Capital cover art

Capital

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 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.

Capital

By: John Lanchester
Narrated by: Colin Mace
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

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

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Shortlisted for: UK Author of the year – Specsavers National Book Awards 2012

Pepys Road: an ordinary street in the Capital. Each house has seen its fair share of first steps and last breaths, and plenty of laughter in between. Today, through each letterbox along this ordinary street drops a card with a simple message: We Want What You Have. Following the residents of Pepys Road, Capital features a cast of characters that you will be sad to leave behind.

©2012 John Lanchester (P)2012 W F Howes Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Funny

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Thérèse Raquin cover art
Time and Again cover art
The Lessons cover art
The Poisonwood Bible cover art
Mercer Girls cover art
Wise Children cover art
A Pair of Blue Eyes cover art
The Untouchable cover art
The Complete Short Stories cover art
America's First Daughter cover art
After She Vanished cover art
Hero: A Simon Serrailler Short Story cover art
Thanks for Nothing cover art
And the Land Lay Still cover art
The Iron King cover art
Watermelon cover art
All stars
Most relevant
I was astonished by the detail in which John Lanchester has managed to capture the London life, in all nuances, layers and in such detail. I listened to this book with such interest, unable to put it down! It was such a true description, I lived in Clapham for more than six years myself, and then in the area for over 11 years, so it really felt like I had a closer glimpse into my neighbours' lives! It is more true for Clapham than anywhere else in London that the change for the past couple of generations is unbelievable, and this area is still climbing up the market, with property prices going through the roof!! This is a collection of stories about London life, so colourful, so unpredictable! I almost did not believe when I came to the end of the book, as I if expected the stories to go on, a bit like reality tv, it was addictive to have this peek into other people's lives.

He just managed to capture the London life in full

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is full of good ideas but is perhaps let down by just how many of those ideas there are. Some of the characters and stories are great but some are a bit clichéd and you find yourself inevitably looking forward to getting back to the bits that interest you more. It's especially puzzling when you look back on the (long) book and realise that some characters only appeared once or twice.

I found a couple of the storylines quite predictable although that didn't necessarily detract from my overall enjoyment. And I would have liked more well-drawn female characters who I felt (with the exception of one touching mother and daughter storyline) were somewhat two-dimensional.

Overall definitely worth reading: enjoyable, great pace, funny and moving in places. But somehow not quite as satisfying as I wanted it to be.

I thought the read was really good. I both read and listed to this book and the two slotted together perfectly, in large part thanks to the quality of the read.

Lots of good ideas

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a fun, holiday-reading book, but not more. If you are thinking of reading this because you enjoyed Whoops, you may disappointed: the background is the financial crisis, but it is very peripheral. Basically, the only connection is that the lead character (a rather likeable as against vile banker) loses his bonus because of the economic problems, and loses his job because one of his underlings trades illegally with bank money. Lanchester is NOT a banker (he's a writer), and he simply trots out the clichés about bankers, rather than any inside story (a la Michael Lewis). He brings in all the hot-button London issues - house prices, illegal immigration, terrorism, and he spins an amusing yarn, but at the end of the day, not very much substance. It's a bit like the Casual Vacancy from JK Rowling, a competent, contemporary novel.

Narration: perfect.

Light entertainment

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great story.
fantastic voice and use of accents.
great understanding of the London life.
very funny and profoundly inspiring.

I regret my other 5 star ratings !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved it. So many different story lines, touching different characters and lives. I wish the ending was another 20 or so chapters.

Excellent and light hearted book

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