L. P. Hartley – författare

A present contains a monstrous secret.An uninvited guest haunts a Christmas party.A shadow slips across the floor by firelight.A festive entertainment ends in darkness and screams.Who knows what haunts the night at the dark point of the year? This collection of seasonal chillers looks beneath Christmas cheer to a world of ghosts and horrors, mixing terrifying modern fiction with classic stories by masters of the macabre. From Neil Gaiman and M. R. James to Muriel Spark and E. Nesbit, there are stories here to make the hardiest soul quail - so find a comfy chair, lock the door, ignore the cold breath on your neck and get ready to welcome in the real spirits of Christmas.

''A masterpiece'' Anita Brookner''A very beautiful novel'' Nick Hornby''Includes some of the most perfect sentences in English'' Guardian

At the turn of the twentieth century, two children play on an English beach. Eustace, a gentle, dreamy, boy with a weak heart, relies on his older sister Hilda.As young adults, Eustace and Hilda are unexpectedly invited to stay at the grand country house of the wealthy Staveley family. The weekend''s events will haunt the siblings'' lives as their story travels from Oxford colleges to Venetian palazzi.The magnum opus from the author of The Go-Between, this is an enchanting, tender exploration of two siblings who cannot live together or apart.

With an introduction by Anita Brookner

Four of L. P. Hartley''s finest novels adapted for BBC radio, plus bonus short storiesAn acclaimed novelist, short story writer and critic, Leslie Poles Hartley is best known for his 1953 novel The Go-Between, which won the W. H. Heinemann Award and was adapted as a BAFTA-winning film starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates. Included here is a radio dramatisation of that classic tale, alongside adaptations of three further novels and five short stories.The Go-Between - 1901, Norfolk. Twelve-year-old Leo Colston is spending the long, hot summer with his school friend Marcus at his family estate, Brandham Hall. Drawn into an adult world of deception and forbidden desire, he sets in motion a tragedy that will haunt him forever. This moving tale of lost innocence stars Clive Swift, Joe Brothwell, Lisa Kay and Robert Glenister.The Collections - Ambrose and Edwina possess exquisite collections of objets d''art, but need to dispose of them; Barbara owns a stately home, but has had to sell off the contents. Joining forces seems like the ideal solution - until a thief comes along... Starring Richard Pearson, Siân Phillips and Eva Stuart.The Brickfield - Dictating his memoir to his secretary, elderly novelist Richard Mardick finds himself confiding a long-held secret from his youth: his adolescent romance with the beautiful Lucy, and its tragic conclusion... Martin Jarvis and Denys Blakelock star in this tender love story from the past, told against the bright awareness of the present.The Betrayal - In this sequel to The Brickfield, Richard Mardick is forced once more to recall the long-ago days of his boyhood, as he reveals to his biographer-to-be how Lucy''s death has blighted his life and disrupted his peace of mind. Starring Martin Jarvis and Denys Blakelock, with Irene Sutcliffe and Gudrun Ure.Short Stories by LP Hartley - Robert Lang reads five creepy tales by the celebrated author: ''Night Fears'', ''The Waits'', ''W.S.'', ''Someone in the Lift'' and ''The Price of the Absolute''.Text copyright © The Trustees of the Estate of Annie Norah Hartley, 1953 (The Go-Between), 1954 (''W.S.'', ''The Price of the Absolute''), 1961 (''The Waits'', ''Someone in the Lift''), 1964 (The Brickfield), 1966 (The Betrayal), 1972 (The Collections)''Night Fears'' first published 1924Cast and creditsWritten by L. P. HartleyThe Go-BetweenCast: Clive Swift, Joe Brothwell, George Greenbury, Eleanor Bron, Lisa Kay, Robert Glenister, Ed Sinclair, Jenny Coverack, Mark Hesketh, Brian Gear, Guy ShottonThe CollectionsCast: Richard Pearson, Martin Friend, Siân Phillips, Christopher Good, Elizabeth Rider,Eva Stuart, John Bull, Peter Baldwin, Sonia FraserThe BrickfieldCast: Martin Jarvis, Denys Blakelock, Barbara Mitchell, Nigel Anthony, Ann Murray,Noel Hood, Lockwood West, Humphrey Morton, Beth Boyd, Bernard Brown, David Brierley, Sian Davies, Michael Harbour, Leroy LingwoodThe BetrayalCast: Martin Jarvis, Denys Blakelock, Irene Sutcliffe, Alexa Romanes, Shelagh Willcocks,Sian Davies, Bernard Brown, Douglas Hankin, Gudrun Ure, David Brierley, Alexander John, Beth BoydShort Stories by LP HartleyRead by Robert LangFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4 on the following dates:Night Fears 7 November 1988The Waits 8 November 1988W.S. 9 November 1988Someone in the Lift 10 November 1988The Price of the Absolute 11 November 1988© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

A lonely boy living on his uncle''s farm in the Lincolnshire Fens, Richard Mardick''s solitary existence is interrupted by a chance meeting, and idyllic love affair, with Lucy. A disused brickfield is the scene of their clandestine meetings, and it is there that Richard finds her drowned in a muddy pool.

Forced by circumstances to look back on these days, Richard finds himself recounting this episode to his secretary. Its shattering significance throughout the rest of his life is put into remarkable perspective by the unusual framework with which Hartley has enclosed his story.

Weaving skilfully through past events while staying awake to the present, The Brickfield is a masterly evocation of childhood and its influences on the adult mind.

Chartered accountant Harold Eastwood, conventionally minded, chances to meet Alec Goodrich on the train, travelling first-class with a third-class ticket.

Alec is a best-selling novelist. He soon finds Harold''s knowledge of income tax allowances useful and when Alec pays a visit to the accountant his wife, Isabel, who yearns for culture and literature, quickly takes up the fantasy to be his mistress. However, not she but Irma, the Austrian barmaid at the tavern, has caught Alec''s wayward fancy . . .

In The Betrayal, the sequel to The Brickfield, Richard Mardick, now an ageing novelist, is forced by circumstances to look back on the days of his boyhood and confesses to Denys Aspin, his young secretary and biographer-to-be, how Lucy''s death has forever marred his life and distorted his inner peace.

The consequences of this rash disclosure range from threats and blackmail to the entirely unpredictable reactions of Richard''s friends.

Margaret Pennefather is essentially a good person - too good, perhaps, for her own good. Her rash and hasty marriage to film star Colum McInnes, and his very different set of moral values, leads gradually and relentlessly to the utter destruction of their love and their marriage. Although she is only a nominal Protestant and he a very lax Roman Catholic, Margaret cannot escape the religious questionings implicit in their union.

Her mental and spiritual struggles persist and gather momentum through all the disasters of her married life. Its outcome is the climax to a story that must surely rank as one of the most impressive L. P. Hartley has given us.