Try free for 30 days

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Twelve Years a Slave cover art

Twelve Years a Slave

By: Solomon Northup
Narrated by: Hugh Quarshie
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

Hugh Quarshie reads the extraordinary autobiography of Solomon Northup. His harrowing true story, first published in 1853, was a key factor in the national debate over slavery prior to the American Civil War, significantly changing public opinion on the topic of abolition. It tells the horrifying tale of Solomon Northup, an educated, free black man living with his wife and children in New York State, whose life takes an appalling turn when he is kidnapped, drugged and sold into slavery.

Shipped to New Orleans, he endures the life of a slave in Louisiana's isolated plantation country. For twelve long years, he endures the unimaginable brutality and inhumanity of daily life, while keeping his dignity intact and dreaming of one day returning home to the arms of his family.

Twelve Years a Slave is soon to be a major motion picture, starring Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender.

©2013 AudioGO Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

  • 10 Best Audiobooks of 2013 (Salon)
  • "The resurgent interest in '12 Years a Slave' has everything to do with Steve McQueen's masterful film adaptation, but the book has more to offer than the movie, and the Ghanian-British stage actor Hugh Quarshie's conversational delivery stands out among a slew of newly released competing audiobook adaptations." (Kyle Minor, Salon)

"A moving, vital testament to one of slavery s many thousands gone who retained his humanity in the bowels of degradation. It is also a chilling insight into the peculiar institution.” ( Saturday Review Online)

What listeners say about Twelve Years a Slave

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    86
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    81
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    79
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Heartbreaking and informative

Truly heartbreaking story of what Solomon went through. Excellent performance from the reader. Highly recommend reading this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Pat
  • 11-10-2023

One of the greatest books I have read.

For anyone wondering what slave life was like in the Deep South of the 1800s this is it. A heart wrenching and faithful account of a fascinating yet brutal society, written a mere 10 years before the nation would go to war essentially over this very issue: slavery. If you feel hard done by or down on your luck, read this book and take stock of what other people have had to go through……A must read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Harrowing Story

I have seen the movie and now listened to the book, both of them upset me greatly. Harrowing Stories of such brutality that it was deeply upsetting to listen to, this poor mans plight and many others that suffered at the hands of these evil slave traders.
This is a must read, listen and watch all of us should know what happen here. Slavery is an evil that no human should have ever had to endure.
Brilliantly written and beautiful spoken by Hugh Quarshie.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Narrator has a lovely silky voice. The images created from the words, set you right in the middle of the cotton fields.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I see all these reviews but ….

I struggled. Tried really hard to listen but the monotone and blending one into the next made it really hard. I couldn’t. The story is okay but maybe it’s just not my style as I struggled to listen instead just heard the voice.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The greatest story ever told.

this really should be essential reading like someone else has mentioned and I 100% agree.
absolutely inconceivable story t
o imagine someone could actually go through this for 1 day let alone 12 years or a whole lifetime.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

Heart breaking and amazing story in equal measure. Glad this story has been told.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Heart-rending story.

I mainly listen while driving. This book forced me to stop and pullover. Changes me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Terrible circumstances, but beautifully read

Since the movie, I have always wanted to read 12 Years a Slave. This book depicts a horrendous time in human history. However it is beautifully written by Solomon Northup. This audio book is also wonderfully narrated and fully immerses you in the experience of Solomon. Hugh Quarshie did a wonderful job.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing

This book was written beautifully and explained everything in such fantastic detail that you can imagine everything as you listen the narrator has the perfect voice and accent and I learned a great deal about that time from Solomon's experiences.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.