Try free for 30 days

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
The Golden Notebook cover art

The Golden Notebook

By: Doris Lessing
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $65.99

Buy Now for $65.99

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

One of the most important books of the growing feminist movement of the 1950s, The Golden Notebook was brought to the attention of a wider public by the Nobel Prize award to Doris Lessing in 2007.

Author Anna Wulf attempts to overcome writer’s block by writing a comprehensive "golden notebook" that draws together the preoccupations of her life, each of which is examined in a different notebook: sources of her creative inspiration in a black book, communism in a red book, the breakdown of her marriage in a yellow book, and day-to-day emotions and dreams in a blue book. Anna’s struggle to unify the various strands of her life – emotional, political, and professional – amasses into a fascinating encyclopaedia of female experience in the ‘50s.

In this authentic, taboo-breaking novel, Lessing brings the plight of women’s lives from obscurity behind closed doors into broad daylight. The Golden Notebook resonates with the concerns and experiences of a great many women and is a true modern classic, thoroughly deserving of its reputation as a feminist bible. A notoriously long and complex work, it is given a new life by this – its first unabridged recording.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©1962 Doris Lessing (P)2010 Naxos Audiobook

Critic Reviews

" The Golden Notebook is Doris Lessing’s most important work and has left its mark upon the ideas and feelings of a whole generation of women." (Elizabeth Hardwick, New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about The Golden Notebook

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    21
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2

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

A complex but satisfying novel.

The. Golden Notebook is a novel ahead of its time. Complex and innovative, it is a novel or several novels within another. Although written in the '60s, it is, in fact, set in the 1950s. I feel it improbable that women were so promiscuous in this era!

I enjoyed the stories contained in most of the notebooks, but found the political discussions and stories in the red notebook less interesting.

Being such a complex novel, it merits further study.

Juliet Stevenson's narration is brilliant! She engaged my attention throughout.

I am not surprised that Doris Lessing, in 2007, received the Nobel prize for literature. There is a delightful short video of her being told that she has won the award with The Golden Notebook. Her reaction is quite amusing!

This book would appeal to 'the thinking reader.'

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Worth pushing through to the end!!

Juliet Stevenson should win an award for this narration, quite a tour de force with so many characters and voices done consistently. This book is very long and I almost didn't finish, but I felt I was rewarded in the final chapters as I realised it had been working towards it all along and wasn't as aimless as I had formerly judged it. A highly self conscious novel, it explores consciousness, dreams and subjectivity itself. Glad I kept listening on my walks and rather sad to part company with it today after 4 weeks.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Sensitive and intelligent narration

Certainly my favourite author and Juliet Stevenson does this book proud. I could listen to it over and over again. I probably will.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Dated tedious discourse

Distasteful arrogant complaining English brats complaining about their entitled life. Turned off after 10 minutes. Refund please.

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.