Red Joan cover art

Red Joan

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
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.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Red Joan

By: Jennie Rooney
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
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.
Cancel

About this listen

Joan’s voice is almost a whisper. ‘Nobody talked about what they did during the war. We all knew we weren’t allowed to.’ Joan Stanley has a secret. She is a loving mother, a doting grandmother, and leads a quiet, unremarkable life in the suburbs. Then one morning there is a knock on the door, and suddenly the past she has been so keen to hide for the last fifty years threatens to overturn her comfortable world.

Cambridge University in 1937 is awash with ideas and idealists, yet unworldly Joan feels better suited to a science lecture and a cup of cocoa. But a chance meeting with the glamorous Russian-born Sonya and her charismatic cousin Leo blurs the edges of the things Joan thought she knew about the world, and about herself. In the post-War world of smoke and mirrors, allegiance is a slippery thing. Working in a government ministry with access to top-secret information, Joan is suddenly faced with the most difficult question of all: what price would you pay to remain true to what you believe? Would you betray your country, your family, even the man you love?

©2013 Jennie Rooney (P)2013 Random House Audiobooks Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction War

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Whisky Galore cover art
Gold Dust cover art
Duet cover art
We Shall Remember cover art
The Shifting Fog [also published under the alternate title The House at Riverton] cover art
Despite the Falling Snow cover art
Home Fires cover art
The Photographer's Wife cover art
Her Mother's Secret cover art
In the Blood cover art
The Missing Sister cover art
Maid of Oaklands Manor cover art
Paradise City cover art
Postcards from a Stranger cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
The story is set in the 30's in Cambridge . It is centred round a young woman undergraduate and as the story unfolds it becomes clear that she is becoming involved with young politically involved Russians who are recruiting young people as spies. The heroine falls in love and it is that that keeps her close to the more active spies. She tries to keep her distance from what they are doing but eventually decides to "help".
The book starts with her unmasking at the age of 85, and one can experience along side her the fear and shame caused by her interrogation. Her motives as well as the convoluted duplicity of others are revealed as she is confronted by her past.
The book is very skilfully read by Juliet Stevenson and was a joy to listen to

An excellent but different spy story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Could not stop listening! Beautifully read. I really enjoyed this book, even though I do not normally like spy novels.

Gripping story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really enjoyed the story and really liked the main character. The narrator read it beautifully. Would highly recommend.

Extremely gripping

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this book. The narrator is brilliant but then again if Juliet read a telephone directory it would fab. Great story, I was sorry to finish it. if you read one audible book this year, let it be this one.

Wonderful Book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I was slightly hesitant if I'd like this book but it quickly engaged me Couldn't help visualize Came Just as the older Joan I haven't seen the film but this was a great story Brilliant audio by Juliet Stevenson her rich tone suited the book Loved it

Great Listen Great Book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great story impeccably read by Juliet Stevenson. Switches between present day and the 1930s/1940s, the story of Joan in her 20s and later as old woman when her past finally catches up with her.

Brilliant street and telling

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

What made the experience of listening to Red Joan the most enjoyable?

The lustrous narrative of Juliet Stevenson.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A Secret Long Held

Any additional comments?

The historical context of the story was interesting and seemed accurate.

Very Good story read excellently

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book..the story, the reading and the moral ambiguities. The story is gripping from begining to end but all the time it is making you think, what is right and what is wrong. The characters are sympathetic and beautifully created while Juliet Stevenson brings them to life superbly. Brilliant!

a gripping book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great story, wonderful characters and brilliantly written. This is how to write a dual timeline novel. Terrific narration, as you’d expect from Juliet Stevenson. Thoroughly recommend.

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good storyline which holds the attention to the end.
Can't say much more than listen to it.

Excellent book extremely well read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews