Good evening. Welcome to the Just Sleep podcast. I'm Tasia, your host. Every week, I will read you

an old story to help you relax, put the stressful day behind you, and drift off to sleep.

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Tonight, I will be reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

So lie down, close your eyes, and let me read you a story.

Letter 1

To Mrs. Saville, England, St. Petersburg, December 11th, 17.

You will rejoice to hear that no disaster is accompanied to the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded

with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, my first task is to assure my dear sister of my

welfare, an increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.

I'm already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of St. Petersburg,

I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight.

Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those

icy climbs. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid.

I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation.

It ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight.

There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disc just skirting the horizon

and diffusing a perpetual splendor. There, for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in

...