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.
After You'd Gone cover art

After You'd Gone

By: Maggie O'Farrell
Narrated by: Lesley Mackie
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 £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

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...

There's Something I Have to Tell You cover art
The Country Girls cover art
The Truth About These Strange Times cover art
Down Where My Love Lives cover art
The Seven Sisters cover art
Ever Winter cover art
Home Fires cover art
Best Seller cover art
Summer of Secrets cover art
In Her Wake cover art
The Business of Lovers cover art

Summary

A distraught young woman boards a train at King's Cross to return to her family in Scotland. Six hours later, she catches sight of something so terrible in a mirror at Waverley Station that she gets on the next train back to London, where a traffic accident leaves her in a coma. After You'd Gone follows Alice's mental journey into how she came to be this way, as she twists together threads of memory in a plot that grips from the outset.

It is a love story which is also a story of absence - we discover that Alice's lover, John, has been dead for a year by the time the book starts - and of parental legacies: how actions and choices can reverberate in following generations. Slowly, we are drawn closer to a dark secret at the family's heart, as Alice begins to wonder whether she will ever be whole again, or even survive.

©2000 Maggie O'Farrell (P)2012 Headline Digital

What listeners say about After You'd Gone

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    153
  • 4 Stars
    84
  • 3 Stars
    42
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    11
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    161
  • 4 Stars
    62
  • 3 Stars
    31
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    9
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    134
  • 4 Stars
    68
  • 3 Stars
    34
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
    12

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

A memorable family saga

Gradually one gets to know the three generations of a family as the story swings back and forth in time. You have to be on your toes to keep track of the era being described as there are no chapter headings to give you a clue. The character whose life is at the centre of the book is Alice and her important relationship with John. For anybody who has lost a loved one the final chapters are very poignant but do ring true.
A fine book describing family relationships with insight. Excellently narrated.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

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

Smoke and mirrors

Would you consider the audio edition of After You'd Gone to be better than the print version?

Yes, listening to the book brought over the pathos, the passion and the joy in the story. Our book group reviewed this book and several of us listened to it rather than read it - those who listened all agreed it was an excellent book, those who read were ambivalent, some not even finishing it, saying it was too sad and depressing. The mystery of what Alice saw in the washroom is only revealed in the last few pages - like smoke swirling around and images reflected in mirrors you can't see the whole picture until all the pieces suddenly fall into place and it all becomes clear.

What did you like best about this story?

The slow unravelling of Alice's story - in particular the visit to the shop when she is given a string of pearls as a gift. As the reader you know the motive but Alice does not and you wonder if Elspeth, her grandmother, realises and that makes her tell Alice to return them. The absolute desolation that engulfs her after the death of John is so real, so vivid. The characters are well drawn, right down to the elusive father-in-law who comes up trumps at the end of the book.

What about Lesley Mackie’s performance did you like?

The accents, the timbre and intonation - all excellent. I was never conscious of listening to someone reading a book aloud, it was just as if I were reading it.

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

I don't recall laughing much but I definitely cried in several places - the anguish felt by Alice and the despair were so well described. You knew what was coming and had to wait for her find out - that was so, so sad.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book, despite it being sad, so much that I have bought another to listen to. I have also recommended that those who read the paper book should try listening to it to see if it changes their opinion of the storyline.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

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

Disappointing

I bought this book because I loved Hamnet, but this is not really very good. It started off quite well but after halfway it lost credibility and didn't warrant 12 hours of listening.

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

Listen to this gem

Beautifully written. Magnificently narrated. I hung on every word. Maggie is an absolute genius writer.

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

So moving

An amazing story of love and loss. It will make you laugh and cry. Great narration.

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
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

good story, annoyng characters,unvarying tone

Where does After You'd Gone rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Near the middle

What did you like best about this story?

gripping first three quarters

What three words best describe Lesley Mackie’s voice?

little variation, over insistent

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Alice knitting a pullover flor her dead boyfriend

Any additional comments?

the main protaganists, Alice and John, were unappealing: Alice, too strident and spoilt, John, too much of a doormat. Cleverly structured but an unconvincing finale

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

Insightful and talented writing.

One of those rare books that leave you wanting more...more....more! Thank you to the author!

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
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not the work of the mature storyteller she becomes

Wanted to love this… big MO’F fan but it was cliched, the dialogue was terrible and clunky, plot confusing as it jumps from multiple timelines and tenses and voices. I also found the narrator had only one voice, or shrieked. Definitely recommend other MO books but not this one.

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

Performance many thousand stars

The voice actor was superb ! She took me along on an amazing journey. What a fantastic book in audio form because it jumps forwards and backwards through time it is important to concentrate.
Congratulations to all involved

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

After Youd gone

This was at times a difficult story, with many layers. but i loved it.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful