Creation Lake cover art

Creation Lake

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Creation Lake

By: Rachel Kushner
Narrated by: Rachel Kushner
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024**

Seductive and cunning American spy-for-hire Sadie Smith has been sent by her mysterious but powerful employers to a remote corner of France.

Her mission: to infiltrate a commune of radical eco-activists influenced by the beliefs of an enigmatic elder, Bruno Lacombe, who has rejected civilisation, lives in a Neanderthal cave, and believes the path to enlightenment is a return to primitivism.

Sadie casts her cynical eye over this region of ancient farms and sleepy villages, and finds Bruno’s idealism laughable, but just as she is certain she’s the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno Lacombe is seducing her with his ingenious counter-histories, his artful laments, his own tragic story.

Beneath this a taut, dazzling story of espionage and intrigue lies one of a woman caught in the crossfire between the past and the future, and a profound treatise on human history.

'The most exciting writer of her generation' BRET EASTON ELLIS

'Reinvents the spy novel in one cool, erudite gesture' HERNAN DIAZ

'Compulsively readable... Kill Bill written by John le Carré' OBSERVER

©2024 Rachel Kushner (P)2024 Penguin Audio Espionage Genre Fiction International Mystery & Crime Literary Fiction Mystery Small Town & Rural Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Exciting
All stars
Most relevant  
Bruno, the enigmatic emailer aside, I felt nothing for the protagonist or any other character

Left me cold - maybe the point?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked the characters- especially the protagonist’s lack of moral code and intelligence. I liked also the realism that ran throughout the novel .

Humor and observation on humanity

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
lots to like, but the overall tone was too arch and sneery for me. performance probably didn't help.

too insincere to feel authentic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Maybe this book needed to be read. I am afraid despite Kushners skills as a writer
I never really engaged with the story

I was surprised and disappointed by this book after it critical acclaim

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s a bit like a James Bond movie - a job that you can imagine to exist in reality but not one that you come across…. Or you may have and never realized.

It might not have been coincidence

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I feel as if I need to read this again to see how it all fits together. I was fascinated by Bruno’s theories about prehistory, and simultaneously repelled by Sadie’s amorality, and not quite convinced that it all came together in the end. A fascinating premise, but, and beautiful writing.

Possibly brilliant …

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It seemed to me to be an existential novel wanting a Hollywood producer to love it.

Sun shines on the good and bad

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator was so monotone that they turned a colourful story monochrome. I have to be honest i thought it was AI.

A good story, very poor narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Gave it a chance, but after an hour or so I still had no idea what it was about, except a lot of quasi philosophy and no discernible plot. Gave it a miss.

Confused by the great reviews

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If there was a point to this book, I certainly don't get it. Unliveable characters in a story that introduces such obtuse elements it pretends clever but is pretentious. And a good example of how good dedicated readers can be, and why that is rarely the author.

Rambling flow of thought

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