Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Get this deal Try for £0.00
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
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.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
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.
The Strays cover art

The Strays

By: Emily Bitto
Narrated by: Vanessa Coffey
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Relative Strangers cover art
White Gardenia cover art
Bitter cover art
Home Fires cover art
The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle cover art
The Lessons cover art
The Gallery of Vanished Husbands cover art
Dangerous Pleasures cover art
The Long Gaze Back cover art

Summary

Winner of the 2015 Stella Prize. Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript 2013, the Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction 2015, the Dobbie Literary Award 2015, and the NSW Premier’s UTA Glenda Adams Award 2015. Longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Prize 2015.

On her first day at a new school, Lily befriends one of the daughters of infamous avant-garde painter Evan Trentham. He and his wife are trying to escape the stifling conservatism of 1930s Australia by inviting other like-minded artists to live and work at their family home.

Lily becomes infatuated with this wild, makeshift family and longs to truly be a part of it. As the years pass, Lily observes the way the lives of these artists come to reflect the same themes as their art: Faustian bargains and spectacular falls from grace. Yet it's not Evan but his own daughters who pay the price for his radicalism.

The Strays is an engrossing story of ambition, sacrifice and compromised loyalties from an exciting new talent.

©2016 Emily Bitto (P)2016 Audible, Ltd
Coming of Age Family Life Literary Fiction Historical Fiction
Show More Show Less

Critic reviews

"Emily Bitto writes so well about art, childhood, infatuation, loneliness – you name it. The Strays is a knowing novel, and beautifully done." (Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interestings)
"Stylishly written… The Strays is a marvel of setting and characterisation, re-creating a time of artistic revolution and personal revelation. Memorable and moving, this is a novel not to be missed." ( Booklist)
"Riveting, captivation, with a sense of foreboding threaded throughout. The Strays is such a daring look at art and love and family that you’ll want to clear your calendar: you’ll be reading it in a day." (Whitney Otto, New York Times bestselling author of How To Make An American Quilt and Six Girls Taking Pictures)

What listeners say about The Strays

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for fluffy

The Strays a story of wealth happiness disjointed families and surprise!

Starting to read this book I was unsure,would it hold my interest?
The family,the art and the circles made,were all poignant at times sad and pulled me in.
The writer for me was clever with the involvement not only of family growth but of the surroundings.
I would not hesitate to read another book by this author.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful