Algernon Blackwood’s 1907 novella, described by H P Lovecraft as the best supernatural tale in the English language, is read by Roger Allam for BBC Radio 7 and adapted as a radio drama for BBC Radio 4 by Stef Penney.

Bill Pullman (Independence Day) and Julian Sands (A Room With A View) play two old friends who take a midsummer canoe trip down the Danube. Since they last met they’ve been through a war and a flu pandemic, but now life is opening up again and this river trip is a balm for the soul, at least at first.

Before long, they find themselves in a dreamy, shifting landscape of sandbanks and half-submerged forests of willows. They camp for the night on an island in the middle of the marshes but soon strange things begin to happen. The river seems to claw away the banks making the island smaller, eerie sounds are heard on the wind, and they feel a mounting sense of dread.

By morning, their canoe and oars have inexplicably been damaged. Marooned on this ever-shifting island of willow bushes, they find themselves menaced by forces they cannot understand.

Gus . . . Bill Pullman
Michael . . . Julian Sands
Mother . . . Vesna Stanojevic
Innkeeper . . . Velibor Topic

Unabridged
Narrated By: Full Cast
Duration: 56:34
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 256kbps