Prophet Song Audiobook By Paul Lynch cover art

Prophet Song

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Prophet Song

By: Paul Lynch
Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
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About this listen

Winner of the Booker Prize 2023

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother of four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.

Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and when her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling.

How far will she go to save her family? And what – or who – is she willing to leave behind?

Exhilarating, terrifying and propulsive, Prophet Song is a work of breathtaking originality, offering a devastating vision of a country at war and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.

2023, Booker Prize, Winner

2023, An Post Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, Short-listed

©2023 Paul Lynch (P)2023 Bolinda Publishing
Disaster Fiction Dystopian Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Science Fiction Ireland Emotionally Gripping Scary Tearjerking Thought-Provoking Marriage
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Critic reviews

'I haven't read a book that has shaken me so intensely in many years ... The comparisons are inevitable – Saramago, Orwell, McCarthy – but this novel will stand entirely on its own.' (Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon)
'Monumental ... You remember why fiction matters. It's hard to recall a more powerful novel in recent years.' (Samantha Harvey, author of The Western Wind)
'Prophet Song is a literary manifesto for empathy for those in need and a brilliant, haunting novel that should be placed into the hands of policymakers everywhere.' (The Guardian)

What listeners say about Prophet Song

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Riveting and powerful!

An incredible book with tense pacing as the story spirals downward into a controlling fascist regime. Moving story told through Eilish’s perspective as she struggles to keep her family safe amid the increasing violence of the situation. Excellent narration!

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Oh boy, watch out

I read yesterday that Taylor Swift was described as a, “Master Storyteller.” I laughed for a moment then read Prophet Song. After reading Mr. Lynch’s outstanding work of what may come for 315 million Americans, I just shook my head and thought this is reason America is on the path where so many Stack families

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The next chapter of 1984

The book really did remind me of 1984 in that it is a lot of big brother and how quickly we could dissolve into a situation like this. good book

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Wow

Riveting and important story for our modern world. It had wonderful narration and story pacing.

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Booker Prize Winner

This novel serves as a sharp warning to us all. It CAN happen here. Lynch draws from histories of dictatorships such as those in Nazi Germany to show both the slow, encroaching nature of authoritarianism and the profound difficulty of making a decision in such a circumstance. Narrator was appropriately intense but mispronounced “she”
consistently.

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Riveting story and so well read

Vividly portrayed the fall of society and the belief that things would be Ok. But as the book warns history is full of those who stay too long. It brings to life the struggle against despotism and the soul crushing struggle of migration in a Western society so that we can understand the plight of Syrians and Ukrainians and others. Fantastic!!

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Stunning & timely

A staggering and well-written tale. From the opening lines, it draws you in through the quotidian details that make very real how this mother’s life feels as it unravels under autocracy.

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Hopelessness

As bleak as can be. There is nothing you can do. Well written. I’m glad it’s over

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Poetic and painful

Definitely worth it, although it’s a painful story. The narrator does an incredible job, really taking you into the story with a nuanced delivery. The writing is absolutely sublime.

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Prize winner? Not surprised.

Resonating loudly. A storyline that brings home the reality of how fascism can take hold . How life can change abruptly and how many cannot imagine it happening in “our country “ nor contemplate getting out before it’s too late.

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