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 Birdcage Walk (Omnibus)

Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore (Omnibus): Episode 1

Helen Dunmore - Birdcage Walk: Omnibus

Episode 1

Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore (Omnibus)

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore (Omnibus), Episode 1

Radicals, property and love in 1790s Bristol. Read by Hattie Morahan.

Radicals, property and love in 1790s Bristol. A mysterious burial. A body is hidden in the Gorge. Read by Hattie Morahan.

Bristol, 1792: A mysterious burial. 

The story opens four years earlier as a man hides a body in a gorge. The death is unexplained but four years on, the man has a wife - Lizzie Fawkes. 

Lizzie visits her poorly mother, and tells her of her husband's Diner's plans to build a magnificent new terrace overlooking the Gorge. Set to be the envy of the city, it’s a huge financial risk for him.

Helen Dunmore's novel is set against a backdrop social upheaval caused by the French Revolution. It touches on Radical idealism, property, political turmoil and private tragedy. 

Dunmore was inspired by real life leading Radical writer Julia Fawkes, none of whose work survived. The story explores tensions between generations and genders, and examines the idea of legacy as Julia's daughter Lizzie finds herself torn between her charismatic, self-made husband and her idealistic mother. 

Omnibus of the first five of ten parts abridged by  Sara Davies.

Read by  Hattie Morahan and Carl Prekopp

Producer:  Julian Wilkinson.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2017.

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Drama: Classic & Period

Hattie Morahan reads a tale of a marriage that reflects turbulent times in the 1790s

Hattie Morahan reads a tale of a marriage that reflects a backdrop of the established order battling against change in the 1790s

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