Historical Fiction

With its shocking portrayal of incest, intrigue and murder, this powerful Jacobean revenge drama scandalised audiences when it was first performed in the 1620s, and is still controversial today. When siblings Giovanni and Annabella embark on a passionate affair, Annabella falls pregnant with her brother's child. Knowing she must marry to protect her honour, she chooses one of the many suitors clamouring for her hand - but when her secret is revealed, the lovers are caught up in a bloody chain of events that culminate in a poisoning, a blinding, a stabbing and a brutal massacre... Reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, but darker and more twisted, John Ford's 17th-century tale of sex and death is restyled for radio in Pauline Harris's compassionate, disturbing adaptation. Intercut with the music of Jimi Hendrix and Nick Cave, it also features an original song, 'In Deep', composed by Jules Maxwell and sung by Jessie Buckley, Indira Varma, and Abby Andrews.

It is 1875 and Ann Eliza Young, nineteenth wife of the second Prophet of the Mormon Church, battles for freedom from her powerful husband, to lead a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. Richard & Judy Bookclub

Having completed his life's work, the Dictionary of the English Language, Dr Johnson is prominent in 18th Century society, but his home life is chaotic. He develops a relationship with a friend's wife, which is observed by Mrs Thrale's daughter, Queeney.

1660, General Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe, father- and son-in-law, cross the Atlantic. They are on the run and wanted for the murder of Charles I. Under the provisions of the Act of Oblivion, they have been found guilty in absentia of high treason.

In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is tasked with tracking down the fugitives. He'll stop at nothing until the two men are brought to justice. A reward of GBP100 hangs over their heads - for their capture, dead or alive.

1721, and Adam Hanaway arrives in wealthy, cosmopolitan Lisbon seeking to restore his father’s lost fortune. But Adam is expelled from his uncle’s firm and must clear his name.

Her father is a favoured courtier of James 1, yet her grandmother is a devout Catholic, causing Isabel Stanhope to lead a double life. Torn between her duty to her father and her own desperate longings, Isabel leaves Jacobean London and travels to war torn Europe.

On May 3rd, 1942, Alma Braithwaite and her fellow boarders at Goldwyn's school huddle in an air-raid shelter as bombs rain down on Exeter. When the girls emerge, the school is in ruins. Twenty-one years on, Alma teaches music at her old school. The arrival of a new student takes Alma back to that summer and the long shadow it cast on her life.

When her own first child is still-born, young Mette is pressed into service as a wet-nurse at the court of the mad king, Charles VI of France. Her young charge is the princess, Catherine de Valois, caught up in the turbulence and chaos of life at court. Can Mette protect Catherine from forces at court who seek to harm her or will her loyalty to Catherine place her in even greater danger?

Yolande, the Queen of Four Kingdoms is dead. Agnès Sorel, had arrived a year earlier with the court of Yolande's son, René D'Anjou. Agnès captivates everyone she meets, and finds herself firmly ensconced in the royal court. Soon though, whispers at court regarding Charles's burgeoning feelings for her begin to grow, and despite her best efforts to resist, Agnès is alarmed to discover that she too is in love.

London, 1938. Bookseller Gertie Bingham is facing difficult times, having just lost her beloved husband, Harry, and with a lingering sadness at never having been able to have a child of her own. Struggling to face running the bookshop she and Harry opened together, Gertie is preparing to sell up and move away when she is asked if she would be willing to take in a young Jewish refugee from Germany. Gertie is unsure and when sullen teenager Hedy Fischer arrives, Gertie fears she has nothing left to give the troubled girl.

But when the German bombers come and the lights go out over London, Gertie and Hedy realise that joining forces will make them stronger, and that books have the power to bring young and old together and unite a community in need in its darkest hour...

In 1943 an Indian princess is parachuted into France to join the Resistance as a radio operator. She and John Sutherland, a British Commando, are to join the Prosper network in Paris, she to furnish London with information and he to blow up a railway station and discover a spy. Based on the true story of SOE agent, Noor Inayat Khan.

When Hitler comes to power in 1933, a tight-knit group of friends and lovers become hunted outlaws overnight. United in their resistance to the madness and tyranny of Nazism, they must flee the country. But England is not the safe-haven they think it to be and a single, chilling act of betrayal will tear them apart...

Marie-Laure has been blind since the age of six. Her father builds a miniature version of their Paris neighbourhood so she can memorise it. But when the Nazis invade, they flee with a dangerous secret to St Malo. Werner is a German orphan destined to labour in the mines, until he discovers a knack for engineering. As Europe is engulfed by war their lives collide unpredictably.

The village of Alvesdon has been home to the Castells for generations. But the year is 1939 and the peace and tranquillity there is about to be shattered once more by the storm clouds of war in Europe.

As three generations of the family gather, they must all face the prospect of their lives being transformed beyond recognition the moment Britain declares war on Germany. When the inevitable happens and Britain finds itself at war, the younger members of the family and farm workers are called up to fight and those who remain must battle to keep the home fires burning and the farm afloat.

Four gripping historical dramas centred around key figures who shaped America in the 20th century Award-winning writer Mike Walker has created many acclaimed docudramas and historical dramas for Radio 4, including The Stuarts, Tsar, Caesar! and Plantagenet. This collection includes four nuanced dramas featuring a trio of controversial men who stamped their mark on American history: J Edgar Hoover, Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard Baines Nixon. Among the casts are William Hootkins, Bob Sherman, Lorelei King, Nathan Osgood and Alex Lanipekun. J Edgar Hoover - This four-part drama charts the rise and fall of the notorious FBI director. Beginning in 1919, when a young Hoover uses his reputation for anti-Communist zealotry to further his ambitions, it takes in his single-minded pursuit of criminals including 'Public Enemy Number One' John Dillinger; his struggles with Bobby Kennedy and his relationship with his longtime deputy and close companion Clyde Tolson. LBJ - Inspired by real historical events, this two-part drama looks at the Kennedy administration, LBJ and the Vietnam War through the eyes of fictional journalist Lyle Weaver.

Offered a job working as speechwriter to Vice-President Johnson, idealistic Lyle can't resist the chance to become an insider, helping to drive change. But the White House is riven by power struggles and, forced to take sides, he fails to consider the personal cost of being one on LBJ's people. The Product - Vietnam, 1968. When their helicopter is shot down, a soldier and a reporter are stranded in the jungle. Battling together to reach safety, they share stories, and realise that they were part of opposing campaigns in the historic 1960 election which saw JFK narrowly defeat Nixon. Reflecting on a victory won through propaganda, dollars and dirty tricks, they recall the candidates they each supported - and consider the legacy of their choices. American Faith: Richard Milhous Nixon's Road to Watergate - An epic, intimate drama recounting the life and extraordinary career of one of America's most fascinating and enigmatic Presidents: from his upbringing as a Quaker shopkeeper's son to his involvement in the 1970s Watergate scandal that rocked the nation and forced his resignation. NB: Contains strong language and attitudes from the era in which these stories are set which would not be considered acceptable today.

Abandoned on a bank of snow as a baby, Amy is taken in at nearby Hatville Court. Amy's only friend and ally is the young heiress Aurelia Vennaway. So when Aurelia tragically dies young, she leaves Amy one last gift. A bundle of letters with a coded key. A life-changing discovery awaits...if only she can unlock the secret.

On 3rd September 1939, Amy Browning starts to write a diary. It is Amy's 18th birthday and Great Britain goes to war with Germany. Amy's fears grow for her brother, fighting in France, and her boyfriend Ian, in the RAF. Quick Reads.

1960, Sydney's Kings Cross. Harriet Purcell leaves her conventional, respectable home and moves into a rooming house owned by Mrs Delvecchio Schwartz. There, Harriet finds a life she relishes – excitement, adventure and passion. Mrs Schwartz is mother to four-year-old Flo. Beautiful little Flo is mute, and Harriet comes to love her as if Flo were her own – and must protect her at all costs when tragedy strikes…

Ross Poldark is now the MP for Truro, but his old feud with George Warleggan still continues.  Book 7 of series.

Maria Kendall is a dream client - beautiful, impeccably mannered, graceful and extremely well dowered. In short, she doesn't seem to need the Tribbles' help at all. But then the sisters meet her parents and realise that they do have a problem on their hands - not with the perfect Maria, but with her overweening, gauche and socially over-ambitious parents!  Book 5 of series.

Against a background of life in the Staffordshire Potteries - a gossipy, myopic, savage community - Anna receives an inheritance but has to contend with her miserly father.

In the early Sixties, Victor 'Lucky' Johnson arrives in London from St Kitts, with dreams of becoming a journalist. Lucky soon finds work first at an Irish pub in Notting Hill - then as a rent collector for an unscrupulous slum landlord Peter Feldman

Shadowing Lucky from his early struggles in London to the present day, Caryl Phillips paints a striking portrait of a flawed but vividly alive man grappling with the lifelong disillusionments of exile - and the uniquely complicated identity of the...

1665: Susannah Leyton has grown up behind the counter of her father's apothecary shop in bustling Fleet Street. But Susannah is dealt a shocking blow when her widowed father marries again, and her new stepmother seems determined to remove her from the apothecary shop for good.

As the Germans advance on Paris in 1940, a young Jewish girl, Sylvie Vasseur, is sent by her father to rural Ireland to live with the Courtney family. He also sends his valuable art collection – including a portrait of Sylvie by the renowned Mateus, Girl on a Swing. Sylvia is seduced by the narcissistic elder son Nicholas Courtney when she is eighteen, but he abandons her when he discovers she is pregnant. To avoid the inevitable social stigma, Sylvie marries his brother Peter. In Dublin, she becomes involved in the art scene, achieving critical acclaim as a painter. Seventeen years later, Claire Howard, struggling art historian, is hired by the Courtney family to record Sylvie’s lifeworks. Fascinated by the artist and working with Sylvie’s son Sam, Claire travels between Dublin and Paris, eventually unravelling a labyrinth of deceit and lies that threaten to endanger her life.

This is the story of Jacob Cullen, first son of a gentleman in Civil War England. After his family becomes destitute he becomes the servant of another well to do family. Later he becomes a soldier in the service of the New Model Army and finally has a progressive decline into madness. X rated, contains graphic violence and explicit sex.

Ohio, 1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled in the Black Swamp, planting apple trees to claim the land as their own. Fifteen years later their youngest son, Robert, is drifting through Goldrush California, haunted by the broken family he fled years earlier.. But the past is never really past, and one day Robert is forced to confront the brutal reason he left behind everything he loved.

When a daughter is born to the King of Arcadia, she brings only disappointment.

Left exposed on a mountainside, the defenceless infant Atalanta, is left to the mercy of a passing mother bear and raised alongside the cubs under the protective eye of the goddess Artemis.

Swearing that she will prove her worth alongside the famed heroes of Greece, Atalanta leaves her forest to join Jason's band of Argonauts. But can she carve out her own place in the legends in a world made for men?

A tale of the rivalry between Aetius, the last of the great Roman generals and head of the Western Empire, and his old friend Attila, leader of the Huns. The friendship turns to enmity as Attila is corrupted by power, while Aetius is ennobled by it.

After the brutal murder of his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, Octavian, a shy and scholarly youth of nineteen, suddenly finds himself heir to the vast power of Rome. He is destined, despite vicious power struggles, bloody wars and family strife, to transform his realm and become the greatest ruler the western world had ever seen: Augustus Caesar, the first Roman Emperor.

Building on impeccable research, John Williams brings the legendary figure of Augustus vividly to life, and invests his characters with such profound humanity that we enter completely into the heat and danger of their lives and times.

Abandoned by her father and left in the care of an uncle she has never met, eight-year-old Dorothea Ryan finds herself cast away in a big, strange house in the middle of the countryside. No one seems to want her. Her one wish is to return to her old home in London.

But as time passes and hopes of ever going back start to fade, Dorothea becomes more and more enmeshed in her new life at Clifton Park. She begins to wonder just where home really is...

England, 1176. Imprisoned by her husband, King Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine - freed only by his death, becomes dowager Queen of England. But the competition for land and power that Henry stirred up among his sons has intensified to a dangerous rivalry. Her indomitable spirit will be tested to its limits as she attempts to keep the peace between her warring sons, and find a place in the centre of power for her daughters.

Daniel Pitt was an RAF fighter in the First World War and an espionage agent for the SOE in the Second. Now the conflicts he faces are closer to home. Daniel's marriage has fractured beyond repair and Daniel's relationship with his son, Bertie, has been a failure since Bertie was a small boy. But after his brother Archie's death, Daniel is keen for new perspectives. He first travels to Peshawar to bury Archie in the place he loved best, and then finds himself in Canada, avoiding his family and friends back in England. But some bonds are hard to break. Daniel and Bertie's different experiences of war, although devastating, also bring with them the opportunity for the two to reconnect. If only they can find a way to move on from the past.

Yorkshire, 1890. Having lost her father and brothers in tragic circumstances, Olwen Malkon is forced to leave her childhood home to live with her uncle's family. In his chill vicarage, however, she fears that she is also losing her mind, as strange dreams take her into the life of Ælfwyn, a woman from a distant past whose fate is overshadowed by menace and betrayal.

In the grip of these afflictions, Olwen finds sympathy with the local doctor, John Osbourne, who is intrigued by her case. Suspecting darker undercurrents are at work, John comes into conflict with Olwen's family, who dismiss her as a hysteric and, when he seeks to protect her, with the law.

As the dreams intensify, danger awaits them both. But when they begin to mirror reality, she and John start to suspect that it is these visions of the past which hold the answers...

Ancient Assyria, 9th century BC. An orphan is raised on the outskirts of a brutal empire. Heir to a tragic prophecy, Semiramis dreams of wielding power and escaping her destiny.

Far away, a reluctant prince walks the corridors of his gilded palace in a city built by the gods. Ninus would rather spend his days in books and poetry than conquering the world of men. But when he meets Onnes, a broken, beautiful warrior, something awakens in them both. And as they grow into young men, their friendship deepens into something fiercer still.

That is until Semiramis arrives.

A savage love soon erupts between them all, even as a dark threat to the kingdom mounts. And before long, all three will be forced to learn the lesson of the gods – in Babylonia, you must bend the world to your will.

What doesn't bend, you break.

September 1940. As the skies split apart and bombs rain down on London, it's all the staff at the famed Buckingham Hotel can do to keep their guests in the luxury they're accustomed to, and evoke the magic of the Grand ballroom for them each night.

Home on leave and still reeling from the tragic events at Dunkirk, the dashing Raymond de Guise struggles to define his role in this new world, and to do his duty both to his country, and his beloved wife Nancy- who needs him now more than ever.

With profiteers skulking the London streets, and devious rivals plotting the Buckingham's downfall, the hotel staff must all hold onto what matters most- and decide where their loyalties truly lie.

As the bombing intensifies and Christmas fast approaches, somehow the show must go on...

The Civil War has ended, and Madge, Sadie, and Hemp have each come to Chicago in search of a new life.

Born with magical hands, Madge has the power to discern others' suffering, but she cannot heal her own damaged heart. Sadie can commune with the dead, but until she makes peace with her father, she, too, cannot fully engage her gift. Meanwhile, Hemp is searching for his missing family in a city that shimmers with possibility. But redemption cannot be possible until he is reunited with those taken from him...

In the bitter aftermath of war, as a divided nation tries to come together, Madge, Sadie, and Hemp will be caught up in an unexpected battle for survival in a community desperate to lay the pain of the past to rest.