Books at Bedtime By Calming Anxiety - The String Quartet - By Virginia Woolf

The String Quartet by Virginia Woolf — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime



Drift off tonight to a dreamlike bedtime story for sleep and insomnia, read slowly and gently to help you fall asleep naturally.



Tonight on Books at Bedtime, Martin reads Virginia Woolf's "The String Quartet" — a short, hypnotic piece from her 1921 collection Monday or Tuesday.



It begins in a crowded London drawing room, full of overheard fragments — the weather, the traffic, a rent too high, a glove left on the train. The small anxious chatter of a mind that cannot settle. Then four musicians take their seats, the first violin counts one, two, three, and everything changes.



The music carries the listener somewhere else entirely. A pear tree on a mountain. Fountains and falling drops. The waters of the Rhône running swift and deep over silver fish and yellow pebbles. Lovers on the grass, silver horns at dawn, a rose leaf falling from an enormous height like a little parachute.



It is one of the loveliest things Woolf ever wrote about how it feels when sound takes over from thought — when the fretting mind finally lets go and simply floats. Which makes it, we think, close to perfect for the last thing you hear tonight.



There is no need to follow the story. There is no plot to lose. Let the words move over you like the music moves over the people in that room, and let yourself drift.



Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) remains one of the most quietly beautiful voices in English literature, and this piece is in the public domain.



Read by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, host of Calming Anxiety and Coffee Break for the Soul.



Sleep well, my friend.





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Music: All music by Chris Collins


Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.