The Waiting List
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The Waiting List
Narrated by:
Bea Holland
Buy Now for $21.99
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Narrated by:
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Bea Holland
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By:
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Matilda Wilding
About this listen
'Clever and brilliantly observed' Emily Edwards, author of The Herd
'Gripping, thought-provoking, and impossible to put down' Emily Freud
Whose life means the most?
'Clutched tight in my hand is a scrawled list of names… A list of people who could save my life.'
Liv wants to be the mother she never had
Liv has always dreamt of the moment she will hold her own baby. But just at the moment her new life – as a devoted mother to Max, a loving wife to Justin – should be starting, it looks like it may be ending. An undiagnosed heart condition, worsened by her pregnancy, has thrown her whole future into doubt. If she doesn't receive an urgent transplant, she won't live much longer.
But what if she can't be here for her son?
As she grows weaker, her determination to raise her baby grows stronger. Without her to protect him, what future does Max face? Slowly Liv begins to ask herself a terrible question: she needs someone's healthy heart to replace her failing one. For that to happen, an accident would have to befall someone else. But what if she could engineer that accident herself? What if she could choose someone to die in order that she could live?
If the end of someone else's life offers you the chance of saving your own, whose life means the most?
A powerful and completely gripping novel about love, sacrifice and how life forces you to do the unthinkable.©2026 Matilda Wilding (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Critic Reviews
So clever and brilliantly observed. I felt so acutely [Liv’s] agonising dilemma, her fear for her son and the sometimes brutal nature of love. I definitely let out a few gasps at the end! It reminded me a lot of Broken Country – which I also loved (Emily Edwards, author of The Herd and Private Lives)
A devastating moral dilemma that asks how far a mother would go to stay alive for her child. Gripping, thought-provoking, and impossible to put down (Emily Freud, author of Her Last Summer and The Cliffhanger)
This is a stylish and elevated suspense novel with a bold and fresh premise. Wilding captures the experience of chronic illness with sensitivity and insight. I was drawn into Liv's world and rooted for her throughout, even when her decisions were flawed and desperate. This isn't a book you should start when you have commitments because you'll want to hide away till you finish (Chris Bridges, author of Sick to Death)
When a new mother gets sick and finds herself on the transplant list, there is nothing she won’t do for a new heart. Twisty and tantalising, this original debut takes us into the darkness of human desperation and asks: who would you kill to save yourself? (Sam Holland, author of The Echo Man)
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