Bernice Summerfield books – at the double

A pair of audiobooks, narrated by the First Lady of Big Finish herself, Lisa Bowerman, are on the way in 2022 as two new exclusive downloads from Big Finish Productions.   

The Weather on Versimmon by Matthew Griffiths, and The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis by Xanna Eve Chown, were the tenth and eleventh full length novels originally published in 2012. 

Long out of print, they are being given a new lease of life as audiobooks, read by Lisa, who has been playing Benny for Big Finish since 1998. 

The first, Bernice Summerfield – The Weather on Versimmon is due for release in January 2022 and is now available for pre-order at just £9.99.  

Inveigled into a survey of botanical art on Versimmon, Bernice is disappointed to get bogged down in an unseasonal cold spell – and to discover that Ruth has some radical ideas about how the living archive should be managed. 

Why is a hailstorm bringing back memories of a war two generations gone? Where are Versimmon’s first animals appearing from? And who can Bernice trust on a planet full of budding artists? 

As the forest world is bombarded by ice and the collection’s guards start disappearing, the archaeologists find themselves getting back to their roots and branching out into local politics. All the time, the weather on Versimmon is changing, and its inhabitants will find that revolutionary times demand revolutionary works of art… 

Bernice Summerfield audiobooks producer Xanna Eve Chown said: “This is a great book from Matthew Griffiths, who has a phD in poetry and climate change – and manages to bring this knowledge to bear on his other great love – Doctor Who-related fiction!” 

Writer Matthew added: “When I was commissioned to write The Weather on Versimmon ten years ago, I was in the middle of my PhD on climate change poetics – in other words, about how literature and criticism can engage meaningfully with climate change. 

“As a critic I think a text is what its readers make of it, or – in the case of Lisa Bowerman’s reading – its listeners. So, while I’m interested in revisiting my made-up planet after all this time, I’m also keen to hear what the Big Finish faithful make of it. At least no one’s having to worry about climate change any longer, eh?” 

Following on, Bernice Summerfield – The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis is due for release in February 2022 and is now available for pre-order at just £9.99. 

It wasn’t true that you could see the Cats from space. It was impossible, a ridiculous idea that wouldn’t stand up to even the slightest examination. 

And yet there were people on Bubastis who believed it... 

Most archaeologists – including Professor Bernice Summerfield – know only two facts about Bubastis: one is that its cheerless swamps are home to five giant stone Cats, whose ancient origins are shrouded in mystery; the other that it has more bugs and beetles than anyone should ever have to deal with. 

So when Bernice, Ruth and Jack arrive on the planet to search for a missing girl, they are unprepared for what they will find. Like the insectoid villagers with a decidedly squeamish attitude to mammals. Or the archaeological expedition made up of over-sexed students. Or the alarmingly unprofessional Neon Tsara… 

To make matters worse, Jack suddenly finds himself on the wrong side of the law and Ruth has brain-ache from ingesting forbidden historical knowledge. Worse still, Bernice has promised to write a book of poetry that's due to be published in a week... and she can't think of anything to rhyme with 'Bubastis.' 

Of her own book, Xanna added: "It is so exciting to hear my book being recorded as an audiobook. I loved hearing Lisa narrating the Slender Fingered Cats. I always have her voice in mind when I am writing for Benny, so it all sounds exactly as I had wanted it to of course!" 

Each of these two Bernice Summerfield audiobooks is now available to pre-order exclusively from the Big Finish website at just £9.99 each, or together in a bundle at the discounted price of £16 here.