Becoming Belle cover art

Becoming Belle

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Becoming Belle

By: Nuala O'Connor
Narrated by: Helen Longworth
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

The true story of a woman ahead of her time....

In 1887, Isabel Bilton is the eldest of three daughters of a middle-class military family, growing up in a small garrison town. By 1891 she is the Countess of Clancarty, dubbed 'the peasant countess' by the press, and a member of the Irish aristocracy.

Becoming Belle is the story of the four years in between, of Belle's rapid ascent and the people who tried to tear her down.

Reimagined by a novelist at the height of her powers, Belle is an unforgettable woman. Set against an absorbing portrait of Victorian London, hers is a timeless rags-to-riches story a la Becky Sharpe.

©2019 Nuala O'Connor (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK Drama & Plays Historical Historical Fiction Renaissance Fiction

Critic reviews

"Luminous." (Sebastian Barry)

"Incandescent characters and mellifluous prose." (Lisa Carey)

"Nuala O'Connor has the thrilling ability to step back nimbly and enter the deep dance of time. This is a hidden history laid luminously before us of an exultant Anglo-Irish woman navigating the dark shoals and the bright fields of a life." (Sebastian Barry, award-winning author of The Secret Scripture and Days Without End)
All stars
Most relevant
What an interesting story. How beautifully and imaginatively written. And upon my word did not the lady who narrated the tale give a lovely account of the events. In Galway though, we pronounce it Gaul way rather than Gal way

Great story, beautifully told.

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