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Book at Bedtime

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Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and world literature

Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world

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Book at Bedtime: In Love and War

Carl Prekopp

Alex Preston

Jeremy Osborne

Rosalynd Ward

Book at Bedtime: In Love and War: Episode 1

In Love and War

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime, In Love and War, Episode 1

At Croydon Aerodrome, Esmond says goodbye to his family and begins his journey to Florence

April 1937. At Croydon Aerodrome, Esmond says goodbye to his family and begins his journey to Florence.

"[He] unfolds a portrait of himself in gouache [...] It is a good likeness, he thinks, if a little tragic, and big-eared. She has drawn a man - given him something to grow into."

Esmond Lowndes's father is a leading light in the British Union Of Fascists. In 1937, Esmond is sent down from Cambridge in disgrace and dispatched instead to Florence to set up Radio Firenze - an English-language radio station aiming to form closer ties between Fascists in Italy and England.

Esmond finds love and loss, and his journey of self-discovery becomes increasingly and - as Italy moves into war - more tightly intertwined with the fortunes of Florence, the city he has made his home.

And at every turn, he comes up against the local Blackshirt leader, the brutal Mario Carita.

Episode 1 (of 10)
April 1937. At Croydon Aerodrome, Esmond says goodbye to his family and begins his journey to Florence.

Alex Preston lives with his family in London. His first novel, This Bleeding City, was selected as one of Waterstones New Voices 2010. His second, The Revelations, was shortlisted for the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize. Alex is a journalist and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Kent.

Reader: Carl Prekopp
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne

Produced by Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

BBC Radio 4

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

By Alex Preston. Story of a young man's journey of self-discovery in wartime Italy.

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