Listen free for 30 days
-
Funny Girl
- Narrated by: Emma Fielding
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Humor & Satire
People who bought this also bought...
-
Just Like You
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Ben Bailey Smith, Hattie Ladbury
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The person you are with is just like you: same background, same age, same interests. The perfect match. And it is an unmitigated disaster. Then, when and where you least expect it, you meet someone new. You seem to have nothing in common and yet, somehow, it feels totally right. Nick Hornby's brilliantly observed, tender but also brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person - someone who is not just like you at all.
-
-
TV drama-ready!
- By Rachel Redford on 23-09-20
-
High Fidelity
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Russell Tovey
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, read by Russell Tovey. Nick Hornby's first novel, an international best seller and instantly recognized by critics and readers alike as a classic, helps to explain men to women and men to men. Rob is good on music: he owns a small record shop and has strong views on what's decent and what isn't. But he's much less good on relationships.
-
-
High Fidelity Twenty (One) Years On
- By Susan Random on 26-07-15
-
Juliet, Naked
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie, Ben Miles, Bill Irwin
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Annie's put fifteen years into safe, slightly obsessive Duncan, and now she'd like her money back, please. It's time to move on. But she lives in Gooleness, the north's answer to a question nobody asked. Is she really going to find real, proper, fell-it-deep-down-in-your-boots love on a damp and windy seafront? Or perhaps she should follow her heart and pursue Tucker, the reclusive American rock star, who keeps emailing her his smart advice. But between Annie and her second chance lie a few obstacles.
-
-
Good fun but beware the narration
- By Baz Borozitch on 05-05-12
-
A Long Way Down
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Pauline McLynn, Nicky Henson, Christopher Ragland, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?' For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: He has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve, he's going to end it all.... But not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then 18-year-old Jess, and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you.
-
-
Great cast of characters
- By Mr Chops on 12-11-14
-
Slam
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Nicholas Hoult
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Nick Hornby's hilarious coming-of-age novel Slam, read by Nicholas Hoult, star of the films About a Boy and Warm Bodies, as well as Channel 4's Skins. 'There was this time when everything seemed to have come together. And so obviously it was time to go and screw it all up.' Sam is sixteen and a skater. Just so there are no terrible misunderstandings: skating = skateboarding.
-
-
Much better than I expected!
- By Hil22 on 18-08-13
-
How to Be Good
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Clare Higgins
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of How to be Good by Nick Hornby, read by Claire Higgins. According to her own complex moral calculations, Katie Carr has earned her affair. She's a doctor, after all, and doctors are decent people, and on top of that, her husband David is the self-styled Angriest Man in Holloway.
-
-
Not my favourite Nick Hornby
- By Jei on 14-07-15
-
Just Like You
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Ben Bailey Smith, Hattie Ladbury
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The person you are with is just like you: same background, same age, same interests. The perfect match. And it is an unmitigated disaster. Then, when and where you least expect it, you meet someone new. You seem to have nothing in common and yet, somehow, it feels totally right. Nick Hornby's brilliantly observed, tender but also brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person - someone who is not just like you at all.
-
-
TV drama-ready!
- By Rachel Redford on 23-09-20
-
High Fidelity
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Russell Tovey
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, read by Russell Tovey. Nick Hornby's first novel, an international best seller and instantly recognized by critics and readers alike as a classic, helps to explain men to women and men to men. Rob is good on music: he owns a small record shop and has strong views on what's decent and what isn't. But he's much less good on relationships.
-
-
High Fidelity Twenty (One) Years On
- By Susan Random on 26-07-15
-
Juliet, Naked
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie, Ben Miles, Bill Irwin
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Annie's put fifteen years into safe, slightly obsessive Duncan, and now she'd like her money back, please. It's time to move on. But she lives in Gooleness, the north's answer to a question nobody asked. Is she really going to find real, proper, fell-it-deep-down-in-your-boots love on a damp and windy seafront? Or perhaps she should follow her heart and pursue Tucker, the reclusive American rock star, who keeps emailing her his smart advice. But between Annie and her second chance lie a few obstacles.
-
-
Good fun but beware the narration
- By Baz Borozitch on 05-05-12
-
A Long Way Down
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Pauline McLynn, Nicky Henson, Christopher Ragland, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?' For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: He has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve, he's going to end it all.... But not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then 18-year-old Jess, and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you.
-
-
Great cast of characters
- By Mr Chops on 12-11-14
-
Slam
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Nicholas Hoult
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Nick Hornby's hilarious coming-of-age novel Slam, read by Nicholas Hoult, star of the films About a Boy and Warm Bodies, as well as Channel 4's Skins. 'There was this time when everything seemed to have come together. And so obviously it was time to go and screw it all up.' Sam is sixteen and a skater. Just so there are no terrible misunderstandings: skating = skateboarding.
-
-
Much better than I expected!
- By Hil22 on 18-08-13
-
How to Be Good
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Clare Higgins
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of How to be Good by Nick Hornby, read by Claire Higgins. According to her own complex moral calculations, Katie Carr has earned her affair. She's a doctor, after all, and doctors are decent people, and on top of that, her husband David is the self-styled Angriest Man in Holloway.
-
-
Not my favourite Nick Hornby
- By Jei on 14-07-15
-
Trio
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Hannah Arterton
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A producer. A novelist. An actress. It is summer in 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. While the world is reeling, our trio is involved in making a rackety Swingin' '60s British movie in sunny Brighton. All are leading secret lives. As the film is shot, with its usual drastic ups and downs, so does our trio's private, secret world begin to take over their public one. Pressures build inexorably - someone's going to crack. Or maybe they all will.
-
-
Not a bad story. Abysmally read
- By S on 29-10-20
-
About a Boy
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Stephen Mangan
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of About a Boy by Nick Hornby, read by Stephen Mangan. Nick Hornby's second best-selling novel is about sex, manliness and fatherhood. Will is 36, comfortable and child-free. And he's discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women - through single-parent groups. Marcus is 12 and a little bit nerdish: he's got the kind of mother who made him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana.
-
-
Enter than the film
- By Michelle on 22-03-17
-
Fever Pitch
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Fever Pitch, by Nick Hornby read by Julian Rhind-Tutt.A s a young boy, growing up in the Home Counties and watching his parents marriage fall apart, Nick Hornby had little sense of home. Then his dad took him to Highbury. Arsenals football ground would become the source of many of the strongest feelings he'd ever have: joy, humiliation, heartbreak, frustration, and hope.
-
-
Chapters are in the correct order as of June 2018
- By S. Clancy on 06-06-18
-
Love
- By: Roddy Doyle
- Narrated by: Roddy Doyle
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drinking pals back in their Dublin days, Davy rarely sees Joe for a pint anymore - maybe one or two when Davy’s over from England to check in on his elderly father. But tonight, one pint will turn to three and then five as Joe recounts a secret, leading the two men on a bender back to the haunts of their youth. Joe has left his wife and family for another woman, Jessica. Davy knows her too, or he should - she was the girl of their dreams all those years ago, the girl with the cello in George’s Pub.
-
-
Excellent
- By Robert I. on 07-11-20
-
Small Pleasures
- By: Clare Chambers
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper, disappointed in love and - on the brink of 40 - living a limited existence with her truculent mother: a small life from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young Swiss woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. But the more Jean investigates, the more her life becomes strangely (and not unpleasantly) intertwined with that of the Tilburys.
-
-
Poignant, thoughtful & beautifully crafted
- By Rachel Redford on 26-07-20
-
Love in the Time of Cholera
- By: Gabriel García Márquez
- Narrated by: Armando Durán
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Nobel Prize-winning author of One Hundred Years of Solitude comes a masterly evocation of an unrequited passion so strong that it binds two people's lives together for more than half a century. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career, he whiles away the years in 622 affairs - yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral....
-
-
15hrs of male fantasy, racism and peadophilia
- By C Carney on 31-01-19
-
Miss Blackpool
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Tobias Meister
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barbara hat die Nase voll. Nur raus aus dem verschlafenen Blackpool. Statt ihre Wahl zur Miss Blackpool anzunehmen, nimmt sie Reißaus und zieht nach London. Aber das ist die reine Enttäuschung: London ist langweilig und teuer. Als sie zufällig dem Agenten Brian in die Arme läuft, wendet sich das Blatt: Bei einem Casting sind schlagartig alle hin und weg von ihr. Mit ihrer provinziellen, aber dreist offenen Art erobert sie die Herzen der Crew. Und die macht sie zum Star einer neuen Comedy-Serie.
-
Miss Benson's Beetle
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1950. In a devastating moment of clarity, Margery Benson abandons her dead-end job and advertises for an assistant to accompany her on an expedition. She is going to travel to the other side of the world to search for a beetle that may or may not exist. Enid Pretty, in her unlikely pink travel suit, is not the companion Margery had in mind. And yet together they will be drawn into an adventure that will exceed every expectation. They will risk everything, break all the rules and, at the top of a red mountain, discover their best selves.
-
-
Excellent story of female friendship
- By V. O'Regan on 25-07-20
-
Shuggie Bain
- By: Douglas Stuart
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its own front door and a life bought and paid for outright (like her perfect, but false, teeth). But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest.
-
-
Utter respect
- By KMV on 02-09-20
-
The Rotters' Club
- By: Jonathan Coe
- Narrated by: Nicholas Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unforgettably funny and painfully honest, Jonathan Coe's tale of Benjamin Trotter and his friends' coming of age during the 1970s is a heartfelt celebration of the joys and agonies of growing up. Featuring, among other things, IRA bombs, prog rock, punk rock, bad poetry, first love, love on the side, prefects, detention, a few bottles of Blue Nun, lots of brown wallpaper, industrial strife, and divine intervention in the form of a pair of swimming trunks.
-
-
Uncomfortable to listen to
- By Claudia on 16-02-20
-
Notes From a Small Island
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson, the acclaimed author of such best sellers as The Mother Tongue and Made in America, decided it was time to move back to the United States for a while. This was partly to let his wife and kids experience life in Bryson's homeland, and partly because he had read that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another. It was thus clear to him that his people needed him.
-
-
A Note From A Small Islander
- By Jo on 05-11-08
-
The Guest List
- By: Lucy Foley
- Narrated by: Olivia Dowd, Aoife McMahon, Chloe Massey, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On an island off the windswept Irish coast, guests gather for the wedding of the year – the marriage of Jules Keegan and Will Slater. Old friends. Past grudges. Happy families.Hidden jealousies. Thirteen guests.One body. The wedding cake has barely been cut when one of the guests is found dead. And as a storm unleashes its fury on the island, everyone is trapped. All have a secret. All have a motive.One guest won’t leave this wedding alive....
-
-
surprised I got to the end of this
- By mark on 01-03-20
Summary
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Funny Girl, the new novel by best-selling author Nick Hornby, read by Emma Fielding.
Funny Girl is the story of a popular 1960s tv comedy series. The writers are Tony and Bill, comedy obsessives, who each harbour a secret. The Oxbridge-educated director, Dennis, loves his job but hates his marriage. The male star, Clive, feels he's destined for better things. And most of all there is Sophie Straw, once Barbara Parker, Miss Blackpool 1964, who's changed her name and abandoned her old life because she just wants to make people laugh, like her heroine Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy fame.
Nick Hornby's new novel is about popular culture, youth and old age, fame, class, and teamwork. It offers a wonderfully captivating portrait of youthful exuberance and creativity, and of a period when both were suddenly allowed to flourish.
More from the same
What listeners say about Funny Girl
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John
- 18-01-15
What A Disappointment!
Having read "High Fidelity" and other Nick Horrnby novels I approached this with high expectations. I kept waiting for the real novel, insight and themes to develop but they never arrived.
The book - I hesitate to use the term novel - is a fairly straightforward account of the career of a girl who progresses from Blackpool bathing beauty to TV sit-com star. Relationships with fellow actors, writers and producers come along but, with no real plot or thematic issues and no basis in reality, they are hardly even of passing interest. Why care? I didn't.
There is a slight background of other, real shows in the heyday of TV sit-com but no real or unexpected insight. If this had been the story of a real actress in a real show, rather than weak fiction, it might have had some limited interest. As a work of fiction, it seemed pointless.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Simon, Oxford
- 14-11-14
A complete delight!
Any additional comments?
This ranks in the top 5 of the hundreds of audiobooks I have listed to. Emma Fielding's performance is exquisite. The way she creates the voices for the characters let me go deep into the story. Nick Hornby's story is charming, moving very funny and as someone who grew up in the 60's was a wonderful journey into the times. I have already recommended this book to various friends.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ReadingFan
- 30-03-15
Good read. Not one of his best.
What did you like best about Funny Girl? What did you like least?
The characters and the dialogue between the characters. My fear that the story was descending into a typical love story where everybody would end up happy ever after.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
I would have gone with Bill's suggestion of describing a non typical family cell in 70's England.
What about Emma Fielding’s performance did you like?
Thought it was excellent.
Any additional comments?
Good book and very easy read. Not as good as How to be good or slam but still worth the 10 hour investment.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kitty
- 18-06-15
Couldn't finish it as lost interest.
What would have made Funny Girl better?
A better story line, believable characters.
Has Funny Girl put you off other books in this genre?
No
Would you be willing to try another one of Emma Fielding’s performances?
Yes, it was the book that was disappointing.
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
No
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- faerie
- 06-12-15
Funny Girl
Um, I quite liked this book as a different type of reading. I am working through my addiction to thrillers but have a cut off point of 7pm, when I switch to lighter material. This was pleasant, slow paced and very easy listening, although I had to keep re-winding after nodding off. Not really a good sign if a book sends you to sleep. But still, I liked it.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Read and Reviewed
- 01-12-15
Magical story - poor narration,
What did you like most about Funny Girl?
Certainly not the narration!
Probably the banter which Barbara shared with the sitcom writers, director and actors. That added real humour.
I also appreciated all the details and locations in London and it brought back some lovely memories when I spoke to my parents about this.
What other book might you compare Funny Girl to, and why?
Rather unique really.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
Couldn't really engage with the narrator. Despite thoroughly enjoying this book the lack of feeling and emotion from the narrator dragged this one down. Towards the end my attention was wandering.. Didn't do justice to a great book.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Sadly not.
Any additional comments?
For me this didn't quite hit the mark and this was purely due to the performance and delivery.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike
- 18-11-15
Gentle, funny, compassionate book
Reading “Funny Girl” was like meeting an old friend and being reminded all over again why you liked them so much in the first place. With wit, optimism and gentle compassion, Nick Hornby summons up the zeitgeist of Britain in the 1960s and 70s through the medium of TV comedy on the BBC.
Like Hornby himself, I was a child in the 1960s, so I missed some of then nuances of BBC comedy, failing to see what was daring and subversive but still understanding what was truly funny.
Hornby helped me to remember what it was like at the start of the 60s when we had only two TV channels in England,the BBC and ITV. EVERYBODY watched the same programs and discussed them the next day because those were the only programs available. I was seven when BBC 2 went on air in 1964 but I couldn’t watch it because we didn’t have a telly that could cope with the fancy 625 line UHF transmission. We were still watching a small box with a big tube that used the much lower definition 405 line VHF transmission. Of course, back then, everything was in glorious black and white. Even so, programs like the BBC’s Comedy Playhouse attracted huge audiences and launched series that EVERYONE watched (Steptoe and Son, launched by the Comedy Playhouse, attracted audiences of up to 28 million – about half of the population of the UK at the time).
“Funny Girl” tells the story of Barbara, a young woman from “up North” who declines to accept the title of Miss Blackpool and moves south to London to follow in the footsteps of her idol, Lucille Ball and become a comedian. She clicks with the writers of a new show for the BBC, they re-write the show as showcase for her and her career takes off.
As we follow Barbara’s career from ingénue through comic star to redoubtable Dame of British Television, Nick Hornby helped me understand the transitions that Britain was going through and the role comedy played in helping audiences to understand themselves.
I was deeply impressed by Nick Hornby’s ability to write a novel that often made me laugh but which is centred around very believable, very human characters, with strengths and flaws and personality quirks, who he describes with a compassion that comes very close to love and which generates a possibility of hope that I found very affecting.
This well written book was made even better in audio by a superb performance by Emma Fielding who got every voice and every accent absolutely right and amplified the value of every page.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mr. J. Holmes
- 18-06-15
Snore
Totally forgettable waste of my time. Usually a fan of Hornby but this predictable drivel just didnt do it for me.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah C
- 09-01-15
Hornby Fans Won't be Disappointed
A great book. Not as funny as Hornby's other stuff but very well observed and I even shed a tear at one point. Narrator is excellent.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Maggie
- 12-12-14
An everyday story of television folk
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Definitely, especially to someone who experienced the 1960's, as I did, and remember those 'must-stay-in-nights' when a TV programme was not to be missed.
What did you like best about this story?
The believable characterisations of the protagonists and the addition of real personalities to those of Mr Hornby's imagination.
Which character – as performed by Emma Fielding – was your favourite?
Sophie/Barbara, of course!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes.
Any additional comments?
Brilliantly read by Emma Fielding. Perhaps there was a lack of a darker side to the story but then again perhaps that is what made it so enjoyable and non-angst ridden.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kindle Customer
- 31-03-19
A bit disappointed
I don't know if it's because it's the first audio book I've listened to, or some other reason, but I really couldn't get into the story as much as with every other Nick Hornby book I've read. I saw it through to the end, but have to admit I tuned out at times and struggled to get to the end. Having said that, I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading or listening to it, it just wasn't my cup of tea on this occasion.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ani Kellomäki
- 14-04-15
An ok entertainment
Not the best Hornby but still a good listen. Rather enjoyed the readers performance. Good language as always from Hornby