exclusively from Silksoundbooks.

It's great to see actors from the UK making such a success across the Atlantic in so many USA based TV drama shows. Recently we had Hugh Laurie, who won two Golden Globe awards for his performance in House.
Our favourite at Silksoundbooks is our very own audio book star Rufus Sewell , who is currently starring in the CBS series Eleventh Hour. Rufus plays the part of Doctor Jacob Hood, a biophysicist called in by the government to investigate unusual scientific happenings at the....11th hour, so it's gripping stuff!

The show is currently been shown in the USA, on the Living TV channel in the UK and, dubbed into French, in Europe.

Rufus Sewell has proved to be one of Silksoundbooks most popular audio book readers. His reading of the wonderfully named The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams by Henry Fielding is available for download from the silksoundbooks.com website. This audio book, at nearly 12 hours in duration, will keep you entertained for an entire transatlantic flight, whichever way you are travelling!

Today, the 29th June, is the anniversary of the death of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era.

From an early age Elizabeth suffered a chronic lung ailment and spent most of her time in a darkened room writing poety and many letters. The famous English poet Robert Browning admired her Poems so much that he wrote to her. They met, fell in love, and were secretly married in 1846 and then moved to Florence, Italy, where Elizabeth began a remarkable physical recovery.

Her greatest work, Sonnets From The Portuguese, is a series of love sonnets for her husband Robert Browning. These forty four love sonnets are available from Silksoundbooks as an audio book read by the wonderful British actress, Jane Horrocks.

In June 1816, the 19 year old Mary Shelley found herself in one of the most famous house parties ever. Together with Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont, she was marooned on the shores of Lake Geneva in a summer of ferocious storms caused by a vast volcanic eruption in Indonesia.

Trapped indoors, the group turned to telling ghost stories. On the night of the 22nd of June Mary had what she called a waking nightmare when the story of a living monster created by man began to form in her head. By the end of the month she had begun work on the most famous of horror stories – Frankenstein.

You can download Derek Jacobi reading Frankenstein - one of the most chilling and gruesome horror stories ever told - exclusively from silksoundbooks.com

Blood - The Last Vampire opens in UK cinemas today, June 26th. The movie's cast includes Silksoundbooks star audiobook reader Colin Salmon.

Based on the original manga film, Blood: The Last Vampire is a live-action thriller, set in Japan before the start of the Vietnam War. A young girl named Saya is sent by a secret organization, known as the Red Shield, to hunt down a group of mysterious vampires who are living amongst the residents of an American Air Force Base.

Colin told us that it was hard work filming the movie, which involved six weeks shooting in China - You grind it out in China, it's not a luxurious event, but we generated an incredible team that produced the goods!

Closer to home and in a somewhat gentler mood, Colin Salmon's reading of the Anna Sewell classic Black Beauty is available as an exclusive audio book from silksoundbooks.com

NT Live is an exciting initiative by the UK's National Theatre to broadcast live performances of plays onto cinema screens worldwide. The four show pilot season will launch with Phèdre, starring Helen Mirren, Dominic Cooper and Silksoundbooks star audiobook reader, Margaret Tyzack.

Tonight, the 25th of June, the performance of Phèdre will be filmed in high definition and broadcast via satellite to approximately 65 cinemas and arts centres, reaching a widespread audience live across the UK. Over 200 venues around the world will also screen the production.

Phèdre has garnered many four star reveiws, with Margaret Tyzac being highly praised for her performance. Her exclusive audio book The Railway Children, written by Edith Nesbit, is available from silksoundbooks.com

Arcadia, Tom Stoppard’s richest, most ravishing comedy (said the New York Times), is a dazzling, witty masterpiece of misunderstanding and quest for knowledge, resonating across centuries.

Silksoundbooks star audiobook reader Samantha Bond stars in a first rate cast that includes Dan Stevens and the playwright's son, Ed Stoppard.

Arcadia, which has enjoyed superb reviews, is at The Duke of York's Theatre, London, until Setptember 12th.

Samantha Bond's exclusive Silksoundbooks audio book reading of the D H Lawrence classic novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover, is available as a download for your iPod or mp3 player from Silksoundbooks.com

Today in many English speaking countries in the world, it is Fathers Day. In the USA it became an official national occasion when, in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation setting aside the third Sunday of June each year as Father's Day.

The origins of this celebration can be credited to Mrs John B Dodd of Washington State , who first suggested the idea of Father's Day in 1909 and it became a national event in the USA for the first time in 1924 when President Calvin Coolidge gave his support to the idea.

If you are looking for an unusual and original Fathers Day gift, can we suggest an Audio Book download from Silksoundbooks? We have something for everyone in our fantastic range of classic stories read by some of the greatest stars of stage, screen and television. Have a look at our adventure stories, inspirational books, comedy and many more audiobooks available for immediate download.

One of our listeners sent this suggestion: 'I have just sent my father the silksoundbooks download of Father & Son for Father’s Day. It’s a cracking book, particularly with Geoffrey Palmer’s calm and vicious delivery, it felt like the perfect present to show just how fiendishly bad a father can be – we don’t get on my father and I…'

I did say we had something for everyone!

Happy Listening.

Today is the anniversary of the death of the writer Jerome Klapka Jerome - better known as Jerome K Jerome, the author of Three Men in a Boat. He was born into a middle class family in Staffordshire, England - his father had interests in the local coal and iron industries and was a prominent non-conformist preacher. They lived in comparative comfort until 1861 when, following the collapse of the family business, the Jeromes ended up in the East End of London, where they lived in relative poverty.

The young Jerome wished to go into politics or be a man of letters, but the death of both his parents in 1872, when he was 13 years old, forced him to quit his studies and find work to support himself, working variously as a clerk, a hack journalist, a schoolmaster and an actor.

Though a relaxed, urbane man, Jerome was a relentless explorer of new ideas and experiences. He travelled widely throughout Europe, was a pioneer of skiing in the Alps and visited Russia and America several times. He was a prolific writer whose work has been translated into many foreign languages, but as Jerome himself said: 'It is as the author of Three Men in a Boat that the public persists in remembering me.' The Silksoundbooks audio book version read by the wonderful actor Nickolas Grace has brought this hilarious account of a boating holiday on the Thames to an even greater audience.

The lady in the magnificent hat is Frances Burney, who was born on this day in 1752. Also known as Fanny Burney and after marriage as Madame d’Arblay, she was born in King’s Lynn, England, on 13 June 1752, to musical historian Dr. Charles Burney and Mrs. Esther Sleepe Burney. The third of six children, she was self-educated, and began writing what she called her “scribblings” at the age of ten.

She was married in 1793 at forty-two, to a French exile, General Alexandre D'Arblay. Their only son, Alexander, was born in 1794. After a lengthy writing career, and travels that took her to France for over ten years, she settled in Bath, England, where she died on 6 January 1840.

Frances Burney’s wickedly funny eighteenth century best-seller Evelina follows the trials and romantic adventures of a young beauty as she tries to make her way through Eighteenth Century Britain handicapped by her three great problems, being poor, being illegitimate – and being a girl. This unabridged and exclusive audio book, read by Finty Williams, Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, is available only from silksoundbooks.com

On June 12th 1819 Charles Kingsley was born the son of a clergyman in Devon. He graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1842 and originally intended to enter the legal profession. But he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and chose to pursue a ministry in the church.
From 1844, he was rector of Eversley in Hampshire, and in 1860, he was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge. He successfully tutored the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII and having married Fanny Grenfell he obtained a very good post as curate of Eversley church in Hampshire.

Kingsley however was not cut out to be a low profile parish rector. His was a type of faith which was to become known as Muscular Christianity - a strenuous, eager, active faith which above all believed that politics and religion were inseparable, and it was a believer’s duty to actively confront the conditions of the time.

This concern for social reform is illustrated in his great classic The Water Babies which is both a childhood fantasy and a skillfully woven moral allegory. A young chimney sweep, Tom, escapes his horrendous job and his cruel boss, Grimes, when fairies plunge him into a fantastical world under the water. As he meets and befriends his fellow water babies, as well as all sorts of sea creatures, he begins to learn some valuable lessons.

The Water Babies, read as an audio book by the fantastic actress Nichola Mcauliffe , really brings this story to life. Nichola brings all her acting skills to the many characters in the book which can be download today from Silksoundbooks.com

All of us here at Silksoundbooks would like to wish a really big Happy Birthday to our star audiobook reader Geoffrey Palmer

Geoffrey was born in London on June 4, 1927. After a brief career in business, he discovered his acting talent in amateur theater, then became a stage manager and eventually a full-time performer. Like so many other outstanding British actors, he studied and acted in the great works of Shakespeare. His role as Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream is well known to viewers of BBC Shakespeare productions.

But Geoffrey is probably most widely known for his long and vastly successful screen partnership with Dame Judi Dench in the BBC series As Time Goes By, and has had a long and successful career on British TV in hit comedies such as The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin and Butterflies. Thanks to his wonderfully expressive and resonant voice, Geoffrey is also in great demand for commercial voiceover work.

Geoffrey is one of the most popular readers at Silksoundbooks. His two unabridged audio books - The Diary of a Nobody and Father and Son - as well as his cameo appearance in Evelina are available as audio book downloads from Silksoundbooks.com

Happy Birthday Geoffrey!

Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840 in the village of Higher Bockhampton near the town of Dorchester in Dorset, England. He was the first of four children born to Jemima and Thomas Hardy Senior, a builder and stonemason. His birthplace, built by his great grandfather, is now a museum owned by the National Trust.

Young Thomas was given to quieter childhood pursuits, often spending time alone wandering the countryside, exploring the flora and fauna, gaining a profound connection with nature and the familiar sights and sounds of his rural home county. His mother had a great influence on his imagination, entertaining him with stories and songs, many of which would later inspire his Wessex tales.

During his lifetime he wrote almost a thousand published poems and fourteen published novels
including Far From the Madding Crowd, Tess of the D’Urbervilles and The Return of the Native read as an unabridged Silksoundbooks audiobook by Oliver Cotton.

Doctor Who: Animated Series On The Way

A new animated Doctor Who story, Dreamland, will be hitting the small screen this autumn on the BBC. There will be seven episodes, each running approximately six minutes.

Starring as The Doctor is David Tennant and he will be joined by Georgia Moffett and the legendary David Warner who is no stranger to Doctor Who, having played the Time Lord himself in two audio plays.

Silksoundbooks Star audio book reader David Warner is probably best known for his movie roles in - The Omen, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Tron and Time Bandits and the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

His masterly reading of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is available as an audio book download from Silksoundbooks.com

Fans of Silksoundbooks star audiobook reader Toby Stephens will have to wait an extra week before watching the next episode of the BBC 1 adventure series Robin Hood.
Next saturday the final round of the Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast live from Mosow to an estimated 100 million viewers around the world.

I you haven't seen Toby in his role as the evil Prince John, he is well worth watching. His new Robin Hood villain is a million miles away from the fearsome baddie he played in the James Bond film Die Another Day. 'I didn’t want to make him serious' said Toby, 'I just want him to look ridiculous really! I come into the show and cause chaos in Nottingham by setting the sheriff and Gisborne against each other.'

Toby went on to say his inspiration was Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood, rather than Kevin Costner’s more recent effort.
'I’m pretty old school, I didn’t really like the Kevin Costner film,' he says. 'I love it when it’s slightly tongue-in-cheek and done with a sense of humour.'

The next Robin Hood adventure can be seen on BBC1 on Saturday May 23.

Heart of Darkness, read by Toby Stephens, is available as an unabridged audiobook from Silksoundbooks.com

There is a real treat in store for UK TV viewers for the next two weeks as GOLD re-runs the cult classic comedy from the seventies - Fawlty Towers.

The series starred John Cleese, Prunella Scales and Silksoundbooks star reader Andrew Sachs.

Andrew, who played hapless Spanish waiter Manuel, was regularly whacked by Cleese in the guise of manic hotel owner Basil Fawlty, but says he has forgiven him 'The pain was much less than you would think it would be and I have no resentment against John Cleese for hitting me over the head.. '

The two Fawlty Towers series ran for only 12 episodes and nearly didn’t see the light of day after the BBC head of comedy complained that the pilot episode was full of cliched situations and stereotypical characters. The report added, “I cannot see it being anything other than a disaster”

But those 12 episodes about insulting German diners, finding rodents in the kitchen and abusing waiters from Barcelona have been shown again and again, as well as being released on video and DVD. Fawlty Towers is on UK GOLD all this week at 9pm, with a double bill of series 2 the following week.

Andrew Sachs' unabridged reading of the Charles Dickens classic A Tale of Two Cities is available as an audio book download from Silksoundbooks.com

15 of the world's most distinguished dramatic artists have been inducted into The Actors Hall of Fame for 2009. The Actors Hall of Fame honors career achievement in Theatre, Film and Television, and were voted on by Hall of Fame's Board of Electors.

Amongst them is Silksoundbooks star audio book reader Dame Judi Dench.

An induction ceremony and celebration for this newest group of honorees will take place later this year in Los Angeles, California.

The 2009 Inductees to The Actors Hall of Fame include Julie Andrews, Robert DeNiro, Robert Duvall, Kirk Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Olivia de Havilland, Hal Holbrook, Sir Anthony Hopkins, James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, William H. Macy, Dame Maggie Smith and Meryl Streep

Dame Judi is joined by her daughter Finty Williams and long time co-star Geoffrey Palmer in their reading of Evelina by Frances Burney, available as an audio book download only from Silksoundbooks.com

Now in her 80s, June Whitfield is a comedy legend, one of the last surviving members of the golden age of British radio & television comedy and still one of the best actresses in the business. June first came to fame in the 50s on the radio as Ethel in The Glums. A regular in the Carry On films, she found huge popularity in 1979 alongside Terry Scott in the long running sitcom Terry and June. This enduring partnership lasted until 1988.

In the 90s she returned to fame as the scene stealing ditzy grandmother in Absolutely Fabulous and today is a regular in The Last of The Summer Wine and The News Huddlines where she has been on the team for over 16 years. She received an OBE in 1985, a CBE in 1998 and the British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994.

An Audience with June Whitfield will take place at the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth on Sunday 10th May, where she will discuss her life and career and will take questions from the audience.

June leads the cast of Ioen Meredith, Hywel Simons and Suzy Aitchison in the Silksoundbooks audio book The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett, available to download at silksoundbooks.com

Silksoundbooks star audio book reader Timothy West leads the cast in Stephen Unwin's forthcoming revival of Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy at the Rose Theatre, Kingston from 7th May, the first new production of the venue's 2009 season. Timothy previously played Falstaff and King Lear in productions of Shakespeare, also directed by Stephen Unwin.

First performed in 1946, The Winslow Boy is based on a true story and set during the turbulent years leading up to the First World War. Ronnie Winslow, a thirteen year old naval cadet, is falsely accused of theft. His father and sister take matters into their own hands to prove his innocence and to restore the honour of their family's name. The Winslow Boy is an astonishing drama about injustice, the force of the establishment and the power of one family's love and belief in the truth.

Timothy West's exciting unabridged audiobook Treasure Island is available as a download for your iPod or mp3 player from Silksoundbooks.com

It's now nearly 6 months since we launched the new silksoundbooks.com website and judging by the emails we've received, it is proving very popular.

So we thought it would be a good opportunity to say a big thank you to the audio book lovers all over the world who have enjoyed listening to our unabridged downloads of great literary classics.

People often associate audiobooks with CDs, or even cassettes and are sometimes unsure about just what a download is. Well, to put it simply, a download from our website, direct to your computer, is probably the next best thing to having one of our star readers come round and read to you in person! There is no postage, no waiting for the delivery man and no wasteful packaging. With a few clicks of your mouse you can choose your audio book, pay for it and automatically transfer it securely over the web to your computer.

As soon as the audiobook file has downloaded, you can enjoy it on your iPod, or mp3 player. You can burn your own audio CDs for the car, or just listen on you PC or Mac.

A great place to start, if you are new to downloading audiobooks, is the new Help and Frequently asked Questions section here on the Silksoundbooks website. And if there is anything at all that you need to know about Silksoundbooks, please email support@silksoundbooks.com



Happy listening

Yesterday marked the 111th anniversary of the death of Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty, one of the most famous children's books ever written and available as an exclusive unabridged audio book from Silksoundbooks.

Anna Sewell was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. Her parents were Quakers, and consequently were active in many of the liberal campaigns of the day.

As a young girl, Sewell had a serious accident, which left her crippled for the rest of her life. In her early twenties, her life was revolutionised by the purchase of a chaise and pony, which gave her some degree of freedom - allowing her to drive herself about.
She did not begin writing until 1870, at the age of fifty, when she returned to Norfolk with her mother and began work on Black Beauty, her only novel.

Many happy returns to Silksoundbooks star audio book reader Andrew Sachs.

Andrew is most widely known for his role of Manuel in John Cleese’s B.B.C. cult series Fawlty Towers, but is also to be heard regularly on B.B.C. radio.

His hugely popular reading of A Tale of Two Cities is available exclusively as an audio book from Silksoundbooks.

Andrew is currently appearing in Coronation Street, one of the longest running TV programmes in the UK.

Happy Birthday Andrew from all of us at Silksoundbooks.

UK viewers can catch Silksoundbooks star audio book reader Bill Paterson tonight in the ITV series Law & Order : UK

Bill plays George Castle, the tough but supportive director of London’s Crown Prosecution Service who is determined to ensure watertight convictions.

Although time was tight before filming began, Bill did manage to do some research. “I was in and out of the Old Bailey on a particular case that I wanted to watch and follow, where you’re, of course, always struck by the fact that life is much slower in the courtroom than it is in the way that we do it. We get 10 minutes on screen each week.”

Bill Paterson has played a range of roles across film, TV and stage, staying on the right side of the law for ITV1’s successful adaptation of the legendary American series Law & Order. Bill was already a fan of the original American series, having acted alongside Sam Waterston in the 1984 film The Killing Fields. Sam has played a district attorney in the US Law and Order since 1994.

Although time was tight before filming began, Bill did manage to do some research. “I was in and out of the Old Bailey on a particular case that I wanted to watch and follow, where you’re, of course, always struck by the fact that life is much slower in the courtroom than it is in the way that we do it. We get 10 minutes on screen each week.”

Bill is also currently starring as gangster Ally Fraser in the ITV4 repeats of the second series of Auf Wiedersehen Pet, originally screened in 1986.

Click to listen to an extract from Tales of Terror and Mystery

Silksoundbooks founder audio book reader and ambassador at large Bill Nighy stars in The Boat That Rocked which opens in cinemas across the UK today.

Directed by Richard Curtis, the creator of Four Weddings, Notting Hill and Love Actually , the movie centres on pirate radio's heyday when DJs broadcasting from offshore ships changed the sound of radio forever.
These pirate radio stations pulled in around 25 million listeners a day, much to the disgust of the BBC, which in the 60s played very little pop music.

Bill, who plays a DJ named Quentin, said of the movie 'I really enjoyed making the film and I'm not just saying that. We floated on a boat off the coast of Dorset with a bunch of very cool guys, we played lots of music, you could have a toasted cheese sandwich any time you wanted!'

The Boat That Rocked opens in the UK today - but American audiences will have to wait until 28th August.

Acclaimed actor and bestselling Silksoundbooks audio book reader Stephen Tompkinson stars in Sign Of The Times which opens today at the Theatre Royal Windsor.

This is the latest comedy from Tim Firth, writer of the award-winning Calendar Girls and it sees him reunited with Stephen Tompkinson for the first time since their collaboration on the highly-acclaimed TV production The Flint Street Nativity.

Stephen Tompkinson is one of the UK’s most recognised faces – from his role in cult comedy hit Drop The Dead Donkey, to starring in light-hearted television dramas such as Ballykissangel and Wild At Heart. He also starred in the 1996 British comedy hit film Brassed Off with Ewan McGregor and Pete Postlethwaite.

Audio book fans will know Stephen from his reading of The Card by Arnold Bennett, available for download from Silksoundbooks.

Sign Of The Times runs from 31 March to 04 April.

All of us at Silksoundbooks were sorry to hear that Judi Dench has been diagnosed with a severely sprained ankle following a fall.

The accident happened as Judi was leaving Wyndham's Theatre where she is starring in Madame de Sade by Yukio Maishima. Set in the late 18th century, the play deals with various women whose lives revolved around the Marquis de Sade. There’s his devoted wife Renee (Rosamund Pike), his moralistic mother-in-law, Madame de Montreuil (Judi Dench) and the sexually outrageous Comtesse de Saint-Fond (Frances Barber). Set in Paris as it hurtles towards a violent revolution, Mishima's poetic masterpiece brings to life the fascinating story of the Marquis de Sade told through the eyes of six remarkable women.

Judi very much hopes to return to the role as quickly as possible and all the team at Silksoundbooks wish her a speedy recovery.

James Caan releases autobiography and reads the audiobook version for Silksoundbooks.

Over the past couple of months, James Caan, one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs and an extremely busy man, managed to find time in his packed schedule to record the audio book version of his autobiography - The Real Deal, from Brick Lane to Dragons' Den. James became a regular visitor to the Silk Sound recording studios in the evenings and weekends and as someone who is not a classically trained actor like our other artists, performed brilliantly behind the microphone and has produced a fascinating rag-trade to riches story! James is a thoroughly pleasant man, and we found it was a joy to work with him… we wish him every success with the audio book.

'First, I'd like to say 'thank you' to all of you who have already read 'The Real Deal' and given it such wonderful reviews. They are very much appreciated..' James Caan.

The Real Deal audio book is available for immediate download from Silksoundbooks.

Congratulations to one of our star performers – Margaret Tyzack - for her award at last night's Evening Standard Theatre Awards, winning a joint award for best actress with Penelope Wilton. The judges were bowled over by their performances in "The Chalk Garden" at The Donmar.

The evening also saw Kevin Spacey receive a special award for his major effort and tireless work in bringing The Old Vic back to life, and winning much deserved praise from fellow actors Dame Judi Dench & Kenneth Branagh for his achievement.

“His energy is paramount… he’s a totally committed man of the theatre, I think”, said Dame Judi.

All of us at Silksoundbooks congratulate Margaret on her fantastic achievement, and wish her many more awards and successes in the future.

Of course – both Margaret Tyzack and Dame Judi Dench can be heard in their very own Silksoundbooks audio book recordings of "The Railway Children" and "Evelina" .

Now we just have to try and find a time in Kevin Spacey’s busy schedule to record his favourite novel too!

Happy Listening

Robbie
Silksoundbooks

Over the last amazing year or so we've learned so much about our customers and what they want.
So - after a year or more of listening - we've launched the new silksoundbooks.com website which incorporates the suggestions that you've sent to us.

There's a great new Download Manager that re-starts if a glitch interrupts your download.
We've put in a neat audio player to play the audiobook samples.
And now all our books are available in audiobook format that remembers where you stopped listening on your iPod.

There are lots of other improvements, big and small. We hope you like it!

As always, we love to hear from our listeners - so if you've any suggestions or observations - or if you pick up on something that has slipped through our quality control net, let us know!!

Happy listening

Robbie
Silksoundbooks