Frances Hodgson Burnett
Two orphan classics, each recorded in both of our fiction voices.
Frances Hodgson Burnett is the rare author whose every title here comes in both voices. The Secret Garden and A Little Princess are each read by Elizabeth Grace on The Sleepy Bookshelf and by Andrew Bond on Send Me To Sleep, so the first decision is simply whose reading you fall asleep to more easily.
Between the books, The Secret Garden is the steadier sleep choice. Its whole engine is recovery: a locked garden slowly untangled, a sour child slowly softened, health returning at the speed of spring on the Yorkshire moors. Improvement without urgency is about the best mood a sleep story can hold.
A Little Princess asks slightly more. Sara Crewe loses her fortune partway through, and the middle of the book treats her harshly before kindness wins out. The ending repays it, but listeners who dislike hearing a child endure cold and hunger may prefer the garden.
