Pre-order

Almost Life

Get in the xigxag app
Already purchased

Click to open directly in the xigxag app.

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book. Pre-order Buy Now £{{ price }} Send as a gift
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

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
'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

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?

'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

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Almost Life pulled me straight in . . . I was completely invested and finished the last pages in tears
Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun
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
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
A big love story with occasional echoes of McEwan’s Atonement and Austen’s Persuasion . . . A lush, deeply thoughtful novel.
Kirkus (starred review)
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
The biggest weepy since One Day . . . she knows exactly how to destroy us
Stylist Magazine

More from the same

Author

Narrator

About xigxag

Experience the best audiobooks with xigxag, an innovative and user-friendly audiobook platform designed for seamless discovery, purchase, and enjoyment of your favorite titles. Our flexible pricing model offers bestselling audiobooks for less, providing affordable prices and the best audiobook deals without requiring a subscription. Perfect for gifting, xigxag also features convenient audiobook gift cards and in-app audiobook gifting options.

 

Beyond the listening experience, xigxag stands as an exciting alternative to big tech, embodying a strong commitment to sustainability and ethical practices. As the only B Corp certified UK audiobook service, we ensure a guilt-free listening experience from a leader in audiobook innovation.

 

Effortlessly search audiobooks, access honest audiobook reviews that evaluate both the content and narration, and easily discover hidden gems. Whether you prefer to download or stream top audiobook titles, xigxag provides the best possible listening experience anytime, anywhere, on the UK’s best independent audiobook app. Discover the future of audiobooks today.