INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE

By Maggie O'Farrell

Synopsis

It's July 1976. In London, it hasn't rained for months, gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back. No-one suspects that Gretta might have an explanation for his disappearance, that even now she cannot share. Richard & Judy Bookclub

Sample Player

Narrator	Patricia Leventon
Length	9hrs 25mins
Catalogue No.	10285
Publisher	Isis Audio 2013

Other audiobooks by Maggie O'Farrell

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THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US

Stella has fled to London to confront the childhood secret which has marked her life. A set of tragic circumstances bring Jake to England, from Hong Kong, to search for the father he never knew. When Jack and Stella meet, both their lives are changed forever.

HAMNET

On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that one of the children will not survive the week. Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright. It is a story of the bond between twins, and of a marriage pushed to the brink by grief. Above all, it is a tender and unforgettable reimagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE

Elina and Ted are reeling from the difficult birth of their first child. Ted is disturbed by memories of his own childhood that don't tally with his parents' version of events. As he begins to search for answers, an extraordinary portrait of two women is revealed, separated by fifty years, but connected in ways that neither could ever have expected.

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A childhood illness she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. A terrifying encounter on a remote path. A mismanaged labour in an understaffed hospital. This is the extraordinary memoir from bestselling author Maggie O'Farrell.

THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT

Winter, 1561. Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is taken on an unexpected visit to a country villa by her husband, Alfonso. As they sit down to dinner it occurs to Lucrezia that Alfonso has a sinister purpose in bringing her here. He intends to kill her.Lucrezia is sixteen years old, and has led a sheltered life locked away inside Florence's grandest palazzo. Here, in this remote villa, she is entirely at the mercy of her increasingly erratic husband. What is Lucrezia to do with this sudden knowledge? What chance does she have against Alfonso, ruler of a province, and a trained soldier? How can she ensure her survival. The Marriage Portrait is an unforgettable reimagining of the life of a young woman whose proximity to power places her in mortal danger.

MY LOVER'S LOVER (X Rated)

When Lily moves into Marcus's flat she is intrigued by signs of his recently departed ex-lover. Who was this woman and why had she suddenly disappeared? It doesn't take long for Lily's curiosity to grow into an all-pervading obsession. X rated, explicit sexual content.

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Daniel Sullivan is a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he is about to find out something about a woman he lost touch with 20 years ago, and this discovery will send him off course, far away from his wife and home.

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In 1930's Edinburgh, the Lennox family decide that something must be done about Esme, their unconventional daughter who continually embarrasses them. Years later Iris Lockhart is toldd that her great-aunt will be released from a psychiatric unit. She had never heard of Esme and is amazed she was completely erased from the family history.