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Vox  By  cover art

Vox

By: Christina Dalcher
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
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Publisher's summary

The national best seller

One of Entertainment Weekly's and SheReads' books to read after The Handmaid's Tale

"[An] electrifying debut.” (O, The Oprah Magazine)

“The real-life parallels will make you shiver.” (Cosmopolitan)

Set in a United States in which half the population has been silenced, Vox is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter.

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

Soon women are not permitted to hold jobs. Girls are not taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke 16,000 words a day, but now women have only 100 to make themselves heard.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.

This is just the beginning...not the end.

One of Good Morning America's “Best Books to Bring to the Beach This Summer”

One of PopSugar, Refinery29, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Real Simple, i09, and Amazon's Best Books to Read in August 2018.

©2018 Christina Dalcher (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Narrator Julia Whelan brings this realistic, thought-provoking debut to life with heart.... A frighteningly believable story that ends with hope." (AudioFile)

Editorial Review

100 Words…is the length of this paragraph!

Vox has a great hook: what if women could speak only 100 words each day? But men and boys aren’t limited *at all*? Well, at the start of the novel, our heroine, Dr. Jean McClellan, is pretty tired from holding in all her thoughts and feelings…and resentful of her own beloved husband and sons. In the tradition of The Handmaid’s Tale, Vox makes dystopia feel contemporary and plausible. Although the novel is a little long, and I disagree with some of Jean’s choices, I enjoyed the performance by Julia Whelan, one of my favorite narrators. She makes every word count! —Christina H., Audible Editor

What listeners say about Vox

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Superb narration!

This story hits a llittle too close to home. Narrator is excellent. I read reviews before reading and expected to be disappointed...not at all. Had I been turning pages, I would have been doing so swiftly!!

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6 people found this helpful

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Good And Rage Inducing

This book was so good, but also terrifying. I kept having to stop listening, I was so filled with rage. You know a book is good when it can induce such a visceral response. If you are a fan of The Handmaid’s Tale, this is definitely a book for you.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

Easy to listen to and great for a solo road trip.

Hmm, this book was perfect for a solo road trip across New York State and meant I could listen to it from start to finish in one go, with my Starbucks and the road in front of me.

Firstly, Julia Whelan has to be one of the best narrators out there. I have listened to more books by searching via her name. She’s a keeper!!!

The story was quite different to Handmaid’s Tale, which is good for both authors, so it’s not really fair to compare it. The story wasn’t just about the 100 words neither and moved quickly onto her work, for the government, so the comparison to HMT is that it felt less traumatic.

I felt sorry for the main character’s husband. She and her family didn’t really even grieve for him and it was all a little convenient at the end.

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1 person found this helpful

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Great potential, but fell short...

I felt like this was a romance novel clothed in a foggy dystopian dream that never quite seems to materialize. Towards the end, the plot continually gets clipped short, things become less believable, and it's not hard to predict at all. The premise is fantastic, but the latter half of the story just didn't do it for me.

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a must

loved listening to the story with lots of intrigue. scary possibilities. really makes you think

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WOW!!

This book was not what I expected and I really ended up enjoying it. Always kept me wondering what was going to happen next.

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Great read

Great book! Kept me hooked from the very beginning. A good storyline, one you think could never happen in real life, but then again, that’s the point of the story. Definitely would recommend

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couldn't stop listening

just wow. I couldn't stop listening to this tale of women rising above it all with a focus on one woman trying to balance it all: doing what is right for herself, for her country, and for her family. I don't think I've ever listened to an audiobook so fast.

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AMAZING.

I binge listened to this in one sitting. I started it before heading to bed, but could not will myself to turn it off and try to sleep because I was hanging on every last word .. so yes I literally pulled an all-nighter just to continue listening to this. I just finished, and must confess that never before has a book made me cry .. until now. The final sentence Dalcher writes to conclude this dystopian (although all-too familiar) story was so incredibly beautiful, that it took a few moments for me to register that I was about to cry 😅🥺. Amazing, amazing, amazing book. I want to start it all over again!

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Great new twist on a dystopian thriller

I enjoyed the imagination throughout this book and could not stop listening. A fun quick read or listen!

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