"This is a history and not a glorification of Mr. Polly, and I tell of things as they were with him"

So writes H.G Wells towards the end of his story of Mr Polly and indeed the narrator's voice throughout the book leaves us altogether ambivalent about his protagonist.

The diminutive Everyman of the story is neither fully hero nor villain.

A book that, although gently humorous, gives us no facile answers to life's frustrations and conundrums, but leaves us with a fitting reflaction of our own often bewildering existence.

Narrated by Simon Hester and with original music.