To the River cover art

To the River

A Journey Beneath the Surface

 Preview
This Season's Biggest Deal

£0.99/mo for 3 months + £10 Audible bonus

Auto-renews at £5.99/month after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 28 December, 2026.
More purchase options

To the River

By: Olivia Laing
Narrated by: Kate Reading
Get this deal

Auto-renews at £5.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 28 December, 2026.

Buy Now for £13.11

Buy Now for £13.11

This Season's Biggest Deal | £0.99/mo for 3 months + £10 Audible bonus

£5.99/mo after 3 months - terms apply. Cancel monthly
Summary

Over 60 years after Virginia Woolf drowned in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing set out one midsummer morning to walk its banks, from source to sea. Along the way, she explores the roles that rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature, mythology, and folklore.

Lyrical and stirring, To the River is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.

©2019 Olivia Laing (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Art & Literature Authors Ecosystems & Habitats Environment Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most relevant
What a great book! An unpromising subject woven into a fascinating tapestry of history, geography and canals. Off now to read some Virginia Woolf!

Superb, Scintillating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This, to me, was a book about existance, death, and how we can find ways to be in this world that we are both destroying and have the capacity to save at the same time. It meandered, like a river, through Olivia’s own thoughts and experiences both during her walk and from other times in her life, the lives of Virginia & Leonard Woolf, Gideon Mantell, Simon de Montfort and Charles Dawson, and some extremely profound thoughts on life and death. 

I found it absolutely mesmerising, deeply moving and know I will be returining to it again and again.

I must also add that Kate Reading's narration was perfect.

A meandering walk through the heart of existence

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I cannot understand why, when Zara Ramm does such a Superb job of narrating the lonely city, that Kate Reading is chosen for the rest of Laing’s books. I find her narration so peculiar it’s hard to listen to. Like it’s been run though auto tune. I had to send it back although I love Laing’s work. Sad times.

Why why choose this narrator!?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great. don't know why everyone complains about the narration as it is very fine. perhaps they are reviewing an older narration.

the narration is fine

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this difficult to listen to, due to the lack of inflection in the narrator’s voice - it just flows on without emphasis. I didn’t manage to get more than halfway through, if that.

Irritating narration

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