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The Cost of Living

Living Autobiography 2

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The Cost of Living

By: Deborah Levy
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy.

A Guardian Best Book of the 21st Century

'Life falls apart. We try to get a grip. We try to hold it together. And then we realize that we don't want to hold it together...'

Picking up where Things I Don't Want to Know left off, this short, exhilarating memoir shows a writer in radical flux, facing separation and bereavement, and emerging renewed from the ashes of a former life. Faced with the restrictions of conventional living, she dismantles her life, expands it and puts it back together in a new shape. Writing as brilliantly as ever about mothers and daughters, about social pressures and the female experience, Deborah Levy confronts a world not designed to accommodate difficult women and ultimately remakes herself in her own image.

©2018 Deborah Levy (P)2018 Penguin Audio
Essays Gender Studies Grief & Loss Personal Development Relationships Social Sciences Nonfiction
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“It requires skill, time, dedication and empathy to create a home that everyone enjoys and that functions well. Above all else, it is an act of immense generosity to be the architect of everyone else's well-being.”

Highly recommended

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Plan to listen to again very soon, as there is so much in this book to take in.

Such a short book, so much to discover

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Deborah levy is a genius, her writing is simple but extremely emotional

Had such a good time reading

Beautiful book about independence and loneliness

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I so enjoyed this story that weaves and dips from humour and pathos into larger thoughts and shared experience.

Considered and touching

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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.