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Book at Bedtime

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Book at Bedtime: Reading Europe - Austria: A Whole Life

Robert Powell

Robert Seethaler

Jennifer Howarth

Elizabeth Davies

Book at Bedtime: Reading Europe - Austria: A Whole Life: Episode 3

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Factual: Life Stories

Reading Europe - Austria: A Whole Life

Episode 3

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime, Reading Europe - Austria: A Whole Life, Episode 3

War arrives in Europe, and Egger leaves the valley for the Russian front.

Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature. Robert Powell reads A Whole Life by the Austrian novelist Robert Seethaler.

This 'slim masterpiece' (Daily Mail) went straight onto the bestseller lists in Germany last summer and has been there ever since. Jim Crace called it both 'heart-rending and heart-warming', and over 200,000 people have read and celebrated this book across Europe.

When Andreas Egger reaches the village on the night that he tries to save Hannes, the goatherd, he goes into the inn and meets Marie - the only love of his life - for the first time. Romance and grief and a sometimes wry stoicism are the touchstones of Egger's solitary life as the 20th century unfolds around him. The modern world encroaches slowly on the valley, the forest is carved out for ski lifts, electricity arrives, and tourists too. But throughout it all, Egger remains steadfast in his modest struggle to survive and in his ever constant respect for the landscape around and above him.

Episode 3:
War arrives in Europe and Egger leaves the valley for the Russian front.

Read by Robert Powell
Written by Robert Seethaler
Abridged by Jennie Howarth
Translated by Charlotte Collins

Produced by Elizabeth Davies
A Waters Company 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 Robert Seethaler. The heart-warming story of one man's life in the Austrian Alps.

By Robert Seethaler. The heart-warming story of one man's life in the Austrian Alps. Read by Robert Powell. Abridged by Jennie Howarth

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