The Book of Hidden Things cover art

The Book of Hidden Things

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Book of Hidden Things

By: Francesco Dimitri
Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.99

Buy Now for £13.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

From "one of the most significant figures of the last generation of fantasy" comes Francesco Dimitri's debut novel in English, an enthralling and seductive fantasy following four old friends and the secrets they keep.

Four friends have a pact: to meet up on the same day every year in their small hometown in southern Italy. Art, the charismatic leader of the group, has always been adamant about the pact. But this year, he doesn't show up. Searching for him, the friends make a worrying discovery: Art has been farming marijuana, a very dangerous activity in mafia-controlled country. Asking around in town, they hear bizarre and incredible rumours that Art cured a young girl of leukemia. And then, amongst the chaos of his house, they find a curious manuscript written by Art called The Book of Hidden Things, which promises to reveal secrets enchanting as flames, and just as treacherous....

©2018 Francesco Dimitri (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd
Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Literary Fiction Supernatural Paranormal
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Never the Wind cover art
The Best American Short Stories 2020 cover art
The Lost Bookshop cover art
Maurice cover art
Six of Crows cover art
The Bad Things cover art
The Gone and the Forgotten cover art
A Spanish Sunrise cover art
Burdizzo Mix Tape, Volume One cover art
Clovenhoof cover art
Who's Loving You cover art
Her Sister's Secret cover art
East of Innocence cover art
Sweetpea cover art
A-Z of Horror: Complete Collection cover art
The Man Who Hacked the World cover art

Critic reviews

"An affecting fable of friendship, magic and nostalgia." (The Guardian)

"In lesser hands, this blend of detective story, organized crime thriller, and supernatural investigation would feel like a grab bag of plot devices, but Dimitri has created a thrilling spectacle that also manages to point poignantly at the way the landscapes we grow up in shape us in ways even beyond our understanding. A deeply felt look at the idea of home, clothed as a popcornworthy page-turner." (Kirkus Reviews)

"An evocative meditation on friendship, adulthood, and the liminal spaces that lie just outside human perception [...] Dimitri's beautifully written tale, steeped in nostalgia, folklore, and religion, will enthrall and terrify readers." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Book of Hidden Things

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

leved the birds eye view

Great story to keep you entertained. Loved every second. Re-read it twice. I would recommend this to everyone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

outstanding narration - frustrating story!

I could listen to this guy's vice all day. I definitely lost track of who was telling the story when (character perspective kept switching). started out so intriguing and promising but just ended up frustrating I'd say! ah well. the narration was enough for me to stick it out!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Great story well told, held my attention right to the end highly recommend . Great details of life in southern Italy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, horrible narration

I really enjoyed this story, so I saw it through to the end in spite of the inappropriate and over dramatic reading. Very believable central characters, a great idea and an interesting ending. I will look for this author again

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very enjoyable

I enjoyed this story. Yes at times I did lose which character was being narrated and I had to go back a few seconds to get my mind in line with the story.
Unlike any story I’ve listened to before, nice to try something new.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Awful narration ruined a good premise

The narrator ruined this book for me entirely. What promises to be a great mystery ends up sounding like pantomime and inauthentic. Definitely not the right voice for the characters or personalities. Ugh! Could not finish!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not what I expected

Maybe I didn’t get far enough in but after 2.5hrs and no fantasy elements to what I thought was going to be a fantasy book then I gave up. Narrator was a bit dull to be honest.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Better left hidden

I thought this book was awful - both the story line and the narration. If I could give it 'zero' stars I would. I see I'm not the only reviewer who thought that it has mysogenistic sexual fantacies which I thought that the author should have got over by the time he was 14. The book is divided into chapters narrated by four different characters - it was difficult to know which character was narrating at the time because the narrator seems to have a limited number of voices.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful