Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know
- Author Colm Toibin
- Narrator Colm Tóibín
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date 25 October 2018
- Run Time 6 hours and 6 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Family history, tracing ancestors, Literary essays, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: general, Literary studies: poetry and poets.
Flexible Pricing & Rewards For Listening
At xigxag, the more you read, the less you pay* on select audiobook and x-book® titles, as in the table below. Pricing updates automatically in the app and resets one year after your first purchase. And you can always find a selection of brilliant titles available for only £3.99.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price per title
- £8.99
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
*Only the full price titles you buy count toward your personal pricing tier. Full price titles don’t include Listen for Less or other books bought with a voucher or discount code.
Listen to a sample
What to expect
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know written and read by Colm Tóibín.
'A father...is a necessary evil.' Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses
In Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know, Colm Tóibín turns his incisive gaze to three of Ireland's greatest writers, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce, and their earliest influences: their fathers. From Wilde's doctor father, a brilliant statistician and amateur archaeologist, who was taken to court by an obsessed lover in a strange premonition of what would happen to his son; to Yeats' father, an impoverished artist and brilliant letter-writer who could never finish apainting; to John Stanislus Joyce, a singer, drinker and story-teller, a man unwilling to provide for his large family, whom his son James memorialised in his work.
Colm Tóibín illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language and their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways they surface in their work.
If there is a more brilliant writer than Tóibín working today, I don't know who that would be - Karen Joy Fowler
Toibin is a supple, subtle thinker, alive to hints and undertones, wary of absolute truths - New Statesman
A consistently revealing look at how writers' relationships have influenced their work - Sunday Telegraph on 'New Ways to Kill Your Mother'
A wide-ranging and enlightening study of the potentially stifling family and the individual spirit of the writer - Sunday Times on 'New Ways to Kill Your Mother'
Critics Review
| Author | Colm Toibin |
|---|---|
| Narrator | Colm Tóibín |
| Duration | 6 hours and 6 minutes |
| Release Date | |
| ISBN | 9780241375518 |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Genre | Family history, tracing ancestors, Literary essays, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: general, Literary studies: poetry and poets |
| Availability | AU, GB, IE |
More from the same
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.