Mary Jane cover art

Mary Jane

A Novel

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Mary Jane

By: Jessica Anya Blau
Narrated by: Caitlin Kinnunen
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

"The best book of the summer." (InStyle)

"I LOVED this novel.... If you have ever sung along to a hit on the radio, in any decade, then you will devour Mary Jane at 45 rpm." (Nick Hornby)

Almost Famous meets Daisy Jones & The Six in this "delightful" (New York Times Book Review) novel about a 14-year-old girl’s coming of age in 1970s Baltimore, caught between her straight-laced family and the progressive family she nannies for - who happen to be secretly hiding a famous rock star and his movie star wife for the summer.

In 1970s Baltimore, 14-year-old Mary Jane loves cooking with her mother, singing in her church choir, and enjoying her family’s subscription to the Broadway Showtunes of the Month record club. Shy, quiet, and bookish, she’s glad when she lands a summer job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. A respectable job, Mary Jane’s mother says. In a respectable house.

The house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it’s a literal and figurative mess: clutter on every surface, Impeachment: Now More Than Ever bumper stickers on the doors, cereal and takeout for dinner. And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane’s mother to know, which she does not): the doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job - helping a famous rock star dry out. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife move in.

Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to crisply ironed clothes and a family dinner schedule, and has a front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll (not to mention group therapy). Caught between the lifestyle she’s always known and the future she’s only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a new idea about what she wants out of life, and what kind of person she’s going to be.

©2021 Jessica Anya Blau (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers
Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Comedy Marriage

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires cover art
Losing Clementine cover art
Camp Cacophony cover art
The Perks of Being a Wallflower cover art
Anne of Green Gables cover art
We're Going to Need More Wine cover art
Firefly Lane cover art
The Summer I Turned Pretty cover art
You Got Anything Stronger? cover art
It's Not All Downhill from Here cover art
Marvel's Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover cover art
The Comeback cover art
Out of the Corner cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Probably the most enjoyable book I have read for some time! Loved it from start to wonderful heart warming ending!

Beautiful story and fabulous narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

A great listen. Heartwarming, funny, feel good. I feel like a better person for having met Mary Jane 🥰

So heartwarming and enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Wow what a book, best I’ve read (listened too!) in a long time. You’ll fall in love with Mary Jane. Perfect narration too, again probably the best I’ve heard on Audible.

Fantastic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

My first listen to a book by this author and I can barely wait for my next credit so I can listen to another. A fabulous listen, great storytelling, great performances, the first “child’s voice” I have heard and not cringed, highly recommended.

Fabulous

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This book is just one of the loveliest books I have ever read. I didn’t want it to end and would happily recommend it to anyone x

Priceless

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I loved this book. I'd recommend to listen to the audible version because there are a few songs that would be good to hear. Great narration.

Great listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Absolutely loved loved loved this story.
It make you feel good inside and the narration is top notch.

Such a goose pimpling story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Really loved this book. Growing up in the same era. The story brings a warm feeling inside and total empathy for the young girl breaking away from her strict life, finding out how to live and think freely... with the help from some friends.

Great reminder of the 70s

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

So enjoyed this story. As a girl who grew up loving music this just resonated with me. The narration was so good and added to the story

fantastic story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would make a perfect summer read/listen. I didn’t want it to end felt so warm and comforting.

Loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews