Publisher Description
In Second World War Poland, a young prisoner closes his eyes and pictures going to bat on a sunlit English cricket ground.
Across the yard of a Victorian poorhouse, a man is too ashamed to acknowledge the son he gave away.
In a nineteenth century French village, an old servant understands, suddenly and with awe, the meaning of the Bible story her master is reading to her.
On a summer evening in the Catskills in 1971, a skinny girl steps out of a Chevy with a guitar and with a song that will send shivers through her listeners' skulls.
A few years from now, in Italy, a gifted scientist discovers links between time and the human brain and between her lover's novel and his life.
Throughout the five masterpieces of fiction that make up A Possible Life, exquisitely drawn and unforgettable characters risk their bodies, hearts and minds in pursuit of the manna of human connection. Between soldier and lover, parent and child, servant and master, and artist and muse, important pleasures and pains are born of love, separations and missed opportunities. These interactions, whether successful or not, also affect the long trajectories of characters' lives.
Provocative and profound, Sebastian Faulks' dazzling new novel journeys across continents and centuries not only to entertain with superb old-fashioned storytelling but to show that occasions of understanding between humans are the one thing that defines us, and that those moments, however fluid, are the one thing that endures.
Download and start listening now!
"I really liked reading this book. The fact that it is subtitled "a novel in five parts" was intriguing to me. I love novels that are linked stories, novels such as Olive Kitteredge. This is nothing like Olive. The connections between these stories are embedded in the themes of individual stories themselves. I think the subtle way each of these stories pushes us to think about our own "Possible Lives" is brilliant. I know I'm holding back and I probably need to write a review and label it as containing spoilers, but right now, I just want to say that this is a book worth reading, and then rereading in order to enjoy all of its pleasures. I loved Birdsong, but I actually think that this Faulks novel is even more wonderful. Later I'll talk about what I got from it...the third and fifth story most obviously contained the book's themes, but I wonder if I'll still feel that way on second reading. For my colleagues at Abington Friends--this is a wonderful spring break book. Think about reading while you are basking in the sun. I'll be at the gym rehabbing my knee and then icing it...and reading."
—
Jane (4 out of 5 stars)
About Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Faulks’ six previous novels include Birdsong (1993), Charlotte Gray (2000), The Girl at the Lion d’Or (1989), and On Green Dolphin Street (2001). He is also the author of a biographical study, The Fatal Englishman (1996). He lives in London, is married, and has two sons and a daughter.
About the Narrators
Samuel West’s theater work includes ENRON, Hamlet for the RSC, and starring opposite his father Timothy in A Number. His TV credits
include Cambridge Spies, Any Human Heart, Eternal Law, and Mr.
Selfridge, and he has narrated many TV documentaries. Among his films are Hyde Park on Hudson, Van Helsing, Iris, Persuasion, and Howards End. He has also directed ten
plays and two operas.
Christian Rodska has worked in theaters all over the United Kingdom and in the West End, and he has recorded hundreds of radio plays and poetry programs. Over the last thirty years he has worked regularly in television, from early programs such as Follyfoot and Doomwatch, to Taggart, Sharpe, and Wycliffe. He has recorded over one hundred audiobooks and has won several awards, including fourteen AudioFile Earphones Awards.
Sian Thomas, actress and Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator, was nominated for a 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for her role in Up for Grabs. She appeared as Amelia Bones in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Rupert Degas is an award-winning narrator and a 2022 recipient of the AudioFile Golden Voice Award. He has won numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards, has recorded the works of Peter Carey, Haruki Murakami, Andy McNab, Darren Shan, and Derek Landy, among others. He has also recorded over fifty radio productions including The Gemini Apes, The Glittering Prizes, This Sceptered Isle, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He has appeared on film and television in Dead Romantic, EastEnders, Waiting for God, Passport to Murder, Over Here, Fatherland, The Cappuccino Years, Exorcist: The Beginning, Love Soup and Shoot the Messenger. He has also lent his voice to numerous animated films and series including Mr. Bean, Bob the Builder, Robotboy, and The Amazing World of Gumball. Along with several stints in Newsrevue at the Canal Café Theatre and in Edinburgh, he has appeared on the London stage in The Boys Next Door, Are We There Yet?, Becket, Stones in His Pockets, and Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of The 39 Steps. He lives in Sydney, Australia.