About John Bunyan
John Bunyan (1628–1688) started out as an itinerant worker and a soldier. When he began to have religious experiences, he joined a Christian fellowship and soon began preaching. His discussions with the followers of George Fox inspired his first book, Some Gospel Truths Opened, published in 1656. In 1660, he was arrested while preaching. During twelve years of imprisonment in the county jail, he wrote several works, including Profitable Meditations, Praying in the Spirit, The Holy City, and Grace Abounding. He was released after the Declaration of Indulgence of 1672, under which he became a licensed preacher and pastor of the church to which he belonged; but in 1673 the Declaration was canceled, and Bunyan was sent back to prison for six months. During this time he wrote his most famous work, the epic Christian allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress. His defined religious outlook is balanced in his writing by an almost modern realism and psychological insight.
About Simon Vance
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.