Behind the Scenes at the Museum

A Novel

By: Kate Atkinson

Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt

Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

A deeply moving family story of happiness and heartbreak, Behind the Scenes at the Museum is best-selling author Kate Atkinson's award-winning literary debut.  

National Best seller

Winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year

Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the 20th century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn about her family and its secrets. 

Kate Atkinson's first novel is "a multigenerational tale of a spectacularly dysfunctional Yorkshire family and one of the funniest works of fiction to come out of Britain in years" (The New York Times Book Review).

©1995 Kate Atkinson (P)2018 Tantor

Another Kate Atkinson multi-generational story

An imperfect mother, who was herself the daughter and granddaughter of imperfect mothers who made bad choices- a large functional yet dysfunctional family across two world wars and into the present. The horror of war, particularly WWI, are made clear through many stories. A great book! I highly recommend it!

Glad that she kept at it!

Her later books are better, and this one is better than most. It was a little hard to follow the chronology here.

Brilliantly written, amazingly read

This work weaves the threads, the waves, the shocks to the fabrics of lifetimes... layered, poetic, lyrical, magical and true. Searing, lyrical, poetic, there is masterful enveloping gorgeousness here. i've not enough breaths or precision of verbiage to express. will read/listen again & again. the audible is beyond phenomenal. Thanks so much for this work 🙏🏼❣️

Easily one of the best I’ve wcer read

Atkinson always delights, and this is no different. Just a wonderful family story about love, relationships and how we develop them.

Outstanding narration!

I deeply enjoyed this book. Sad, funny, smart. The narrator is so gifted! Highly recommend.

Not my favorite from Atkinson

This story is choppy, jumps around in time. So many characters are introduced in such a short time that I needed a scorecard to keep track of everyone. The novel may be better in print. I stopped listening after a few hours. I much prefer her Jackson Brody novels.

women rule this family saga

It makes sense that narrator Ruby's scorn for her mother, Bunty starts in the womb because this is a novel about how women run the show through the generations. Though she will never make Mother of the Year, Bunty at least endures her daughter's relentlessly scorn-filled memories with fortitude and at least a little dignity intact. Further, because she is the narrator's connection to her grandmother, aunts, great-aunts, and great-grandmother, her presence provides crucial continuity for this tale of generations of working class women in Yorkshire and one in which men are the bit players--good to start the occasional unwed pregnancy, romance someone away from her life made miserable by another, die prematurely, die in war, die at sea, or, in Bunty's case, to stay until death but make her undone with his philandering. Though she suffers greatly from her daughter's opinion, she is paid the ultimate compliment of becoming the book's most memorable presence.

A bit choppy

This novel darts around in time which makes for considerable confusion in remembering which family members belong to whom. I loved the reflective prose and even got to appreciate the reader’s accent after a while. As with many novels the last chapter was a hurried tying up of loose ends which detracted from the overall novel’s pace.

Just fabulous

Kate Atkinson is a miracle. Her use of language is second to none. The narration is perfect too.

smart and funny

Quirky, smart and funny. I really enjoyed the story and it's characters were interesting. the narration was fantastic also.