Classic books are considered with a fresh eye. Returning to the authors' original manuscripts and letters, expert writers and performers bring their personal insights to these great works.

In the new series of The Secret Life of Books, we explore another eclectic selection of literary masterpieces: a memoir of drug addiction, an epic Elizabethan poem, a collection of nonsense verse, a Victorian classic, a children's adventure tale, and a nostalgic hymn to rural life.