The Second Sleep

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The Second Sleep, by Robert Harris: Episode Eight

Episode Eight

The Second Sleep, by Robert Harris

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

By Robert Harris. Could there be a spy in the camp?

by Robert Harris. Fairfax suspects there’s a spy in the camp. 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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