Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Widow cover art

The Widow

By: Fiona Barton
Narrated by: Clare Corbett
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.00

Buy Now for £16.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

First Blood cover art
Let Me In cover art
The Mother I Could Have Been cover art
My Darling cover art
In Too Deep cover art
The Perfect Girlfriend cover art
The Archangel: An Azrael Story cover art
The Unravelling of Thomas Malone cover art
The Child cover art
Stillhouse Lake cover art
The Good Girl cover art
The Marriage cover art
Darkest Truth cover art
The Girl Before cover art
Cold Cold Heart cover art
Surrogate cover art

Summary

Exclusive to Audible! Listen to a discussion between the author and the narrator of The Widow at the end of this recording.

We've all seen him: the man - the monster - staring from the front page of every newspaper, accused of a terrible crime.

But what about her: the woman who grips his arm on the courtroom stairs - the wife who stands by him?

Jean Taylor's life was blissfully ordinary. Nice house, nice husband. Glen was all she'd ever wanted: her Prince Charming.

Until he became that man accused, that monster on the front page. Jean was married to a man everyone thought capable of unimaginable evil.

But now Glen is dead, and she's alone for the first time, free to tell her story on her own terms.

Jean Taylor is going to tell us what she knows.

©2016 Fiona Barton (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

"The ultimate psychological thriller." (Lisa Gardner)
"My book of the year so far." (C. L. Taylor, author of The Lie)

What listeners say about The Widow

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,025
  • 4 Stars
    964
  • 3 Stars
    329
  • 2 Stars
    86
  • 1 Stars
    48
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,227
  • 4 Stars
    671
  • 3 Stars
    207
  • 2 Stars
    41
  • 1 Stars
    30
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,824
  • 4 Stars
    865
  • 3 Stars
    338
  • 2 Stars
    83
  • 1 Stars
    52

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

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Confession is a dangerous thing.


Great story and characters, engaging and with a realistic feel that few books achieve, the reporters side of the story feels new and three dimensional, like the inner voices of some of the characters. It feels personal, a realistic exposure of crime we read about on papers with very little background or understanding of the devastation one act can incur on so many.

The story is sad and disturbing but presented with sensitivity and understanding that it is not voyeuristic of the crime or dismissive of the victim, it builds around her and the waves her loss brings to all involved. A true psychological thriller that deepens the empathy not the violence.

It represents the police and press in realistic way with no histrionics or romanticism and humanises a crime instead instead of the usual exploitive gore that is so prevalent.

This is one of the few books I could not put down and finished it in one sitting. A true finding.

The author second books does include some of the characters in this one, yes there is more coming soon.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

110 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Somehow underwhelming

When a book has such hype and so many rave reviews, you question your own judgment when you can't see what all the fuss was about. There was no suspense, no atmosphere, not much of anything really. And though the reader read clearly and well, she raced through it breathlessly in a way I found tiring to listen to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

49 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not my usual, slow but compelling

Didn't know what to expect here but went on the many good reviews this has received. More of a crime thriller than a "gone girl" but definitely a lot more human and believable. It was slow at times but ultimately satisfying, would definitely listen to the follow up.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

enjoyable story

could not stop listening . better than girl on a train and gone girl. several 'narrators ' but never confusing .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A promising debut

I do wish that publishers would stop hyping novels as the next 'Gone Girl' or 'Girl on the Train' as they rarely live up to the hype. This book certainly doesn't but it is a promising, gripping debut. There is however nothing new here although it does stand out from some of the more recent 'domestic noir' novels. It is excellently read by Clare Corbett who does such a good job of keeping the reader engaged throughout.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Jo
  • 17-01-17

Expected more

Didn't find it as exciting or enjoyable as others. Tad predictable. Had great reviews so was expecting more than just a straight up story. Nothing surprising, nothing that made me wonder.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Underwhelming

Having heard and read a lot of the positive reviews, I thought I would give this a go. I am a big fan of the psychological thriller/story with any twist that makes me want to go back and relisten to parts I may have missed. This was slow to get into. At no point did I feel drawn in to care about the characters. It was just a story that was told with no real twist. It's just an interesting perspective told from the widow. Everything else seems playing to the typicalities of the main characters. Nothing really fresh there. So disappointing. Will be returning.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Too much waffling...

Too much waffling on about irrelevant details. I just wanted to get into the story but the author just didn't get to the point. I had to return this as it was annoying me. Maybe the story gets good in the end ... But it will certainly test your patience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Dull

I know this is an incredibly popular book but I just found it very boring and like so many other stories of controlling husbands and meek little wives. I also found the narrator was jarring especially when she did males voices. To me she sounded like a child trying to sound like an adult by adopting a gruff voice. In the end my irritation got the better of me and I gave up.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stunning First novel

This book is excellent and gripping from start to finish. The authenticity of the reporter is highly convincing. The psychological exploration of the "widow" is extremely well done and plausible without jargon or over simplification - much of it is left up to the reader to complete or imagine. Why would a woman stand by a man who has apparently done the most atrocious act is the central question the author sets out to explore and to my mind succeeds in providing a convincing argument. I especially liked the way in which the widow's grip on reality shifts and changes throughout the narrative. The reader is kept guessing and feels a distrust of the widow's version of events. I hope Fiona Barton will soon publish more books. The interview at the end of the book is full of insights from the narrator and the author herself. The narration is excellent and I would say it is more like listening to a dramatisation than a reading.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful