Birdcage Walk cover art

Birdcage Walk

 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.

Birdcage Walk

By: Helen Dunmore
Narrated by: Emma Fenney
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 £27.99

Buy Now for £27.99

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

It is 1792 and Europe is seized by political turmoil and violence. Lizzie Fawkes has grown up in radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant, a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristol's housing boom, and he has everything to lose from social upheaval and the prospect of war. Soon his plans for a magnificent terrace built above the 200-foot drop of the gorge come under threat. Diner believes that Lizzie's independent, questioning spirit must be coerced and subdued. She belongs to him: law and custom confirm it, and she must live as he wants. In a tense drama of public and private violence, resistance and terror, Diner's passion for Lizzie darkens until she finds herself dangerously alone.

©2017 Helen Dunmore (P)2017 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Historical Fiction Fiction Heartfelt Scary

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Exposure cover art
Rembrandt's Mirror cover art
Salt Creek cover art
The Words in My Hand cover art
The Apothecary's Daughter cover art
The Hungry Tide cover art
The Misbegotten cover art
The Silk Factory cover art

Critic reviews

"Hers are expert hands at turning history into gripping fiction." ( The Times)
"Helen Dunmore...is a poet as well as a novelist, who is celebrated for her delicate language and acute observations." ( Sunday Times)
All stars
Most relevant
I began listening to this story not long after the sad news of the author's death. This I think did play a part in my listening experience and reflection on the shortness and unpredictability of life. Another reading of this novel might be as a thriller, at times it was unputdownable or unturnoffable would be more exact. Another reading is a reimagining of an historical time where changes impacted in different ways on people's lives both here and in France. In this reading I would compare Helen Dunmore to Hillary Mantel as having the ability to get inside the skin of her characters and help us understand that time better, to feel it. Finally Helen Dunmore is a poet and sometimes her choice of phrase or image catches the breathe. I loved this book. The narrator did an excellent job because I wasn't aware of her, only the words.

Compelling glimpse of a turbulent time

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have read and enjoyed Helen Dunmore before but this one felt like 3 books in 1 which made for a confusing storyline. Also didn’t much care for the main characters, all of whom, apart from Liz, the narrator made to sound stupid
or ridiculously overbearing and what’s with the speeding up at the end of each sentence? It’s almost stressful to listen to. Sorry but I was relieved when I finished it. Obviously one better to have read in book form.

Glad when it was over.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is both a haunting, meditative examination of the question of whether human life and endeavour can ever leave any permanent trace, and a gripping and frequently unnerving almost-thriller. Lizzie, the central character, is pulled between opposing poles of fanaticism: her driven, obsessive husband is fixated upon the idea of creating a magnificent residential terrace above the Avon Gorge, while her radical, charismatic mother and her circle dream of revolutionary uprising. In each case, the central question is one of legacy: when we die, how will we be remembered? What mark will we leave upon those who loved us, and upon the wider world?

Helen Dunmore can be relied upon for elegant prose, and Birdcage Walk is no exception. It is an accessible and enjoyable read, with clearly drawn characters and a lucid narrative voice. It is also beautifully, poetically written, challenging the commonly-held perception that good writing should always be 'difficult' or 'challenging' to the reader. The book perhaps held a particular resonance for me because I have lived in and around Clifton as a student for several years now, and have always loved both the great Georgian terraces whose genesis the novel describes, and Birdcage Walk itself (the novel's name is taken from a small, overgrown and very beautiful churchyard in Clifton). It was wonderful to listen to the story while walking the same streets and terraces in which it was set. But this was only an added bonus; the novel should appeal to anyone with an interest in time, place and history.

Some reviewers here have noted that the performance felt rushed to them; I can see what they mean, but I largely enjoyed the reading and certainly didn't feel it took away from the story.

Several months ago, and not long before her death, the author wrote a very moving article for the Guardian about this novel, and about her own illness and mortality (Facing Mortality and What We Leave Behind, 4th March 2017). For anyone who enjoyed this book, I would recommend that article as a powerful companion piece to it. It is terribly sad that this was Helen Dunmore's final novel; however, this clever, poignant study of literary legacy is a fitting conclusion to her fine career.

Haunting and powerful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Narrator has a crisp and descriptive voice that adds color to the reading. Story is set against backdrop of French Revolution and is a thriller to keep you listening. Also has the typical poetic language of Helen Dunmore. Excellent!

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very readable with very good historical detail. Four stars because sometimes too much unnecessary information

Tense and compelling

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