Grief Is the Thing with Feathers cover art

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

 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.

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

By: Max Porter
Narrated by: Jot Davies
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 £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

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

In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness.

In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This sentimental bird is drawn to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him.

As weeks turn to months and the pain of loss gives way to memories, the little unit of three starts to heal.

In this extraordinary debut - part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief - Max Porter's compassion and bravura style combine to dazzling effect. Full of unexpected humour and profound emotional truth, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers marks the arrival of a thrilling new talent.

©2015 Max Porter (P)2016 Audible, Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Grief Heartfelt Tear-jerking Scary

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Wacky Man cover art
Crow cover art
In the Eyes of Mr Fury cover art
Calamity cover art
The Days of Elijah cover art
Jane Eyre cover art
When God Was a Rabbit cover art
The Big Sea cover art
The Covenant of Water cover art
Crow cover art
I Found My Tribe cover art
She Would Be King cover art

Critic reviews

"An agile, life-affirming account of mourning." ( Sunday Times)
"Utterly astonishing. Truly, truly remarkable." (Nathan Filer)
"A blast and a breeze and, strangely, a delight." (Jonathan Gibbs, Independent)
All stars
Most relevant
This is both heartbreaking and hilarious. And really rings true... thank you very much Max Porter

Blimey!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not sure how I feel about this, my feelings are mixed, but then I suppose that is the point. It is beautifully written and emotional, but it also felt a bit self indulgent.

Emotional but self indulgent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Lovely story for anyone who feels loss, particularly if they have a thing about birds.

Touching

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliantly narrated and I liked the style, but I finished the book undecided about whether I liked it or not. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed reading it -- I think the narration brought it to life effectively.

While I think it is perhaps an acquired taste / you need to be in the mood for listening, I would recommend giving it a go.

Unsure

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I am ambivalent, the concept and story was good, the performance as well but I just couldn't focus and follow with enthusiasm.

very experiment style

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