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Almost Life
- Author
- Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- Narrator
- Patricia Allison
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Publish Date
- 12 March 2026
- Run Time
- 14 hours 44 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Modern and Contemporary romance, Family life fiction / Stories about family, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: sense of place, Narrative theme: love / relationships, Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction, Narrative theme: coming of age
- Rating
- 5.0 (1 review)
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What to expect
Read by Patricia Allison (Sex Education)
Almost Life is Kiran Millwood Hargrave's breathtaking story of love and longing, of the lives we almost live and the choices we don't make — and finding the courage to embrace who you really want to be.
'The biggest weepy since One Day' - Stylist
'A heart-rending tale of missed chances' - Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain
One chance encounter can define a lifetime
Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her Ph.D. at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman.
The moment the two women meet the spark is undeniable. But their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make. Spanning cities, decades and heartbreaks, fate brings them within touching distance again and again.
But will they be brave enough to seize the life they truly want?
'Immersive, sensual, beautiful and powerful' - Marian Keyes, author of My Favourite Mistake
'Tender, sensual and thrumming with life' - Lucy Steeds, author of The Artist
'One of the greatest love stories I’ve ever read' - Stacey Halls, author of The Household
'Tender and wistful, it’s a will-they-won’t-they for the ages' - GQ
‘A beautifully written exploration of desire, freedom and the roads we do and don’t take’ - The Observer
'Hot, smart and completely captivating' - Daisy Buchanan, author of Pity Party
'A beautifully told story about love, longing, and the lives we almost live' - Louise O'Neill, author of Idol
Critics Review
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Erica and Laure have made me think about MY life, about love and friendship and how short life is . . . immersive, sensual, beautiful and powerful
Marian Keyes, author of My Favourite Mistake
-
A heart-rending tale of missed chances. Millwood Hargrave is a wonderful writer and what a pleasure it is to be in the company of such a deft, enchanting storyteller
Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain
-
Hot, smart and completely captivating - this is a truly luscious love story. I'll never forget it
Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable
-
A beautifully told story about love, longing, and the lives we almost live
Louise O'Neill, author of Idol
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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A rippling elegy to the possibilities and impossibilities of love. Tender, sensual and thrumming with life, Kiran Millwood Hargrave swirls heady prose into both a lament and a celebration of the choices we make, the passions that consume us, and the almost lives we almost live
Lucy Steeds, author of The Artist
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The biggest weepy since One Day . . . she knows exactly how to destroy us
Stylist Magazine
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Almost Life is captivating and immersive, a soaring ode to both love’s possibilities and its pain. Richly rendered and deeply felt, Laure and Erica will stay with me for a long time
Sophie Mackintosh, Booker-longlisted author of The Water Cure
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Love, loss, joy, cowardice, bravery, sex, friendship, love, more love, always love, Paris, London, Norfolk, and four decades of longing: a masterpiece from a writer at the height of her powers
Ella Risbridger, author of The Year of Miracles
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One of the greatest love stories I’ve ever read - searingly real, romantic and tragic, Almost Life is One Day for a new generation
Stacey Halls, author of Mrs England
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A beautifully written exploration of desire, freedom and the roads we do and don’t take
The Observer
-
Beautiful and full of heart, a book about friendship and love and life itself. Filled with light and tenderness
Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory
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Devastating and heartbreaking, with the pain and joy and despair of wanting and being in love so rich on every page. A singular book from a beautiful writer about two women I will never forget
Kate Young, author of Experienced
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Rich, evocative, stylish and sexy - a gorgeously crafted novel of epic love and epic life. Almost Life is as heartbreaking as it is deeply human
Kirsty Capes, author of Girls
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Almost Life pulled me straight in . . . I was completely invested and finished the last pages in tears
Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun
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Kiran Millwood Hargrave has crafted one of the most intensely beautiful love stories I have read in a very long time. Almost Life is breathtaking in its understanding of the way we may be haunted by the living, by the paths we do not take. I wish I could read it again for the first time. It left me awestruck
Hannah Kent, author of Devotion
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Almost Life reads like a dream of young desire, but Hargrave is brilliantly awake to the heartbreaks and constraints of enduring passion. Sexy, tender, piercing, and oh so true, Almost Life is a lyrical accounting of love’s offerings and its toll. I loved every word
Erin O. White, author of Like Family
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A big love story with occasional echoes of McEwan’s Atonement and Austen’s Persuasion . . . A lush, deeply thoughtful novel
Kirkus (starred review)
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Oh, how I wept! Opposites attract in this love story, which traces the bittersweet "what if" of Erica and Laure over 35 years
The Bookseller
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Tender and wistful, it’s a will-they-won’t-they for the ages, and a sweeping portrait of Paris so vivid it will have you looking up Eurostar prices before you’re halfway through
GQ
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An epic love story to lose yourself in that is populated with characters that are so fully realised you'll fall in love with them, grieve them and carry them with you long after you close the book
Kate Sawyer, author of This Family
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I was moved, thrilled, addicted, and immersed. The writing is utterly gorgeous, the story is achingly true, the impact is devastating and beautiful
Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton
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Yearning like you've never experienced . . . Erica and Laure's story has all of the poetic pining of Normal People with the delicious settings of Sarah Winman's Still Life and the gut-punching writing of Maggie O'Farrell. Utterly adored it
poet, vlogger and presenter Leena Norms
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Teases out the beauty of a life lived truly, if only we are brave enough to seize it for ourselves.
Harper’s Bazaar, The 25 Most Anticipated Books Coming Out This Spring
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Propulsive: sensitive, sad, multilayered, and a moving examination of true love and passion . . . set to become a gen Z hit
The Guardian
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Hargrave has a great eye and ear for close-focus, intimate scenes. Conversations, sexual encounters and meals are vividly alive . . . Laure and Erica are richly drawn, in both heart and mind
New York Times
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Beautifully written and especially good on longing, identity and how messy life can be . . . Emotional and addictive
Daily Mail
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
-
5.0 5.0
Beautiful book. Heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure.
The narrator does an amazing job with all of the various characters and switched between the French and English accents seamlessly.
Will be recommending this for my book club.sardow 2026-04-21
Details
- Author
- Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- Narrator
- Patricia Allison
- Duration
- 14 hours 44 minutes
- Release Date
- 12 March 2026
- ISBN
- 9781035007530
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Genre
- Modern and Contemporary romance, Family life fiction / Stories about family, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: sense of place, Narrative theme: love / relationships, Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction, Narrative theme: coming of age
- Rating
- 5.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 5.0(1 review)
Synopsis
Read by Patricia Allison (Sex Education)Almost Life is Kiran Millwood Hargrave's breathtaking story of love and longing, of the lives we almost live and the choices we don't make — and finding the courage to embrace who you really want to be.'The biggest weepy since One Day' - Stylist'A heart-rending tale of missed chances' - Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie BainOne chance encounter can define a lifetimeErica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her Ph.D. at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman.The moment the two women meet the spark is undeniable. But their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make. Spanning cities, decades and heartbreaks, fate brings them within touching distance again and again.But will they be brave enough to seize the life they truly want?'Immersive, sensual, beautiful and powerful' - Marian Keyes, author of My Favourite Mistake'Tender, sensual and thrumming with life' - Lucy Steeds, author of The Artist'One of the greatest love stories I’ve ever read' - Stacey Halls, author of The Household'Tender and wistful, it’s a will-they-won’t-they for the ages' - GQ‘A beautifully written exploration of desire, freedom and the roads we do and don’t take’ - The Observer'Hot, smart and completely captivating' - Daisy Buchanan, author of Pity Party'A beautifully told story about love, longing, and the lives we almost live' - Louise O'Neill, author of Idol
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