Lisey's Story

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Mare Winningham

Length: 19 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Now an Apple TV+ limited series starring Julianne Moore and Clive Owen

The “haunting...tender, intimate book that makes an epic interior journey” (The New York Times), Lisey’s Story is a literary masterpiece - an extraordinarily moving and haunting portrait of a marriage and its aftermath.

Lisey lost her husband, Scott, two years ago, after a 25-year marriage of profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, best-selling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey knew there was a place Scott went - a place that both terrified and healed him, could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it’s Lisey’s turn to face Scott’s demons, to go to that terrifying place known as Boo’ya Moon. What begins as a widow’s effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited.

“Intricate...exhilarating” (The New Yorker), perhaps Stephen King’s most personal and powerful novel ever, Lisey’s Story is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love. It is a beautiful, “rich portrait of a marriage, and the complicated affection that outlives death” (The Washington Post).

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©2006 Stephen King (P)2006 Simon and Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"As much about the facets of longtime marriage as it is about the characters themselves, Lisey's Story offers a poignant glimpse at abiding love and the tides of grief, and the internal language of relationships of all kinds." (Atlantic Monthly)

"In Lisey's Story, Stephen King makes bold, brilliant use of his satanic storytelling gift, his angelic ear for language, and above all his incomparable ability to find the epic in the ordinary." (Michael Chabon)

"Lisey's Story is bright and brilliant. It's dark and desperate. While I'll always consider The Shining, my first ride on King's wild Tilt-A-Whirl, a gorgeous, bloody jewel, I found, on this latest ride, a treasure box heaped with dazzling gems. A few of them have sharp, hungry teeth." (Nora Roberts)

Awesome

Loved it! One of the best King books I have read. Will read again!

Love this book

Other than the annoying fake cussing that takes place throughout the book- I absolutely LOVE this book so much!

Absolutely Loved This One

Mare Winningham did a great job reading this one. She had just enough of a change in voice for different characters, but never came across as campy.
Sometimes King's longer books will take a bit to get going, but this one did not. Being a fan of Stephen King's work for going on 30 years, I feel some of his stories are horror and some are supernatural and some are heart wrenching. This one falls in the latter two categories. I cried at the end and don't mind saying so. The love story of Scott and Lisey was beautiful and something we can all aspire to. Minus the Long Boy....

One of my favorite books

This is written by one of the most prolific Horror writers but this is the story of Lisey and Paul a love story. A story of unconditional love. Lisey is one the best heroins in horror. We all have our own dark place but only Stephen King can conjure up something like boo ya moon.

not as good as I had hoped

struggled to finish it.
it was a bit too long for an ending that was meh.....

Truly different.

Was a very nice read. I wasn’t expecting to be sad about finishing it. Definitely recommend.

And the narration was perfect.

A dream of a book.

Like a dream it's beautiful, like a nightmare it picks at forgotten fears, and like both it's over too soon with a lasting impression. I devoured the story and got nothing accomplished while I did. I sat by my phone like a child at storytime and I don't regret it. I couldn't imagine a better narrator for this book and I feel like I just watched a 19hr+ movie. Now I'm going to have to see the show.

Love this book!

I wasn’t sure at first, but it turned out to be one of my favorites. I’ve read a lot of Stephen King and this one was a little bit different. Different but excellent! Thanks for knocking it out of the park Steven.

I loved this story, and the narrator

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book by Stephen King. This was such a beautifully written story of a marriage. I loved the book, and thought the narrator, Mare Winningham, was one of the best— if not the best— narrators I’ve heard. Was very sad when the book was over, but am going to watch the limited series on Apple+!

Must listen Great Story

I absolutely loved this book it was very gripping from the beginning to end the characters are amazing! The story was intense, moving, sad, and inspiring when I was done listening I wanted to start over just to hear the story again! Thank you Stephen King for such a great story!