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The H. G. Wells Library
A curious library stands open at the edge of time. Here, the worlds of H. G. Wells are not merely remembered but awakened, their voices carried once more across the invisible ether. The H. G. Wells Library presents complete readings of tales that peer into futures yet unborn, confront the machinery of progress, and question the destiny of humankind itself. From silent laboratories to distant planets, each episode invites the listener to wander as both observer and traveller, discovering…
Episodes
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 3 Chapter 3 - Young Caddles in London
In which young Caddles, a giant bewildered by the constrictions of his commonplace village life, ventures forth into London’s teeming streets, seeking…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 3 Chapter 4 - Redwood's Two Days
In which the weary and constrained Redwood, confined in his old study under watchful guard, grapples with dread and uncertainty as distant battles and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 3 Chapter 5 - The Giant Leaguer
In which the weary Mr Redwood journeys through a shadowed world transformed by the titanic growth of mankind’s offspring, arriving at the encampment of the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 2 Chapter 2 - The Brat Gigantic
In which the life of a boy of extraordinary size and appetites unfolds amidst the curious and cautious village folk, revealing a creature both burdensome and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 3 Chapter 1 - The Altered World
In which a man newly freed after twenty years of confinement returns to a world transformed by the curious and portentous growths known as the Food, where…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 3 Chapter 2 - The Giant Lovers
In which a giant Princess, isolated in her solitary greatness, discovers a wider kinship through a chance meeting with a young man who reveals to her the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 1 Chapter 4 - The Giant Children
In which Mr. Bensington returns to London to find himself unexpectedly famous for his involvement with the majestic yet troubling Food of the Gods, while the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 1 Chapter 5 - The Minimificence of Mr. Bensington
In which a second outbreak of the mysterious Herakleophorbia escapes through careless laboratory conditions and spreads unseen through the natural life of a…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 2 Chapter 1 - The Coming of the Food
In which the mysterious Food of the Gods quietly permeates the world, causing astonishing phenomena of enormous growth among creatures and children alike…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 1 Chapter 2 - The Experimental Farm
In which Mr. Bensington, after much domestic opposition, establishes an experimental farm with the help of a peculiar couple to test his remarkable…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 1 Chapter 1 - The Discovery of the Food
In which we are introduced to the modest and unremarkable scientists Mr. Bensington and Professor Redwood, whose keen investigations into growth and nutrition…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Book 1 Chapter 3 - The Giant Rats
In which the quiet English countryside is disturbed by the mysterious appearance of enormous rats, leading a group of determined men to arm themselves and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 33 to 36
In which Mr. Hoopdriver endures an uncomfortable self-reckoning over the fabrications he has spun to impress Jessie, revealing the humble truth of his life as…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 37
In which Mr. Hoopdriver and Jessie encounter a curious clergyman wrestling with the perils of a malfunctioning tricycle and face the vexing realities of their…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 38 to 41
In which a confrontation unfolds at the Rufus Stone Hotel, bringing to light the tensions and social expectations surrounding young Jessie Milton’s adventurous…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 30 & 31
In which a devoted but somewhat bumbling rescue party pursues a young lady who has spirited herself away on her bicycle, encountering obstacles including…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 32
In which Mr. Hoopdriver and Jessie, pursued by a determined pursuer, seek refuge in a quiet village inn, only to encounter unkind remarks that provoke Mr…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 28 & 29
In which a gentleman named Mr. Hoopdriver embarks on a tentative bicycle journey with a young lady determined to escape the constraints of her conventional…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 26 & 27
In which the quiet hum of Surbiton is stirred by the anxious endeavours of a literary widow and her companions as they set out in search of a wayward young…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 20 to 23
In which Mr. Hoopdriver embarks upon a determined pursuit across the sunlit Sussex roads, tracking the elusive figures of the young lady and her companion with…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 23 to 25
In which a betrayed husband wallows in bitter chagrin while our earnest young wanderer and his mysterious companion take to the moonlit roads, their flight…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 16 to 19
In which the minds of two young travellers reveal the tangled fashions and follies of modern thought, whilst an uninvited observer, ignited by suspicion and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 13 to 15
In which Mr. Hoopdriver sets out from Guildford upon his bicycle journey, only to find himself unexpectedly encountering the Young Lady in Grey and her…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 9 to 12
In which Mr. Hoopdriver, overcoming the fatigue and heat of his cycling journey, finds himself repeatedly crossing paths with the enigmatic Young Lady in Grey…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 1 to 3
In which we are introduced to Mr Hoopdriver, a modest draper’s assistant of unremarkable appearance but remarkable bruises, which tell a tale of earnest, if…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 4 & 5
In which a humble draper’s assistant embarks upon his much-anticipated holiday cycle tour, shedding the weight of his daily toils and finding a fresh sense of…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Wheels of Chance Chapters 6 to 8
In which Mr. Hoopdriver encounters a discontented cyclist whose restless energy contrasts with his own contemplative pace, setting the tone for his solitary…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 4 Chapter 1 - Parts 7-9
In which the slow, tender unraveling of a man’s final days reveals the frailty beneath worldly ambition, as whispered deliriums and faint hopes mingle with the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 4 Chapter 2 - Parts 1-4
In which the narrator, newly returned and burdened with the ruin of his enterprise and the weight of public notoriety, finds solace and a fleeting refuge in…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 4 Chapter 3 - Parts 1-4
In which the narrator reflects on the futile bustle of modern England through the vivid experience of piloting a new destroyer down the Thames and out to sea…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 3 Chapter 4 - Parts 4-7
In which the narrator embarks on a grim and arduous sea voyage to a forbidding African coast, confronting the hostile natural world and a strange, unsettling…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 4 Chapter 1 - Parts 1-3
In which the narrator returns to find his uncle ensnared in financial ruin and despair, the grand project of Crest Hill reduced to a forlorn monument of futile…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 4 Chapter 1 - Parts 4-6
In which a desperate plan unfolds to spirit a troubled man away by night in a peculiar airship, its quiet flight over a moonlit countryside filled with a…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 3 Chapter 3 - Parts 1-3
In which the narrator details his intense and imaginative pursuit of aerial navigation, describing the rigours and exhilarations of experimental flight amid a…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 3 Chapter 3 - Parts 4-7
In which a harrowing descent from the skies leaves the narrator injured yet vividly alert, and his ensuing convalescence opens a delicate chapter of complex…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 3 Chapter 4 - Parts 1-3
In which a precarious business venture compels the narrator to embark on a perilous sea journey aboard a dismal brig bound for the mysterious Mordet Island…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 3 Chapter 2 - Parts 1-3
In which we observe the gradual ascent of a family from humble lodgings to the aspirational trappings of Crest Hill, their progress marked by an earnest if…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 3 Chapter 2 - Parts 4-6
In which the curious transformation of a man’s spending habits unfolds amidst a parade of acquisitions, from ornate clocks to a storied ancestral home, evoking…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 3 Chapter 2 - Parts 7-10
In which the restless ambitions of a man of enterprise unfold amid grand schemes and worldly power, mingled inevitably with personal entanglements and the…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 2 Chapter 4 - Parts 10-11
In which the narrator endures the painful dissolution of a complex marriage, navigating the tangled emotions and moral confusions that accompany separation and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 3 Chapter 1 - Parts 1-3
In which the narrative introduces a vivid portrait of a small yet dynamic man whose uncanny vitality and ambitions give life to the Tono-Bungay enterprise and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 3 Chapter 1 - Parts 4-6
In which an empire of commerce is revealed as built not on substance but on the shimmering mirage of confidence and illusion, with schemes and ventures coming…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 2 Chapter 4 - Parts 1-3
In which the narrator reflects on the tangled, often uneasy courtship and engagement with Marion, exploring their contrasting temperaments and the social…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 2 Chapter 4 - Parts 4-6
In which a spirited discourse unfolds on the complexities and contradictions of societal morality embodied in the figure of Grundy, leading to a fanciful…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 2 Chapter 4 - Parts 7-9
In which the narrator reflects on a strained and quiet domestic life marked by unfulfilled love and growing estrangement, as differing sensibilities and small…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 2 Chapter 2 - Parts 1-3
In which a young man, long estranged from his uncle, receives an unexpected invitation to join the enterprise behind the mysteriously named Tono-Bungay, a…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 2 Chapter 2 - Parts 4-6
In which a young man wrestles with the moral ambiguity of entering his uncle’s dubious commercial enterprise while navigating the stirring complexities of love…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 2 Chapter 3 - Parts 1-2
In which the industrious narrators embark on the curious enterprise of manufacturing and marketing Tono-Bungay, a dubious tonic that swiftly captivates a broad…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 1 Chapter 3 - Parts 4-7
In which a young man’s reverence for scientific study and hope of advancement is tempered by the sobering realities of his relatives’ constrained fortunes and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 2 Chapter 1 - Parts 1-3
In which a young man arrives in London full of scholarly ambition and vivid youthful hope, only to find the vast city a bewildering expanse of social contrasts…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 2 Chapter 1 - Parts 4-6
In which the young narrator, grappling with the restless stirrings of socialist ideals imparted by his enigmatic friend Ewart, finds his ambitions complicated…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 1 Chapter 2 - Parts 1-4
In which a young man cast out from a genteel home embarks on a journey through the grimy confines of a baker’s household and the harsh streets of Chatham…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 1 Chapter 2 - Parts 5-8
In which a young man visits his uncle’s chemist shop in the sleepy town of Wimblehurst and learns, amid family introductions and reflections on the stagnant…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 1 Chapter 3 - Parts 1-3
In which the young narrator settles into the quiet, stone-built town of Wimblehurst to apprentice in a chemist’s shop, encountering the sombre routine of…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 1 Chapter 1 - Parts 4-6
In which a young boy’s observations at the stately Bladesover estate reveal the peculiarities and dignities of English society, steeped in inherited traditions…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 1 Chapter 1 - Parts 1-3
In which the narrator reflects on the peculiar accident of birth that granted him a panoramic view of English society, from the splendid heights of country…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Tono-Bungay Book 1 Chapter 1 - Parts 7-9
In which a youthful narrator recalls the delicate and troubling beginnings of an intense youthful affection, marked by secret confidences and innocent kisses…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Sea Lady Chapter 7
In which Melville is summoned to Sandgate to navigate a delicate crisis involving the entangled affections and perplexities that lie between mortal duty and a…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Sea Lady Chapter 8
In which the lingering perplexities of a late-night meeting give way to a poignant and quietly theatrical farewell amid the moonlit solitude of the seaside…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Sea Lady Chapter 4
In which my cousin Melville encounters the enigmatic Sea Lady and Mr. Chatteris engaged in convivial discourse amid the Folkestone Leas, leading to reflections…