The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird cover art

The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird

 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.

The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird

By: Diane Connell
Narrated by: Hannah Monson
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

 If you were charmed by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, laughed with Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and cried over A Man Called Ove, you will love Ricky Bird.

No one loved making forts more than Ricky. A fort was a place of safety and possibility. It shut out the world and enclosed her and Ollie within any story she wanted to tell ...

Ricky Bird loves making up stories for her brother Ollie almost as much as she loves him. The imaginary worlds she creates are wild and whimsical places full of unlimited possibilities.

Real life is another story. Ricky’s father has abandoned them and the family has moved to a bleak new neighbourhood. Worse still, her mother’s new boyfriend, Dan, has come with the furniture.

But Ricky Bird is a force to be reckoned with. As the mastermind of so many outlandish adventures, her imagination is her best weapon. As her father used to say, if you can spin a good yarn you can get on in life.

The trouble is that in the best stories characters sometimes take on a life of their own and no one, not even Ricky, is able to imagine the consequences.

Beautifully written, heartbreakingly funny and deeply moving, this book has already been compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Lost and Found, Shuggie Bain, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and A Monster Calls. But Ricky’s story is all her own – and it will stay with you long after the last page.

‘Fierce and wonderful and utterly singular, Ricky embodies the sheer joy and transformative power of storytelling.’ Kate Mildenhall, author of The Mother Fault and Skylarking

‘A wise, tender but unflinching portrait of an ordinary family and the unordinary girl at its heart. Ricky – fragile, tough, endearing and funny – is a fabulous creation. She'll walk around in my world all year, and more.’ Kristina Olsson, award-winning author of Shell and Boy, Lost Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Heartfelt

Critic Reviews

‘A wise, tender but unflinching portrait of an ordinary family and the unordinary girl at its heart. Ricky – fragile, tough, endearing and funny – is a fabulous creation. She'll walk around in my world all year, and more.’ (Kristina Olsson, award-winning author of Shell and Boy, Lost)
‘Fierce and wonderful and utterly singular, Ricky embodies the sheer joy and transformative power of storytelling’ (Kate Mildenhall)
‘Connell has created a rich, complex, multi-layered character in Ricky Bird’
‘[Ricky’s] vivid narration buoys a novel through dark and desperate undercurrents … The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird has been compared to Curious Incident and Shuggie Bain, and it’s true that Diane Connell lends a unique voice to a child struggling to make sense of an adult world.’
‘Heart-warming, life-affirming, happy and sad … I absolutely loved Ricky Bird and her witty, insouciant, funny, critical, quick and loving personality.’ (Cass Moriarty, author of The Promise Seed)
‘Compared to best-selling titles like Elinor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Diane Connell’s The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird had a lot to live up to from the beginning. But it holds its own in a brand new lane. While Ricky Bird has a similarly unreliable narrator and is just as cleverly written, this book has the potential to take readers on an even more explosive rollercoaster of emotions …’
‘Gritty and raw, tender and heartbreaking, this is a beautifully written tale of an ordinary family and the fierce girl at its heart who will stay with you long after the last page is turned and the last tear has dried.’
‘A heart-churning, sob-inducing novel with equal shades of dark and light in the vein of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine; you will race through the pages, just itching to jump in and befriend (and protect) the most singular Ricky Bird.’
'The most gorgeously heartbreaking book ... Sensitively written and beautifully expressed, it reduced me to tears but also made me smile. Ricky Bird will touch your heart as well as break it.'
‘What a marvellous invention is Ricky Bird … Often funny and frequently heartbreaking.’
All stars
Most relevant
What a book! I am not often brought to tears by a book but this was one that did. Such a tough topic and yet wonderfully handled. I see this book as providing guidance for many who may have experienced similar issues and I was very impressed with the wisdom. Life can be hard and for some of us much harder. This book didn’t dwell but described an incredible journey in a way that made me want to keep reading. I recommend it highly.

Powerful and Real

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An amazing insite into a child’s life slowly spinning out of control. And the fact that it really does take a village.
Loved it.

Amazing Insite!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A beautifully sad story. I’m sure it will take a while to shake these characters off. Very well written.

A sad story… but great!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Definitely a roller coaster read! The author has weaved her story with beautiful words and vivid descriptions. The audio was a bit frustrating with long pauses between chapters and a few glitches along the way but the narrator was perfect.

Was not expecting the roller coaster read from the title🌺

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Poignant and hard to put down 🙌
So many stories out there that remind us that you don’t know what others are going through.

Everything !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was such a an amazing book. I cried a couple of times which I don't usually do. well written, well read. loved this book.

deep, intense and beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
struggled to finish this book. it felt like the author threw every possible story line at this book. t was overkill. also I would have liked it if the author explored at least one aspect in more depth.

boring book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's an ok story but took most of the book before I even became interested in what was going on, so it didn't really make any great impact on me. Narrator was pleasant to listen to, however there are quite a few faults with the recording in later chapters where it doesn't match up and also noises in the audio which are distracting. This sometimes happens occasionally in other audio books but this book in particular had the most I've ever encountered. It needed to be edited properly before putting it up for sale as I feel it's the equivalent of printed books having print errors.

Underwhelming listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This story was hard to rate. The first 2/3 just seemed to fluff around not going anywhere and there were so many editing errors which really pulled you out of the story. But the last chunk was interesting and the ending, although sad and rushed, was complete.

Was OK.

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.