Audiobooks narrated by Louise Brealey

What do you do in your teenage years when you realise what your parents taught you wasn't enough? You must go out and find books and poetry and pop songs and bad heroes - and build yourself. It's 1990. Johanna Morrigan, 14, has shamed herself so badly on local TV that she decides that there's no point in being Johanna anymore and reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde - fast-talking, hard-drinking Gothic hero and full-time Lady Sex Adventurer! She will save her poverty stricken Bohemian family by becoming a writer - like Jo in Little Women, or the Brontes - but without the dying young bit. By 16, she's smoking cigarettes, getting drunk and working for a music paper. She's writing pornographic letters to rock-stars, having all the kinds of sex with all the kinds of men, and eviscerating bands in reviews of 600 words or less. But what happens when Johanna realises she's built Dolly with a fatal flaw? Is a box full of records, a wall full of posters and a head full of paperbacks, enough to build a girl after all? Imagine The Bell Jar written by Rizzo from Grease, with a soundtrack by My Bloody Valentine and Happy Mondays. As beautiful as it is funny, How To Build a Girl is a brilliant coming-of-age novel in DMs and ripped tights, that captures perfectly the terror and joy of trying to discover exactly who it is you are going to be.

Caitlin Moran (Author), Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Girl on the Train

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER. YOU DON'T KNOW HER. BUT SHE KNOWS YOU. Rear Window meets Gone Girl, in this exceptional and startling psychological thriller 'Gripping, enthralling - a top-notch thriller and a compulsive read' S J WATSON, bestselling author of Before I Go To Sleep Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. 'Jess and Jason', she calls them. Their life - as she sees it - is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she's only watched from afar. Now they'll see; she's much more than just the girl on the train...

Paula Hawkins (Author), Clare Corbett, India Fisher, Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Just My Luck

What if winning means losing everything? ‘A gripping story of greed, lies and dark family secrets’ Lisa Jewell, No.1 bestselling author ‘Addictive, provocative and thoroughly relatable – a brilliantly crafted reminder to be careful what you wish for’ TM Logan, bestselling author It’s the stuff dreams are made of – a lottery win so big, it changes everything. For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Over dinner parties, fish & chip suppers and summer barbecues, they’ve discussed the important stuff – the kids, marriages, jobs and houses – and they’ve laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything more than a tenner. But then, one Saturday night, the unthinkable happens. There’s a rift in the group. Someone doesn’t tell the truth. And soon after, six numbers come up which change everything forever. Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth £18 million. And their friends are determined to claim a share of it. Sunday Times Number One bestseller Adele Parks returns with a riveting look at the dark side of wealth in this gripping take on friendship, money and betrayal, and good luck gone bad… Praise for Just My Luck: ‘Adele Parks never takes her foot off the gas, every book is tighter, faster, better than the last. Just My Luck is a gripping story of greed, lies and dark family secrets. I read it in a two-day frenzy’ Lisa Jewell ‘A compelling take on one of those “what if” scenarios that we’ve all wondered about. Addictive, provocative and thoroughly relatable – a brilliantly crafted reminder to be careful what you wish for’ TM Logan ‘An absolute joy: gripping, shocking and surprising. A cautionary tale about what one couple’s sudden wealth can do to old friendships’ Jane Fallon ‘Stupendous! I read this totally compelling modern-day morality tale over a weekend – I couldn’t put it down. As ever, Adele Parks does not disappoint – you’ll love it’ Ruth Jones ‘Like a deft magician, this book reveals its twists only at the very end, I was completely astonished’ Rosamund Lupton ‘A dark, gripping thriller’ Woman’s Weekly ‘Fabulous… her best yet’ Daily Mail

Adele Parks (Author), Kristin Atherton, Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Cilka's Journey: The sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The sequel to the International Number One Bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz, based on a true story of love and resilience. Her beauty saved her life - and condemned her. Cilka was only sixteen-years-old when she was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, in 1942. The Commandant at Birkenau, Schwarzhuber, noticed her long beautiful hair, and forced her separation from the other women prisoners. Cilka did what she had to in order to survive Auschwitz. And yet after Russian soldiers liberated Auschwitz in 1945, Cilka was charged as a collaborator and sentenced to serve a fifteen-year sentence for 'sleeping with the enemy'. Once again, she found herself on a brutal train journey, crammed into a carriage with many desperate women and children. This time, her destination was Siberia. She was by then only eighteen-years-old. So began a new life of horror and brutality in a prison camp close to the Arctic Circle. But in this unimaginable darkness, this terror beyond terror, Cilka found endless resources within herself, her profound humanity and determination helping her to survive against all odds. Cilka's Journey is a remarkable novel of courage and resilience, based upon the heart-breaking true story of Cilka Klein. 'She was the bravest person I ever met' Lale Sokolov, The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Heather Morris (Author), Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

None of This is True: The new addictive psychological thriller from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling

Brought to you by Penguin. PREPARE TO BE HOOKED: Nailbiting suspense from the addictive number one million-copy bestselling author. Read by Nicola Walker (Unforgotten, The Split, Last Tango in Halifax) and Louise Brealey (Sherlock, Lockwood & Co.), alongside a full cast, this breath-taking audiobook includes original music and a gripping soundscape, which immerses you in the production and leaves your spine tingling. Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie has been listening to Alix's podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. Josie's life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can't quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast, which you will hear, fully produced, throughout this audiobook. Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has inveigled her way into Alix's life - and into her home. But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, her life and her family's lives under mortal threat. Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done? This audiobook includes additional performances from: Jenny Walser, Kristin Atherton, Tom Judd, Ayesha Antoine, Elliot Fitzpatrick, Alix Dunmore, Dominic Thorburn, and Lisa Jewell herself. 'Utterly addictive, twisty and so dark and clever with characters that burst off the page. This is my favourite Lisa Jewell book yet!' Claire Douglas 'I don't wanna be dramatic, but this book was effing brilliant. Could not recommend it more! Have never read a book so fast!' Hayley Morris 'Twisty twisty twisty' Emily Henry © Lisa Jewell 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023

Lisa Jewell (Author), Louise Brealey, Nicola Walker (Narrator)

Audiobook

Tidelands

THE BRAND NEW SERIES FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR England 1648. A dangerous time for a woman to be different . . . Midsummer's Eve, 1648, and England is in the grip of civil war between renegade King and rebellious Parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even to the remote Tidelands - the marshy landscape of the south coast. Alinor, a descendant of wise women, crushed by poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life. Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, Alinor's ambition and determination mark her out from her neighbours. This is the time of witch-mania, and Alinor, a woman without a husband, skilled with herbs, suddenly enriched, arouses envy in her rivals and fear among the villagers, who are ready to take lethal action into their own hands. The unmissable read for Summer 2019. Praise for Philippa Gregory: 'Popular historical fiction at its finest, immaculately researched and superbly told' The Times 'Philippa Gregory is truly the mistress of the historical novel. It would be hard to make history more entertaining, lively or engaging' Sunday Express 'Gregory has popularised Tudor history perhaps more than any other living fiction writer . . . All of her books feature strong, complex women, doing their best to improve their lives in worlds dominated by men' Sunday Times 'Immaculate research, pacy narratives and a stubborn insistence that history is not only about men . . . a powerful reminder of how precarious the lives of the Tudor women could be' Daily Mail

Philippa Gregory (Author), Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Fall From Grace: Her husband is missing . . . in this BREATHTAKING THRILLER

Brought to you by Penguin. NO GOODBYE When Leonard and Ellie Franks leave London for retirement in secluded Dartmoor everything seems perfect. Until their new life is shattered. One evening Leonard heads outside to fetch firewood - and never returns. NO TRACE Nine months later, with the investigation at a dead end, Leonard's family turn to David Raker - a missing persons investigator. Nothing could prepare Raker for what he uncovers.

Tim Weaver (Author), Joe Coen, Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Labyrinth

Brought vividly to life by Louise Brealey's narration, this new, unabridged audiobook also includes extra content read by the author, Kate Mosse. Three secrets. Two women. One Grail . . . July 1209: in Carcassonne a seventeen-year-old girl is given a mysterious book by her father which he claims contains the secret of the true Grail. Although Alais cannot understand the strange words and symbols hidden within, she knows that her destiny lies in keeping the secret of the labyrinth safe... July 2005: Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons in a forgotten cave in the French Pyrenees. Puzzled by the labyrinth symbol carved into the rock, she realises she's disturbed something that was meant to remain hidden. Somehow, a link to a horrific past - her past - has been revealed.

Kate Mosse (Author), Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Girl on the Train: A Novel

The #1 New York Times Bestseller, USA Today Book of the Year, now a major motion picture. The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives. Nothing is more addicting than The Girl on the Train. Vanity Fair The Girl on the Train has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl. EVERY DAY THE SAME Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost. UNTIL TODAY And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Paula Hawkins (Author), Clare Corbett, India Fisher, Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

My Dear Bessie: A Love Story in Letters: A BBC Radio 4 adaptation

Benedict Cumberbatch and Louise Brealey read a love story in letters, played out against the backdrop of the Second World War. 'Can you feel, as you read these words, that I am thinking of you now; aglow, alive, alert at the thought that you are in the same world, and by some strange chance loving me. ' A small blue box opened in 2008 revealed a wartime world of love, longing and frustration. Inside were bundles and bundles of letters written neatly in pen, in pencil, on thin blue airmail paper or headed army notepaper. Envelopes covered in postmarks, redirections, censor 's stamps. A love affair in letters, between two people who barely knew each other, thousands of miles apart, in the middle of a war, with no idea when or whether they will ever see each other again. On September 5th 1943, Chris Barker, a signalman stationed near Tobruk in North Africa, decided to write to a former work colleague, Bessie Moore, a Morse code interpreter at the Foreign Office back in London. The unexpected warmth of Bessie's reply changed their lives forever. Chris and Bessie's love letters first appeared in Simon Garfield's book To The Letter. They toured literary festivals as part of Letters Live before being published in a book, My Dear Bessie. Written by Chris Barker and Bessie Moore Letters compiled by Simon Garfield Adapted by Sara Davies Produced and Directed by Gemma Jenkins Cast Chris . Benedict Cumberbatch Bessie . Louise Brealey Irena . Jane Slavin

Bessie Moore, Chris Barker (Author), Benedict Cumberbatch, Jane Slavin, Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Dark Tides: The compelling new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Tidelands

Number One bestselling author Philippa Gregory's new historical novel tracks the rise of the Tidelands family in London, Venice and New England. Midsummer Eve 1670. Two unexpected visitors arrive at a shabby warehouse on the south side of the River Thames. The first is a wealthy man hoping to find the lover he deserted twenty-one years before. James Avery has everything to offer, including the favour of the newly restored King Charles II, and he believes that the warehouse's poor owner Alinor has the one thing his money cannot buy - his son and heir. The second visitor is a beautiful widow from Venice in deepest mourning. She claims Alinor as her mother-in-law and has come to tell Alinor that her son Rob has drowned in the dark tides of the Venice lagoon. Alinor writes to her brother Ned, newly arrived in faraway New England and trying to make a life between the worlds of the English newcomers and the American Indians as they move toward inevitable war. Alinor tells him that she knows - without doubt - that her son is alive and the widow is an imposter. Set in the poverty and glamour of Restoration London, in the golden streets of Venice, and on the tensely contested frontier of early America, this is a novel of greed and desire: for love, for wealth, for a child, and for home.

Philippa Gregory (Author), Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

How to be Famous

Random House presents the audiobook edition of How to be Famous by Caitlin Moran, read by Louise Brealey. Life is always better backstage, isn't it? A funny, riotous novel about a young women making it in a world where men hold all the power from the Sunday Times bestselling author of HOW TO BUILD A GIRL I'm Johanna Morrigan, and I live in London in 1995, at the epicentre of Britpop. I might only be nineteen, but I'm wise enough to know that everyone around me is handling fame very, very badly. My unrequited love, John Kite, has scored an unexpected Number One album, then exploded into a Booze And Drugs HellTM - as rockstars do. And my new best friend - the maverick feminist Suzanne Banks, of The Branks - has amazing hair, but writer's block and a rampant pill problem. So I've decided I should become a Fame Doctor. I'm going to use my new monthly column for The Face to write about every ridiculous, surreal, amazing aspect of a million people knowing your name. But when my two-night-stand with edgy comedian Jerry Sharp goes wrong, people start to know my name for all the wrong reasons. 'He's a vampire. He destroys bright young girls. Also, he's a total dick' Suzanne warned me. But by that point, I'd already had sex with him. Bad sex. Now I'm one of the girls he's trying to destroy. He needs to be stopped. But how can one woman stop a bad, famous, powerful man?

Caitlin Moran (Author), Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Louise Brealey