-
This House of Grief
- The Story of a Murder Trial
- Narrated by: Kate Hood
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, True Crime
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $33.57
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Monkey Grip
- By: Helen Garner
- Narrated by: Helen Garner
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inner-suburban Melbourne in the 1970s: a world of communal living, drugs, music and love - Garner captures the fluid relationships of a community of friends. Helen Garner’s gritty, lyrical first novel divided the critics on its publication in 1977. Today, Monkey Grip is regarded as a masterpiece - the novel that shines a light on a time and a place and a way of living never before presented in Australian literature: communal households, music, friendships, children, love, drugs and sex.
By: Helen Garner
-
The Promise
- By: Damon Galgut
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life’s unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt.
-
-
Excellent novel
- By ALG on 11-09-21
By: Damon Galgut
-
Atonement
- By: Ian McEwan
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Atonement, three children lose their innocence, as the sweltering summer heat bears down on the hottest day in 1935, and their lives are changed forever. Cecilia Tallis is of England's priviledged class; Robbie Turner is the housekeeper's son. In their moment of intimate surrender, they are interrupted by Cecilia's hyperimaginative and scheming 13-year-old sister, Briony. And as chaos consumes the family, Briony commits a crime, the guilt of which she shall carry throughout her life.
-
-
An amazing book about complex human perception
- By Amazon Customer on 08-17-04
By: Ian McEwan
-
Monogamy
- A Novel
- By: Sue Miller
- Narrated by: Sue Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Graham and Annie have been married for nearly 30 years. A golden couple, their seemingly effortless devotion has long been the envy of their circle of friends and acquaintances. Graham is a bookseller and a big, gregarious man with large appetites - curious, eager to please, a lover of life, and the convivial host of frequent, lively parties at his and Annie’s comfortable house in Cambridge. Annie, more reserved and introspective, is a photographer.
-
-
Monotonous
- By Susan G. on 10-16-20
By: Sue Miller
-
Shuggie Bain
- By: Douglas Stuart
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shuggie’s mother Agnes walks a wayward path: She is Shuggie’s guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. She dreams of a house with its own front door while she flicks through the pages of the Freemans catalogue, ordering a little happiness on credit, anything to brighten up her grey life. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, Agnes keeps her pride by looking good - her beehive, make-up, and pearly-white false teeth offer a glamourous image of a Glaswegian Elizabeth Taylor.
-
-
There’s far too much real pain and sadness in the world to spend any time listening to this tale of woe
- By SuperShopper on 02-18-21
By: Douglas Stuart
-
The Corrections
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 21 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Corrections is a grandly entertaining novel for the new century--a comic, tragic masterpiece about a family breaking down in an age of easy fixes. After almost 50 years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. Enid has set her heart on an elusive goal: bringing her family together for one last Christmas at home.
-
-
Uniquely divisive book.
- By Richard Delman on 08-27-18
By: Jonathan Franzen
-
Monkey Grip
- By: Helen Garner
- Narrated by: Helen Garner
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inner-suburban Melbourne in the 1970s: a world of communal living, drugs, music and love - Garner captures the fluid relationships of a community of friends. Helen Garner’s gritty, lyrical first novel divided the critics on its publication in 1977. Today, Monkey Grip is regarded as a masterpiece - the novel that shines a light on a time and a place and a way of living never before presented in Australian literature: communal households, music, friendships, children, love, drugs and sex.
By: Helen Garner
-
The Promise
- By: Damon Galgut
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life’s unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt.
-
-
Excellent novel
- By ALG on 11-09-21
By: Damon Galgut
-
Atonement
- By: Ian McEwan
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Atonement, three children lose their innocence, as the sweltering summer heat bears down on the hottest day in 1935, and their lives are changed forever. Cecilia Tallis is of England's priviledged class; Robbie Turner is the housekeeper's son. In their moment of intimate surrender, they are interrupted by Cecilia's hyperimaginative and scheming 13-year-old sister, Briony. And as chaos consumes the family, Briony commits a crime, the guilt of which she shall carry throughout her life.
-
-
An amazing book about complex human perception
- By Amazon Customer on 08-17-04
By: Ian McEwan
-
Monogamy
- A Novel
- By: Sue Miller
- Narrated by: Sue Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Graham and Annie have been married for nearly 30 years. A golden couple, their seemingly effortless devotion has long been the envy of their circle of friends and acquaintances. Graham is a bookseller and a big, gregarious man with large appetites - curious, eager to please, a lover of life, and the convivial host of frequent, lively parties at his and Annie’s comfortable house in Cambridge. Annie, more reserved and introspective, is a photographer.
-
-
Monotonous
- By Susan G. on 10-16-20
By: Sue Miller
-
Shuggie Bain
- By: Douglas Stuart
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shuggie’s mother Agnes walks a wayward path: She is Shuggie’s guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. She dreams of a house with its own front door while she flicks through the pages of the Freemans catalogue, ordering a little happiness on credit, anything to brighten up her grey life. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, Agnes keeps her pride by looking good - her beehive, make-up, and pearly-white false teeth offer a glamourous image of a Glaswegian Elizabeth Taylor.
-
-
There’s far too much real pain and sadness in the world to spend any time listening to this tale of woe
- By SuperShopper on 02-18-21
By: Douglas Stuart
-
The Corrections
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 21 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Corrections is a grandly entertaining novel for the new century--a comic, tragic masterpiece about a family breaking down in an age of easy fixes. After almost 50 years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. Enid has set her heart on an elusive goal: bringing her family together for one last Christmas at home.
-
-
Uniquely divisive book.
- By Richard Delman on 08-27-18
By: Jonathan Franzen
-
Murder in Little Egypt
- By: Darcy O'Brien
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fusing the narrative power of an award-winning novelist and the detailed research of an experienced investigator, author Darcy O'Brien unfolds the story of Dr. John Dale Cavaness, the southern Illinois physician and surgeon charged with the murder of his son Sean in December 1984. Outraged by the arrest of the skilled medical practitioner who selflessly attended to their needs, the people of Little Egypt, as the natives call their region, rose to his defense. But during the subsequent trial, a radically different, disquieting portrait of Dr. Cavaness would emerge.
-
-
Well-Written and well-performed
- By Kelly Smith on 08-09-20
By: Darcy O'Brien
-
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
- A Novel
- By: Olga Tokarczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones
- Narrated by: Beata Pozniak
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then, a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon, other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind....
-
-
A Haunting Performance
- By M&M on 09-11-19
By: Olga Tokarczuk, and others
-
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
- By: Joan Didion
- Narrated by: Diane Keaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Universally acclaimed from the time it was first published in 1968, Slouching Towards Bethlehem has been admired for decades as a stylistic masterpiece. Academy Award-winning actress Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, The Family Stone) performs these classic essays, including the title piece, which will transport the listener back to a unique time and place: the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco during the neighborhood’s heyday as a countercultural center.
-
-
Wanted to love it; couldn't listen.
- By Amazon Customer on 11-24-16
By: Joan Didion
-
Crossroads
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 24 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jonathan Franzen’s gift for wedding depth and vividness of character with breadth of social vision has never been more dazzlingly evident than in Crossroads. A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Jonathan Franzen’s gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident.
-
-
Less than! an hour in and I'm hooked...
- By Delane Garrett on 10-05-21
By: Jonathan Franzen
-
Once Upon a River
- By: Diane Setterfield
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A body always tells a story - but this child’s was a blank page. Rita reached for the lantern. She trained its light on the child’s face. "Who are you?" she murmured, but the face said as little as the rest of her. It was impossible to tell whether, in life, these blunt and unfinished features had borne the imprint of prettiness, timid watchfulness, or sly mischief. If there had once been curiosity or placidity or impatience here, life had not had time to etch it into permanence. Only a very short time ago, the body and soul of this little girl had still been securely attached.
-
-
Enjoyed thoroughly... one minor glitch
- By Jen817 on 12-27-18
-
Wilder Intentions
- Love, Lies and Murder in North Dakota
- By: C. J. Wynn
- Narrated by: Katrina Medina
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a November morning in 2015, Christopher Jackson waited for his fiancée, Angila Wilder, to pick him up from work as she always did. But this time, she didn’t show - and Christopher’s calls went unanswered. The police found what looked like a scene from a horror movie at their home. The backdoor kicked in. A bedroom splattered with blood. And a pregnant young woman violently stabbed to death.
-
-
Incredibly shocking and intriguing story
- By Amazon Customer on 01-06-21
By: C. J. Wynn
-
The Family Upstairs
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Tamaryn Payne, Bea Holland, Dom Thornburn
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gifted musician Clemency Thompson is playing for tourists on the streets of Southern France when she receives an urgent text message. Her childhood friend, Lucy, is demanding her immediate return to London. It’s happening, says the message. The baby is back. Libby Jones was only six months old when she became an orphan. Now 25, she’s astounded to learn of an inheritance that will change her life. A gorgeous, dilapidated townhouse in one of London’s poshest neighborhoods has been held in a trust for her all these years. Now, it’s hers.
-
-
The Family Upstairs
- By Jan Campanaro on 12-10-19
By: Lisa Jewell
-
The Long Call
- The Two Rivers Series, Book 1
- By: Ann Cleeves
- Narrated by: Ben Aldridge
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his estranged father’s funeral takes place. On the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family, too. Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death. The case calls Matthew back to the people and places of his past, as deadly secrets hidden at their hearts are revealed.
-
-
Excellent story and narration
- By jeanne on 07-10-21
By: Ann Cleeves
-
The Stolen Hours
- By: Allen Eskens
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Christine Lakin, Tina Huang
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lila Nash is on the verge of landing her dream job - working as a prosecutor under the Hennepin County Attorney - and has settled into a happy life with her boyfriend, Joe Talbert. But when a woman is pulled from the Mississippi River, barely alive, things in the office take a personal turn. The police believe the woman’s assailant is local photographer Gavin Spenser, but the case quickly flounders as the evidence wears thin. It seems Gavin saw this investigation coming - and no one can imagine how carefully he has prepared.
-
-
Couldn’t stop listening!
- By Erin Michelle on 09-10-21
By: Allen Eskens
-
The Journalist and the Murderer
- By: Janet Malcolm
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Janet Malcolm delves into the psychopathology of journalism using a strange and unprecedented lawsuit as her larger-than-life example: the lawsuit of Jeffrey MacDonald, a convicted murderer, against Joe McGinniss, the author of Fatal Vision. Examining the always uneasy, sometimes tragic relationship that exists between journalist and subject, Malcolm finds that neither journalist nor subject can avoid the moral impasse that is built into the journalistic situation.
-
-
Wow.
- By Austin Pierce on 07-24-19
By: Janet Malcolm
-
Bitter Blood
- A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder
- By: Jerry Bledsoe
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 20 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this unrelenting real-life drama of three wealthy families connected by marriage and murder, Bledsoe recounts the shocking events, obsessive love, and bitter custody battles that led toward the bloody climax that took nine lives.
-
-
This is crazy... This is crazy... This is crazy...
- By Hilary on 07-07-15
By: Jerry Bledsoe
-
Beyond Reason
- The True Story of a Shocking Double Murder, a Brilliant, Beautiful Virginia Socialite, and a Deadly Psychotic Obsession
- By: Ken Englade
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
She was a beautiful, gifted descendant of Lady Astor. But Elizabeth Haysom was also a spoiled, willful daughter of privilege. He was the brilliant young son of a German diplomat. But his love for Elizabeth would draw Jens Soering into a web of madness and murder. When Elizabeth's parents were found savagely butchered in their elegant Virginia country home, she and Jens fled to Europe - igniting an international manhunt that spanned three continents.
-
-
Great story, better narration
- By melissa on 04-21-21
By: Ken Englade
Publisher's Summary
This House of Grief is a heartbreaking audiobook by one of Australia's most admired authors. Anyone can see the place where the children died. You take the Princes Highway past Geelong, and keep going west in the direction of Colac.
Late in August 2006, soon after I had watched a magistrate commit Robert Farquharson to stand trial before a jury on three charges of murder, I headed out that way on a Sunday morning, across the great volcanic plain.
On the evening of 4 September 2005, Father's Day, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother, Cindy, when his car left the road and plunged into a dam. The boys, aged 10, seven and two, drowned. Was this an act of revenge or a tragic accident?
The court case became Helen Garner's obsession. She followed it on its protracted course until the final verdict.
In this utterly compelling audiobook, Helen Garner tells the story of a man and his broken life. She presents the theatre of the courtroom with its actors and audience - all gathered to witness to the truth - players in the extraordinary and unpredictable drama of the quest for justice.
More from the same
What listeners say about This House of Grief
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Draco
- 10-18-20
Crime story from a different angle
This crime book was written from the perspective of the court case (and appeals). It was easy to follow, and posed a surprising theory of defence.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Adrienne
- 03-10-19
Murder or tragic accident?
Helen Garner is an accomplished journalist whose skills in research and engaging writing come to the fore in this examination of an Australian tragedy - the death of three young boys at the hands of their father. She manages to keep a critical distance from the trauma of the accident as she follows the court case allowing the reader/ listener to form their own judgements about the culpability or not of the defendant. It’s a very sad event but she does not allow the text to be maudlin or sentimental and she retains respect and sympathy for those involved.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rodney Wetherell
- 08-05-16
Fine telling of sad story
Helen Garner has recreated a very long trial and retrial which few of us would have sat through. It is a fine book, very well read here.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Story

- Kindle Customer
- 01-12-17
Terrible narrator
I just couldn't stand the narration on this, it made me cringe the entire book. It was so over the top theatre drama student and distracted from the narrative.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Elizabeth Young
- 05-31-17
Worst reader EVER
I hate this reader so much. She ruined an extremely good book. When reading normally she was quite good, but as soon as characters spoke she put on horrible accents, as it's a court-based story, speech is constant. She gave the defendant and witnesses terribly done, 'occa Aussie' accents making them sound like they had low IQs and were idiots. The judges and prosecutor had hoity toity pseudo-British accents for some stupid reason, and the defence lawyer had a mixture of both. This also made the story seem biased, as it was a crime story - seemed like the narrator wanted the listener to think the defendant was stupid and guilty and the prosecution superior and more educated to the defence. This impression would not have come across in the text as written. Then she started putting on accents for American witnesses and it got to be too much. Not to mention her revolting depiction of people expressing emotion - whenever the text read '...she cried' or '...said through a choked voice' etc she put on this very hard to listen to pretend crying voice complete with sighs and whinging noises for bad effect.
I really enjoyed the story of this book but she absolutely ruined it to the point of every time a person spoke, I'd cringe and grimace waiting for her stupid voices to stop. I wish I'd just read the book not listened to it as I hated it and would never recommend it to anyone with this narrator.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 01-02-19
Back away from the audio version of this book
Download the non-audio version instead The narrator is infuriating to listen to. I felt like I was listening to an adults version of Playschool storytime. The narrator should try narrating only fiction. Unfortunately, her performance was so.distracting that I could not appreciate the author's work.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 07-24-20
Great detail
A little repetitive in some aspects, but great detail.
If you heard about this and didn't get all the details, you will here. A little underwhelming however factual.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jo
- 07-16-20
I honestly tried
I didn’t want to start the book by disliking the narration. I tried to keep an open mind, I really did! I wanted to give the narrator a fair go but I am sorry - I have to agree the narration was hokey, over dramatic and distracted from a well-written account of an interesting trial.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 07-09-20
Beautifully written
This book is so eloquently written, the detail is poetic but crucial. To the author I say you have created yet another masterpiece.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Helena
- 07-25-18
Narration could have been better
I wish I actually read this book. The unfortunate story was well written, keeping me interested. However, the narrator's performance was irritable when quoting barristers and witnesses...
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Sue
- 06-05-18
Difficult topic well covered
An in-depth coverage of a murder trial in modern Australia. Well written and interesting, despite the horrendous content.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- ally burgo
- 02-22-18
Disturbing and brilliant
This is such a distressing story but incredibly well written and well performed. I couldn’t stop listening, even though I was familiar with the story. I felt like I was right there in the court room watching it play out.