Audiobooks by Andrew Motion

In the Blood: A Memoir of my Childhood Audiobook

In the Blood is Andrew Motion's beautifully written memoir of growing up in post-war England - an unforgettable evocation of family life, school life and country life. It also tells the story of how these worlds are shattered, when his mother suffers a terrible riding accident. The tragedy shadows the book, feeding its mood of elegy as well as its celebratory vigilance. Written from a teenage child's point of view, without the benefit of adult hindsight, Motion captures the pathos and puzzlement of childhood with great clarity of expression and freshness of memory. We encounter a strange but beguiling extended family, a profound love of the natural world, a troubled schooling, and a growing passion for books and writing. By turns funny and elegiac, In the Blood is a wonderful picture of a vanishing England, a remarkable insight into a poet's mind, and a deeply moving portrait of the bond between a mother and her son.

Andrew Motion (Author), Andrew Motion (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sleeping on Islands

Andrew Motion has been close to the centres of British poetry for over fifty years. Sleeping on Islands is his clear-sighted and open-hearted account of this remarkable career. It takes us from scenes of a teenage home-life coloured by tragedy and silence - where writing was as much a refuge as an assertion - to the excruciations of early public appearances, to the decade he spent as Poet Laureate, promoting and ensuring the central place of poetry in a nation's character. Along the way, we hear about the risks and sacrifices involved, as well as the difficulties of sustaining a commitment to writing within a helix of other obligations. We see in close-up the significance of Motion's formative relationship with W. H. Auden and his subsequent friendship with Philip Larkin. And during his time as Laureate, we witness memorable encounters with Royalty and Prime Ministers, and discover the costs and complications that accompany such a high-profile role. By turns moving and humorous, this is the intimate story of a rare poetic life. And it proves Motion's contention that the poems we most enjoy 'are not weird visitations, or ornaments stuck on the surface of life, but part of life's daily bread'.

Andrew Motion (Author), Andrew Motion (Narrator)

Audiobook

HiBrow: World Book Night 2013

A celebration of adult literature and reading. The whole book industry, including booksellers, librarians and publishers were invited come togethere an pick out their favourite titles to be included the final list of 25 books by authors from the UK and Ireland. The final list inclueded fiction, poetry, memoirs among others. There were some bestsellers, classics and some lesser known. Interviews with Graeme Simsion, Lucy Fleming, Jojo Moyes, Lemn Sissay, Mark Haddon, Tracy Chevalier, Victoria Hislop, Rupert Thomson, Andrew Motion

Andrew Motion, Graeme Simsion, Jojo Moyes, Lemn Sissay, Lucy Fleming, Mark Haddon, Rupert Thomson, Tracy Chevalier, Victoria Hislop (Author), Andrew Motion, Graeme Simsion, Jojo Moyes, Lemn Sissay, Lucy Fleming, Mark Haddon, Rupert Thomson, Tracy Chevalier, Victoria Hislop (Narrator)

Audiobook

Silver

In the eastern reaches of the Thames lies the Hispaniola, an inn kept by Jim Hawkins and his son. Late one night, a mysterious girl named Natty arrives on the river with a request for Jim from her father - Long John Silver. Aged and weak, but still possessing a strange power, the pirate proposes Jim and Natty sail to Treasure Island in search of Captain Flint's hidden bounty. But the thrill of the ocean odyssey gives way to terror as the Nightingale reaches its destination, for it seems Treasure Island is not as uninhabited as it once was... Silver is a worthy sequel to Treasure Island and a work of extraordinary authenticity and imaginative power from one of England's greatest writers.

Andrew Motion (Author), David Tennant (Narrator)

Audiobook

Silver: Return to Treasure Island

The thrilling follow-up to Treasure Island, as told by one of England's greatest contemporary writers. July, 1802. In the marshy eastern reaches of the Thames lies the Hispaniola, an inn kept by Jim Hawkins and his son. Late one night, a mysterious girl named Natty arrives with a request from her father, Long John Silver. Aged and weak, but still possessing a strange power, the pirate proposes that Young Jim and Natty sail to Treasure Island in search of Captain Flint's hidden bounty, left behind many years before... Featuring a cast of noble seamen, murderous pirates, and stories of love, valour and terrible cruelty, Silver is a worthy sequel to Treasure Island- one of the greatest adventure stories ever told - and a work of extraordinary authenticity and imaginative power

Andrew Motion (Author), David Tennant (Narrator)

Audiobook