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A Little Life

The million-copy bestseller, shortlisted for the Booker Prize

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A Little Life

By: Hanya Yanagihara
Narrated by: Matt Bomer
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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

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Matt Bomer's heart-rending narration in this new audiobook edition offers a fresh and poignant listening experience of Hanya Yanagihara's timeless modern classic. Perfect if you're an A Little Life fan or a new listener.

'I'm not exaggerating when I say this novel challenged everything I thought I knew about love and friendship. It's one of those books that stays with you forever' – Dua Lipa

The million-copy bestseller, Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, by the author of To Paradise, is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance.


Winner of Fiction of the Year at the British Book Awards
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize
Finalist for the US National Book Award for Fiction


When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity.

Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome – but that will define his life forever.

'Yanagihara takes you so deeply into the lives and minds of these characters that you struggle to leave them behind' – The Times

Read by Golden Globe winner and star of Fellow Travellers, Matt Bomer.

'Matt Bomer’s narration brings a steady and thoughtful presence to an emotionally intense novel . . . His ability to balance the novel’s dark themes with its moments of warmth ensures a compelling listening experience' – AudioFile Magazine

Friendship Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Mental Health Awareness Urban Emotionally Gripping Heartfelt Tear-jerking Thought-Provoking Fiction
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Critic reviews

A singularly profound and moving work . . . It's not often that you read a book of this length and find yourself thinking "I wish it was longer" but Yanagihara takes you so deeply into the lives and minds of these characters that you struggle to leave them behind
A book unlike any other . . . A devastating read that will leave your heart, like the Grinch's, a few sizes larger
Exquisite . . . The book shifts from a generational portrait to something darker and more tender: an examination of the depths of human cruelty, counterbalanced by the restorative powers of friendship
[A] wholly immersive unforgettable read . . . You won't stop reading. And it's a novel that changes you
Utterly compelling . . . quite an extraordinary novel. It is impossible to put down . . . And it is almost impossible to forget
Hypnotic . . . An intimate, operatic friendship between four men
A Little Life is unlike anything else out there. Over the top, beyond the pale and quite simply unforgettable
Piercing . . . [Yanagihara is] an author with the talent to interrogate the basest and most beautiful extremes of human behaviour with sustained, bruising intensity
Capacious and consuming . . . Immersive
Beautiful
Remarkable. . . . An epic study of trauma and friendship written with such intelligence and depth of perception that it will be one of the benchmarks against which all other novels that broach those subjects (and they are legion) will be measured
Astonishing
Deeply moving . . . A wrenching portrait of the enduring grace of friendship
Affecting and transcendent
All stars
Most relevant
I think this book will forever stay in my heart. I love the people in this so much. It takes the whole book to get to know Jude, so dont give up, if you struggle in the begining, it will be worth it in the end.

Heartbreaking Lovestory

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Such a sad beginning to a life but what a remarkable person.
I could not stop listening to this even though at times it was quite disturbing . Beautifully written I still can’t stop thinking about this story I feel like something is missing everyday now as it was a really long book.

Incredibly remarkable

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This story was absolutely fantastic. What a moving storyline. I’ve never heard a narrator as good as this, had me completely hooked! Would definitely recommend.

Narration is 1st class

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Where to start??? This book had me repulsed, shedding happy tears, shedding the saddest tears. It was a hard listen in places and in some I went back to listen to the happy parts again.
Obviously it is probably the longest audiobook but persevere, it is beauty in its purest form. And evil at its worst.

lifetime love

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This book has been on my wish list for a while. Finally started listening to it. And omg! I need some time to recover , what a great book . But I’m emotionally drained

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that made me cry so much

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