The Second Sleep

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The Second Sleep, by Robert Harris: Episode Six

Episode Six

The Second Sleep, by Robert Harris

BBC Radio 4 - The Second Sleep, by Robert Harris, Episode Six

By Robert Harris. Shadwell has been arrested for heresy.

By Robert Harris. After demonstrating electricity at his lecture, Shadwell has been arrested for heresy. Can Fairfax free him? Read by Michael Maloney.

“Until the close of the early modern era, Western Europeans on most evenings experienced two major intervals of sleep . . . The initial interval of slumber was usually referred to as ‘first sleep’ . . . The succeeding interval was called ‘second’ or ‘morning’ sleep . . . Both phases lasted roughly the same length of time, with individuals waking some time after midnight before returning to rest. 
Roger Ekirch, At Day’s Close: A History of Nighttime “

Father Fairfax, a newly ordained priest has been sent by the Bishop of Exeter to the village of Addicott St George to bury Father Lacy who has recently died. But a mysterious figure appears at the funeral casting doubt on the accidental nature of the priest’s death.

Author Robert Harris, the master of plotting, is best known for his best-selling fiction - The Ghost Writer, An Officer and a Spy, Fatherland, Enigma and Archangel. The Second Sleep is a totally absorbing and truly surprising thriller that takes a "historical futuristic" setting to comment on the present. 

Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Michael Maloney
Producer: Karen Rose

A Sweet Talk production for 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.

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Drama: Thriller

In his latest novel, Robert Harris imagines a world without any of our current technology.

Robert Harris's latest novel is a totally absorbing and truly surprising thriller that takes a 'historical futuristic' setting to comment on the present.

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