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 Painter's Friend cover art

The Painter's Friend

By: Howard Cunnell
Narrated by: Paul Thornley
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $15.19

Buy Now for $15.19

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

The working-class painter Terry Godden was on the brink of his first success. After a violent crisis, he finds himself outcast. Nearing 60 and with modest means, he has retreated to a small island.

The island seems to be a closed, cold place. As the seasons turn, Terry comes to see that he is one of many people who have sought refuge here. These independent outsiders, all with their own considerable struggles, have made a precarious home.

The island is owned by the businessman and art collector Alex Kaplan. His decision to enforce a rent increase as he seeks to improve his property looks set to destroy a community that cannot afford to lose the little they have left. As an artist, Terry believes making the invisible struggles of the island visible to the world will help - but will his interference save anybody other than himself?

Set among the marginalized and overlooked, The Painter’s Friend is an audiobook about the human cost of gentrification. It also explores the role of art in protest, and asks who gets to be an artist and what they owe in return. Written with visual lyricism and driven clarity, Cunnell’s urgent novel casts an unflinching eye on the injustice of our age.

©2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

More from the same

What listeners say about The Painter's Friend

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

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.