The war is over. Troy has fallen. Everyone else is heading home.

Everyone except one man.

Odysseus just wants to get back to his wife, his son, and his little rocky island of Ithaca. It should be a few weeks' sailing. Instead, it takes him ten years.

Along the way there are monsters, witches, storms, shipwrecks, and gods who really can't decide whether they're helping him or ruining him. And back home in Ithaca, things aren't going well either — a house full of uninvited guests is eating him out of his kingdom, and they're all waiting for his wife to give up on him.

Can he make it home? And if he does, will there be anything left worth coming home to?

This is *The Odyssey* by Homer.

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I'm Roger Braveheart, and welcome along to *TWIG 74* — grab a cuppa, get comfy, and think of this as a free audiobook you can polish off in about an hour.

Here's the idea behind the channel. We take the great classics — the ones everybody's heard of but hardly anyone's actually read — and retell them properly, so you get the story, the drama and the feel of the original without wading through hundreds of pages.

So what you're about to hear is a summarised version. Homer's poem is enormous, and reading or listening to the whole thing would eat up many, many hours of your life. This one comes in at around sixty minutes, give or take — it depends on how long and how tangled the original book is. But don't worry, I've kept all the bits that matter. None of the good stuff gets left behind.

One more thing worth mentioning: this version comes straight from Homer's original poem. Not the movies, not the TV shows, not the tidied-up retellings floating about out there. A lot of those shuffle events around, smooth off Odysseus's rough edges, or quietly change big chunks of what actually happens — including the newest one, Christopher Nolan's film with Matt Damon. So if you've only ever seen a screen version, you might be in for a few surprises.

New episodes land at least once a week, on Sundays, so there's always something fresh waiting for you before 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 better still, suggestions for classics you'd like me to read on a future episode. Chances are, if you want to hear it, so does somebody else.

Right then. Get comfortable, picture a ship on a wide dark sea a very long way from home, and let's begin.

Picture a man so precise, so utterly ruled by the clock, that his servants can set their watches by his breakfast.

Then, one evening at his London club, Phileas Fogg makes an outrageous claim: a person could travel right around the world in eighty days.

His friends laugh. So he bets them twenty thousand pounds that he can do it — and walks out that very night with a carpet bag, a wad of banknotes, and a brand-new French manservant called Passepartout.

Trains, steamers, and anything else that moves. Missed connections, wild weather, and a detective who's convinced Fogg isn't a gentleman on a wager at all, but a thief on the run.

Eighty days. Not a minute more.

Can he possibly make it?

This is *Around the World in Eighty Days* by Jules Verne.

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I'm Roger Braveheart, and it's lovely to have you along on the *TWIG 74* podcast — think of it as a free audiobook, just a much shorter one.

Here's the deal. I take big, much-loved classic novels and retell them, start to finish, in about an hour. Same story, same twists, same characters — just without the long way round. The full book would keep you going for many hours, so consider this the express train version. How long each episode runs depends a bit on how long and how tangled the original is, but sixty minutes is usually about right.

I did try squeezing them into half an hour, but honestly? Too many good bits ended up on the cutting room floor. Nobody wants that.

One thing worth mentioning: everything you'll hear comes straight from Verne's actual novel — not the films, not the TV shows, not the little cut-down school editions. A lot of those move things about, smooth over the awkward parts, or change the ending altogether. Not us. This is the real thing, just trimmed.

New episode every week, at least, and I aim to get them out on a Sunday so you've got something ready for the week ahead.

And if you fancy dropping me a line, the email's **twig74@mailo.com**. I genuinely love hearing from you — tell me what you thought, or better still, tell me which classic I should tackle next. Some of the best suggestions have come from listeners.

Right then. Make yourself comfortable, imagine a station clock ticking away somewhere in the distance, and off we go.

A boy is born in a workhouse, orphaned before he even knows his own name, and raised on watery gruel and cruelty.

Then, one day, he does something unthinkable. He asks for more.

That small act of defiance gets him thrown out into the world alone — and the world he stumbles into is far darker than anything he could have imagined. There are pickpockets, thieves, a sinister old man who collects lost boys, and a secret about his past that certain people would kill to keep buried.

Will he find the kindness he's been searching for? Or will London swallow him whole?

This is *Oliver Twist* by Charles Dickens.

I'm Roger Braveheart, and welcome to *TWIG 74* — grab a cuppa, settle in, and think of this as a free audiobook, on me.

Here's the deal. I take brilliant classic novels and retell them, trimmed down but with all the drama and atmosphere still intact. So what you're getting today is a summarised version of *Oliver Twist* — about 60 minutes, give or take, depending on how long and how complicated the original book is. And believe me, the full thing would take you many, many hours to get through. My job is to take Dickens's big, sprawling story and squeeze it into something you can enjoy in one sitting, keeping the important bits and the moments that really hit you.

I did try 30-minute versions for a while, but honestly? I was cutting out far too much good stuff.

Oh, and one more thing — this comes straight from what Dickens actually wrote. Not the films, not the telly adaptations, not the abridged versions knocking about, which love to shuffle events around, tidy things up, or change whole chunks of the story.

I try to get a new episode out at least once a week, on Sundays, so it's ready and waiting for you when the working week kicks off.

If you fancy dropping me a line, the show's email is twig74@mailo.com. I genuinely love hearing your feedback, and if you've got a favourite classic you'd like me to read on a future episode, send it my way.

Right then — make yourself comfortable, picture the fog rolling through the dark streets of Victorian London, and let's get started.

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.

A young English lawyer travels deep into the mountains of Eastern Europe to close a simple property deal with a wealthy client.

The locals beg him not to go. They press crucifixes into his hands and mutter prayers as his coach rolls away.

And when he finally arrives at the castle, he starts to realise that his host is not quite what he seems — and that the doors are locked from the inside.

What follows spreads far beyond those mountains, reaching all the way to England, where a small group of friends slowly begin to understand that something ancient has come ashore — and that it has already chosen who it wants.

This is *Dracula* by Bram Stoker.

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I'm Roger Braveheart, and it's lovely to have you along on the *TWIG 74* podcast — where the summary story you're about to hear basically works as a free audiobook for you.

Here's the deal: I take a great classic novel and boil it down into a clear, easy retelling that keeps the drama and the atmosphere of the original. This one runs at about an hour, which is roughly what you can expect from most episodes — though it does shift a bit depending on how long and how complicated the original book is. Read the whole of *Dracula* yourself and you'd be looking at many hours, so think of this as the story with the padding trimmed away.

I did try 30-minute versions early on, but honestly I had to hack out far too much of the good stuff to make them fit, so an hour it is.

Oh, and one thing worth mentioning: this comes straight from Stoker's actual novel — not the films, the TV shows, the abridged editions or any of the hundreds of spin-offs out there. A lot of those shuffle events around, thin out the characters, or just quietly rewrite big chunks of what happens.

I aim to get a new episode out at least once a week, on a Sunday, so it's sitting there ready for your working week.

And if you fancy dropping me a line, the show's email is **twig74@mailo.com**. I genuinely love hearing your feedback, and if there's a classic you think I should read on a future episode, send it my way.

Right then — get comfortable, picture a cold wind moving through a dark mountain pass, and let's begin.

A young Englishman rejects the safe life his father planned for him and runs away to sea.

Storms, captivity and slavery fail to cure his hunger for adventure. Then another voyage ends in catastrophe.

His ship is destroyed, and he awakens on a remote island—the only survivor.

With no rescue in sight, he must salvage what he can and carve a life from the wilderness.

Days become years. Years become decades.

Then, after more than twenty years alone, he discovers something impossible:

A single human footprint in the sand.

Someone else is on the island.

But do they offer salvation—or something far more terrifying?

This is *Robinson Crusoe* by Daniel Defoe.

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I'm Roger Braveheart, and this is the TWIG 74 podcast — thanks for hanging out with me.

Here's the deal: I take the big, famous classics and retell them in a way that's easy to follow, but still keeps all the tension, the atmosphere and the feeling that made people fall in love with these books in the first place. Think of it as a free audiobook, just a lot shorter.

Listen properly from start to finish if you fancy it, or just stick it on in the background while you drive, do the washing up, wind down before bed, or get on with whatever else your day's throwing at you. Totally up to you.

Now, a quick bit of honesty. This is a summarised version. Most episodes come in at around the sixty-minute mark, give or take, depending on how long and how complicated the original book is. The full text of a book like this would take you many, many hours to get through. I did experiment with squeezing things into thirty minutes, but too much good stuff ended up on the cutting room floor, so sixty it is.

My job is to take a sprawling, wonderfully detailed novel and trim it down without losing the moments that matter — the turning points, and that slow, creeping sense of unease that builds as the story goes on.

And everything you'll hear comes straight from Daniel Defoe's own text. Not the films, not the TV versions, not the stage adaptations that love shuffling events around or inventing whole new bits for dramatic effect. Just the book.

New episodes land at least once a week, on Sundays, so you've got something ready to go for the working week ahead.

If you'd like to get in touch, the show's email is twig74@mailo.com. I genuinely love hearing from you — feedback, thoughts, or suggestions for classic books you'd like me to tackle on a future episode. Send them over.

Right then. Enough from me. Let's set sail.