The Forsyte saga, Volume 1 : The man of property

In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, the Forsytes stand as a model of respectable, property‑obsessed English respectability. At the centre of this world is Soames Forsyte, a solicitor whose life is built on the careful accumulation and protection of assets, from houses to heirlooms. His confidence in tradition masks a deeper anxiety about what cannot be owned: love, beauty, and the restless spirit of youth.

The arrival of Irene, an artist’s model whose charm and independence defy Soames’s orderly universe, sets the stage for a clash of values. As the family gathers for celebrations and confronts the encroaching modernity of bicycles, motor cars, and newspapers, the narrative follows how desire ripples through a house bound by conventions. Listeners will hear the quiet drama of a man trying to reconcile his ingrained sense of possession with the inevitable pull of something far less tangible.