The Hotel

A BBC Radio Collection of Ghost Stories with a Feminist Twist

By: Daisy Johnson

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh, Nicola Walker, Jessica Raine, Anne-Marie Duff, Maxine Peake, Juliet Stevenson, Sara Kestelman, Ronke Adékoluejo, Laurel Lefkow, full cast

Length: 3 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Fifteen highly original and darkly unsettling supernatural stories, performed by some of Britain's finest actresses

'This is what we know about The Hotel. It is bigger on the inside than on the outside. Do not go into Room 63. Doors and windows do not stay in the same places. The Hotel listens when you speak. The Hotel watches... We'll be at The Hotel soon.'

A place of myths, rumours and secrets, The Hotel looms over the dark Fens, tall and grey in its Gothic splendour. Built on cursed land, a history of violent death suffuses its very foundations - yet it has a magnetism that is impossible to ignore.

On entering The Hotel, different people react in different ways. To some it is familiar, to others a stranger. Many come out refreshed, longing to return. But a few are changed forever, haunted by their time there. And almost all those affected are women...

Here are the stories of The Hotel: stories of children, mothers, monsters, cult film-makers, thrill-seekers and workers on the night shift, all with their own tales of its strange power, of the horrors of Room 63, and of desperate but failed attempts to escape its seductive pull.

Included are: The Hotel (read by Sara Kestelman); The Witch (read by Nicola Walker), The Build (read by Maxine Peake); Infestation (read by Anne-Marie Duff); Clean (read by Ronke Adékoluejo); The Wedding (read by Alexandria Riley); Conference (read by Jessica Raine); The Monster (read by Bettrys Jones); Night Watch (read by Anne-Marie Duff); Briony (read by Adjoa Andoh); Haunted (read by Laurel Lefkow); Mother (read by Rebecca Root); The Story (read by Juliet Stevenson); The Priest (read by Barbara Flynn) and The Film (read by Sara Kestelman).

Written by Daisy Johnson, one of Britain's best contemporary novelists and the youngest ever to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize, these deliciously chilling ghost stories will linger in your mind long after hearing.

Production credits
Written by Daisy Johnson
Produced by Justine Willett


First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 20 September-27 December 2020

©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Calm and very eerie

I really enjoyed this collection of interlinked stories. All very well read with a nice choice of narrators to suit each character. I got this feeling of gentle, growing dread as each story progressed and there were some genuinely chilling scenes.

FABULOUS book!

These stories are both eerie & erudite! I really enjoyed reading horror, written from a feminist standpoint...but if you aren't looking for feminist literature, read this book for the truly delightful, creepie stories!