Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

$0.00 for first 30 days

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 Party cover art

The Party

By: Elizabeth Day
Narrated by: Greg Wagland, Stephanie Racine
Try for £0.00

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

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

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.
activate_primeday_promo_in_buybox_DT

Listeners also enjoyed...

Scissors, Paper, Stone cover art
Paradise City cover art
Home Fires cover art
The Rachel Incident cover art
The Truth About These Strange Times cover art
Six of Crows cover art
Never Let Me Go cover art
The Lessons cover art
Wilderness and Other Stories cover art
Anna cover art
Mother cover art
The Never Hero cover art

Summary

A gripping story of obsession and betrayal, privilege and hypocrisy, set in the unassailable heart of the British establishment.

"As the train pressed on, I realised that my life was in the process of taking a different direction, plotted according to a new constellation. Because, although I didn't know it yet, I was about to meet Ben and nothing would ever be the same again."

Martin Gilmour is an outsider. When he wins a scholarship to Burtonbury School, he doesn't wear the right clothes or speak with the right kind of accent. But then he meets the dazzling, popular and wealthy Ben Fitzmaurice, and gains admission to an exclusive world. Soon Martin is enjoying tennis parties and Easter egg hunts at the Fitzmaurice family's estate, as Ben becomes the brother he never had.

But Martin has a secret. He knows something about Ben, something he will never tell. It is a secret that will bind the two of them together for the best part of 25 years.

At Ben's 40th birthday party, the great and the good of British society are gathering to celebrate in a haze of champagne, drugs and glamour. Amid the hundreds of guests – the politicians, the celebrities, the old-money and newly rich – Martin once again feels that disturbing pang of not-quite-belonging. His wife, Lucy, has her reservations too. There is disquiet in the air. But Ben wouldn't do anything to damage their friendship....

Would he?

©2017 Elizabeth Day (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Witty, dark and compelling." (Sebastian Faulks)
"I practically murdered this book in an evening I loved it so much. The Party is a terrifying, hilarious, brilliantly written original with a wit to die for." (Pheobe Waller-Bridge)
"Superb - clever, gripping, psychologically acute." (Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us)

What listeners say about The Party

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    155
  • 4 Stars
    143
  • 3 Stars
    74
  • 2 Stars
    20
  • 1 Stars
    18
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    198
  • 4 Stars
    112
  • 3 Stars
    30
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    10
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    130
  • 4 Stars
    114
  • 3 Stars
    76
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
    21

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

The Party of the Year...

After listening to some 5 star reviewed rubbish, this was a breath of fresh air. Here is an author who knows their craft, a well put together novel with believable characters... and not a predictable ending in sight.

Highly recommended!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Jb
  • 12-06-22

Neutral

I can't say I particularly enjoyed this book, I can't tell if the narration or the way the main character was written that made it seem stiff and uncomfortable. I felt like it went into a lot of unnecessary detail in places which detracted from the story. I only listened to the end to see what happened and was a bit disappointed; the story seemed kind of familiar and the overall twist/outcome unsurprising.

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
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Uncomfortable

My skin crawled almost all the way through this; it wasn't the reader, not completely, that crept up my spine; he was pretty good at conveying the coldness of Martin's narration. It was the writing. It made me feel ambiguous about most of Day's characters. None, but George, Lucy, and Fliss, came off with any humanity. Even then, I wouldn't want to stay with them through a whole story.

I realise the purpose of a creepy narrator, but having just read Faulks's Engelby, Party was a flimsy comparison.

Going to wash myself clean with something more hopeful, now.

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

Good story telling

Excellent read, excellent narration. Cleverly constructed story of relationships, Damaged by life they follow their goals, careless of others. Very interesting insights.

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
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intriguing, twisted plot

Slow start to begin, but very interesting plot as the story unravelled. Enjoyed how the story was told by both the husband and wife.

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
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Keeps you guessing

So intriguing the attitude the characters the deepening web you are hooked into. Each little tug u think what’s coming next. So different from how to fail but the versatility day shows is inspiring.

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
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable

An enjoyable listen, it's well written and i loved the multi narration/character points of view.

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
    1 out of 5 stars

The clever plot as with most Elizabeth Day novels.

I love Elizabeth Day books. Think she has tremendous talent and character insight. The narrators were a perfect choice!

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

Loved every minute!

Would highly recommend. Didn’t want it to end…this is my second Elizabeth Day novel…looking for more!

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
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The Party

I did like this book and it did flow along at a nice pace but the twist was minor and the big reveal was obvious. On saying this though I loved the different characters and what each brought to the plot. The narration was spot on.

Briefly it's about two couples who come from different ends of the financial spectrum. The men have known one another since school and each - in my view - kind of depend on the other. The rich couple hold a party where something happens and that's where the novel starts. The story is told through the poorer couple's perspective and regularly hops between time frames.

A short novel - for me, and worth a credit. Don't know if I would read anything else by the author at the moment.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful