Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Invitation

  • By: Lucy Foley
  • Narrated by: Emma Gregory
  • Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (150 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

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.

The Invitation

By: Lucy Foley
Narrated by: Emma Gregory
Try for £0.00

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

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

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.

Summary

Rome, 1950s. One fateful night, Hal Jacobs meets Stella, a beautiful society darling from New York. To Hal, flailing in the post-war darkness, she’s a point of light. They’re from different worlds, but both trying and failing to carve out a new life.

Stella vanishes all too quickly, until a curious invitation from an Italian Contessa reels her back into Hal’s world. They join the Contessa’s collection of luminaries on a yacht headed for Cannes film festival.

The scene on board is a fiction – scars from the war can be hidden yet not healed. Everyone is hiding a dark history, but Stella’s secrets run the deepest. Compelled by her fragile beauty, Hal is determined to bring back the girl she once was, the girl who’s been confined to history.

The Invitation is an epic love story that will transport you from the glamour of the Italian Riviera, to the darkness of war-torn Spain, and to a golden – if rather haunted – time. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Victoria Hislop.

©2016 Lucy Foley (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Uncertain Season cover art
Echo of an Angry God cover art
The Secret of Villa Alba cover art
The Whiskey Sea cover art
The Christmas Postcards cover art
The Magus cover art
The Lodge cover art
The Mermaid cover art
The Tilt cover art
Under a Pole Star cover art
The Wedding Day cover art
Before the Rains cover art
The Missing Sister cover art
The English Girl cover art
Island in the East cover art
The Glassblower of Murano cover art

Critic reviews

"I loved The Invitation...I could dive into this book and be amongst the glittering characters in the Italian sun. A beautifully complex and vivid story, full of repressed longing and secrets. An absolutely enchanting tale." (Lucinda Riley)

"So powerfully evoked...with dark, sensuous undercurrents that lingered on in my mind, long after I'd reluctantly left Stella and Hal behind." (Kate Riordan)

"Full of mystery and long-reaching shadows of the past...richly drawn and compelling." (Rosanna Ley)

"An utterly seductive story depicting forbidden love and loss in 1950s Italy. The perfect beach read this summer." (Louise O'Neill)

"I loved every page - it's vividly written and utterly absorbing." (Iona Gray)

"Glamorous and romantic and bittersweet all at once...a fabulous story." (Beatriz Williams, New York Times best-selling author of A Hundred Summers)

"It's a beautiful, compulsive and glamorous read - perfect for long summer days." (Lucy Clarke, author of the Richard & Judy best seller The Sea Sisters)

"The combination of the glittering, glamorous setting and the magnetic characters mesmerized me. This book is luminous." (Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times best-selling author of Here's to Us)

"A compelling love story that takes us far beyond the alluring Italian coast to a darker place, where secrets hide just below the water's surface.... A great read." (Brunonia Barry, New York Times best-selling author of The Lace Reader)

"Fabulously engrossing." (Woman & Home)

What listeners say about The Invitation

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    70
  • 4 Stars
    46
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    84
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    65
  • 4 Stars
    37
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    3

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

Stunning book

Lucy Foley writes exquisitely, the narration is perfect, and the stories totally intriguing. I loved every second of The Invitation, and would rate it as my favourite book for the last couple of years.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

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

Feeling cheated...

by a book so well read but with an ending that seemed crow-barred in ar the last minute. ...and then what had seemed like quite an interesting cast, in retrospect were mostly clichés ...

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

All over the shop

The narrator was very good. The story line was all over the place....so I found it quite difficult listening and picking up where I left off because the story line was always going back to the past with the introduction of new characters...I just found it difficult to follow. The main female was a bit too damsel in distress. I wouldn’t recommend this book but I have enjoyed some of her other books.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

An enchanting story beautifully read

This is one of those rare stories that really gets to you - it's got a wonderful atmosphere about it, debth of characters and is narrated in such a way that the narrator becomes the soul of the book. Ever wondered how you would be in the face of the war, loss, hunger? and how do regrets and what ifs shape your future?
Any Lucinda Riley fans will love this book and if you like "The Invitation"- then you will absolutely love every single one of Lucinda's unforgettable novels.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

Great story!

A beautiful background of Italy & France compliments the characters. Very vivid, great pace, intriguing, thoughtful, excellent. Wish there were more Lucy Foley books.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Enjoyable read

This is the second Lucy Foley book I read within past 2 months and I enjoyed it as much as the first one. Highly recommended.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

One of my favourites!

I really enjoyed this book. Excellent historical story made even better by the amazing narrator.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

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

Great story

Really enjoyed this beautiful love story with interesting characters and brought to life by the excellent narrator.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

At last.....

A really good intelligent well written story...highly recommended and a cut above the norm

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

Once again, Lucy Foley captivates me!

The Invitation is a captivating story, filled with many diverse and complicated characters yielding a dialogue of mystery and intrigue, playing out amongst the characters who represent people who have everything that money can buy and some who have nothing but talent and honesty. Emma Gregory’s reading with her beautiful accents also makes the story proceed like hot syrup over pancakes! You don’t want to stop reading and it’s with sadness ( and joy) when you reach the climax of this beautiful tale. Highly recommended.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!