Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • When the Music Stops

  • By: Joe Heap
  • Narrated by: Caroline Guthrie
  • Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (13 ratings)
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.
When the Music Stops cover art

When the Music Stops

By: Joe Heap
Narrated by: Caroline Guthrie
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...

Searching for Mr Yesterday cover art
Thrown cover art
The Rules of Seeing cover art
Her Last Words cover art
Seventeen cover art
What She Lost cover art
The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood cover art
The Things We Never Said cover art
My Mother's Silence cover art
The Bench cover art
The Mess We're In cover art
The Vanishing of Margaret Small cover art
There's a Hole in My Bucket cover art
Two Wrongs cover art
12 Hours to Say I Love You cover art
The Lies We Hide: An Absolutely Gripping and Darkly Compelling Novel cover art

Summary

This is the story of Ella. And Robert. And of all the things they should have said but never did. 

‘What have you been up to?’ 

I shrug, ‘Just existing, I guess.’ 

‘Looks like more than just existing.’ 

Robert gestures at the baby, the lifeboat, the ocean.  

‘All right, not existing. Surviving.’ 

He laughs, not unkindly. ‘Sounds grim.’ 

‘It wasn’t so bad, really. But I wish you’d been there.’ 

Ella has known Robert all her life. Through seven key moments and seven key people their journey intertwines.

From the streets of Glasgow during WW2 to the sex, drugs and rock 'n’ roll of London in the '60s and beyond, this is a story of love and near misses. Of those who come in to our lives and leave it too soon. And of those who stay with you forever....

©2020 Joe Heap (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"A truly original, bittersweet tale of life, loss and enduring love that had me completely hooked. A treasure of a book!" (Sunday Times best seller Ruth Hogan) 

"Stunning, stunning, stunning.... A masterclass in structure, character, and how-to-write-about-love." (Anstey Harris)

"A bold read." (Woman & Home)

What listeners say about When the Music Stops

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

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

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

"Nobody gets life right"

This, Joe Heap's second novel, is exceptional - stunning in the way that it's so vital, real and heart-breaking as it flows through the past and present, it leaves you reeling.
When the Music Stops opens with 87 year-old Ella in a sinking ship clutching her baby grandson, It's the scene to which the many narratives return as Ella's life is played out in sections from early childhood to the present time in the boat and, briefly, beyond. Ella is confused by the present, but not by the past and slowly we realise that the people with her as she clings to the baby are all those whom she has loved and lost through her life. The musicality of the book's structure and the powerful effects of suggestion and what is left unsaid are from the realms of poetry, whilst the dialogue and narratives have the stark clarity of prose.
This sounds a depressing scenario but Joe Heap, who writes poetry as well as prose, handles it all as one long prose poem united by the music which Ella plays expertly on her guitar, and which bound her to fellow musician Robert with whom she played when she was 18. Her undeclared love for him has been the one constant in her life. Through wartime Glasgow childhood (the whole is read in a strong Glasgow accent which adds to the raw reality of it all), through the wild 60s, through a loveless marriage, work as a nurse, Ella and Robert converge at long intervals, but as Robert ruefully reflects, 'Nobody gets life right'. The story's poignancy will find an echo in every listener's heart.
The ending is both heart-rending and uplifting. It's a novel of what ifs, if onlys, saids and not saids, what could have beens... Don't miss it.

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

Unusual but engaging

It took me a while to get into this book but gradually I liked it more and more and then couldn’t stop listening!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful