Listen free for 30 days
-
Commonwealth
- Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £20.89
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
In a Good Light
- By: Clare Chambers
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Without even noticing, Esther Fairchild has become locked into routine. Living with her adored brother, Christian, she divides her time between illustrating children's books, nightly shifts as a waitress, weekly visits to her father and fortnightly meetings with her married lover. Then one day she encounters a face in the crowd which jolts her out of her mundane existence and makes her question both her life and the past that has helped to shape it.
-
-
Is someone chopping onions?!
- By Mairiboo on 31-07-21
-
These Precious Days
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'Any story that starts will also end.' As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth as she explores family, friendship, marriage, failure, success and what it all means. Ranging from the personal to the sublime, each essay transforms the particular into the universal, letting us all see our own worlds anew.
-
-
The best book I will read all year 02.01.22
- By agentk on 04-01-22
-
State of Wonder
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Nancy Baldwin
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Research scientist Dr. Marina Singh is sent to Brazil to track down Dr. Annick Swenson, who has disappeared in the Amazon while working on a valuable new drug. The last person who was sent to find her, Marina’s research partner Anders Eckman, died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infested jungle in hopes of finding her former mentor as well as answers to several troubling questions about her friend’s death.
-
-
Great story; poor reader
- By Maddy on 10-12-12
-
The Other Americans
- By: Laila Lalami
- Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard, Houda Echouafni, Youssef Kerkour, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Late one spring night, Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant in California, is walking across a darkened intersection when he is killed by a speeding car. The repercussions of his death bring together a diverse cast of characters: Guerraoui's daughter Nora, a jazz composer who returns to the small town in the Mojave she thought she'd left for good; his widow Maryam, who still pines after her life in the old country....
-
Bel Canto
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ann Patchett’s award winning, New York Times best-selling Bel Canto balances themes of love and crisis as disparate characters learn that music is their only common language. As in Pratchett’s other novels, including Truth & Beauty and The Magician’s Assistant, the author’s lyrical prose and lucid imagination make Bel Canto a captivating story of strength and frailty, love and imprisonment, and an inspiring tale of transcendent romance.
-
-
Incredible. The story, the performance, the characters...
- By Rose on 10-01-21
-
The Dutch House
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Tom Hanks
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterpiece from the Orange Prize-winning, New York Times number one best-selling author of Commonwealth and Bel Canto: a story of love, family, sacrifice and the power of place. Lose yourself in the story of a lifetime – the unforgettable Sunday Times best seller. A story of two siblings, their childhood home and a past that they can’t let go. Like swallows, like salmon, we were the helpless captives of our migratory patterns.
-
-
Underwhelming
- By TJ on 30-01-20
-
In a Good Light
- By: Clare Chambers
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Without even noticing, Esther Fairchild has become locked into routine. Living with her adored brother, Christian, she divides her time between illustrating children's books, nightly shifts as a waitress, weekly visits to her father and fortnightly meetings with her married lover. Then one day she encounters a face in the crowd which jolts her out of her mundane existence and makes her question both her life and the past that has helped to shape it.
-
-
Is someone chopping onions?!
- By Mairiboo on 31-07-21
-
These Precious Days
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'Any story that starts will also end.' As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth as she explores family, friendship, marriage, failure, success and what it all means. Ranging from the personal to the sublime, each essay transforms the particular into the universal, letting us all see our own worlds anew.
-
-
The best book I will read all year 02.01.22
- By agentk on 04-01-22
-
State of Wonder
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Nancy Baldwin
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Research scientist Dr. Marina Singh is sent to Brazil to track down Dr. Annick Swenson, who has disappeared in the Amazon while working on a valuable new drug. The last person who was sent to find her, Marina’s research partner Anders Eckman, died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infested jungle in hopes of finding her former mentor as well as answers to several troubling questions about her friend’s death.
-
-
Great story; poor reader
- By Maddy on 10-12-12
-
The Other Americans
- By: Laila Lalami
- Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard, Houda Echouafni, Youssef Kerkour, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Late one spring night, Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant in California, is walking across a darkened intersection when he is killed by a speeding car. The repercussions of his death bring together a diverse cast of characters: Guerraoui's daughter Nora, a jazz composer who returns to the small town in the Mojave she thought she'd left for good; his widow Maryam, who still pines after her life in the old country....
-
Bel Canto
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ann Patchett’s award winning, New York Times best-selling Bel Canto balances themes of love and crisis as disparate characters learn that music is their only common language. As in Pratchett’s other novels, including Truth & Beauty and The Magician’s Assistant, the author’s lyrical prose and lucid imagination make Bel Canto a captivating story of strength and frailty, love and imprisonment, and an inspiring tale of transcendent romance.
-
-
Incredible. The story, the performance, the characters...
- By Rose on 10-01-21
-
The Dutch House
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Tom Hanks
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterpiece from the Orange Prize-winning, New York Times number one best-selling author of Commonwealth and Bel Canto: a story of love, family, sacrifice and the power of place. Lose yourself in the story of a lifetime – the unforgettable Sunday Times best seller. A story of two siblings, their childhood home and a past that they can’t let go. Like swallows, like salmon, we were the helpless captives of our migratory patterns.
-
-
Underwhelming
- By TJ on 30-01-20
-
Where the God of Love Hangs Out
- By: Amy Bloom
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sensuous, funny, and heartbreaking new book, Amy Bloom explores the unexpected patterns that all forms of love and loss weave into our lives. With her dazzling prose, strong voice, and unmistakable and generous wit, this award-winning author takes us to the margins and centers of real people's lives, introducing us to some of her most unforgettable characters yet.
-
French Braid
- By: Anne Tyler
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the kids are grown and Mercy Garrett gradually moves herself out of the family home, everyone determines not to notice. Over at her studio, she wants space and silence. She won't allow any family clutter. Not even their cat, Desmond. Yet it is a clutter of untidy moments that forms the Garretts' family life over the decades, from giving a child a ride to a painstaking Easter lunch, a fateful train journey to an unexpected homecoming. And it all begins in 1959, with a family holiday to a cabin by a lake.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Nina S Bailey on 27-03-22
-
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
- By: Anne Tyler
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through every family run memories that bind it together - despite everything. The Tulls of Baltimore are no exception. Abandoned by her salesman husband, Pearl is left to bring up her three children alone - Cody, a flawed devil; Ezra, a flawed saint; and Jenny, errant and passionate. Now as Pearl lies dying, stiffly encased in her pride and solitude, the past is unlocked and with it, secrets. A classic novel from one of America's greatest living novelists, now available as an audiobook.
-
-
Tyler's own favourite
- By Mr. Jw Perks on 10-01-15
-
Mrs. Kimble
- By: Jennifer Haigh
- Narrated by: Martha Plimpton
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A captivating exploration of human love, marriage, and the illusions upon which it is founded, Mrs. Kimble presents a fascinating psychological portrait of a mesmerizing opportunist and the women who believe in him. Beautifully wrought, stunningly original, Jennifer Haigh's sparkling debut marks the arrival of a remarkable new talent.
-
-
outstanding!
- By jackie on 07-09-16
-
The Most Fun We Ever Had
- Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020
- By: Claire Lombardo
- Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
- Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet the Sorenson Family. Marilyn has somehow fallen into motherhood and spent four decades married to David, who's pretty certain he loves her more than anyone has ever loved another person. Wendy, their eldest, a cause for concern, soothes herself with drink after being widowed young, while Violet, lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-mother, is disturbed by the reappearance of a son placed for adoption 15 years earlier.
-
-
Couldn’t get into it at all.
- By FIona on 06-06-20
-
Road Ends
- By: Mary Lawson
- Narrated by: Ishan Davé, Jess Salgueiro, John Fleming
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-one-year-old Megan Cartwright has never been outside the small town she was born in, but one winter's day, in 1966, she leaves everything behind and sets out for London. Ahead of her is a glittering new life, just waiting for her to claim it. But left behind, her family begins to unravel. Disturbing letters from home begin to arrive, and torn between her independence and family ties, Megan must make an impossible choice.
-
-
Brilliant storyteller
- By Amazon Customer on 22-04-22
-
Anything Is Possible
- By: Elizabeth Strout
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anything Is Possible tells the story of the inhabitants of rural, dusty Amgash, Illinois, the hometown of Lucy Barton, a successful New York writer who finally returns, after 17 years of absence, to visit the siblings she left behind. Reverberating with the deep bonds of family and the hope that comes with reconciliation, Anything Is Possible again underscores Elizabeth Strout's place as one of America's most respected and cherished authors.
-
-
An intricately beautiful collection of characters
- By Sue on 05-07-17
-
Next to Love
- By: Ellen Feldman
- Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Babe, Grace, and Millie have been best friends since kindergarten. Despite their differences, they’ve played together, grown up together, and shared each other’s secrets. And when World War Two becomes a reality for America, each quickly marries her first true love. With the men away, life is difficult for these women. But when no fewer than 16 telegrams arrive on a single morning in 1944 - all bearing news of the worst kind from the War Department - the girls know that nothing will ever be the same again.
-
The Hand That First Held Mine
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the bohemian, sophisticated Innes Kent turns up by chance on her doorstep, Lexie Sinclair realises she cannot wait any longer for her life to begin, and leaves for London. There, at the heart of the 1950s Soho art scene, she carves out a new life for herself, with Innes at her side. In the present day, Elina and Ted are reeling from the difficult birth of their first child.
-
-
amazing
- By happy loon on 07-07-15
-
Girl Waits with Gun
- By: Amy Stewart
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Constance Kopp doesn't quite fit the mould. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world by a family secret. When a ruthless factory owner runs down their buggy, a dispute over damages turns into a war as he unleashes his gang. The sheriff enlists her help, and it turns out that Constance has a knack for outwitting the criminal element which might just lead her onto a new path in life.
-
-
slow but satisfying
- By Lisa Barry on 17-08-16
-
The Other Side of the Bridge
- By: Mary Lawson
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Arthur and Jake are the sons of a farmer in the mid-1930s, when life is tough and another world war is looming. Arthur is solid and dutiful, set to inherit the farm and his father's character; Jake is younger, attractive, mercurial and dangerous to know.
-
-
Characters in Canada you have to care about ...
- By Anushka on 28-09-09
-
Clock Dance
- By: Anne Tyler
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life: when she was 11 and her mother disappeared, being proposed to at 21, the accident that would make her a widow at 41. At each of these moments, Willa ended up on a path laid out for her by others. So when she receives a phone call telling her that her son’s ex-girlfriend has been shot and needs her help, she drops everything and flies across the country. The spur-of-the moment decision to look after this woman - and her nine-year-old daughter, and her dog - will lead Willa into uncharted territory....
-
-
I wish this book went on forever
- By Tor on 19-08-18
Summary
It is 1964: Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening uninvited, where he notices a heart-stoppingly beautiful woman. When Bert kisses Beverly Keating, his host's wife, he sets in motion the joining of two families. In 1988, Franny Keating, now 24, meets one of her idols, the famous author Leon Posen.
After telling him about her family, she unwittingly relinquishes control over their story. Franny never dreams that the consequences of this encounter will extend into the lives of her scattered siblings and parents.
Critic reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about Commonwealth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jennifer
- 14-09-16
For the first time
Ann Patchett is a genius but the person narrating her audiobook is so painfully bad that I can't make it through the whole thing. It's genuinely distracting.
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- opinion
- 16-08-17
Can I say that this has been a bit disappointing
Likes; some of the writing is quite poetic and it is easy to read
A plot point is woven throughout the book.
I had some favourite characters. And there were some thought provoking bits.
Dislikes; a lot of pages describing the mundane tedious parts of day to day life, makes for a lot of boringness. Jumping from present to past with a tonne of characters. I thought that I was feeling confused because I was listening to the story, but friends who read it, also felt confused. All in all a dull book for me.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Karen G
- 06-04-18
A struggle...
The narrators voice was irritating and made the story difficult to access . I wouldn’t recommend this one
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Story
- susan lowes
- 11-04-17
dreadful marration<br />
childlike narration. ridiculous attempts at male voices. totally overwhelmed the story. read this yourself.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Roni Loveless
- 30-01-20
Worse narrator
I’d read up to halfway of this book on hard copy and was utterly loving it , I needed to finish it for my book group but had to multi task so decided to listen to the second half . The female narrator doing the male characters voices was awful totally ruined the image I had of them in my head . Such a shame as this is a fabulously written book but the voice was so jarring ,could not finish it on Audible had to go back to reading it .
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mrs S Kyriakides
- 13-12-20
What a disappointment
Up till now I have really enjoyed books by Ann Patchett but sadly Commonwealth has been a disappointment. Meandering story moving through different time zones with a host of characters - I never quite got to the point of it. And the final nail in the coffin was the narrator; she has a lovely voice but the voices she uses for the men and children in the story are excruciating. Such a pity.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Clare78
- 14-08-20
Commonwealth
It is an excellent story, which starts off a bit slow and gets better as it goes on. It’s well crafted and engaging, but the narrator is rather annoying (to say the least) and her various international vocal accents are verging on racist!! It sadly detracts from the story.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- A. L. Stevens
- 21-02-20
Narrator is terrible
After thoroughly enjoying the Dutch House I was keen to start this. I found the narrator completely off-putting. Her male voices are so bad they sound like insane Muppets. I can't listen to it. This is one where I'll be happy to simply read the book without audio.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Hannah
- 08-08-19
Ending?
I was really enjoying this but then it just meandered to an end and felt unfinished which was a shame.
I read some poor reviews of the narration for this book. I thought it was excellent and not a distraction at all.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susan Warren
- 03-07-21
Awful narration
No matter how many times I attempted to listen to this book, the narrator’s voice irritated me so much that I was unable to concentrate on the story. Have finally given up.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Melanie Cilliers
- 21-06-20
Ann Patchet is a master
read all her books by now and never not satisfied... state of wonder also brilliant!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- LAA
- 09-12-16
Commonwealth
Sorry narrater.
Pretty OK story but hard to enjoy due to narrator's inadequate reading ability.