The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year cover art

The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year

By: Sue Townsend
Narrated by: Caroline Quentin
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
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.
Cancel

About this listen

Winner of the Audiobook of the Year – Specsavers National Book Awards

What happens when a duvet day turns into a duvet year?

The day her twins leave home, Eva climbs into bed and stays there. For 17 years she's wanted to yell at the world, 'Stop! I want to get off'. Finally, this is her chance. Her husband Brian, an astronomer having an unsatisfactory affair, is upset. Who will cook his dinner? Eva, he complains, is attention seeking. But word of Eva's defiance spreads. Legions of fans, believing she is protesting, gather in the street. While Alexander the white van man brings tea, toast and sympathy. And from this odd but comforting place Eva begins to see both herself and the world very, very differently....

©2012 Lily Broadway Productions Ltd (P)2012 W F Howes Ltd
Family Life Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Funny Witty Thought-Provoking
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Public Confessions of a Middle Aged Woman cover art
The Queen and I cover art
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole cover art
Ghost Children cover art
Oh Miriam! cover art
The Wife Who Got a Life cover art
Love and Other Secrets cover art
Because of You cover art
Whispers Through a Megaphone cover art
Extinctions cover art
That Was When People Started to Worry cover art
You Left Early cover art
My Sister's Secret cover art
The List That Changed My Life cover art
16 Lighthouse Road cover art
Lights of Liverpool cover art

Critic reviews

"Hilarious and totally Townsend. There were parts where I laughed until I cried." (Daily Mail)

"Laugh-out-loud...a teeming world of characters whose foibles and misunderstandings provide glorious amusement. Something deeper and darker than comedy." (Sunday Times)

"Full of colour and glows with life." (Independent)

What listeners say about The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    173
  • 4 Stars
    123
  • 3 Stars
    105
  • 2 Stars
    52
  • 1 Stars
    35
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    190
  • 4 Stars
    84
  • 3 Stars
    48
  • 2 Stars
    18
  • 1 Stars
    20
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    126
  • 4 Stars
    85
  • 3 Stars
    79
  • 2 Stars
    33
  • 1 Stars
    37

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

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

Disappointing End

Love Sue Townsend, the story was good but I was left disappointed by the ending.

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

Sue Townsend never fails

If you could sum up The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year in three words, what would they be?

Brilliant Original Dynamic

What did you like best about this story?

She stays in Bed

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I can't pick one scene too many funny ones the narrator did it absolute justice

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Had me laughing on the train a couple of times and my laugh is far from modest!

Any additional comments?

Just Buy It, Listen to it, and enjoy it.

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

Different.

I've not read a book like this before so I didn't know what to expect. It had some unexpected twists and overall I did enjoy it. The narration was good but I got confused with the characters on a couple of occasions and when this happened I had to rewind and listen again. I would recommend this book because I did enjoy it. I laughed out loud at times and for me that's the sign of a good book.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Great story, poor ending

Fabulous narration by the wonderful Caroline Quentin. Brought the book alive.

Too abrupt an ending, though

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

comic in places

not really very good, series of scenes but no point to the story. quite disappointing overall

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

Funny and relatable

I really liked this book. I was expecting more of an ending but I really liked the funny and relatable issues in it. Especially when listing all the things Eva was doing for Christmas. I know the book is good because I felt sad when it ended because I wanted to keep listening. The voice actors were great too they weren't monotone which added so much depth to the characters.

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

So Funny!

I laughed my way through piles of Ironing! This is one of the funniest Books I've heard for years.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable and easy to listen to.

I found this book very easy to listen to and enjoyed the voices selected as they seemed to suit the characters very well. The story line too was very interesting and quite original and I found myself empathizing with this woman who decides to take to her bed and run it from there.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Good narration

Reasonable story but left a bit in the air - would have liked the ends to be tied up. Enjoyed narration.

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

Loved this! Very well written! Humorous!

Not my usual genre, it popped up on Facebook and heard a sample and thought it sounded good, I was gripped! I found it very funny and it made me burst out laughing in places, the tragedy is concealed by the humour, a brilliant story! I loved the narrating by Caroline Quentin. Will there be a part 2 I wonder - I bloody hope so!!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!