
Paint It Black
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jennifer Jason Leigh
-
By:
-
Janet Fitch
About this listen
"What happens to a dream when the dreamer is gone?" is the central question of Paint it Black, the story of the aftermath of Michael's suicide and Josie's struggle to hold on to the true world he shared with her. As Josie searches for the key to understanding his death, she finds herself both repelled and attracted to Michael's pianist mother, Meredith, who holds Josie responsible for her son's torment. Soon, the two women find themselves drawn into a twisted relationship reflecting equal parts distrust and blind need.
Passionate, wounded, fiercely alive, Josie Tyrell walks on the brink of her own destruction as she fights to discover the meaning of Michael's death. With the luxurious prose and emotional intensity that are her hallmarks, Janet Fitch has written a spellbinding new novel about love, betrayal, and the possibility of transcendence.
©2006 Janet Fitch. All rights reserved (P)2006 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
White Oleander
- By: Janet Fitch
- Narrated by: Oprah Winfrey
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this gripping first novel, a young girl, orphaned when her mother murders an ex-lover, endures the shuffle of a foster child's life. Oprah enjoyed her book club pick so much that she narrates the audiobook edition!
Browse more Oprah Picks.
-
-
White Oleander
- By Tracy on 04-09-04
By: Janet Fitch
-
The Revolution of Marina M.
- By: Janet Fitch
- Narrated by: Yelena Shmulenson
- Length: 30 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
St. Petersburg, New Year's Eve, 1916. Marina Makarova is a young woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life, a life about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Swept up on these tides, Marina will join the marches for workers' rights, fall in love with a radical young poet, and betray everything she holds dear before being betrayed in turn.
-
-
*****WOW*****
- By Ella Geller on 11-15-17
By: Janet Fitch
-
I Found You
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a windswept British seaside town, single mum Alice Lake finds a man sitting on the beach outside her house. He has no name and no idea how he got there. Against her better judgment, she invites him inside. Meanwhile, in a suburb of London, 21-year-old Lily Monrose has been married for only three weeks. When her husband fails to come home from work one night, she is left alone in a place where she knows no one and with the police telling her that her husband never existed.
-
-
Foul language
- By Carolyn D Mitchell on 03-04-20
By: Lisa Jewell
-
Our Missing Hearts
- A Novel
- By: Celeste Ng
- Narrated by: Lucy Liu, Celeste Ng
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left without a trace when he was nine years old. He doesn’t know what happened to her—only that her books have been banned—and he resents that she cared more about her work than about him.
-
-
Listen to the sample
- By Sunny White on 10-11-22
By: Celeste Ng
-
Unsheltered
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliantly executed and compulsively listenable, Unsheltered is the story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum, as they navigate the challenges of surviving a world in the throes of major cultural shifts. In this mesmerizing story told in alternating chapters, Willa and Thatcher come to realize that though the future is uncertain, even unnerving, shelter can be found in the bonds of kindred - whether family or friends - and in the strength of the human spirit.
-
-
Spring for a professional narrator, please!
- By Gail D. on 11-05-18
-
Galatea
- By: Madeline Miller
- Narrated by: Ruth Wilson
- Length: 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In ancient Greece, a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece—the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen—the gift of life. After marrying her, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own and yearns for independence. In a desperate bid by her obsessive husband to keep her under control, Galatea is locked away under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. But with a daughter to rescue, she is determined to break free, whatever the cost.
-
-
Fantastic reimagining
- By Mark on 11-29-23
By: Madeline Miller
-
White Oleander
- By: Janet Fitch
- Narrated by: Oprah Winfrey
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this gripping first novel, a young girl, orphaned when her mother murders an ex-lover, endures the shuffle of a foster child's life. Oprah enjoyed her book club pick so much that she narrates the audiobook edition!
Browse more Oprah Picks.
-
-
White Oleander
- By Tracy on 04-09-04
By: Janet Fitch
-
The Revolution of Marina M.
- By: Janet Fitch
- Narrated by: Yelena Shmulenson
- Length: 30 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
St. Petersburg, New Year's Eve, 1916. Marina Makarova is a young woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life, a life about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Swept up on these tides, Marina will join the marches for workers' rights, fall in love with a radical young poet, and betray everything she holds dear before being betrayed in turn.
-
-
*****WOW*****
- By Ella Geller on 11-15-17
By: Janet Fitch
-
I Found You
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a windswept British seaside town, single mum Alice Lake finds a man sitting on the beach outside her house. He has no name and no idea how he got there. Against her better judgment, she invites him inside. Meanwhile, in a suburb of London, 21-year-old Lily Monrose has been married for only three weeks. When her husband fails to come home from work one night, she is left alone in a place where she knows no one and with the police telling her that her husband never existed.
-
-
Foul language
- By Carolyn D Mitchell on 03-04-20
By: Lisa Jewell
-
Our Missing Hearts
- A Novel
- By: Celeste Ng
- Narrated by: Lucy Liu, Celeste Ng
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left without a trace when he was nine years old. He doesn’t know what happened to her—only that her books have been banned—and he resents that she cared more about her work than about him.
-
-
Listen to the sample
- By Sunny White on 10-11-22
By: Celeste Ng
-
Unsheltered
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliantly executed and compulsively listenable, Unsheltered is the story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum, as they navigate the challenges of surviving a world in the throes of major cultural shifts. In this mesmerizing story told in alternating chapters, Willa and Thatcher come to realize that though the future is uncertain, even unnerving, shelter can be found in the bonds of kindred - whether family or friends - and in the strength of the human spirit.
-
-
Spring for a professional narrator, please!
- By Gail D. on 11-05-18
-
Galatea
- By: Madeline Miller
- Narrated by: Ruth Wilson
- Length: 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In ancient Greece, a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece—the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen—the gift of life. After marrying her, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own and yearns for independence. In a desperate bid by her obsessive husband to keep her under control, Galatea is locked away under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. But with a daughter to rescue, she is determined to break free, whatever the cost.
-
-
Fantastic reimagining
- By Mark on 11-29-23
By: Madeline Miller
-
Daisy Jones & The Six
- A Novel
- By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Narrated by: Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Daisy is a girl coming of age in LA in the late '60s, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s 20, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne.
-
-
I wanted to love this book...
- By Stine on 03-17-19
-
Before I Met You
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After her grandmother Arlette's death, Betty is finally ready to begin her life. She had forfeited university, parties, boyfriends, summer jobs in order to care for Arlette. Now she's ready for whatever life throws at her, and, since the will included a beneficiary unknown to her who lives in the city, she heads there to find the mysterious woman. In 1920s London, Arlette is starting her new life in a time of postwar change. Beautiful and charismatic, she's drawn into a hedonistic world, but then tragedy strikes, and she flees back to her childhood home....
-
-
Awful
- By cristina on 08-13-18
By: Lisa Jewell
-
The Making of Us
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lydia, Dean, and Robyn live very different lives, but each of them, independently, has always felt that something was missing. What they don't know is that a letter is about to arrive that will turn their lives upside down. It's a letter containing a secret - one that will bind them together and show them what love and family and friendship really mean.
-
-
Extraordinary Stories
- By JimKnott on 08-16-18
By: Lisa Jewell
-
The Twisted Ones
- By: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be? Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more - Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants...until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.
-
-
Thoughtful build to a chilling, exhilarating finale. Also, the dog lives.
- By selkie86 on 12-29-19
By: T. Kingfisher
-
Once upon a Time in Hollywood
- A Novel
- By: Quentin Tarantino
- Narrated by: Jennifer Jason Leigh
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited first work of fiction - at once hilarious, delicious, and brutal - is the always surprising, sometimes shocking new novel based on his Academy Award-winning film.
-
-
Great Book Ruined by Leigh
- By Scott Wilson on 06-30-21
-
The Best of Me
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 25 years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes to what is at absurd and moving about our daily existence. And it is almost impossible to listen without laughing.
-
-
Almost No New Material
- By Lizardectomy on 11-05-20
By: David Sedaris
-
The Family Remains
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Dominic Thorburn, Bea Holland, Hugh Quarshie, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Early one morning on the shore of the Thames, DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery. When Owusu sends the evidence for examination, he learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead on the kitchen floor in a Chelsea mansion thirty years ago. Rachel Rimmer has also received a shock—her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France. All signs point to an intruder, and the French police need her to come urgently to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer.
-
-
It’s hard to understand
- By Avid series reader on 08-12-22
By: Lisa Jewell
-
One-Hit Wonder
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shy and gawky, Ana has always daydreamed about living the life of her exotic half-sister Bee, a pop singer who had a number one hit single before she inexplicably vanished from the celebrity scene. When Bee turns up dead, Ana is dispatched to the big city to clear out her apartment. Instantly seduced by the second-hand glamour of Bee's baubles, bangles, and bottles of Pierre-Jouet, Ana takes up with Bee's wild club-hopping cronies.
-
-
Important fact: Earlier books are NOT mysteries!
- By Prime Shopper on 08-08-21
By: Lisa Jewell
-
Heartburn
- By: Nora Ephron
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes. For in this inspired confection of adultery, revenge, group therapy, and pot roast, the creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that comedy depends on anguish as surely as a proper gravy depends on flour and butter.
-
-
Be the Heroine , Not the Victim
- By Cynthia on 07-12-13
By: Nora Ephron
-
Local Woman Missing
- By: Mary Kubica
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Jennifer Jill Araya, Gary Tiedemann, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold. Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they'll find....
-
-
Best Kubica yet!!!
- By LA book lover on 05-18-21
By: Mary Kubica
-
The Stroke of Winter
- A Novel
- By: Wendy Webb
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tourist town of Wharton, on the coast of Lake Superior, Tess Bell is renovating her old family home into a bed-and-breakfast during the icy dead of winter… As the house’s restoration commences, a shuttered art studio is revealed. Inside are paintings Tess’s late grandfather, beloved and celebrated artist Sebastian Bell, hid away for generations. But these appear to be the works of a twisted mind, almost unrecognizable as paintings she and others familiar with his art would expect.
-
-
NOPE
- By Nmax on 11-24-22
By: Wendy Webb
-
Pretty Things
- A Novel
- By: Janelle Brown
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Lauren Fortgang, Hillary Huber
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nina once bought into the idea that her fancy liberal arts degree would lead to a fulfilling career. When that dream crashed, she turned to stealing from rich kids in LA alongside her wily Irish boyfriend, Lachlan. Nina learned from the best: Her mother was the original con artist, hustling to give her daughter a decent childhood despite their wayward life. But when her mom gets sick, Nina puts everything on the line to help her, even if it means running her most audacious, dangerous scam yet.
-
-
SO GOOD
- By sandraleeweston on 04-28-20
By: Janelle Brown
Critic reviews
- Audie Award Finalist, Fiction, Abridged, 2007
"Masterful....A page-turning psychodrama." (Publishers Weekly)
"A second lushly written, dramatically plotted novel by the author of White Oleander. Once again, the relationship between a powerful older woman and a less-sure younger one drives the story, and Fitch's Los Angeles is so real it breathes." (Atlantic Monthly)
As for the narrator, I was fine with Jennifer Jason Leigh. Her voice matched the way I pictured the protagonist in my head, so I didn't have a problem with her, and I'm super picky about narrators.
All in all, this was ok. I just wish the description was more transparent so I knew what I was getting upfront.
This is Abridged and That's Annoying
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Read the book, there’s a lot missing in the audio.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Abridged
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I also really appreciate that the main character lacks any significant talent she just is. She does not produce she is used yet she is and she is her own and she is poor and she’s survived and in the end all she has is the love true love—Agape—not Eros. It is all agape in the end.
This is Janet Fitch’s best work
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved every line!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not Like Her Last Book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Couldn't stop listening
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In love with this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Audible review
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Best book ever
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.