Midsummer Night In The Workhouse

Episodes

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01A Weekend In The Country20111016In A Weekend in the Country by Diana Athill, an invitation to Richard's family home finds Elizabeth compelled to make a difficult choice.

The short stories collected in Midsummer Night in the Workhouse represent the start of Diana Athill's writing career. In the preface to the selection she says: 'I can remember in detail being hit by my first story one January morning in 1958. Until that moment I had been hand-maiden, as editor, to other people's writing, without ever dreaming of myself as a writer.' Then she encountered someone who reminded her of an episode in her past and that evening she wrote her first short story. She went on to win the the 'Observer' short story competition and writes, 'Bury me, dear friends, with a copy of the Observer folded under my head, for it was the Observer's prize that woke me up to the fact that I could write and had become happy.

Diana Athill's stories draw on her own personal experiences and her keen observations of others, each is perceptive, poignant and funny.

Diana Athill was born in 1917. In 1946 she joined Andre Deutsch and went on to become one of the country's leading editors in a career spanning fifty years. She has published six volumes of memoirs and a novel.

Read by Zoe Tapper

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

An invitation to Richard's family home finds Elizabeth forced to make a difficult choice.

Short stories by Diana Athill

02For Rain It Hath A Friendly Sound20111023In Diana Athill's story For the Rain it Hath a Friendly Sound first published in 1961, a phone call leads Kate to reflect on her marriage and her experience of love.

The short stories collected in Midsummer Night in the Workhouse represent the start of Diana Athill's writing career. In the preface to the selection she says: 'I can remember in detail being hit by my first story one January morning in 1958. Until that moment I had been hand-maiden, as editor, to other people's writing, without ever dreaming of myself as a writer.' Each of her stories draw on her own personal experiences and her keen observations of others.

Diana Athill was born in 1917. In 1946 she joined Andre Deutsch and went on to become one of the country's leading editors in a career spanning fifty years. She has also published six volumes of memoirs and a novel.

Read by Emma Fielding

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

Short stories by Diana Athill

03An Unavoidable Delay20111030In Diana Athill's story, An Unavoidable Delay, first published in 1962, Rose is travelling home from her holiday in Lubjiana when she encounters Paul and events take an unexpected turn.

The short stories collected in Midsummer Night in the Workhouse represent the start of Diana Athill's writing career. In the preface to the selection she says: 'I can remember in detail being hit by my first story one January morning in 1958. Until that moment I had been hand-maiden, as editor, to other people's writing, without ever dreaming of myself as a writer.' Each of her stories draws on her own personal experiences and her keen observations of others.

Diana Athill was born in 1917. In 1946 she joined Andre Deutsch and went on to become one of the country's leading editors in a career spanning fifty years. She has also published six volumes of memoirs and a novel.

Read by Emma Fielding

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

Travelling back to England, Rose encounters Paul and events take an unexpected turn.

Short stories by Diana Athill