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A Better Life
- Author
- Lionel Shriver
- Narrator
- George Newbern
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 17 February 2026
- Run Time
- 10 hours 35 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
‘A superb satirical novelist’ WASHINGTON POST
In a provocative novel addressing contemporary immigration by the sharply observant Lionel Shriver, a New York family takes in a Honduran migrant – who may or may not be the innocent paragon she claims to be.
‘An incendiary provocateur’ EVENING STANDARD
‘A gleeful satire on the immigration debate’ THE TIMES
Gloria Bonaventura, a divorced mother of three living with her 26-year-old son Nico in a sprawling house in Brooklyn, decides to participate in a new city programme – Big Apple, Big Heart – that would pay her to take in a migrant as a boarder. Gloria is thrilled when sweet, kind, helpful Martine arrives. But Nico is sceptical. A classic live-at-home, unemployed Gen Zer with no interest in adulthood, Nico resents the indignity of moving from his self-contained basement flat and back into his childhood bedroom.
As the months go by, Martine endears herself to both Nico’s sisters, while finding her way into Gloria’s heart. But as Martine’s disturbingly dodgy compatriots begin to show up, Nico grows only more hostile to both his mother’s altruism and the ‘migrant crisis’ in general – though turns out to be anything but a reliable narrator himself.
Critics Review
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‘A gleeful satire on the immigration debate’ THE TIMES
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‘Master of the neat twist’ DAILY EXPRESS
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‘Shriver's hard-headedness and willingness to say controversial things are refreshing’ PROSPECT
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‘An acerbic comedian’ FINANCIAL TIMES
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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‘Shriver is brilliant’ THE TIMES
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‘A formidably sharp writer’ EVENING STANDARD
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‘Shriver has the gift for making one instantly curious’ OBSERVER
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‘A writer who wants us to think more, probe more, challenge more — and who also makes it fun’ SUNDAY TIMES
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Details
- Author
- Lionel Shriver
- Narrator
- George Newbern
- Duration
- 10 hours 35 minutes
- Release Date
- 17 February 2026
- ISBN
- 9780008800130
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Fiction: literary and general non-genre, Satirical fiction and parodies, Family life fiction / Stories about family, Contemporary lifestyle fiction, Narrative theme: displacement, exile, migration, Migration, immigration and emigration
Synopsis
‘A superb satirical novelist’ WASHINGTON POST In a provocative novel addressing contemporary immigration by the sharply observant Lionel Shriver, a New York family takes in a Honduran migrant – who may or may not be the innocent paragon she claims to be. ‘An incendiary provocateur’ EVENING STANDARD ‘A gleeful satire on the immigration debate’ THE TIMES Gloria Bonaventura, a divorced mother of three living with her 26-year-old son Nico in a sprawling house in Brooklyn, decides to participate in a new city programme – Big Apple, Big Heart – that would pay her to take in a migrant as a boarder. Gloria is thrilled when sweet, kind, helpful Martine arrives. But Nico is sceptical. A classic live-at-home, unemployed Gen Zer with no interest in adulthood, Nico resents the indignity of moving from his self-contained basement flat and back into his childhood bedroom. As the months go by, Martine endears herself to both Nico’s sisters, while finding her way into Gloria’s heart. But as Martine’s disturbingly dodgy compatriots begin to show up, Nico grows only more hostile to both his mother’s altruism and the ‘migrant crisis’ in general – though turns out to be anything but a reliable narrator himself.
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