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Book of the Week

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Serialised book readings, featuring works from various genres

Serialised book readings, featuring works of non-fiction, biography, autobiography, travel, diaries, essays, humour and history

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Book of the Week: Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North

Book of the Week: Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North: Episode 3

Factual: History

Factual: Travel

Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North

Episode 3

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North, Episode 3

An old Icelandic man, steeped in the Norse sagas, brings the distant past vividly to life.

The quest for traces of the voyages of two 14th century merchants leads to Iceland, where an old man steeped in the Norse sagas brings the past vividly to life. Read by Sam Dale.

By Andrea di Robilant.


Read by Sam Dale.


In the fourteenth century, so the story goes, two merchant brothers set out from Venice on a journey through the rough seas of the North Atlantic, encountering warrior princes, fighting savage natives and, just possibly, reaching the New World a full century before Columbus. 


Their adventures - printed as a small book and beautifully detailed map in 1558 by an enthusiastic ancestor - were celebrated throughout Europe until, in 1835, the story was denounced as a 'tissue of lies' and the Zens faded into oblivion.


Intrigued by the myth, the writer Andrea di Robilant set out on a personal journey to see what traces remain of these fabled voyages. In this episode, the author arrives in Iceland and visits the ruins of a monastery believed to be mentioned in the Zen text. While there he chances upon an old farmer whose encyclopaedic knowledge of the Icelandic sagas brings the distant past vividly to life.


Abridged by Laurence Wareing.


Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

The quest to discover the truth about two Venetian merchants' 14th century travels

Andrea di Robilant's quest for traces of the fabled voyages of two Venetian merchants in the 14th century

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Venetian Navigators - The Voyages of the Zen Brothers to the Far North

Episode 3

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