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Howl

The powerful new novel from the Booker Prize winner

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Howl

By: Howard Jacobson
Narrated by: Paul Herzberg
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

A tragicomic portrait of one man's unravelling in an absurd, twisted world, Howl is the propulsive new novel from Booker-Prize winner Howard Jacobson.

In the aftermath of October 7, Ferdinand Draxler walks the streets of London in despair. Everything has changed – the sights, the sound, the spirit. He too is not who he was. Is he at the crossroads of history or is it just a bend in the cul-de-sac of his own gloomy nature?

The son of a Holocaust survivor who accuses him of cowardice and the father of a daughter who sees him as complicit in genocide, Draxler fixates on bad news. He shouts at the television. He carries his own tin of paint to cover up graffiti. The staffroom at the primary school of which he is headmaster has become a battlefield of inflamed opinion he does nothing to quiet.

His wife Charmian is a beacon of calm but even she isn't sure she can save Ferdie from himself. 'Don't worry about me,' he tells her. 'I don't have what it takes to go mad.'

'A howling comic masterpiece' Patrick Marber

'Boils with fury and fizzes with life' Jonathan Freedland

'He just gets better and better' Giles Coren

© Howard Jacobson 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Jewish Literary Fiction Psychological World Literature Holocaust
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Critic reviews

A howling comic masterpiece (Patrick Marber)
Bold and brilliant, Howl is Howard Jacobson at his finest. A challenging novel that demands to be read and talked about (Anthony Seldon)
Howard Jacobson’s Howl is fearless, furious and unbearably tender - a darkly comic reckoning with history, identity and what it means to stay sane when the world is coming apart. It's a rare novel that feels absolutely of this moment and is also destined to stand the test of time. (Noreena Hertz)
Historians can tell you why antisemitism happens, but it takes a great novelist to tease out all the ways it makes Jews feel, about the world and about themselves. Howard Jacobson has a unique eye for the combination of pain and absurdity that this ancient hatred brings to bear on Jewish sensibilities, and an irresistible, shocking wit in its telling. (Dave Rich)
Howard Jacobson’s appetite for fiction is insatiable. He just gets better and better (Giles Coren)
Howl set me off reading instantly, gratefully, excitedly, elatedly, non-stop, in awe of its stealing-up-on-you steely wit, its wild ingenuity, its no-stone-unturned command, its devious turnings-out and turnings-up. Yet another bombshell novel - no one writing in English can match Howard Jacobson. He goes where daredevils fear to tread (Cynthia Ozick)
Incredibly profound, beautifully written and - amazingly and essentially - funny (Tanya Gold)
Howl is funny and upsetting and profound. Howard Jacobson is the master chronicler of the Jewish experience at a time when it is needed most. (Matthew Syed)
In his trademark dazzling prose, Jacobson has written what may be the first post-October 7 novel: by turns angry, rueful, provocative and wise, Howl also somehow - and against all the odds - manages to be consistently, defiantly funny. It is a book that boils with fury and fizzes with life (Jonathan Freedland)
Once again Jacobson proves himself one of the great living stylists, a writer who can mine more jagged little truths from a handful of sentences than many of his peers manage in an entire book
All stars
Most relevant
I’ve never read any Jacobson but liked the sound of Howl, it’s an odd listen! I think I liked it, the narration was great, the story was, well, a strange outpouring of the effects of that horrendous day on the protagonist and his family. I would recommend it just as something completely different.

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This is a wonderful but raw description of one Jewish man’s deteriorating mental health after witnessing abhorrent antisemitism in London after the terror attacks of October 7 in Israel. It really captures the blindsiding of the Jewish community by the cold, hypocritical double standards applied to Israel after the attack and the astonishing lack of sympathy with the Israeli victims, and there are many throwbacks to 1939 and the question, “when do you start to panic”. This is essential reading for anyone who doesn’t understand the way many Jewish people feel (although those people are unlikely to read it I guess!). Highly recommend.

Emotionally wrought exploration of the antisemitism experienced by diaspora Jews after 7 October

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Wit and brilliance at every turn - the best book I’ve come across for involuntary laughter and comfort I’ve come across in years

Rare Genius

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Jacobson superbly depicts the bewilderment of the Jewish diaspora post October 7 through the eyes of Ferdinand Draxler. All the irony, wit, sarcasm that we associate with Jacobson’s writing is captured in Paul Herzberg’s excellent reading. At times I laughed out loud, at others nearly cried as the pillars of family, work, society are upended. The details and experiences are all too familiar for Jews in the diaspora but it’s more than a ‘Jewish novel’. It’s also about love, compassion, understanding - about being an ordinary human being when the world feels overwhelming. I think it’s a ‘must read’!

The disintegrating world of Ferdinand Draxler

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I had not read or listened to any of Jacobson’s previous works but after listening to Howl I will listen to all his books.
The story follows a Jewish primary school Headmaster who is unraveling in a spectacular and often hilarious fashion following October 7th and the rise of antisemitism. Remarkably, the writing is often laugh out loud funny but the humour makes the awfulness of what is happening around him even more vivid.
The audiobook is beautifully narrated by Paul Herzberg who gives an authentic voice to the main character Draxler, and to the many characters in his life . I was well entertained but this is an important book and I hope it’s very widely listened to.

Brilliantly written and performed.

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