Skip to main content
Listen-and-Read x-book®
The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig x-book

Listen to a sample

00:00
00:00

The Golden Rule

Publisher
Little, Brown Book Group
Publish Date
2 July 2020
Run Time
11 hours 3 minutes
Format
x-book®
$13.95

Log in to see your price

Gift

What to expect

Longlisted for the Women's Prize 2021

A Times, Sunday Times, Observer, Daily Mail and Financial Times Best Book of 2020 Pick

'A highly enjoyable story about female resilience and finding fulfilment on your own terms' Sunday Times

'An irresistible summer read' Guardian Book of the Day

'A typically sharp and hugely satisfying page-turner' Daily Mail

She's such a skilful storyteller' Bernardine Evaristo

When Hannah is invited into the First-Class carriage of the London to Penzance train by Jinni, she walks into a spider's web. Now a poor young single mother, Hannah once escaped Cornwall to go to university. But once she married Jake and had his child, her dreams were crushed into bitter disillusion. Her husband has left her for Eve, rich and childless, and Hannah has been surviving by becoming a cleaner in London. Jinni is equally angry and bitter, and in the course of their journey the two women agree to murder each other's husbands. After all, they are strangers on a train - who could possibly connect them?

But when Hannah goes to Jinni's husband's home the next night, she finds Stan, a huge, hairy, ugly drunk who has his own problems - not least the care of a half-ruined house and garden. He claims Jinni is a very different person to the one who has persuaded Hannah to commit a terrible crime. Who is telling the truth - and who is the real victim?

Praise for Amanda Craig

'Terrific, page-turning, slyly funny' India Knight
'As satisfying a novel as I have read in years' Sarah Perry
'Amanda Craig is one of the most brilliant and entertaining novelists now working in Britain' Alison Lurie

Critics Review

  • A highly enjoyable story about female resilience and finding fulfilment on your own terms, with a twist that is all the more compelling for its unexpectedness

    Sunday Times

  • An irresistible summer read: a rollicking plot, a heroine who is more than a match for anything the author throws at her and meaty social issues

    Guardian Book of the Day

  • The plot becomes so gripping - the sort of story where you want to pull the heroine out of the pages away from danger

    The Times

  • A typically sharp and hugely satisfying page-turner about two women who decide to murder each other's husbands

    Daily Mail

See more reviews
  • Such an interesting read! . . . A story of lies - and learning that people aren't always who they appear to be

    Prima

  • A pacy state-of-the-nation drama that tackles issues from domestic abuse to workplace harassment, gentrification to the gig economy

    Mail on Sunday

  • Clever and compelling, The Golden Rule is a modern mash-up of Rebecca and Strangers on a Train

    Red

  • The Golden Rule does what her novels do best, wrapping the reader in a tight, lean narrative, showing the strangeness that lies at the heart of normal-seeming lives

    Observer

  • An acute and passionate observer of society in both town and country, and among rich and poor. She is harrowingly good at portraying the corrosive effects of poverty, particularly on vulnerable women with children to protect. Her prose is a delight...Best of all, Craig has the knack of creating interesting characters and of making one care about what lies in store for them. If you can do that, nothing else really matters

    Spectator

  • Perceptive and wise, particularly on the ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor

    Independent

  • She's such a skilful storyteller who vividly dramatises our lives with wit, wisdom and compassion
  • Strangers on a Train meets #MeToo

    Sunday Times

  • Craig's ninth novel is one of her best. A clever take on Beauty and the Beast and Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, it is also an astute commentary on life in Cornwall and the widening gap between the city rich and rural poor

    The i

  • Addictive . . . a wide-ranging, incisive portrait of contemporary Britain

    Independent

  • We reckon this cracker of a novel about the "haves" and the "have-nots" will whip you into a page-turning frenzy

    Sunday Post

  • If you like your novels wide-ranging, ambitious, socially panoramic, and engaged in the most important issues of the day, Amanda Craig is the writer for you. For more than twenty years now she has been anatomising the state of the British nation with wit and empathy
  • I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed The Golden Rule - evening reading that I looked forward to for days. Such a strong narrative, constantly taking you by surprise, persuasive setting, Hannah a sympathetic central figure - and the clash between different lifestyles. Very much a novel of our times

    Penelope Lively

  • I really enjoyed The Golden Rule. I still love novels that have proper, well-constructed plots and Amanda Craig is a delicious storyteller

    Rose Tremain

  • A tight, lean thriller about two women who decide to murder each other's husbands. Dotted throughout are Craig's acute observations of society, in particular the corrosive effects of poverty. Yet this skilful storyteller is never preachy. We are swept along because of her knack of creating characters we care about. Only on closing the book do we realise we've not just been entertained but made to think too

    The Tablet

User Reviews

No reviews yet.

Details

Author
Amanda Craig
Narrator
Lucy Price-Lewis
Duration
11 hours 3 minutes
Release Date
2 July 2020
ISBN
9781405543163
Format
x-book®
Publisher
Little, Brown Book Group
Genre
Crime and / or mystery fiction, Thriller / suspense fiction, Contemporary lifestyle fiction, Family life fiction / Stories about family, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general

Synopsis

Longlisted for the Women's Prize 2021A Times, Sunday Times, Observer, Daily Mail and Financial Times Best Book of 2020 Pick'A highly enjoyable story about female resilience and finding fulfilment on your own terms' Sunday Times'An irresistible summer read' Guardian Book of the Day'A typically sharp and hugely satisfying page-turner' Daily MailShe's such a skilful storyteller' Bernardine Evaristo When Hannah is invited into the First-Class carriage of the London to Penzance train by Jinni, she walks into a spider's web. Now a poor young single mother, Hannah once escaped Cornwall to go to university. But once she married Jake and had his child, her dreams were crushed into bitter disillusion. Her husband has left her for Eve, rich and childless, and Hannah has been surviving by becoming a cleaner in London. Jinni is equally angry and bitter, and in the course of their journey the two women agree to murder each other's husbands. After all, they are strangers on a train - who could possibly connect them? But when Hannah goes to Jinni's husband's home the next night, she finds Stan, a huge, hairy, ugly drunk who has his own problems - not least the care of a half-ruined house and garden. He claims Jinni is a very different person to the one who has persuaded Hannah to commit a terrible crime. Who is telling the truth - and who is the real victim?Praise for Amanda Craig'Terrific, page-turning, slyly funny' India Knight'As satisfying a novel as I have read in years' Sarah Perry'Amanda Craig is one of the most brilliant and entertaining novelists now working in Britain' Alison Lurie

About xigxag and the x-book®

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.

Our x-book® format is the only fully integrated listen-and-read experience available. See the text on screen as you listen, look up words, take notes, search within the book, and share quotes. It is especially useful for accessibility, language learning, and getting more from non-fiction. Look for the purple x-book® ribbon on the cover, or filter your search by "x-book" to find them.

There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. 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.