Sleep stories for adults, told slowly in the dark.

Seven places, and one unhurried night in each. Every story runs about an hour, is read slowly over a painted scene, and ends without a goodbye while its sounds carry on.

Free The Night Train Through the Snow 57 min · a conductor’s night round
A small, slow steam train climbs all night through snowy mountain forests, and the conductor turns the lamps down carriage by carriage as the passengers fall asleep.
The Tea House in the Rain 58 min · closing up for the night
High on a mountain in the rainy season, a woman washes the cups, checks each tea tin and watches the clouds come down the copper rain chain.
The Observatory on Mallow Hill 59 min · the last clear night of autumn
Hazel opens the dome above a sleeping village, shares soup and Saturn with the baker’s grandson, and closes up as the first snow drifts in.
The Houseboat on the Slow River 63 min · a long golden evening
Down a wide, slow river, gently through an old lock, past meadows and a mill, to moor beneath an oak while glow-worms light the bank.
The Winter Glasshouse 61 min · the night gardener’s round
Watering bench by bench, banking the boiler, counting the sleeping plants, while snow falls on the glass overhead and turns, late on, to soft rain.
The Caravanserai on the Salt Road 58 min · sleeping on a warm roof
The keeper fills his twelve lamps and bakes bread for whoever the road brings, and everyone carries a mattress up to a roof still warm from the sun.
The Summer Farm on Bell Mountain 55 min · where the light never quite goes
Eight cows brought in and milked by hand, whey stirred over a slow fire, and a box bed under a turf roof with the brook running past the door.

On this page

What is a sleep story?

A long, slow story read in a low voice, written so that nothing much happens and nothing needs following. A busy mind gets something gentle to hold instead of the day: a lamp being turned down, a cup being washed, a boat drifting past a mill. By the time the story would need you to remember anything, it has stopped asking.

Lalai’s stories are for adults. There is no plot to keep up with, no peril and no twist, and every task the characters start is finished on the page.

How each story is built

Each story is about an hour long (411 minutes across all seven) and moves through five parts: arriving in the place, a slow round of small tasks, a long still stretch, somewhere warm to lie down, and a drift where the evening comes back in fragments.

It slows as you do. The voice gets slower and the pauses longer as the story goes on, at about 120 words a minute to begin with.
Real sounds underneath. Rain, rivers, fires and trains, recorded for real, sit under the voice at the balance you choose.
The picture dims with you. Each painted scene is a little darker than the one before and moves a little less.
No goodbye to wake you. The story ends without a sign-off, and its sounds can play on for minutes, half an hour or all night.

Free to try

The Night Train Through the Snow is free in full, for good, with no trial, card or account. The other six come with a subscription, and new subscribers get seven nights free: a different place each night.

Fall asleep on the night train tonight. Lalai has no ads, no account and no analytics, and it keeps playing with the screen off.