Utopia Avenue cover art

Utopia Avenue

The Number One Sunday Times Bestseller

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Utopia Avenue

By: David Mitchell
Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
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About this listen

Utopia Avenue might be the most curious British band you've never heard of.

Emerging from London's psychedelic scene in 1967, folksinger Elf Holloway, blues bassist Dean Moss, guitar virtuoso Jasper de Zoet and jazz drummer Griff Griffin together created a unique sound with lyrics that captured their turbulent times. The band produced only two albums in two years, yet their musical legacy lives on.

This is the story of Utopia Avenue's brief, blazing journey from Soho clubs and draughty ballrooms to the promised land of America, just when the Summer of Love was receding into something much darker - a multi-faceted tale of dreams, drugs, love, sexuality, madness and grief; of stardom's wobbly ladder and fame's Faustian pact and of the collision between youthful idealism and jaded reality as the '60s drew to a close.

Above all, this bewitching novel celebrates the power of music to connect across divides, define an era and thrill the soul.

©2020 David Mitchell (P)2020 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Fiction Historical Fiction Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

"One of the most brilliantly inventive writers of this, or any country." (Independent)

All stars
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Quality, unbolloxed

My first Mitchell since Cloud Atlas. If they make a film about this I hope they don’t screw it up too.

Back of the fkin net, Davo

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Different, what an imagination! Excellent writing with great descriptions. Thank you David Mitchell for a wonderful story.

Brilliant!

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After a slow start I really got into this. At the end you know these people like family, although they never lived and you love their songs without hearing a single note. What a performance from the narrator! This whole thing is just amazing!

What a book

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Nostalgic, moving and a welcome return of some familiar names in places ... just, wonderful. (Also, one of the best narrated audiobooks I have heard.)

Highly Recommended

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Likeable characters and a fun story about a group of musicians trying to make it big. The narration is good but some of the accents are a bit off. Recommended.

A story set in the 1960s of a group of musicians.

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Like is not a word used for David Mitchell books I absolutely loved this one. I love the era. I love the band. I love the characters each with their own fascinating back stories and challenges of every day life. The realistic struggles of trying to get started as a musician in the late 60s and all the politics around that time in the UK and America. It’s absolutely stunning and I cried at the end partly because of the story and partly because it was over - Shush this is a book I will reread again and again for sure. Now my joint fave of all time desert island books along with Cloud Atlas. David Mitchell is a genius. You cannot fail to be moved and affected by his unbelievable writing. If you are not you are already dead.

Stunning writing amazing storytelling

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I came into this book in a very excited state expecting a repeat from David’s usual psych bending storyline. So I was disappointed when it was a story of a band in the late 60s as advertised with all the extras of mind altering substances accompanied by stars of the day with no sign of ghosts past. At times I felt like abandoning the book and maybe get my credit back from Audible for the fluctuating level of my appraisal. But I stuck with it hoping it would go all Mitch, which happily it did. I’m glad I carried on with it because apart from the fact that he is my favourite author after Murakami and Eco, the book brought back so many memories on a personal level of appreciation of the music of the day and it had me reaching for Amazon Music to find solace in my search. For the die-hard DM fans, some might be disappointed as I was at first, but for the story value itself it deserves 5 stars and the narration deserves 5+ as it was a good all round listen.

Not your usual D Mitch

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Took me back to my youth in the 60s. great holiday listen. educational about mental health issues and music too. So glad I didnt do drugs.

fabulous

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if you're into David Mitchell don't miss this one, i almost did and was so glad i gave it a listen. narration was also brilliant.

loved it.

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I wasn’t sure what to expect but I really enjoyed this book. The narrator was superb... a master of accents! It made the story all the more engaging.

Excellent story and brilliant narrator

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