Our first Book of Bedtime of 2016 celebrates twenty years since the publication of Alex Garland's cult novel, The Beach. Joe Dempsie reads this thrilling tale of paradise sought and lost.

Jaded young backpacker Richard is in Thailand looking for a place unspoilt by tourism. An encounter with a dead man leaves him with a map for 'the beach', a select traveller community cut off from the degradations of vacationing westerners. He joins the commune, but his breadcrumb trail, fantasies of Vietnam War films, and very real armed drug guards risks turning Eden into hell on earth.

'Lord of the Flies' meets 'Heart of Darkness' among the beautiful, young drop-outs, dreamers and drug-takers of the mid-1990s.

Abridged by ..... Sara Davies

Produced by ..... Jenny Thompson

Read by ..... Joe Dempsie

Music ..... Narayan by The Prodigy. Show less