Author:Fredrik Backman,John Sackville
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Beartown by Fredik Backman, read by John Sackville.
Beartown is a small town in a large Swedish forest.
For most of the year it is under a thick blanket of snow, experiencing the kind of cold and dark that brings people closer together - or pulls them apart.
Its isolation means that Beartown has been slowly shrinking with each passing year. But now the town is on the verge of an astonishing revival. A bright new future is just around the corner.
Until the day it is all put in jeopardy by a single, brutal act.
It divides the town into those who think it should be hushed up and forgotten, and those who'll risk the future to see justice done. At last, it falls to one young man to find the courage to speak the truth that it seems no one else wants to hear.
With the town's future at stake, no one can stand by or stay silent. Everyone is on one side or the other.
Which side would you be on?
Previously published as The Scandal.
a compelling mystery with strong characterisation and rich description
—— TV ZonePowerfully evocative of impoverished, pre-modern Paris
—— Evening StandardOne of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories
—— GuardianA supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness
—— IndependentThe most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales
—— ObserverSpine-chilling, tension-packed gripper
—— Woman and HomeBelinda Bauer is one of the very few really original crime writers of our time . . . The plot is neat and clever, but it is not the stories, the style or the characters alone - though all are good - that set Bauer's work apart. It is an indefinable extra ingredient that makes some books stand out from the crowd. This is one of them.
—— Literary ReviewIs there a current writer in the genre who can be guaranteed never to repeat themselves - and who comes up with an original premise for each new book? Yes there is - and it is the highly individual Belinda Bauer. Snap, her latest novel, continues this pleasing trajectory . . . Bauer (as ever) is very much her own woman, and produces something that exerts a considerable grip on the reader.
—— Crime TimeEdgy, original and beautifully written, this suspenseful story is dazzlingly good.
—— Sunday MirrorBelinda Bauer's plots are never anything less than original and unsettling, and her latest outing is no exception.
—— Sunday TimesThe opening of Snap is one of the most vividly unnerving I have read . . . razor-sharp observation.
—— GuardianBelinda Bauer's fiction teems with life . . . She is also an ingenious creator, never afraid to improve on reality . . . She is on absolutely cracking form in her latest novel . . . Kate Atkinson used to be the undisputed master of this sort of mixture of the serious, the exciting and the anarchic, but Bauer is now firmly in her class.
—— Daily TelegraphBelinda Bauer's novels are original, disconcerting and gripping.
—— The TimesA compelling and highly intricate novel . . . Snap follows the human impact of murder rather than the gory details
—— Press AssociationIn Transcription, Kate Atkinson recasts the bildungsroman within the fertile genre of the spy thriller… …As the plot of this accomplished novel hurtles towards its astonishing denouement, even the canniest reader may feel wrong-footed.
—— Pamela Norris , Literary ReviewI loved Kate Atkinson's Transcription - you don't know if it's farce about spies, or a spy story about farce.
—— Hanya YanagiharaThis intricate and captivating novel is a treat. Our advice? Cancel your plans and get lost in its pages.
—— HeatIntricate, compelling, unpredictable…a gripping spy story …filled with the mystery, humour, and Britishness we have come to expect.
—— StylistMurky, mysterious and with double bluffs,divided loyalties and untrustworthy narratives aplenty, Atkinson explores the nature of truth in this vibrant piece of historical fiction.
—— PsychologiesAtkinson’s poker-faced narration perfectly serves a twisty tale of innocence lost amid a fog of geopolitical double-dealing, framed with a deadly tragedy.
—— MetroGlorious... beautiful and smart and everything you have ever loved about Kate Atkinson.
—— Joanna CannonTotally gripping and extremely funny, with an excellent joke on practically every page...There won't be a better or more enjoyable book published this year.
—— Cressida Connolly , The OldieA grim and unbearably tense debut chiller with an unexpected and utterly fitting finale.
—— Kirkus ReviewsA compulsively readable thriller.
—— Booklist (Starred review)I’m gripped
—— YOU Magazine onlineFans of Gone Girl, Serial and Making a Murderer will not be able to put this book down. I promise you all that!
—— Let's Start With This One BlogA must read
—— I Love Reading This blog