Practice

· Weidenfeld & Nicolson · Narrated by Imogen Wilde
Audiobook
4 hr 52 min
Unabridged
Eligible
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More
Want a 29 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline. 
Add

About this audiobook

Six o'clock in the morning, Sunday, at the worn-out end of January.

In a small room in an Oxford college, cold and dim and full of quiet, an undergraduate student works on an essay about Shakespeare's sonnets.

Annabel has a meticulously planned routine for her day - work, yoga, meditation, long walks; no apples after meals, no coffee on an empty stomach - but finds it repeatedly thrown off course. Despite her efforts, she cannot stop her thoughts slipping off their intended track into the shadows of elaborate erotic fantasies.

And as the essay's deadline looms, so too does the irrepressible presence of other people: Annabel's boyfriend Rich, keen to come and visit her; her family and friends who demand her attention; and darker crises, obliquely glimpsed, all threatening to disturb the much-cherished quiet in her mind.

Exquisitely crafted, wryly comic, and completely original, Practice is a novel about the life of the mind and the life of the body, about the repercussions of a rigid routine and the deep pleasures of literature.

About the author

Rosalind Brown was born in 1987, grew up in Cambridge, and now lives in Norwich. Her work has been published in The Paris Review, Best British Short Stories 2017 (Salt), Lighthouse, Ambit, MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture and Propel Magazine.

Rate this audiobook

Tell us what you think.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.