The Sense of an Ending cover art

The Sense of an Ending

 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.

The Sense of an Ending

By: Julian Barnes
Narrated by: Richard Morant
Try Premium Plus free

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

Buy Now for £9.99

Buy Now for £9.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
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

Man Booker Prize, Fiction, 2011

The powerful, unsettling, and beautifully crafted new novel from one of England’s greatest contemporary writers.

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour, and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is retired. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove.

The Sense of an Ending is the story of one man coming to terms with the mutable past. Laced with trademark precision, dexterity, and insight, it is the work of one of the world’s most distinguished writers.

A complete and unabridged reading by Richard Morant.

©2011 Julian Barnes (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Thought-Provoking

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Lemon Table cover art
Talking It Over cover art
The Noise of Time cover art
Arthur & George cover art
A Prayer for Owen Meany cover art
Levels of Life cover art
The Truth About Julia cover art
The Kite Runner cover art
Heft cover art
The Power of One cover art
Demian cover art
A Time to Dance cover art
What Dreams May Come cover art
Metroland cover art
The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn cover art

Editor reviews

Winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2011, The Sense of an Ending is written by best-selling British author Julian Barnes and narrated in this audiobook edition by Richard Morant. Friendships forged in childhood are tested to their limits when the past comes back to trouble a man now in middle age. The more his past appears to unravel before him, the more blurred it becomes. What did happen all those years ago? Nothing is as it appears to be in this haunting novel, written with masterful skill and tremendous creativity by a truly gifted storyteller. Available now from Audible.

Critic reviews

Elegant, playful, and remarkable.” ( The New Yorker)
“A page turner, and when you finish you will return immediately to the beginning . . . Who are you? How can you be sure? What if you’re not who you think you are? What if you never were? . . . At 163 pages, The Sense of an Ending is the longest book I have ever read, so prepare yourself for rereading. You won’t regret it.” ( The San Francisco Chronicle)
“Dense with philosophical ideas . . . it manages to create genuine suspense as a sort of psychological detective story . . . Unpeeling the onion layers of the hero’s life while showing how [he] has sliced and diced his past in order to create a self he can live with. (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)
“Barnes seems equipped to write with humour and elegance about anything he turns his attention to” ( Financial Times)
All stars
Most relevant  
A wonderful book, beautifully read. As soon as I had finished I wanted to start listening again.

The Sense of an Ending

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The only negative in can say about this book is that it's too short! I don't feel short charged though, brilliantly written an cd had me hooked throughout. Great narration too

My first Julian Barnes, really liked it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great narration of an interesting story. I enjoyed how the protagonist explored relationships from his past and was intrigued to find out why.

Great narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A well written story with a compelling narrative. Initially I was unsure about the narrator but later found he fitted Tony perfectly.

Compelling narrative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Cannot praise this book enough. Beautifully written and narrated. Will certainly read again. A memorable reliving of the awkwardness sometimes callousness and thoughtlessness of the young and the consequent regrets and remorse often accompanying advancing age.

Stunning!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Exquisite prose beautifully read. I love the way in which the listener is left to fill in the gaps in the story. A truly first class listen.

I can't recommend this enough

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I almost gave up around chapter 4 as I was a bit bored to be honest - had I been reading it at my own pace it probably wouldnt have felt as slow. I did get more interested in the characters s it went on and is a well written examination of a mediocre life passing. The narrator is actually brilliant and delivers the clever writing in a wholly appropriate well timed and thoughtful manner, which is what I found dull at the beginning. I think that page turners work better for me as audio books, but if you like the author this is probably a good one. I would read his work again but not listen to it!

Good - would rather have read it at my own pace

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this book, and found the narration to be suited to the style of writing, which is often not the case with audio books. The book won many prizes and although is not the style I would normally read I thought I would give it a try, I was not disappointed. The book is written very well explaining the stories and lives of the individual characters without creating boredom. But the book makes you think and that is why I have given it five stars. So many books I read leave me wanting something else, but this one is different and definitely worth giving a go. Great.

Great book with good narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An intriguing story which is unveiled little by little like a crime novel. At the conclusion I found myself remembering all the little clues which had been left at the beginning to unravel the (sort of) mystery. Tony Webster the protagonist is both sympathetic and unsympathetic and very real. This is a very well crafted novel and I enjoyed it a lot. The narrator’s voice was a little monotonous but actually that suited the voice of Tony so try to accept it!

Story revealed a bit like a crime novel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this insightful story of one man’s view of of how is perceived by others and consequently how he then reacts to those he meets. Lovely humour used although a sad tale of a lonely man. A gentle narrative beautifully told.

A sensitive beautifully told story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews