Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

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.
What She Knew cover art

What She Knew

By: Gilly Macmillan
Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
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 £13.00

Buy Now for £13.00

Pay using card ending in
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...

The Wedding Guest cover art
Let Me In cover art
The Lost Girls of Penzance cover art
The Night of the Sleepover cover art
Silent Child cover art
Blink cover art
The Good Samaritan cover art
The Boy in the Suitcase cover art
Truth and Lies cover art
The Girl Before cover art
Stillhouse Lake cover art
The Girls in the Water cover art
Her Last Move cover art
If Angels Fall  cover art
The Good Girl cover art
A Good Enough Mother cover art

Summary

Previously published as Burnt Paper Sky.

Rachel Jenner turned her back for a moment. Now her eight-year-old son, Ben, is missing. But what really happened that fateful afternoon?

Caught between her personal tragedy and a public who have turned against her, there is nobody left who Rachel can trust.

But can the nation trust Rachel? The clock is ticking to find Ben alive. Whose side are you on?

©2015 Gilly Macmillan (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"This accomplished, intelligent debut should come with a warning - it's completely addictive. A nail-biting, sleep-depriving, brilliant read." (Saskia Sarginson, author of The Twins)
"Every parent's nightmare, handled with intelligence and sensitivity, the novel is also deceptively clever. I found myself racing through to find out what happened." (Rosamund Lupton, author of Sister and Afterwards)
"Tightly focussed and fast-paced. You won't rest until you really know what happened." (Lisa Ballantyne, author of The Guilty One)
"Deft, tense and utterly gripping, Burnt Paper Sky stays with you long after the final page has been turned." (Tim Weaver)
"What an exciting debut! Burnt Paper Sky kept me up until the small hours, from the nightmarish moment when a mother first realises that her son has disappeared, to the dramatic denouement. Gilly Macmillan's voice is innovative and confident, and she creates a cast of very human characters. There's a page-turning urgency, combined with an insightful exploration of the emotional fall-out after the abduction of a small child. Meanwhile the media and internet community are shadowy figures whose pitiless speculation and harassment seem all too believable. Burnt Paper Sky is written with passion and insight. Bravo, Gilly Macmillan." (Charity Norman, author of After the Fall)
"What an amazing, gripping, beautifully written debut. Burnt Paper Sky kept me up late into the night (and scared the life out of me)." (Liane Moriarty, author of The Husband's Secret)

What listeners say about What She Knew

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    46
  • 4 Stars
    39
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    48
  • 4 Stars
    35
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    42
  • 4 Stars
    30
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    3

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

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent story line, well read, highly recommend

After a slow start I found the story totally drew me in an d I could not stop listening to the story. Very cleverly interwoven and explored from the different aspects of the different people involved. Thoroughly enjoyable and intriguing book. highly recommend.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Barely interesting!

Any additional comments?

The writing just clunked along. It may be interesting to discover the culprit at the end, but to get there we must go through many, many hours of a repetitive, predicable account of 'child goes missing, parents upset, Police search, nasty comments on social media'. For me, its not worth a credit. Returned.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best this year so far.

This is a brilliant book and I could not stop listening to the story. It is such clever writing that you change who you think is guilty chapter by chapter. Good plausible story, excellent narration. Well recommended

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Cracking story

What made the experience of listening to Burnt Paper Sky the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed listening to the different characters version of the story, a bit different to the usual crime novel .It also kept me guessing wrong all the way through brilliant .

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me think more about the awful things parents must go through when a child is missing a lot of thought went into this book I think

Any additional comments?

I would definetly recommend this book

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Well written but familiar story

Familiar storyline but not as predictable as some. Well written and narrated worth a listen

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thought provoking

One could not help but think of people who had been through losing a child as illustrated in the book. Held my breath when he was found I so wanted him to be alive. Excellent story

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great storyline

Realistic plot. Interesting characters and excellent narration. One of the books I couldn’t stop listening to …. What’s the next book by this author?

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • JM
  • 24-11-21

Narrators excellent - story ok

The excellent narrators kept me going with this book to the end - another reviewer said this book could have been much shorter which I agree with - there was a lot of padding , over descriptive of every person and scene. One of the characters talked about a dream they had - real life friends talking about dreams is boring let alone fictional people talking about fictional dreams ! Felt the author was overly self indulgent. The story was ok but the book was mainly about the characters rather than the story. I had listened to The Nanny which was really excellent , so was disappointed by this one.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Couldn't get into this

I just could not get into this book and after repeating the first few chapters twice, I gave up and returned it.
Maybe you need to be in the right mindset for the story,

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Very dull.

I listen to 5 or 6 books a month and this was the first one in a long time that I literally couldn't finish. The narration was ok. .

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!