Things I Don't Want to Know

Living Autobiography 1

By: Deborah Levy

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Things I Don't Want to Know by Deborah Levy, read by Juliet Stevenson.

Things I Don't Want to Know is the first in Deborah Levy's essential three-part 'Living Autobiography' on writing and womanhood.

Taking George Orwell's famous essay, 'Why I Write', as a jumping-off point, Deborah Levy offers her own indispensable reflections of the writing life. With wit, clarity and calm brilliance, she considers how the writer must stake claim to that contested territory as a young woman and shape it to her need. Things I Don't Want to Know is a work of dazzling insight and deep psychological succour, from one of our most vital contemporary writers.

'Unmissable. Like chancing upon an oasis, you want to drink it slowly... Subtle, unpredictable, surprising' Guardian

'Superb sharpness and originality of imagination. An inspiring work of writing' Marina Warner

Critic reviews

An up-to-date version of 'A Room of One's Own' . . . I suspect it will be quoted for many years to come

Superb sharpness and originality of imagination. It is feminist and political while being an inspiring work of writing . . . She writes on the high wire, unfalteringly (Marina Warner)

Levy's strength is her originality of thought and expression (Jeanette Winterson)

An exciting writer, sharp and shocking as the knives her characters wield

One of the few contemporary British writers comfortable on a world stage

A writer whose anger and confusion in the face of the world transform into poetic flights of fancy . . . which always feel marvellously right

Horrible foreign accents - racist

The actor impersonates Chinese, Spanish and other foreign accents in the most appalling way. Cringey 😬

Reading of stor spoilt by ignorance

I enjoyed the story and insights of the author but the reading was spoilt by a lack of knowledge of the spoken style of some of the characters. I live in South Africa and found the passages spoken by Godmother Dory and Melissa very unnatural to say the least.