It’s been a whirlwind couple of months – Everything Is Lies was released on February 22nd this year, and I have been following its progress like a nervous stage mother:
One thing that has really come out strongly is how popular the Audible version is – sales of that have been rising week on week. The audiobook is read by Anna Popplewell and Sian Thomas, who do a splendid job.
I was lucky enough to be invited to the recording of the audiobook by Penguin and after being introduced to James Keyte, who works for Penguin’s audiobook team, we took a car to what appeared to be this tiny yard closed off with a wooden gate.
However, when you entered the right code into the keypad, a full-sized industrial park was hidden behind it, with multiple different businesses, mostly studios and digital production outfits. It was a bit like being inside the Tardis, but if the Doctor worked in the media.
At any rate, after more introductions we soon found ourselves inside a tiny studio – roughly half the size of my bedroom; a small dark space with no windows and partitioned in half. Anna, who reads Sophia’s parts, was already in there, and I shook her hand and had a photo taken with her in a starstruck daze (OMG, it’s Susan from Narnia!):
After that everyone settled down into seats – Tilda from Penguin, my friend Melanie who’d come up from Guildford, and I, gripping my chair like an excited little girl, and we listened to the recording while Anna worked in her tiny booth and we watched her through the glass. She was given occasional direction by the producer, who sat at the desk and spoke to her through a microphone.
It is actually a tremendous thing to watch other people perform your work. I had not anticipated how strongly moved I would be. Though you write down the story as it flows through your head, to hear it given human voices, often with inflections and emphases you can’t predict, is to have your work come truly alive for you. Though I didn’t get to hear Sian Thomas read, I’ve had plenty of time to enjoy her take on Nina since. I couldn’t be more proud of the whole endeavour.
At any rate, I can only wholeheartedly recommend you try the audiobook and see for yourselves what so blew me away – and I couldn’t be more delighted its doing so very well.
Are you interested in visiting libraries in Cambridgeshire to talk about your books?
Very interested! I’m down and out with flu at the moment, but would love to do more library events. I’ll fire you off an email now – look for it in your junk folder! All the best, Helen