Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
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.

Gould's Book of Fish

By: Richard Flanagan
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
Try for £0.00

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

Buy Now for £25.99

Buy Now for £25.99

Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
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.

Summary

  • Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 2002.
  • Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2002.
  • Winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, 2002.

Once upon a time that was called 1828, before all the living things on the land and the fishes in the sea were destroyed, there was a man named William Buelow Gould, a convict in Van Dieman's Land who fell in love with a black woman and discovered too late that to love is not safe. Silly Billy Gould, invader of Australia, liar, murderer, forger, fantasist, was condemned to live in the most brutal penal colony in the British Empire, and there ordered to paint a book of fish. Once upon a time, miraculous things happened....
©2002 Richard Flanagan (P)2004 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction
Show More Show Less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Wanting cover art
Nightshade and Damnations cover art
Trial of Flowers cover art
The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents cover art
Last Plane to Heaven cover art
The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters cover art
Imperium cover art
Money Power Love: A Novel cover art
Scruffians! cover art
South of Darkness cover art
Song of the Sea Maid cover art
The Electric Michelangelo cover art
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse cover art
The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman cover art
Star of the Sea cover art
The Secret River cover art

Critic reviews

"Flanagan's fact-based fiction is a miraculously vulgar and sensationally evocative listen. The story of Billy Gould, a convict who has been sent to Van Dieman's Land, a Tasmanian penal colony, in 1828, reveals in graphic detail both the essence of inhumanity and bizarre acts of humanity. This vivid description of prison life combined with the story's surrealistic miracles could be a life-changing experience for the listener. Taking his cue from the enormous imagination of the author, Humphrey Bower catches the excessive vitality of Gould. Sometimes the manic pace of his narration overwhelms the novel's quieter moments, but the convict himself would probably not be disturbed. Prepare yourself to be drawn in, tossed about, horrified, and totally dazzled." ( AudioFile magazine)

What listeners say about Gould's Book of Fish

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Emily

Audio sample not representative

What disappointed you about Gould's Book of Fish?

The voice of a reader is really important and the audio sample would lead you to believe that the book is read in one voice, however, for most of the book the narration is done in a different accent. I found the accent very annoying and couldn't absorb the story. Others I'm sure will enjoy it but I feel I was mis-sold.

Any additional comments?

I have very much enjoyed Richard Flanagans other books but this wasn't for me.

Report this

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful