Twist Audiobook By Colum McCann cover art

Twist

A Novel

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Twist

By: Colum McCann
Narrated by: Colum McCann
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INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • An “urgent [and] ingenious” (The New York Times Book Review) novel of rupture and repair in the digital age, delving into a hidden world deep under the ocean—from the New York Times bestselling author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin

“The spirit of Joseph Conrad hovers over the text, but here the heart of darkness lies at the bottom of the ocean.”—Salman Rushdie

“Everything gets fixed, and we all stay broken.”

Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist and playwright, is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. The sum of human existence—words, images, transactions, memes, voices, viruses—travels through the tiny fiber-optic tubes. But sometimes the tubes break, at an unfathomable depth.

Fennell’s journey brings him to the west coast of Africa, where he uncovers a story about the raw human labor behind the dazzling veneer of the technological world. He meets a fellow Irishman, John Conway, the chief of mission on a cable repair ship. The mysterious Conway is a skilled engineer and a freediver capable of reaching extraordinary depths. He is also in love with a South African actress, Zanele, who must leave to go on her own literary adventure to London.

When the ship is sent up the coast to repair a series of major underwater breaks, both men learn that the very cables they seek to fix carry the news that may cause their lives to unravel. At sea, they are forced to confront the most elemental questions of life, love, absence, belonging, and the perils of our severed connections. Can we, in our fractured world, reweave ourselves out of the thin, broken threads of our pasts? Can the ruptured things awaken us from our despair?

Resoundingly simple and turbulent at the same time, Twist is a meditation on the nature of narrative and truth from one of the great storytellers of our times.

©2025 Colum McCann (P)2025 Random House Audio
Family Life Genre Fiction Psychological Africa

Critic reviews

“Enigmatic and urgent . . . ingenious . . . McCann, author of the National Book Award-winning Let the Great World Spin, clearly knows what he’s up to.”The New York Times Book Review

“Told with McCann’s incomparable prose, Twist opens a window into an obscure way people on earth are connected, told by a man who is himself fairly broken. . . . Gorgeously written and sad and inspiring.”The Boston Globe

“Genuinely haunting and sometimes thrilling . . . There are also plenty of genuinely gorgeous passages about the way people are translated into dots of light in our information-based economy. As usual, McCann is sensitive to the fluid nature of oppression across history and countries.”The Washington Post

Beautiful Prose • Layered Writing • Irish Lilt • Compelling Storytelling • Thought-provoking Insights • Unexpected Twist
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There was nothing about this novel I did not. Definitely for the literary minded. There is also a mystery, although it was the rich, layered writing that spoke to me! Highly recommend!

Such lush language and great characters

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I laughed out loud when he inserted himself at the end. I met Colum at a reading in Idaho years ago and he was wearing that purple skinny linen scarf.

So happy he’s still writing fiction

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I loved all of it, a little heart of darkness a little Hemingway it was all good, one it the best I’ve listened to

Amazing narration

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Poetic writing. Compelling story and pacing. Reminds one of Conrad. Perfect narrator - his soft Irish lilt brings the story to life.

Brilliant writing, great story

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I love Colum McCann’s prose. His slight Irish lilt tinges his words with a particular melancholy that I find soothing.

Melancholy

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The words run through the listener like the ocean water itself. McCann is a genius with his prose - propelling the reader further down into the depths of love, convictions, uncertainty and clarity. Brilliant.

Liquid poetry

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Beautiful prose, exciting story, interesting commentary on modern and historical societies. And a unique cast of characters.

Beautiful Prose

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this reading was incredible! beautifully written and read. I think I may listen to it again.

holy fn sht

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The story is bland and plot is loose. Some nice build up that in the end led to nothing spectacular. Contexts of the plot are relevant, but don’t contribute much to the storyline.

Story is boring and character development too slow.

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I am sure there is a story in there, but this is not a book that draws you in by its story. It is rather a book to read in your study with a glass of wine, a crackling fire in the fire place and in solitude. I usually listen to audiobooks on my commute, but this book is just not made for it. The language is rich, almost oozing relevance, but this richness keeps you from easily following the story, which is well hidden somewhere I had no access to. I began to skip chapters to find my bearing somewhere, but without success. As said in the beginning, I am sure that there is a story somewhere in there and that it may even be a good one. But not for me, not on my daily commute with plenty of potential distractions.

Not for the daily commute

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