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Homeless Bodies and Other Stories
Homeless Bodies and Other Stories is an original fiction podcast featuring audio-exclusive short stories from award-winning authors and Sunday Times best-sellers, inspired by objects & artefacts from Wellcome Collection’s permanent exhibition, 'Medicine Man', in London.
Exploring themes of otherness, humanity, history, society and belief, Homeless Bodies and Other Stories brings together a gripping collection of tales that are unsettlingly eerie and provokingly current. Objects that inspired Audible’s collection of stories include: a trepanned skull, drilled with holes to release trapped spirits; an iron scold’s bridle, used to punish ‘gossiping’ women; a 19th Century fragment of tattooed skin; a phrenology skull and an 18th Century wax vanitas head.
With six original, audio-exclusive stories, the collection includes brand new writing from: Imogen Hermes Gowar, Andrew Michael Hurley, Laura Purcell, Sarah Moss, Oyinkan Braithwaite and Haroun Khan.
Homeless Bodies and Other Stories sees these six authors probe the dark and twisted corners of humanity in an attempt to better understand ourselves and our place in the world with stories crafted specifically for the spoken-word. Before their stories, listeners will hear each of the authors in conversation with Wellcome’s curators as they find out more about their chosen object’s history.
With original musical composition and stirring sound design by Hana Walker-Brown.
Exploring themes of otherness, humanity, history, society and belief, Homeless Bodies and Other Stories brings together a gripping collection of tales that are unsettlingly eerie and provokingly current. Objects that inspired Audible’s collection of stories include: a trepanned skull, drilled with holes to release trapped spirits; an iron scold’s bridle, used to punish ‘gossiping’ women; a 19th Century fragment of tattooed skin; a phrenology skull and an 18th Century wax vanitas head.
With six original, audio-exclusive stories, the collection includes brand new writing from: Imogen Hermes Gowar, Andrew Michael Hurley, Laura Purcell, Sarah Moss, Oyinkan Braithwaite and Haroun Khan.
Homeless Bodies and Other Stories sees these six authors probe the dark and twisted corners of humanity in an attempt to better understand ourselves and our place in the world with stories crafted specifically for the spoken-word. Before their stories, listeners will hear each of the authors in conversation with Wellcome’s curators as they find out more about their chosen object’s history.
With original musical composition and stirring sound design by Hana Walker-Brown.
Audible Audio
First published October 31, 2019
5 people are currently reading
414 people want to read
About the author
Imogen Hermes Gowar
9 books477 followersImogen studied Archaeology, Anthropology and Art History at UEA’s Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts before going on to work in museums. She began to write small pieces of fiction inspired by the artefacts she worked with and around, and in 2013 won the Malcolm Bradbury Memorial Scholarship to study for an MA in Creative Writing at UEA.
She won the Curtis Brown Prize for her dissertation, which grew into a novel titled The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. An early draft was a finalist in the MsLexia First Novel Competition 2015, and it was also one of three entries shortlisted for the inaugural Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers’ Award.
Imogen lives, works, and walks around south-east London – an area whose history she takes a keen interest in – and her first novel, The Mermaid & Mrs Hancock, was published in 2018.
She won the Curtis Brown Prize for her dissertation, which grew into a novel titled The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. An early draft was a finalist in the MsLexia First Novel Competition 2015, and it was also one of three entries shortlisted for the inaugural Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers’ Award.
Imogen lives, works, and walks around south-east London – an area whose history she takes a keen interest in – and her first novel, The Mermaid & Mrs Hancock, was published in 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 14, 2020
I finally found time to finish this last night and the collection really put me in the spirit of Halloween horror. There’s plenty of murder, mayhem, madness, manipulation/control, and social commentary.
Homeless Bodies And Other Stories is an excellent six part Amazon Originals collection. Each episode begins with a brief history and explanation of the artifact chosen by the author to inspire his/her story: Laura Purcell, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Sarah Moss, Imogen Hermes Gower, Haroun Kahn, and Michael Andrew Hurley. The stories are included in podcasts. You can skip the preamble if you are not absolutely interested in a brief explanation of Scold Bridles, Chastity Belts, Vanitas.....
Scold’s Bridle – Episode 2 - is a short story by Oyinkan Braithwaite. I chose to begin with this tale because I could not breath for the second half of the story, it was so intense, and I am still breathless. After the initial discussion about the artifact, the story begins. A happy, loving wife does not fit in with the misogynist (we used to say macho) husbands of the community. All of their wives are manacled and subdued, but this wife is outspoken and gregarious, and her husband loves her. Husband, however, is influenced by his peers and particularly by his brother who convinces him that his wife should be more diminutive and docile so as not to embarrass him before his friends. The two miscreants go to a shop and purchase a Scold Bridle and I’m not going to say another word. OB wrote a terrifying and tragic story! This is the best of her writing that I have seen yet. Oh yes, and I need to mention the outstanding narration by Adepero Oduye, who also narrated other works by OB including, My Sister the Serial Killer and Treasure.
Brothers and Sisters – Episode one – is a story by Hermes Gower (author of the Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock). The chastity belt is the artifact chosen by the author, inspiring this story of young and innocent brothers and sisters growing up in the manor. After the squire’s death, the oldest son succeeds as squire. He comes home from Uni with his best bud Tom – the two of them have some very strange, progressive ideas and their demeanor toward all, especially the females in the family, is condescending. Tom woos Janie, the oldest of the sisters and proposes. While swept off her feet, Janie receives quite an unpleasant shock of a gift from her beloved. The narrator of this story is the amazing Imogen Church.
Vanitas - Episode 5 – is the artefact chosen by Laura Purcell for her story of the same name. A pretty young woman has found a besotted, wealthy squire to marry. This wealthy man is cousin to a vicar, who is the disgruntled discarded suitor of the bride. Vicar comes to the wedding bearing an ominous gift, a Vanita (a lesson in vanity, straight from the bible). Strange and terrible things begin to happen to the bride and all members of the household – hell hath no fury….take away the “wo” and the shoe fits perfectly. This is Laura Purcell, par excellence.
The Master and the Student – Episode 3 – is a story by Haroun Khan, inspired by an inked phrenology skull. This story mixes horror with heavy (anti)social colonial behavior toward what is considered an inferior population. Children are plucked from the poorest Bengali villages, sent away to a boarding school to receive an education (which later proves absolutely useless). The excellent school curriculum also included a regimen of having the students’ skulls measured periodically, and studied by the phrenologist Head Master – who pandered, humiliated and abused them. Much of the story is predictable but the ending unleashes rage and horror with a vengeance.
The Fool – Episode 4 – Andrew Michael Hurley writes a brilliant and chilling story influenced by his chosen artifact, a trepanned skull. I actually listened to this one twice. Jennifer asks Claymore to perform a medical procedure to rid her of the obsession to indulge the voices in her head – she is worried she may harm David, her husband of 40 years. David, is sleeping around with his assistant, Kim….but that doesn’t really bother her, (oh boy) she’s already taken care of that! You really need to hear what those voices in her head have to say, “…the voice had started speaking to her….it seemed to emerge from the zoo of chatter like a moth and settle inside her head. It turned her attention to the waiter who was slicing up a large Christmas cake and wondered if she might steal his knife and stick it into Kim’s face, pop one of those big chestnut eyes or slit her tongue into a fork…was imagining snipping off the girl’s slender fingers with a pair of …. The voice wouldn’t stop describing what Kim would look like with her bottom lip cleft, her tongue guillotined to a stump…”. You get the picture? Totally gross! And there’s so much more…
Homeless Bodies – Episode 6 – is an essay and not a story, by Sarah Moss, and it didn’t really interest me. The author chose tattooed swatches of skin which may interest others. You can’t always bat a thousand but five out of six hits were five stars for me, and the Amazon production effects were fantastic.
This collection of stories/podcasts is available for free in the unlimited selections for Audible Plus subscribers. I found the series while surfing online a week ago and it appears to be available on Kindle Unlimited UK but not in the U.S. (maybe I'm wrong). I was frustrated but I took advantage of Prime Week and ordered a hugely discounted full membership on Audible which includes Plus and I was super excited to discover the collection included in the Plus membership – so far I am not disappointed!
February 25, 2021
Attempting to get into audiobooks #3
Homeless Bodies and Other Stories is a collection of eerie tales, each inspired by an object displayed in the Wellcome Collection’s permanent exhibition Medicine Man. It’s an Audible exclusive, otherwise I’d have preferred to read the stories in print. But it’s an impressive production.
‘Brothers and Sisters’ by Imogen Hermes Gowar (object: a chastity belt) is an atmospheric historical story, following a young woman as she is courted by a charismatic artist. It’s brilliantly read by Imogen Church and the sound design is great too, really conjuring up a vivid mental image of the setting and events. I wasn’t previously interested in reading Gowar’s novel The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock, but this story was so pleasurable to listen to that I’m considering it.
I found ‘Scold’s Bridle’ by Oyinkan Braithwaite less enjoyable. The themes are similar to those in other fiction I have read by Braithwaite, and it’s also precisely the kind of story I would expect someone to write about a scold’s bridle.
‘The Master and the Student’ by Haroun Khan (object: a phrenology skull) is set in the 19th-century heyday of phrenology. Picked out for the shape of his skull, a Bengali boy is swept away from his small village and educated by a wealthy English ‘master’. He’s swiftly indoctrinated, but the pseudoscience ultimately makes a monster of him. The ending makes a neat joke of the story’s title and reveals the whole narrative to be a very clever take on the object.
‘The Fool’ by Andrew Michael Hurley (object: a trepanned skull) is an interesting case. Hurley’s involvement was one of the main reasons I wanted to listen to Homeless Bodies, and the story stands out from the rest for its more daring approach and inventive style. Set in modern times (rather than the pre-Christian era the object dates from), it’s about a woman who begins to hear voices after discovering her husband’s affair, and seeks a dangerous and radical form of cure. I have little doubt that, had I been reading this as a physical book, ‘The Fool’ would have been my favourite story. But listening to it, I didn’t feel the narrator’s voice was the right fit, and I also felt on a more fundamental level that the story itself was not suited to audio.
‘Vanitas’ by Laura Purcell is inspired by a wax vanitas head – I knew the one straight away, as it’s my favourite object at the Wellcome. Purcell crafts a gorgeous gothic tale that imagines the macabre portrait being gifted to a new bride by her former suitor. It’s wonderfully narrated by Annie Aldington and accompanied by an evocative leitmotif. A clear standout.
‘Homeless Bodies’ by Sarah Moss (object: two pieces of tattooed skin) is the only non-fiction piece in the collection. It’s a series of thoughtful reflections which functions as a sort of short, and somewhat personal, history of tattoos, incorporating musings on the ethics of holding these items in museum collections. Not something I’d typically either read or listen to, but I enjoyed it.
All in all, a good set of stories. Particularly interesting, for me, to see how my reactions differed from those I (think I) would have had to the stories in another format. If I’m judging it solely as an audio production, I’d say ‘Brothers and Sisters’ and ‘Vanitas’ are by far the most enjoyable; I would listen to both again, as I often do with favourite podcast episodes. But ‘The Fool’ is an excellent story, head and shoulders above the rest in a technical/formal sense, and I think would be served better by a print version. It seems the type of writing I would characterise as more ‘commercial’ (for want of a less derisory term) lends itself more naturally to audio. I’m now wondering whether genres/types of book I wouldn’t usually read might be a good way to get into audiobooks; perhaps that will be my next experiment.
TinyLetter | Linktree
Homeless Bodies and Other Stories is a collection of eerie tales, each inspired by an object displayed in the Wellcome Collection’s permanent exhibition Medicine Man. It’s an Audible exclusive, otherwise I’d have preferred to read the stories in print. But it’s an impressive production.
‘Brothers and Sisters’ by Imogen Hermes Gowar (object: a chastity belt) is an atmospheric historical story, following a young woman as she is courted by a charismatic artist. It’s brilliantly read by Imogen Church and the sound design is great too, really conjuring up a vivid mental image of the setting and events. I wasn’t previously interested in reading Gowar’s novel The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock, but this story was so pleasurable to listen to that I’m considering it.
I found ‘Scold’s Bridle’ by Oyinkan Braithwaite less enjoyable. The themes are similar to those in other fiction I have read by Braithwaite, and it’s also precisely the kind of story I would expect someone to write about a scold’s bridle.
‘The Master and the Student’ by Haroun Khan (object: a phrenology skull) is set in the 19th-century heyday of phrenology. Picked out for the shape of his skull, a Bengali boy is swept away from his small village and educated by a wealthy English ‘master’. He’s swiftly indoctrinated, but the pseudoscience ultimately makes a monster of him. The ending makes a neat joke of the story’s title and reveals the whole narrative to be a very clever take on the object.
‘The Fool’ by Andrew Michael Hurley (object: a trepanned skull) is an interesting case. Hurley’s involvement was one of the main reasons I wanted to listen to Homeless Bodies, and the story stands out from the rest for its more daring approach and inventive style. Set in modern times (rather than the pre-Christian era the object dates from), it’s about a woman who begins to hear voices after discovering her husband’s affair, and seeks a dangerous and radical form of cure. I have little doubt that, had I been reading this as a physical book, ‘The Fool’ would have been my favourite story. But listening to it, I didn’t feel the narrator’s voice was the right fit, and I also felt on a more fundamental level that the story itself was not suited to audio.
‘Vanitas’ by Laura Purcell is inspired by a wax vanitas head – I knew the one straight away, as it’s my favourite object at the Wellcome. Purcell crafts a gorgeous gothic tale that imagines the macabre portrait being gifted to a new bride by her former suitor. It’s wonderfully narrated by Annie Aldington and accompanied by an evocative leitmotif. A clear standout.
‘Homeless Bodies’ by Sarah Moss (object: two pieces of tattooed skin) is the only non-fiction piece in the collection. It’s a series of thoughtful reflections which functions as a sort of short, and somewhat personal, history of tattoos, incorporating musings on the ethics of holding these items in museum collections. Not something I’d typically either read or listen to, but I enjoyed it.
All in all, a good set of stories. Particularly interesting, for me, to see how my reactions differed from those I (think I) would have had to the stories in another format. If I’m judging it solely as an audio production, I’d say ‘Brothers and Sisters’ and ‘Vanitas’ are by far the most enjoyable; I would listen to both again, as I often do with favourite podcast episodes. But ‘The Fool’ is an excellent story, head and shoulders above the rest in a technical/formal sense, and I think would be served better by a print version. It seems the type of writing I would characterise as more ‘commercial’ (for want of a less derisory term) lends itself more naturally to audio. I’m now wondering whether genres/types of book I wouldn’t usually read might be a good way to get into audiobooks; perhaps that will be my next experiment.
TinyLetter | Linktree
March 9, 2020
I enjoyed this over one night and like with most good short stories (?) I wanted them to go on.
Recommended.
Recommended.
November 8, 2019
I really enjoyed these stories - Laura Purcell’s and Oliyinka Braithwaite’s were the best I thought. The last one wasn’t really a story so I felt a bit disappointed by that, although it was interesting.
September 29, 2022
I'm loving spooky short stories at the moment
August 1, 2020
A mixed bag, with some real sinister high points. 5 stars to Oyinkan Braithwaite’s Scold’s Bridle and a high 4 stars to Vanitas by Laura Purcell. Would be interested in reading more from both of these in the future.
December 20, 2019
This is a collection of six short stories, each based on an object found in the Wellcome collection of medical curiosities. Each author picked an object to inspire them and their stories are prefaced by an interview with a specialist who discusses the object, and then a comment by the author on how it inspired them.
I thought the stories were universally well written and narrated, and also well produced, with light music and sound effects. From a technical perspective this is a very nice product.
However, I found most of the stories were robbed of their dramatic impact by the fact that the objects were introduced first. The first story, for example, is about a chastity belt. We are introduced to the belt in the preamble, and the ins and outs of the object, with all it's jagged little bits, are discussed. This includes some speculation on how it might have been used, and what the social mores might have been. Then comes the story - a well-written story of courtship but with a twist at the end. Can you guess the twist? I don't think I'm going to spoil anything the producers didn't already spoil by revealing that the twist is the wooer gives the wooee a chastity belt, and the young woman in question then reflects on what that means - basically re-iterating all the things the expert and author discussed in the intro. Well, thinks I after listening to it - that was lamely predictable. The next four stories repeat this format.
The only one I really enjoyed was the last one, which wasn't a story but rather an essay. I didn't mind this at all - it was well written, well considered, explored a lot of ground, and thoroughly satisfied my desired for nice writing and thought provoking subject matter. And because it took the form of an essay instead of a story, I thought it was much more multi-faceted. More of this, please!
I thought the stories were universally well written and narrated, and also well produced, with light music and sound effects. From a technical perspective this is a very nice product.
However, I found most of the stories were robbed of their dramatic impact by the fact that the objects were introduced first. The first story, for example, is about a chastity belt. We are introduced to the belt in the preamble, and the ins and outs of the object, with all it's jagged little bits, are discussed. This includes some speculation on how it might have been used, and what the social mores might have been. Then comes the story - a well-written story of courtship but with a twist at the end. Can you guess the twist? I don't think I'm going to spoil anything the producers didn't already spoil by revealing that the twist is the wooer gives the wooee a chastity belt, and the young woman in question then reflects on what that means - basically re-iterating all the things the expert and author discussed in the intro. Well, thinks I after listening to it - that was lamely predictable. The next four stories repeat this format.
The only one I really enjoyed was the last one, which wasn't a story but rather an essay. I didn't mind this at all - it was well written, well considered, explored a lot of ground, and thoroughly satisfied my desired for nice writing and thought provoking subject matter. And because it took the form of an essay instead of a story, I thought it was much more multi-faceted. More of this, please!
November 29, 2019
Six short stories based on historical artifacts. The theme is horror, released on the run up to Halloween 🎃
I found five of the stories pretty good and I enjoyed - 4 stars. The last is an overly wordy essay, narrated by the author, which was a mistake - 1 star. So overall 3.5.
Free for audible members!
I found five of the stories pretty good and I enjoyed - 4 stars. The last is an overly wordy essay, narrated by the author, which was a mistake - 1 star. So overall 3.5.
Free for audible members!
November 16, 2019
Never got as far as the first short story. Too much waffle and preamble.
November 30, 2019
Excellent! Loved this collection. Very unique and interesting
Would highly recommend
Would highly recommend
May 4, 2020
Nice reading/listening. Quite interesting stories. Well preformed!
November 1, 2020
Six chilling tales by six wonderful writers. A must listen/read.
January 30, 2021
4.5 - Laura Purcell's Vanitas is the best in the collection. The worst is Sarah Moss' non-fiction essay, which didn't fit in with the rest.
August 19, 2021
2.5 stars
Good concept but some of the stories fell flat for me.
Good concept but some of the stories fell flat for me.
September 29, 2022
An enjoyable (probably not the right word!) collection of macabre tales.
July 22, 2023
Some stories were good but very few of them. I listened to this on audible and I liked the narrators and fun music or background but it was okay. Lucky for 2 stars.
September 12, 2023
Intriguing idea! I love medical history. For me, Laura Purcell's Vanitas was the standout here. I immediately looked up what else she'd written and if it was available in audio.
March 8, 2024
A collection of short stories each sparked from an object found in a museum and including a short explanation of the object and it's history.
December 17, 2025
I thought this was a very cool and disturbing jumping off point/prompt for a collection of stories.
April 26, 2021
When I signed up for Audible last year, I quickly discovered that they quite often have offers of free books - if you get them on the day of the offer - or £3 book sales. A lot of the time if it’s free, I will get it, just because I figure why not? If I don’t like it I can stop listening to it and listen to something else. And if it’s only £3 I might give something a go that I wouldn’t otherwise have picked.
I’m slowly working my way through these very types of books in between re-reading the Outlander books for book club. Ghosthunter, which I reviewed recently, was one of the free books I got, and this was either another free one or a £3 purchase. Either way probably not my usual fare, but one I thought I’d give a go.
It’s one of Audible’s originals, which is kind of like a series or podcast rather than a book, but this one was actually more like a series of short stories and a short interview with each of the writers. I’m really glad I gave it a chance as I really enjoyed it. Some of the stories I enjoyed more than others, but overall I found the different styles of storytelling really fascinating, and the stories themselves were all really well written and performed.
Each story was based around a specific artefact that had been donated to the Wellcome Collection’s Medicine Man exhibition in London. Some tales were horrifying, some spooky, some funny, and some weird, but all unique - much like the artefacts they were based on.
If you like twilight zone style weird tales then you might enjoy these too, and if you have Audible, look out for this in case it’s on offer again. It’s well worth a listen.
I’m slowly working my way through these very types of books in between re-reading the Outlander books for book club. Ghosthunter, which I reviewed recently, was one of the free books I got, and this was either another free one or a £3 purchase. Either way probably not my usual fare, but one I thought I’d give a go.
It’s one of Audible’s originals, which is kind of like a series or podcast rather than a book, but this one was actually more like a series of short stories and a short interview with each of the writers. I’m really glad I gave it a chance as I really enjoyed it. Some of the stories I enjoyed more than others, but overall I found the different styles of storytelling really fascinating, and the stories themselves were all really well written and performed.
Each story was based around a specific artefact that had been donated to the Wellcome Collection’s Medicine Man exhibition in London. Some tales were horrifying, some spooky, some funny, and some weird, but all unique - much like the artefacts they were based on.
If you like twilight zone style weird tales then you might enjoy these too, and if you have Audible, look out for this in case it’s on offer again. It’s well worth a listen.
October 6, 2020
Brothers and sisters:
Started out a bit more like a romance than a horror, with absolutely beautiful descriptive and whimsical writing and a creepy twist.
Scold's bridle:
This was deeply unsettling. I loved the way that the victim was developed and felt so real without even being told her name. I honestly wish that this was a novel on it's own. It was so good.
The master and the student:
Delightful creepy and macabre. Didn't think it was quite on the same level as the others.
The fool:
This one is a little forgettable compared to the other stories. By the time I finished listening to the two after this one, I had basically forgotten everything that happened here.
Vanitas:
Wonderfully creepy and atmospheric. Honestly gave me Haunting of Hill House vibes. I enjoyed it very much.
Homeless bodies:
I'm rather disappointed with this one. It was a non fiction essay and might have been interesting in another context, but really didn't fit the premise of the collection.
Started out a bit more like a romance than a horror, with absolutely beautiful descriptive and whimsical writing and a creepy twist.
Scold's bridle:
This was deeply unsettling. I loved the way that the victim was developed and felt so real without even being told her name. I honestly wish that this was a novel on it's own. It was so good.
The master and the student:
Delightful creepy and macabre. Didn't think it was quite on the same level as the others.
The fool:
This one is a little forgettable compared to the other stories. By the time I finished listening to the two after this one, I had basically forgotten everything that happened here.
Vanitas:
Wonderfully creepy and atmospheric. Honestly gave me Haunting of Hill House vibes. I enjoyed it very much.
Homeless bodies:
I'm rather disappointed with this one. It was a non fiction essay and might have been interesting in another context, but really didn't fit the premise of the collection.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews