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Pod

By: Laline Paull
Narrated by: Finty Williams
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About this listen

 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION, 2023

'Knocked my socks off . . . it is set entirely in the ocean. It's not science fiction. It's realistic. It's set in the here and now . . . And it's fascinating' Barbara Kingsolver in the New York Times

'A pacy, provocative tale of survival in a fast-changing marine landscape' Daily Mail

Bestselling author Laline Paull returns with an immersive and transformative new novel of an ocean world - its extraordinary creatures, mysteries, and mythologies - that is increasingly haunted by the cruelty and ignorance of the human race.

Ea has always felt like an outsider. She suffers from a type of deafness that means she cannot master the spinning rituals that unite her pod of spinner dolphins. When tragedy strikes her family and Ea feels she is partly to blame, she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave.

As Ea ventures into the vast, she discovers dangers everywhere, from lurking predators to strange objects floating in the water. But just as she is coming to terms with her solitude, a chance encounter with a group of arrogant bottlenoses will irrevocably alter the course of her life.

In her terrifying, propulsive novel, Laline Paull explores the true meaning of family, belonging, sacrifice - the harmony and tragedy of the pod - within an ocean that is no longer the sanctuary it once was, and which reflects a world all too recognisable to our own.

'Laline Paull succeeds splendidly in rising to the most important literary challenge of our time - restoring voice and agency to other-than-human beings' Amitav Ghosh

'A haunting story' Red magazine©2022 Madam Forager Ltd (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK Animals Fiction Genre Fiction Sea Adventures Adventure Scary

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All stars
Most relevant
Totally immersive tale of marine people and their trials and tribulations largely at the hand of humans. I learned so much and enjoyed every page even the ones which are a bit tricky. Great writing and narration thank you (and especially for the wrasse)

Wow

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Wonderfully different, so beautifully read, I really enjoyed the readers delivery. Not for the squeamish, an enchanting dive into another world.

Heartbreaking, brutal and makes you think, The perfect audio experience

Watership down meets Handmaid's tale

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Powerful writing, beautifully read. Nevertheless a tough listen. The reader's sensibilities are not spared in the harsh descriptions of violence and the impact of human behaviour. A book that I am glad I have read and that will stay with me - but was often painful.

A tough listen

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Narration was fantastic throughout. The story had me hooked from the very beginning. A story from the perspective of dolphins. Give it a listen.

Best audiobook I've heard in a while

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What Watership Down did for rabbits, or Bambi (and I very much mean the book, NOT the film) did for deer, Pod does for dolphins.

I read both Watership Down and Bambi as a child – probably too young as there is some harrowing stuff in both of those, but not as much as in Pod. This is NOT a children's book. There is brutality, rape, violence and death; a portrayal of a dystopian community run by a harsh dictator, misogyny, and the pervasive message that Humans are Very Very Bad for everyone else on the planet. They have made the ocean too dirty, too warm, too dangerous. Because we see through the perspective of a dolphin, Ea, we don't understand what everything is at first. The noises in her head - 'demons' - are ships, possibly warships. There is a horrific description of a sea filled with human plastic debris in which animals are caught – Ea thinks of it as 'moult'. The other dolphin whose perspective we share is Google, who has been trained by the military to attach limpet mines to ships, and suffered accordingly.

Despite the horrors of the book, it was compelling. The descriptions are exemplary. It is very hard to bring humans in to what is essentially an alien world. The accounts of the ocean vent 'pillars' where a wrasse - the only survivor of his people - lives in an agony of isolation are particularly well done.

Just as I learned a lot about deer and woodland wildlife from Bambi, and everything about rabbits from Watership Down, by reading this you will find you learn a LOT about sea life that you just didn't know before and not even realising you're learning it. I've watched my share of nature documentaries but was woefully ignorant about most of this.

This book is the result of research, and although the relationships and dialogue have been invented, dolphins have been observed doing most of the things described. The author's note indicated that the novel was prompted by a real life story about a pod of bottlenose dolphins evicting a pod of spinner dolphins from their territory. They are uncomfortably like us.

Finty Williams does an excellent job of conveying this rollercoaster of action and emotions.

For those upset by the violence, I quote Adam Rutherford: "Are dolphins murderers or rapists? No, because we cannot apply human legal terms to other animals. Is the behavior distasteful to us? Yes, but then again, nature does not care what you think."

Brutal, visceral, compelling

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