
The Spoiled Heart
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Esh Alladi
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By:
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Sunjeev Sahota
About this listen
“Will consume any reader who picks it up.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post
A brilliant and riveting story of ambition, love, family secrets, and unintended consequences, from “bold storyteller” (The New Yorker) and two-time Booker Prize nominee Sunjeev Sahota
Nayan Olak keeps seeing Helen Fletcher around town. She’s returned with her teenage son to live in the run-down house at the end of the lane, and—though she’s strangely guarded—Nayan can’t help but be drawn to her. He hasn’t risked love since losing his young family in a terrible accident twenty years earlier.
In the wake of the tragedy, Nayan’s labor union, long a cornerstone of his community, became the center of his life: a way for him to channel his energies into making the world a better—fairer, as he sees it—place. Now, he’s decided to mount a run for the leadership. But his campaign pits him against a newcomer, Megha, who quickly proves to be a more formidable challenger than he anticipated.
As Nayan’s differences with Megha spin out of control, complicating the ideals he’s always held dear, he grows closer to Helen—and unknowingly barrels toward long-held secrets about how their pasts might be connected. Suddenly, much more is threatened than his chances of winning.
In one sense a tragedy in the classic mold, tracing one man’s seemingly inexorable fall, The Spoiled Heart is also an explosively contemporary story of how a few words or a single action—to one person careless, to another, charged—can trigger a cascade of unimaginable consequences. A vivid and multilayered exploration of the mysteries of the heart, how community is forged and broken, and the shattering impact of secrets and assumptions alike, it is a blazing achievement from one of Britain’s foremost living writers.
©2024 Sunjeev Sahota (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Sahota has a surgeon’s dexterous hands, and the reader senses his confidence . . . a plot-packed, propulsive story . . . There is an easeful precision to Sahota’s prose reminiscent of Kamila Shamsie and Jhumpa Lahiri, a painful irony that evokes Percival Everett, and a grand human downfall alongside a battle of ideas that is Ibsenesque.”—The New York Times
“Me again, banging on about Sunjeev Sahota. I won’t stop until you read him . . . His new book, The Spoiled Heart, finds a timeless imprint in the hot metal of the moment . . . ‘I was always just trying to connect,’ Sajjan tells us—pleads with us—as the novel accelerates toward a series of increasingly shocking revelations. But how much can really ever be known or should be? That’s the paradox this brilliant novel wrestles with and one that will consume any reader who picks it up.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“A novel that examines local politics, issues of race, gender and identity, combined with the open wound of a past trauma, is no simple task. In another writer’s hands, the disparate plot strands might simply collapse. It is testament to Sahota’s immense skill that not only do they hold together, but that the novel’s most disturbing revelations are left almost to the final page . . . Each of Sahota’s books builds on the ambition of the previous one: restless, inquiring, utterly topical. The Spoiled Heart may be his finest yet.”—Financial Times
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- Narrated by: George Georgiou, Indira Varma, Art Malik, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Living on the island of Cyprus, Nisha is far from her native Sri Lanka. Though she longs to return home, she knows that working as a nanny and maid for a wealthy widow is the only way to earn enough to support her daughter, left behind to be raised by relatives. Yiannis is a poacher, trapping the tiny protected songbirds that stop in Cyprus as they migrate each year from Africa to Europe and selling them on the illegal market. He dreams of finding a new way of life, and of marrying Nisha.
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Lovely prose, heartbreaking story
- By RueRue on 12-10-23
By: Christy Lefteri
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The Sweet Taste of Muscadines
- A Novel
- By: Pamela Terry
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Lila Bruce Breedlove never quite felt at home in Wesleyan, Georgia, especially after her father’s untimely demise when she was a child. Both Lila and her brother, Henry, fled north after high school, establishing fulfilling lives of their own. In contrast, their younger sister, Abigail, opted to remain behind to dote on their domineering, larger-than-life mother, Geneva. When their elderly mother dies suddenly and suspiciously in the muscadine arbor behind the family estate, Lila and Henry return to the town that essentially raised them.
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Absolutely LOVED it!
- By Kenny Cook on 07-07-21
By: Pamela Terry
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Paradise
- By: Abdulrazak Gurnah
- Narrated by: Chukwudi Iwuji
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award, Paradise was characterized by the Nobel Prize committee as Abdulrazak Gurnah’s “breakthrough” work. It is at once the chronicle of an African boy’s coming-of-age, a tragic love story, and a tale of the corruption of African tradition by European colonialism.
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East African pre-colonual history from the inside out
- By Nzingha on 03-08-24
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Four Squares
- By: Bobby Finger
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1992, on his thirtieth birthday, Artie Anderson meets the man who will change his life. Artie spends his days at a tedious advertising job, finding relief in the corner of New York City he can call his own, even as the queer community is still being ravaged by HIV. But when his birthday celebration brings Artie and his friends to his favorite bar, a chance encounter with Abe, an uptight lawyer and Artie’s opposite in almost every way, pushes Artie to want, and to ask for, more for himself.
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Subtle, heart wrenching, excellent writing
- By Anonymous User on 07-09-24
By: Bobby Finger
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Shiner
- A Novel
- By: Amy Jo Burns
- Narrated by: Catherine Taber
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
An hour from the closest West Virginia mining town, 15-year-old Wren Bird lives in a cloistered mountain cabin with her parents. Every Sunday, Wren's father delivers winding sermons in an abandoned gas station. But over the course of one summer, a miracle performed by Wren's father quickly turns to tragedy. As the order of her world begins to shatter, Wren must uncover the truth of her father's mysterious legend and her mother's harrowing history and complex bond with her best friend.
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Victim complexes extraordinaire
- By Dora on 08-21-20
By: Amy Jo Burns
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The Empress of Cooke County
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Bass Parman
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Thirty-eight-year-old Posey Jarvis is the self-appointed “empress” of rural Spark in Cooke County, Tennessee. She spends her days following every word about her idol and look-alike Jackie Kennedy, avoiding her stalwart husband Vern, and struggling to control her newly defiant daughter Callie Jane—all while sneaking nips of gin. When Posey unexpectedly inherits a derelict mansion from her quirky old aunt Milbrey, she finagles her way into hosting her high school’s twentieth reunion there.
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Southern small town charm
- By Britain Singleton on 10-15-24
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Say Hello to My Little Friend
- By: Jennine Capó Crucet
- Narrated by: Krizia Bajos
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Failed Pitbull impersonator Ismael Reyes—you can call him Izzy—might not be the Scarface type, but why should that keep him from trying? Growing up in Miami has shaped him into someone who dreams of being the King of the 305, with the money, power, and respect he assumes comes with it. After finding himself at the mercy of a cease-and-desist letter from Pitbull’s legal team and living in his aunt’s garage, Izzy embarks on an absurd quest to turn himself into a modern-day Tony Montana.
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Solid weird book
- By D B on 02-21-25
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Whoever You Are, Honey
- A Novel
- By: Olivia Gatwood
- Narrated by: Olivia Gatwood
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On the Santa Cruz, California, waterfront, every house is a flawless glass monolith. Except for one. In a dilapidated bungalow, Mitty and her elderly roommate, Bethel, are the oddball pair who represent the last vestiges of a free-spirited town taken over by the tech elite. But their lives are about to be forever changed when a new couple, Sebastian and Lena, move in next door. Sebastian is a renowned tech founder and Lena is his girlfriend. But Lena has secrets; she feels uneasy about her oddly spotty memory and is growing increasingly wary of the way Sebastian controls their relationship.
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Interesting…..but kept me listening
- By Kate on 04-10-25
By: Olivia Gatwood
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The Tie That Binds
- By: Kent Haruf
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Colorado, January 1977. Eighty-year-old Edith Goodnough lies in a hospital bed, IV taped to the back of her hand, police officer at her door. She is charged with murder. The clues: a sack of chicken feed slit with a knife, a milky-eyed dog tied outdoors one cold afternoon. The motives: the brutal business of farming and a family code of ethics as unforgiving as the winter prairie itself.
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Sad, No Real Conclusion and Pointless
- By Debbie on 03-28-24
By: Kent Haruf
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Between You and Us
- A Novel
- By: Kendra Broekhuis
- Narrated by: Anna Caputo
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Leona Warlon heads across the city to meet her husband, David, for a rare dinner out, she hopes they can share a moment of relief after their year of loss. But Leona quickly realizes this is no ordinary date night. She hasn’t just stepped into an upscale ristorante; she’s stepped into a different version of her life. One in which her marriage is no longer tender, in which her days are pressured by her powerful in-laws, and in which her precious baby girl lived.
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Such a great book!!
- By Mykayla Johnson on 10-10-24
By: Kendra Broekhuis
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Tremor
- A Novel
- By: Teju Cole
- Narrated by: Atta Otigba, Yetide Badaki
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A weekend spent antiquing is shadowed by the colonial atrocities that occurred on that land. A walk at dusk is interrupted by casual racism. A loving marriage is riven by mysterious tensions. And a remarkable cascade of voices speaks out from a pulsing metropolis. We’re invited to experience these events and others through the eyes and ears of Tunde, a West African man working as a teacher of photography on a renowned New England campus.
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Fractured narrative line but little gained from splicing of stories
- By Kirsten Scheid on 03-14-24
By: Teju Cole
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The Borrower
- A Novel
- By: Rebecca Makkai
- Narrated by: Kristen Sieh
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Lucy Hull, a young children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both a kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, 10-year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. The precocious Ian is addicted to reading but needs Lucy's help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly antigay classes with celebrity Pastor Bob. Lucy stumbles into a moral dilemma when she finds Ian camped out in the library after hours with a knapsack of provisions and an escape plan.
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Great story and great performance!
- By Anonymous User on 01-29-21
By: Rebecca Makkai
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The Old Place
- By: Bobby Finger
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Billington, Texas, is a place where nothing changes. Well, almost nothing. For the first time in nearly four decades, Mary Alice Roth is not getting ready for the first day of school at Billington High. A few months into her retirement—or, district mandated exile as she calls it—Mary Alice does not know how to fill her days.
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I heard the author on a podcast and...
- By Brenda on 10-01-22
By: Bobby Finger
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The Invisible Hour
- A Novel
- By: Alice Hoffman
- Narrated by: Jessie Mueller
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
One June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?
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An exquisite story about love and libraries.
- By Lori A Benson on 09-26-23
By: Alice Hoffman
Misunderstandings lead to life altercations
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The narrator was strong, bringing the right level of drama to the reading.
The Political Gets Personal
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