David Rintoul

The story of Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, starts and ends in the frozen wastes of the Arctic. There, he tells Robert Walton, his English rescuer, about his obsessive quest to create life and its disastrous results. He has attempted to make...

Joseph Conrad’s searing tale of one of the strangest and most memorable journeys ever takenQuite simply the scariest book ever written, this is a searing tale of one of the strangest and most memorable journeys ever undertaken – to the heart of a...

‘Were it not for shadows there would be no beauty.’ In Praise of Shadows is an eloquent tribute to the austere beauty of traditional Japanese aesthetics. Through architecture, ceramics, theatre, food, women and even toilets, Tanizaki explains the...

Written in 1819 but set in 12th-century England, Ivanhoe is a tale of love struggling to survive against a violent backdrop of politics and war. Wilfred of Ivanhoe was thrown out of his father’s home when he fell in love with his father Cedric’s ward,...

When the naive David Balfour sets out on his quest for a long-lost relative, a terrifying chain of events is set in motion. He is plunged into a world of infamy and violence from which there seems no escape, until, that is, he meets the enigmatic and...

Acclaimed actors David Rintoul and Vivien Heilbron and eminent musicians Mhairi Lawson and Adrian Chandler present not only Burns' greatest hits, but also a selection of his lesser-known, yet fascinating works. Together these provide a comprehensive...

If you walk down London’s Piccadilly, you come across an elegant Georgian building set back from the constant stream of traffic. This is The Albany, an imposing warren of “bachelor” apartments which has been home to a string of celebrities for over...

Written in 1791 as a response to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man is a seminal work on human freedom and equality. Using the French Revolution and its ideals as an example, he demonstrates his belief...

Northumberland. There, he finds himself caught up in a vicious plot to bankrupt his father which has startling consequences. At the centre of the action are three very different figures ? Francis's treacherous cousin Rashleigh Osbaldistone, who...

King Arthur loved Christmas and New Year - it was an excellent excuse for feasting, exchanging gifts and a time for general good fellowship among the knights at Camelot. And he wouldn't stop feasting until some marvellous adventure had befallen either...

Neil Munro's captivating tales of Para Handy, captain of the "Vital Spark", the "smertest" steamboat ever to sail the River Clyde.Whatever happened to the shaggy dog story? Very few, if any seem to be published these days. Maybe our lives are all too...

Jonathan Oldbuck, the antiquary of the title, has a passion for the past – and delights in trying to convey it. He meets the mysteriously taciturn young Lovel and the two strike up a friendship, bonding over Roman ruins. When Lovel falls for Isabella,...

A leading industrialist of the 19th and 20th centuries, Andrew Carnegie was one of America’s most successful and generous businessmen. The Autobiography tells of his rise to power, from humble beginnings in Scotland to controlling the biggest steel...

William Topaz McGonagall is widely renowned as one of the world's worst-ever published poets. Yet his discordant muse is hugely popular all over the world - no less a figure than Spike Milligan was obsessed with him. But how do we account for this...

Told by servant Ephraim Mackellar, The Master of Ballantrae is set at the time of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 and portrays the Durie family. James abandons his ancestral home to support the Jacobites while his younger brother, Henry, loyal to the...

‘In a Nutshell’, the new 1-CD audiobook series from Naxos AudioBooks, continues with a fascinating history of Tibet. Part of China for many years, yet with a clearly distinctive culture (with the central devotion of its people being to Buddhism and...

In "To the Island of Tides," Alistair Moffat travels to – and through the history of – the fated island of Lindisfarne. Walking from his home in the Borders, through the historical landscape of Scotland and northern England, he takes us on a...

Waverley by Sir Walter Scott is an enthralling tale of love, war and divided loyalties. Taking place during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, the novel tells the story of proud English officer Edward Waverley. After being posted to Dundee, Edward...