The Trick to Time

By: Kit de Waal

Narrated by: Fiona Shaw

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal, read by Fiona Shaw.

Mona is a young Irish girl in the big city, with the thrill of a new job and a room of her own in a busy boarding house. On her first night out in 1970s Birmingham, she meets William, a charming Irish boy with an easy smile and an open face. They embark upon a passionate affair, a whirlwind marriage - before a sudden tragedy tears them apart.

Decades later, Mona pieces together the memories of the years that separate them. But can she ever learn to love again?

The Trick to Time is an unforgettable tale of grief, longing, and a love that lasts a lifetime.

Critic reviews

Weaving tragedy and joy, big themes and the minutiae of life, this is a love story to take on the classics

Tender with a fierce undercurrent of tension and heartbreak (Jane Shemilt, bestselling author of 'Daughter')

Authentic and beautiful, urgent and honest, this novel does what only the best do: it quietly makes room in your heart (Chris Cleave on 'My Name is Leon')

Tender and heart-breaking (Rachel Joyce on 'My Name is Leon')

A touching, thought-provoking debut (Guardian on 'My Name is Leon')

A beautiful story told with compassion, urgency and wit (Stephen Kelman on 'My Name is Leon')

Startlingly funny. Balances the gritty with the feel good (Observer on 'My Name is Leon')

Deeply moving, compulsively readable and, despite the heart-rending subject matter, often funny (Irish Times on 'My Name is Leon')

A story that's full of care; even in its saddest moments it is tender and kind. It feels like a book about all the best parts of being human, about family and friendship, and the way that loss only hurts the way it does because it's grounded in love. (S K Perry)

A precious book.

CAUTION for some listeners. Do make sure you enquire carefully to realize what it is about. You may not be ready for it, yet.
But I am very glad that a courageous writer has written , face on, about something that happens to many of us.
And I respect the writing of a truth and all the confrontations with reality all of us MUST eventually make, with kind, persistent help.. to keep going and to find purchase on the river bed of life.
Thank you.

My breathless admiration too for Fiona Shaw’s skill. I know she is a peerless actor from Becket to Potter but this reading is like Art.
Mind you, it was a bit confronting to be watching her amazing acting in “Killing Eve” at night and listening to her on Audible being people in such a remarkably different story. That’s a fine actor for you.

Go girls. Keep bringing us stories that swing the spotlight round to such utterly different points of view and drawing attention to ways of being that are never shown and acknowledging skills seldom appreciated.
And demonstrating to us all that you can, must, survive.