The Life to Come cover art

The Life to Come

 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 Life to Come

By: Michelle de Kretser
Narrated by: Wendy Bos
Try Premium Plus free

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

Buy Now for $42.99

Buy Now for $42.99

About this listen

The dazzling new novel from Michelle de Kretser, author of Questions of Travel, best seller and winner of the Miles Franklin Award.

Set in Sydney, Paris and Sri Lanka, The Life to Come is a mesmerising novel about the stories we tell and don't tell ourselves as individuals, as societies and as nations. It feels at once firmly classic and exhilaratingly contemporary.

Pippa is a writer who longs for success. Celeste tries to convince herself that her feelings for her married lover are reciprocated. Ash makes strategic use of his childhood in Sri Lanka but blots out the memory of a tragedy from that time.

Driven by riveting stories and unforgettable characters, here is a dazzling meditation on intimacy, loneliness and our flawed perception of other people.

Profoundly moving as well as wickedly funny, The Life to Come reveals how the shadows cast by both the past and the future can transform, distort and undo the present. This extraordinary novel by Miles Franklin-winning author Michelle de Kretser will strike your soul.

©2017 Michelle de Kretser (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction World Literature Tear-jerking
All stars
Most relevant  
Didn't capture my imagination or catch my attention at all right from the start.
Slow and Laboured.
Could not finish it.
Disappointed as I enjoyed the previous novel.
Will try it in hard copy as some works are not conducive to be read out loud.
I feel mean saying this about a prize winner but this is my honest opinion.

Not for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator had to tackle a few different accents and they came off a bit stilted. Would have preferred to read this one myself.

Recommend reading instead of listening to this one

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
struggled to join the dots...best read as short stories. last one is excellent and rewards the effort

persevere

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this is a wonderfully structured and complex work that bitingly explores contemporary Australian society. Perfect.

Complex, thought provoking. loved it.

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.