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  • The Children of Men

  • By: P. D. James
  • Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
  • Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (68 ratings)

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The Children of Men

By: P. D. James
Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
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Publisher's Summary

The year is 2021. No child has been born for 25 years. The human race faces extinction.

Under the despotic rule of Xan Lyppiat, the warden of England, the old are despairing and the young cruel. Theo Faren, a cousin of the warden, lives a solitary life in this ominous atmosphere. That is until a chance encounter with a young woman leads him into contact with a group of dissenters. Suddenly his life is changed irrevocably as he faces agonising choices which could affect the future of mankind.

P. D. James is the world's preeminent crime writer, most famous for her Adam Dalgliesh mysteries and for her best-selling titles Death Comes to Pemberley and The Murder Room. The Children of Men was adapted into a hit film in 2006; directed by Alfonso Cuarón, the film starred Clive Owen, Michael Caine and Julianne Moore.

P. D. James (1920-2014) was a best-selling and internationally acclaimed crime writer. She was the creator of Adam Dalgliesh and Cordelia Gray and their long and successful series of mysteries. Her works include Cover Her Face (1962), An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972), Innocent Blood (1980), The Children of Men (1992), and the Jane Austen-inspired Death Comes to Pemberley (2011).

James was born in Oxford in 1920. She won awards for crime writing in Britain, America, Italy and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award. She received honorary degrees from seven British universities, was awarded an OBE in 1983 and created a life peer in 1991. In 1997 she was elected president of the Society of Authors and stood down from this role in 2013.

©2015 Faber & Faber (P)2015 Faber & Faber

Critic Reviews

"Extraordinary.... P. D. James stretches her considerable talents in this daring novel." ( New York Times)
"Spare and disturbing...more moving than any of her more famous crime novels." ( Independent)
"As taut, terrifying and ultimately convincing as anything in the dystopian genre. It is at once a piercing satire on our cosseted, faithless and trivially self-indulgent society and a most tender love story." ( Daily Mail)
"The central images haunt the mind terrifyingly.... It has extraordinary power and visionary passion." ( Observer)
"She writes like and angel. Every character is closely drawn. Her atmosphere is unerringly, chillingly convincing. And she manages all this without for a moment slowing down the drive and tension of an exciting mystery." ( The Times)

What listeners say about The Children of Men

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I can't believe how much I enjoyed this book.

I really struggle to find books that I get totally immersed in these days but this book was no problem. So much better than I thought it would be, can't recommend it enough.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Bloody brilliant


Every once in a while you pick up a book and when you finish it you are left with one of the most profound feelings imaginable. This is one of those books. An absolute page tuner.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Narrator ruined it

The narrator’s character voices were insufferable- affected whispers and bad accents all round. Will revisit this book in paperback as the story is great.

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    3 out of 5 stars

Great audiobook, ok story

I really enjoyed the voices etc in the audiobook, they made it real.

In terms of the story, overall it’s pretty good. However the author tends to be long winded, to use too many descriptive words, and to go on a protracted tangent from the story.

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Exceptional reading

I enjoyed the story (C S Lewis' That Hideous Strength is better), but the narration was stunning. Worth it for the reading alone.

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