Adventure Audiobook Bundle

Roy McMillan is a multi-talented individual who wears many hats: he's a director, writer, actor, and abridger. He's directed readings covering a wide range of authors, from Hardy and Hopkins to Austen and Murakami. His writing contributions include podcasts, sleevenotes, and biographies, specifically of literary figures like Milton and Poe. In addition to all this, he has directed plays for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4.

Robert Louis Stevenson, born in Edinburgh in 1850, was a novelist, poet and travel writer, best known for his adventure novels Kidnapped and Treasure Island, and gothic thriller The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.Stevenson was a sickly child, suffering bronchial issues throughout his life. His illnesses often prevented him from attending school, and so he was frequently educated at home by private tutors. However, he started writing stories in early childhood. Upon advice from his parents, he studied law at Edinburgh University, but always intended to pursue a career as a writer.In 1879, Stevenson set off for California to reunite with Fanny van de Grift, the woman who would become his wife. The journey provided exceptional inspiration for his writing, but it broke his health, and by the time he arrived in San Francisco he was on death’s door. Once he was recovered, the couple travelled extensively between Scotland and Europe, returning to the United States in 1887. It was in this period that Stevenson published his most successful novels. In 1888, the family sailed through the South Pacific for three years, an experience which transformed Stevenson’s health for the better. They settled in Samoa, where he died in 1894.

Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist and poet, born in Dublin in 1667.He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and Oxford University, before working as a private tutor in England. Following the publication of A Tale of a Tub in 1704, Swift relocated to London and began to gain a reputation as a writer, establishing friendships with other literary figures such as Alexander Pope and John Gay. He became increasingly political, and was part of the Tory government’s inner circle in the 1710s.Queen Anne was not impressed with Swift’s writings, which she found blasphemous, and he was forced to return to Ireland in disgrace in the 1720s, where he took up the position of Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral. He remained in Dublin until his death in 1745.

Daniel Defoe was born Daniel Foe around 1660, likely in the parish of St Giles in London. He was a writer, trader, pamphleteer, and spy.As well as a career as a businessman, Defoe published a number of pamphlets, including a series of proposals for social and economic improvement. In 1706, Defoe was sent to Edinburgh as a secret agent, to do everything possible to secure support for the Act of Union. Between 1719 and 1724, Defore published the novels for which he is most famous, with Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders widely considered to be among the first examples of the modern novel form.Defoe died in April 1731 while in hiding from his creditors.

Roy McMillan is a multi-talented individual who wears many hats: he's a director, writer, actor, and abridger. He's directed readings covering a wide range of authors, from Hardy and Hopkins to Austen and Murakami. His writing contributions include podcasts, sleevenotes, and biographies, specifically of literary figures like Milton and Poe. In addition to all this, he has directed plays for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4.