Just Sleep - Bedtime Stories for Adults

Feeling stressed? Relax tonight with the continuation of the Time Machine by H.G Wells. You can listen to the first chapters in Episode 9 published on March 20th. In this episode, the Time Traveller arrives in 802,701 AD. The Earth is a garden and inhabited by a society of small, indolent people.  If you like this episode, please remember to follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite pod...

Need help drifting off to sleep? Settle in with tonight's bedtime story - Afterward by Edith Wharton. This short story was first published in 1910. Mary and Ned Boyne move from America to the village of Lyng in Dorsetshire. Enjoying their new wealth, they joked that they wanted an old house with a ghost. Be careful what you wish for...  If you like this episode, please remember to follow on Spotif...

Tonight's bedtime story is Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Published in 1856, the book was considered immoral and the author was put on trial by the French government. In this episode, Charles Bovary goes to school for the first time and then medical school. Years later, he meets Emma, the daughter of a patient with a broken leg. His wife isn't too happy about that. If you like this episode, pl...

Struggling to fall asleep? Drift off to two chilling tales by Edgar Allan Poe - The Cask of Amontillado and the Masque of the Red Death. Published in 1846 and 1842 respectively, these stories show the master of horror at his finest. In the Cask of Amontillado, a man takes revenge on his "friend" in the catacombs. In the Masque of the Red Death, Prince Prospero and his rich friends try to avoid a p...

Feeling stressed? Relax tonight with The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov, a short story to help you fall asleep. First published in 1899, this story unfolds the relationship between a cynical, older, married man and young, married woman while vacationing in Yalta. It is considered, by some, to be the greatest short story ever written. If you like this episode, please remember to follow on Spoti...

Struggling to fall asleep? Drift off to our first spooky tale for the Halloween season, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.  A novella published in 1898, this ghost story has been adapted numerous times on tv (including the Haunting of Bly Manor on Netflix) and on stage.   If you like this episode, please remember to follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite podcast app. Also, share w...

Tonight's sleep story is the continuation of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. In this episode, the apothecary visits Jane after the events in the red room. Also, Mr Brocklehurst meets Jane for the first time. If you want to listen to the first chapters, you can find them in Episode 11 published on the 27th March. If you like this episode, please remember to follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your...

Drift off to sleep with tonight's reading of the opening chapter of The Phoenix and the Carpet by Edith Nesbit. Published in 1904, it is part of a series of books following the adventures of siblings Anthea, Jane, Cyril, Robert, and the Lamb. In this episode, the children "test" some fireworks indoors and their parents buy a new carpet. Inside the carpet, they discover an egg with a fiery yolk. If...

Tonight's bedtime story is Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. This novel was first published in 1864 in French and then in 1871 in English. In this episode, Axel and his uncle Otto Liedenbrock try to decipher the code from a note discovered in an old manuscript. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppod If you like t...

Feeling stressed? Relax tonight with Aladdin, a folk tale to help you fall asleep. You know this tale of a boy and his magic lamp. But this isn't quite like the Disney version. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppod If you like this episode, please remember to follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite podcast app. Also...

Having trouble distracting your active mind before bed? Relax tonight with two short stories by Guy de Maupassant: The Necklace and A Piece of String. Guy wrote more than 300 short stories in his short lifetime and these are two of his most popular.  If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppod If you like this episode, please remember...

Drift off tonight to two tales featuring Snow White: Little Snow White and Snow White & Rose Red. The first story is the most familiar with Snow White, an evil stepmother, and a chatty mirror. The second story features another Snow White, her sister, and an ungrateful dwarf. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppod If you like...

Tonight's sleep story is the Blue Cross, A Father Brown short story from the book the Innocence of Father Brown by G.K Chesterton. Published in 1910, it is the first appearance of Father Brown who is featured in over 50 short stories by Chesterton. In this episode, Valentin, the famous French detective, is searching for the criminal Flambeau in London. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can...

Fall asleep tonight to the opening chapter of Silas Marner by George Eliot. This is the third novel by George Eliot and was published in 1861. In this episode, Silas Marner is accused of stealing money from a dying deacon in his church. His faith shaken, Silas moves to the village of Raveloe. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppo...

Struggling to fall asleep? Settle down with The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. This is the first story in the collection of children's stories published in 1888. A swallow is the messenger for the Happy Prince statue that can see the poverty and suffering in his town. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppod If you like this episode,...

Tonight's bedtime story is the continuation of Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. You can listen to the first chapters in our episode #18 released on the 22nd April. This classic Canadian novel was published in 1908. It follows the adventures of Anne Shirley, a red-haired orphan girl, mistakenly sent to the Cuthberts on Prince Edward Island. In this episode, Marilla Cuthbert meets Anne...

Tonight's sleep story is The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Published in 1899, this novel is considered by many to be a landmark work of early feminism. In this episode, Edna Pontellier starts to feel uneasy about her life while on vacation. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppod If you like this episode, please remember to follow on...

Feeling stressed? Relax tonight with the Sherlock Holmes story, A Scandal in Bohemia, by Arthur Conan Doyle. This is one of the stories in the collection of twelve stories called "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." In this episode, Dr Watson joins Sherlock in the quest to retrieve an indiscreet photograph for the King of Bohemia. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here...

Tonight's bedtime story is Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Published in 1925, this is one of Woolf's best known novels. In this episode, Clarissa Dalloway walks to the flower shop on Bond Street while thinking of her past. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppod If you like this episode, please remember to follow on Spotify, Apple...

Fall asleep tonight to the opening chapters of Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy. Published in 1874, this was Hardy's first literary success. In this episode, Farmer Gabriel Oak helps the woman with black hair and a red jacket with her toll and later sees her again, late at night while tending his sheep. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeac...

We're so happy to present our 50th episode! Drift off to sleep tonight to the opening chapters of the Invisible Man by H.G Wells. This story was published in 1897 and helped establish Wells as the "father of science fiction."  There have been a number of film adaptations, most recently in 2020. In this episode, the stranger arrives at the "Coach and Horses" Inn and the villagers in Iping react to...

Tonight's sleep story, The Quest Of The Hammer by Abbie Farwell Brown, features Loki - the Norse god of mischief. This story was published in the book In the Days of Giants: A Book of Norse Tales in 1902. Thor's hammer is missing. Did Loki steal it? If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppod If you like this episode, please remember...

Tonight's snoozy tale is the Million Pound Bank Note by Mark Twain. This short story was published in 1893. Two wealthy brothers in Victorian London spot a down on his luck American man and make a bet. If he is given a million pound bank note, can he survive an entire month without spending it?  If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justslee...

Fall asleep tonight to the opening chapters of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. This book was published in 1811.  It follows the romance and heartbreak of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood in the late 1700s. In this episode, John Dashwood, their half brother, decides on how much assistance he can " reasonably afford" to give to his sisters who have recently lost their father. Then, they are forced...

Tonight's sleep story is Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Walden; or, Life in the Woods was published in 1854. In this episode, we read the second chapter "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For". Part of this chapter was quoted in the film Dead Poets' Society. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here ------> buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppod If you like this episode, please re...