Episode 6

In this time of forgetting, one elderly couple - Axl and Beatrice - are determined to hold onto memories of their life together and have set out to find their long-lost son.

They've been joined on their quest by Wistan, a mysterious Saxon warrior from the East, and Edwin, a young boy in peril. The group take shelter at an isolated monastery, where they learn the cause of the mist of forgetting that has fallen over the land. Pursued by foes, can the group trust their hosts?

David Suchet continues Kazuo Ishiguro's powerful novel - a moving, mysterious and deeply philosophical book about how societies remember and forget.

“It’s queer the way the world’s forgetting people and things from only yesterday and the day before that. Like a sickness come over us all.”

The Romans have long since departed and Britain is steadily declining into ruin. In this desolate, uncultivated land of mist and rain, people find that their memories are slipping away from them. They live in an uneasy peace but memories of the wars that once ravaged the country are stirring.

Abridged by Sara Davies

Producer: Mair Bosworth

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.