Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

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.

The Other Family

By: Joanna Trollope
Narrated by: Fenella Woolgar
Try for £0.00

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

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
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

Chrissie knew that Richie had loved her for all the twenty-three years they’d been together, loved their three daughters and their house in Highgate and their happy, chaotic existence. Richie gave her everything, except the one thing that would have made her life perfect.

She even had a sparkling ring - but it was not a wedding ring, and did not bring with it the security of marriage. That belonged to Margaret, back in Newcastle where Richie had started off as a musician, before he became famous. Margaret and her son Scott never saw Richie, and had never met the three girls. They were his other family, not mentioned but always there in Chrissie’s mind as an obstacle to her complete happiness.

And then, suddenly and shockingly, Richie was no longer there, and Chrissie and the girls had to learn to manage without him. The presence of the other family became, all at once, impossible to ignore – not least because they were involved in Richie’s will. Old resentments, feelings of abandonment and loss, had to jostle with the practicalities of money and property...

©2010 Joanna Trollope (P)2010 Random House Audio
  • Abridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Romance
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Marrying the Mistress cover art
The Men and the Girls cover art
The Best of Friends cover art
Other People's Children cover art
Mum & Dad cover art
Next of Kin cover art
Joanna Trollope: Parson Harding’s Daughter, A Spanish Lover, Second Honeymoon cover art
The Garden Party cover art
An Imaginative Experience cover art
The Catherine Howard Conspiracy cover art
Odd Girl Out cover art
Something in Disguise cover art
Tell it to the Skies cover art
The Thing About Clare cover art
Airs and Graces cover art
New Beginnings cover art

Critic reviews

Joanna Trollope’s The Other Family Fenella Woolgar reads with sensitivity, nicely contrasting the Londoners with the Tynesiders. ( 'The Times' March 6, 2010)
"Trollope explores, with infinite delicacy, the strands that make a family and Fenella Woolgar’s superb reading enhances it in every way."( Daily Express March 26, 2010 )

What listeners say about The Other Family

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

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

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A tale that draws you in

I really enjoyed listening to The Other Family. I didn’t initially think I’d warm to the characters, but got drawn into their lives and how they interacted with one another. It made me reflect on how we often judge others without remembering their back story.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Lovely Story, Made Better With Stellar Narration

This is one of my favourite Joanna Trollope books and I have read the story several times. A poignant investigation of bereavement and it’s effect on two families, the original wife and son in Newcastle, and the ‘other woman’, who was never granted the status of wife, despite having three daughters with the central male character.
It’s a beautifully observed and cleverly written story, full of emotion and humanity, but what lifts this already captivating tale is Fenella Woolgar’s wonderful narration. She slips effortlessly between Geordie no-nonsense Margaret and polished London Chrissie, even the three teenage daughters are all given individual, completely believable voices. It’s a tour de force of narration, wonderful to listen to, that brings every character to life and makes an already thoroughly enjoyable book even better. Bravo Fenella!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A sensitive exploration of bereavement

To those who know her books this is typical Joanna Trollope territory: the exploration of family dynamics under stress, in this case, the anguish and anger caused by the death of a partner complicated by the fact that he has a wife and son from an earlier relationship. The author deftly evokes the feelings of the children of the two partnerships the man has had and the antagonism between the two mothers of his children. Fenella Woolgar does a splendid job of narration and to my ears caught the various regional accents to a tee. I'd categorize this book has having more appeal to women with a special resonance to those of us who are second wives.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful