Calling Major Tom cover art

Calling Major Tom

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
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.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Calling Major Tom

By: David M. Barnett
Narrated by: David Thorpe
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

Calling Major Tom is a funny, uplifting tale of friendship and community about a man who has given up on the world...but discovers in the most unlikely way that it might not have given up on him.

We all know someone like Thomas. The grumpy next-door neighbour who complains to the residents' committee about the state of your front lawn. The man who tuts when you don't have the correct change at the checkout. The colleague who sends an all-company email when you accidentally use the last drop of milk.

Thomas is very happy to be on his own, far away from other people and their problems. But beneath his cranky exterior lies a story and a sadness that is familiar to us all. And he's about to encounter a family who will change his view of the world.

An irresistible and heartwarming tale of a very unexpected friendship, perfect for fans of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and A Man Called Ove.

You'll laugh, you'll cry and you will cheer on all the curmudgeons in your life.

Read by David Thorpe.

©2017 David M. Barnett (P)2017 Orion Publishing Group Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Holidays Humorous Romance Romantic Comedy Science Fiction Feel-Good Heartfelt Funny Witty Tear-jerking Comedy

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Midwife's Secret cover art
The Growing Pains of Jennifer Ebert, Aged 19 Going on 91 cover art
Things Can Only Get Better cover art
Call of the Penguins cover art
The Vanishing of Margaret Small cover art
Dead Man’s Grave cover art
The Last to Disappear cover art
Are You Watching Me? cover art
Perfect Strangers cover art
The Fall cover art
The Wife's Secret: A Gripping Psychological Thriller with a Heart-Stopping Twist cover art
All stars
Most relevant
This was such a lovely book, the story was engaging and the narrator was just perfect, bringing the text to life. So glad I bought this book!

What a lovely story!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Absolutely Brilliant. WOW what a Fantastic story. It was original, moving, funny. It touched on some serious topics and they were handled sympathetically I thought the narrator was Wonderful. He really made listening to the audio book a pleasure. The authors style reminded me a little of Matt Haig and I love Matt Haig so that was a bonus for me. I will look out for this author would like to read/listen to more of his work.

Absolutely Brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s been a while since I listened to this but I can still remember this lovely story which is full of twists and turns. Ending will draw a tear. Absolutely recommend it, a great bunch of parallel stories that all come together.

A great story full of twists and turns

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Lovely story once I figured out what’s going on. Narrator is great, engaging and I liked his different voices. Overall a very pleasant and fun listen. Was a bit taken aback that a 40 something man was described as grumpy and miserable but once I went with it I got it.

Different and cute

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This reminded me of "100 year old man who climbed out of a window" BUT is so much more satisfying . It is warm, poignant, funny and hugely entertaining. Unusual but interesting story - sometimes predictable but couldn't wait for the next bit. The author has the pace just right- I was never bored.
This is bound to be made into a film and would be excellent.

Is this a silly tale or a clever story?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I chose this book purely because of the excellent narrator, David Thorpe. For the first couple of chapters, I didn't think this would be one 'for me' as it wasn't one of the action thrillers but I stuck with it and I was very glad that I did. How David Barnett came up with a book about this, I have no idea but it was excellent and gave a really nice ending. I don't want to give the story away as that might put people off but it gets a big thumbs up from me

Unusual and well thought out book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This came highly recommended by a fellow blogger, so when I saw this as an audio book it was the perfect choice for me.
This is the story of a disgruntled astronaut who can't wait to leave earth behind but then gets entangled - via phone calls - with a family and their unique problems. At times I found it too far-fetched maybe and implausible, yet, I couldn't stop listening. The narrator does an excellent job at various accents and at a lively impersonation of the odd characters. While you kind of figure there might be a happy ending somewhere lurking for us, you are kept on tender hooks and the way things work out are not quite what I had expected, for sure.
Likeable characters, feel-good moments a la "A wonderful life", humour, qitty observations of human behaviour and a few nice surprises await those who are ready to launch into this story.
I was surprised how much I missed Gladys, Tom and Claudia when the recording had ended. Definitely an author I'll be watching. Highly recommended.

Rather surprised just how much I enjoyed this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Here is another book about a broken person becoming less broken, and despite all the improbable circumstances and setting, the story itself feels quite real and full of hope. Perhaps, it is somewhat like believing in fairies, but I do believe in happier (although not necessarily very happy) endings. Also, there seem to be a lot of grumpy and/or dysfunctional fictional characters recently, and there are plenty of similarities between Major Tom and Fredrik Backman's Ove, but in the end I could only relate to Major Tom. Maybe it is the age of a character that makes a difference, but maybe it is the cardboard-ish feeling left by Ove.

Little Britain oddity

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great story and narration. Lighthearted, funny, clever, touching and sometimes sad, it was a joy to have had as my companion over the last few days.

Thoroughly enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a great, moving story. It made me laugh out loud several times. I recommend this book to anyone, it's not a technical Sci-Fi.

Laugh out loud.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews