Tonight, we’ll rebroadcast the story of “The Devoted Friend,” written by Oscar Wilde and published in 1910. This episode originally aired on November 9, 2020.

Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the circumstances of his criminal conviction for his homosexuality.

In this fable, told by a linnet, or songbird in the finch family, to teach a water rat some life skills, Hans is an innocent gardener and the devoted friend of a wealthy but manipulative Miller. In this story, Wilde pokes fun at a society where charity is less about love and more about ensuring that the wealthy benefit. 

— read by V —

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Tonight, we’ll read about the history of jewelry around the world, from “Jewels and the Woman” written by Marianne Ostier and published in 1958.

Ostier was the principal designer and artistic driving force behind Ostier Inc., the New York jewelry firm she founded in 1941 with her husband Oliver. Marianne was an accomplished artist of painting and sculpture when she married Oliver, a third-generation Austrian court jeweler. The couple emigrated to the United States following the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938.

The majority of the firm’s output was bespoke jewelry for private clients with few pieces ever produced in quantity. As a result, Ostier’s work may be less well known today than some of their contemporaries, but at the time they were considered one of the finest jewelry houses in New York.

— read by N —

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Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne.

In the last episode, Captain Nemo takes Aronnax on a tour of his private natural history museum. Nemo's cases are filled with rare specimens drawn from the seas of the world: corals, shells, starfish and lots of pearls. His collection is priceless.

As much as Aronnax enjoys all of this, he's keen to learn how the Nautilus itself is powered.

So Nemo sits him down to explain, seated from within his sparsely furnished captain’s quarters.

— read by N —

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Tonight, we’ll rebroadcast the opening to “Washington Square”, written by Henry James and published in 1880. This episode originally aired on November 18, 2020.

The novel recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, unemotional father. The plot of the novel is based upon a true story told to James by his close friend, a British actress.

The book is often compared with Jane Austen's work (who of course, wrote “Pride and Prejudice”) for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships.

This is the second time Henry James is featured on Snoozecast. You can find “The Turn of the Screw” back in October 2019.

— read by V —

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Tonight we’ll read another Australian fairy tale called “The Fairy City” written by Hume Cook and published in 1925.

You can certainly pick up straight away on this episode, however if you’d like to listen to the first chapter of “Australian Fairy Tales” please find “The Magic Well” which aired on October 19th, 2022.

James Newton Haxton Hume Cook, the author, was an Australian politician who served in Parliament for almost a decade.

This story features aspects of urban planning and civil engineering- a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports and more. It is considered the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering,[3] and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering.

— read by V —

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Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “The Secret Garden”, a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett published in 1911.

In the last episode, Colin claims the secret garden as his own, and in doing so Colin chooses to follow in his mother's footsteps and dedicate himself to nature and happiness. He is inspired by Mary and Dickon, and decides to become a scientist who devotes his life to the study of Magic.

We will resume our story with a gathering of Ben, Dickon and Mary, lead by Colin. It is part lecture, part ministry, part mystical rite held in the secret garden.

— read by V —

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Tonight, we’ll read about baking biscuits and gems from the “Civic League Cookbook” from North Dakota in 1913.

Gems are little muffin-like cakes that were popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were most often made using graham flour, and had very few other ingredients – some just required graham flour, water and salt.

Graham flour is named after Sylvester Graham , a minister who is considered one of America’s earliest and most vocal advocates of dietary reform. Foreshadowing the modern health food movement, he believed that natural foods in the purest form – whole grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts – were the pathway to a healthy life. Graham recommended using coarsely ground, whole-wheat flour to make bread, rather than white flour, which often contained chemical additives.

— read by N —

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Tonight, for our final episode of this year’s spooky sleep story series, we’ll read “The Haunted Orchard” written by British author Richard Le Gallienne and published in 1912.

Born Richard Thomas Gallienne, the author changed his last name to “Le Gallienne” after college when he began working in an accountant’s office. Soon after he attended a lecture by Oscar Wilde, Le Gallienne abandoned his job to become a professional writer and poet. Five years later, he met Wilde, they had a brief affair and a longer friendship.

Le Gallienne married three times and had two children including famous and successful stage actress and director Eva Le Gallienne. After becoming a resident of the United States, he eventually settled in the French Riviera in the 1940s. During the war he refused to write propaganda for the local German and Italian authorities and, with no income, once collapsed in the street owing to hunger. He persevered, however, and continued to write into his 70s.

— read by V —

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Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Winnie-the-Pooh” a children’s story written by A.A. Milne and published in 1926. This collection of short stories features an anthropomorphic teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, along with his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo.

In the previous episode, we read chapter four and the first half of chapter five, in which we are introduced to Eeyore, who has lost his tail, and Pooh finds one. Also, Piglet meets a Heffalump. 

— read by V —

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Tonight, we’ll read another excerpt from French writer Marcel Proust’s monumental “In Search of Lost Time” which is seven volumes long, and first published in 1913.

“In Search of Lost Time” follows the narrator's recollections and experiences in the late 19th-century and early 20th-century high-society France, while reflecting on the loss of time and lack of meaning in the world.

This series does not necessarily need to be followed in order. Rather than being plot driven, it is more of a meditation on memories, consciousness and ambiance. The first episode aired on May 9th, 2022, and is titled “Overture.” The second episode, “The Magic Lantern” aired on July 11, 2022. The third episode, “M. Swann” aired on September 12, 2022.

A madeleine de Proust is an expression used to describe smells, tastes, sounds or any sensations reminding you of your childhood or simply bringing back emotional memories from a long time ago. 

— read by V —

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