Books: The books you listen to

Brush up on your Conrad, next year's most fashionable classic author, with a reading of The Secret Agent (HarperCollins, 3hrs, pounds 7.99), his tale of revolutionary terrorism inspired by the bombing of Greenwich Observatory in 1894. Joss Ackland's voice is mesmerising.

George Orwell spent five years in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma in the 1930s. His Burmese Days (Penguin, 3hrs, pounds 7.99) tells how a corrupt Burmese magistrate manipulates the snobby Brits into betraying an Indian doctor's misplaced confidence in the honour of the Raj. Tim Piggot-Smith is splendidly pukka sahib.

Christina Hardyment