An elder brother

Michael Betts runs a cramped, dim‑lit second‑hand bookshop tucked beneath the streets of Bloomsbury. For thirty years he has lived among towering piles of volumes, knowing each title’s worth by touch and quick glance, despite a modest education and a life spent in solitary routine. Though customers call him “Old Betts,” he guards his privacy fiercely, rejecting the idea of an apprentice and keeping his world of paper tightly ordered.

When a gloomy November afternoon brings a curious neighbor and a sudden, quiet tragedy involving a young girl named Margery, Michael’s orderly existence is nudged out of its comfort zone. A shrewd bargain and an unexpected request force him to confront the cost of his isolation, hinting at the possibility of new connections. Listeners will follow his careful calculations as the shop’s familiar walls begin to echo with unfamiliar voices.