So, picture this: a ship's surgeon with itchy feet and a habit of saying yes to one voyage too many.

His name is Lemuel Gulliver, and every time he steps aboard a ship, something goes spectacularly wrong — storms, shipwrecks, being dumped on shores that appear on nobody's map.

And the places he washes up in? Let's just say they're nothing like home.

In one, he's a giant. In another, he's barely worth noticing. And in every one of them, the locals have some very strange ideas about how the world ought to work — ideas that start to make Gulliver wonder whether it's them who are odd, or us.

The real question is what's left of a man after all that travelling.

This is *Gulliver's Travels* by Jonathan Swift.

I'm Roger Braveheart, and it's lovely to have you along on the *TWIG 74* podcast — the show where you get a free, cut-down audiobook every single time.

Here's the deal, in case you're new. What I do is take a cracking classic novel and retell it in about sixty minutes, keeping the spirit, the excitement and the flavour of the original. Think of it as a summarised version — the story, the big moments, the bits that actually matter — without you having to set aside a whole weekend. Because let's be honest, the full book would take you many, many hours to get through. The exact running time varies a bit depending on how long and how twisty the original is, but an hour is the rough target.

I did try thirty-minute versions once. Didn't work. Far too much good stuff ended up on the cutting room floor, and it just felt like a shame.

One promise I'll make you: everything you're about to hear comes straight from Swift's own book. Not the films, not the telly versions, not the tidied-up children's editions or any of the countless adaptations knocking about — because those tend to shuffle events around, smooth off the rough edges, and quietly rewrite whole chunks of what actually happens. This is Swift, just shorter.

New episodes land at least once a week, on a Sunday, so there's something ready and waiting for you when the working week kicks in.

And if you fancy dropping me a line, the show's email is twig74@mailo.com. I genuinely love hearing from you — feedback, thoughts, or a nudge towards a classic you'd like me to tackle next. Suggestions are always welcome.

Right then. Make yourself comfortable, picture a small ship slipping out towards open water, and let's get going.