The Quickening
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The Quickening
Pre-order for $37.98
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Claire McGowan
About this listen
Your body. Their Choice.
The Hope Party's new laws have transformed Great Britain: the countryside rewilded, children's rights prioritised, and births on the rise. But freedom is fading.
Karen has learned to navigate this new world, keeping her head down as her fertility is constantly monitored. As her husband's career thrives, while hers stalls. As her son is drawn into misogynist groups. Like everyone else, she's too frightened to speak up.
Until her teenage daughter reveals a life-changing secret: she's pregnant. With abortion and contraception banned, her future has gone up in flames. But Karen won't let this happen - Charlotte is going to have the life she lost.
Karen turns to her sister Isobel, a doctor who's initially reluctant to help. But when they learn Charlotte's pregnancy is ectopic and life-threatening, the stakes skyrocket. The three women go on the run, getting deeper into danger with every hour that passes. With powerful enemies on their tail, they will risk everything in a desperate fight for freedom, and for life.
The Quickening is a powerful exploration of motherhood, sacrifice, and the terrifying cost of complicity. For fans of Vox, Red Clocks, and The Handmaid's Tale.
'So clever and terrifying and moving and compelling and thought-provoking' Laura Marshall, author of Friend Request
'Amazing premise and so well executed . . . One of my books of the year already' Robyn Delvey, author of The Seven©2026 Claire McGowan (P)2026 Little, Brown Book Group Limited
Critic Reviews
So clever and terrifying and moving and compelling and thought-provoking
Amazing premise and so well executed . . . One of my books of the year already
A white-knuckle ride of a thriller that's also a study of motherhood, power, cowardice and courage. In every chapter I found myself wondering what I would do in the characters' shoes and found no easy answers. Immersive, enraging and terrifyingly plausible.
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