Audiobooks narrated by Gillian Kearney

Brought to you by Penguin. 'Let me stay there, let me paint. Let me go to bed when the sun comes up. I don't want life to sharpen me.' Why make art? Faced with a capitalist system that has turned art into artwork and creative expression into cut-throat competition, why do so many artists try anyway? In this eye-opening journey through the bizarre world of contemporary art, criticism duo The White Pube tell the story of art like never before. Poor Artists follows aspiring artist Quest Talukdar through childhood obsessions, art school lessons and her professional debut. In surreal encounters with other artists, Quest learns profound truths about money and power, and must decide whether she cares more about success or staying true to herself. Blending imaginative storytelling with dialogue from anonymized interviews with real people in the art world who have all had to wrestle with the same decisions – including a Turner Prize winner or two, a few ghosts, a Venice Biennale fraudster and a communist messiah – Poor Artists is a powerful testimony to the emotional, existential and financial experience of artists today. 'A landmark for art writing' Nathalie Olah © Gabrielle de la Puente, Zarina Muhammad and The White Pube 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Gabrielle De La Puente, Zarina Muhammad (Author), Gillian Kearney (Narrator)

Audiobook

Christine McGuinness: A Beautiful Nightmare

We all know the fairy-tale. An everyday girl meets her Prince Charming, they get married, have children and ride off into the sunset. Sadly, this isn't always the case and Christine McGuinness is keen to change the stereotype that marriage, fame and fortune brings an easy and blissful life... This is Christine's first audiobook, where she tells the world her life story for the very first time. While telling her story, Christine was diagnosed with autism, as revealed in this book for the very first time. Christine outlines the difficulties and joys of being a mother to three autistic children - including the similarities she now sees in herself. Her autobiography also delves into her anorexia battle, fertility troubles, her marriage, modelling career and tough childhood, subjects which are sensitive and many of which she hasn't spoken about before. She is a mum of three to eight-year-old twins Leo and Penelope and four-year-old Felicity, all of whom have been diagnosed with autism. In this frank and candid listen, Christine reveals the struggles she's overcome in her life and still battles with today, but at the heart of it, she's on a mission to learn more about autism and to educate others and change the stigma around the condition. Christine wants to campaign to improve rights for those with invisible disabilities. She wants her children to be able to get a job, have relationships and live independent lives. In this audiobook, Christine gives readers a detailed insight into what being a full-time mum with three autistic children is like.

Christine Mcguinness (Author), Gillian Kearney (Narrator)

Audiobook

Fault Lines: Money, Sex and Blood: A BBC Radio 4 drama series

Glenda Jackson stars in this compelling drama series inspired by Émile Zola's Rougon-Macquart series, highlighting different aspects of contemporary Britain In 2015, double Oscar winner Glenda Jackson made a triumphant return to acting in Radio 4's Blood, Sex and Money, a radical reimagining of Émile Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle. Now, she reprises her role as matriarch/narrator in this eclectic mix of dramas inspired by Zola's novels, but set in modern Britain. Constance is confined to her sick bed and dying of motor neurone disease. Her body is paralysed, but her mind runs free, seeking out stories from the extended family she has long refused to acknowledge. As she delves into their lives, she uncovers dark secrets, lies and deceit. Has bad blood seeped down through the generations to corrupt them all, or is there a chink of light in the familial fault lines, where love and hope can flourish? In these three series, exploring British society through the lens of money, sex and blood, we meet the members of her flawed clan - from her son Miles, born into wealth and privilege, to her great-great-cousin Hannah and great-niece Natalie, struggling to survive in a world of zero-hours contracts, foodbanks and precarious social housing. Whether rich or poor, all have been shaped by the powerful driving forces of capitalism, desire and DNA... Written by a host of top dramatists including the award-winning Christopher Reason, Roy Williams, Eve Steele and Michael Symmons Roberts, these intimate, immersive dramas are performed by a stellar cast including Robert Glenister, Gillian Kearney, Don Gilet, Siobhan Finneran, Eleanor Bron and Rudolph Walker. Produced and directed by Pauline Harris and Gary Brown Sound design by Steve Brooke, Sharon Hughes and Simon Highfield First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 16-21 February 2020 (Money), 10-17 October 2020 (Sex), 18-26 January 2022 (Blood) © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Becky Prestwich, Christopher Reason, Esther Wilson, Eve Steele, Fiona Evans, James O'neill, Kathrine Smith, Michael Simmons Roberts, Roy Williams, Sharon Kelly, Tom Fry (Author), Don Gilet, Eleanor Bron, Gillian Kearney, Glenda Jackson, Mina Anwar, Robert Glenister, Rudolph Walker, Siobhan Finneran (Narrator)

Audiobook

Dracula: A BBC Radio 4 reading starring Michael Fassbender

Michael Fassbender stars in this multi-voice reading of Bram Stoker’s legendary tale First published in 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is widely regarded as the best gothic horror novel of all time. The popularity of the world’s most notorious vampire, Count Dracula, has ensured that it has never been out of print, and it remains a timeless classic. In this epistolary novel, journal entries, letters, newspaper clippings and a ship's log interweave to form an incredible, thrilling story, as the various protagonists intimately recount the epic legend of the Transylvanian count. The tale begins with Jonathan Harker’s journal as the young, newly qualified solicitor travels to the remote Carpathian Mountains to meet a wealthy client. But as he explores Castle Dracula, he discovers more than he dares contemplate, and learns the terrible truth about his host. Meanwhile in England, his fiancée Mina Murray fears for his safety. An empty foreign schooner arrives in Whitby, and Mina's apprehension grows as a mysterious illness affects her dear friend Lucy. When Lucy’s health deteriorates rapidly, Dr Seward calls in the help of Professor Van Helsing, who sets a plan in motion to capture Dracula. With time running out, Jonathan, Van Helsing, Dr Seward and Mina must embark on a perilous journey to Transylvania and come face to face with the Vampire King… This 10-part series features Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender as Jonathan Harker, James D’Arcy as Dr Seward, Gillian Kearney as Mina Murray and James Greene as Van Helsing.

Bram Stoker (Author), Gillian Kearney, James D'arcy, James Greene, Michael Fassbender (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Gillian Kearney