First, Charles Dickens’ classic Great Expectations features many of the author’s most memorable characters and scenes. The story follows the narrator, Pip, as he grows from a frightened child of the marsh country, to be transmuted into a prosperous young gentleman by a mysterious benefactor; and the story explores themes of crime and punishment, guilt and innocence, revenge and reward, wealth and poverty, love and rejection, and good and evil. This is arguably Dickens’ greatest achievement, beloved by generations of readers, and is from start to finish a joy to read.

Second, everything you ever wanted to know about the troubled reign of King Richard II, but just didn’t have time to find out, is now presented in handy compact form in Ben Egginton’s Richard II: The Tyranny of the White Hart. An interesting and keenly-priced listen for the history buff, this is my first production through Amazon’s ACX platform.