The Second Sleep

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The Second Sleep, by Robert Harris: Episode Nine

Episode Nine

The Second Sleep, by Robert Harris

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

By Robert Harris. Fairfax is troubled by the secret he shares with Sarah.

By Robert Harris. Fairfax is troubled by a secret. But meanwhile he must help to uncover the darker secrets of the Devil’s Chair.

“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

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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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