Fabulous
- Author Lucy Hughes-Hallett
- Narrator Lucy Hughes-Hallett, John Hopkins
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date 1 January 1970
- Run Time 5 hours and 40 minutes
- Format x-book®
- Genre Short stories, Traditional stories, myths and fairy tales.
Click to open directly in the xigxag app.
Flexible Pricing & Rewards For Listening
At xigxag, the more you read, the less you pay* on select audiobook and x-book® titles, as in the table below. Pricing updates automatically in the app and resets one year after your first purchase. And you can always find a selection of brilliant titles available for only £3.99.
*Only the full price titles you buy count toward your personal pricing tier. Full price titles don’t include Listen for Less or other books bought with a voucher or discount code.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price per title
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
- £3.99
Listen to a sample
What to expect
Not since Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber have old stories been made to feel so electrically new.
Not since Wim Winders’ Wings of Desire have the numinous and the everyday been so magically combined.
It's in the nature of myth to be infinitely adaptable.
Each of these startlingly original stories is set in modern Britain. Their characters include a people-trafficking gang-master and a prostitute, a migrant worker and a cocksure estate agent, an elderly musician doubly befuddled by dementia and the death of his wife, a pest-controller suspected of paedophilia and a librarian so well-behaved that her parents wonder anxiously whether she’ll ever find love.
They’re ordinary people, preoccupied, as we all are now, by the deficiencies of the health service, by criminal gangs and homelessness, by the pitfalls of dating in the age of #metoo. All of their stories, though, are inspired by ones drawn from Graeco-Roman myth, from the Bible or from folk-lore.
The ancients invented myths to express what they didn’t understand. These witty fables, elegantly written and full of sharp-eyed observation of modern life, are also visionary explorations of potent mysteries and strange passions, charged with the hallucinatory beauty and horror of their originals.
Critics Review
Praise for Fabulous:
‘Once you have entered the world of Fabulous, you are unlikely to leave until you’re done … there is a magnetic quality to the writing … Hughes-Hallett uses myth to get at the shimmering violence underneath the dowdy trappings of little England’ TLS
‘A surprisingly exhilarating collection of ancient stories … retold and refigured for modern times … Lucy Hughes Hallett’s acute eye for appearances and her ear for modern speech make the surface drama compelling. Her greatest achievement is to bring out the underlying tragedies of the workings of fate’ The Tablet
‘Brilliant fantasies that blend the power of the ancient myths with the immediacy of real life’ John Carey, author of William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies
‘Familiar yet strange, its modern characters wittily observed, the narrative charged with emotion. These eight incantatory tales, like the fables they’re based on, enthral’ Tatler
‘Lucy Hughes-Hallett is a wonderfully versatile writer and her enthralling modern reworkings of ancient myths shows her at the absolute top of her game. Hughes-Hallett’s new book is playful and moving, sharply observed and hauntingly mysterious. Fabulous indeed’ Fiona McCarthy, author of Walter Gropius: Visionary Founder of the Bauhaus
‘Fabulous is enchanting. The sort of book you can’t stop reading, even though you never want it to end’ Sue Prideaux, author of I Am Dynamite! A Life of Friedrich Nietzsche
‘The writing in Fabulous is fabulous. So is the imagination, the wit and the storytelling. This is such a marvellous book, and with each chapter I became more astonished that ANYONE could know so much about the detritus and edges of our modern life’ Carmen Calil, author of Bad Faith: A History of Family and Fatherland
More from the same
Author
About xigxag and the x-book®
Discover the best audiobooks with xigxag, an innovative and user-friendly audiobook platform designed to simplify finding, purchasing, and enjoying your favourite books in audio format. Our flexible pricing model makes bestselling audiobooks affordable, offering the best audiobook deals without the need for a subscription. You can also give the perfect gift with our convenient audiobook gift cards and in-app audiobook gifting options.
A core differentiator of xigxag is our groundbreaking listen-and-read x-book® technology, which delivers a truly immersive digital book experience. This unique innovation seamlessly combines the audiobook, text, and images into a brilliant, integrated format, complete with exclusive audiobook features and a next-generation digital reading experience. Our growing x-book selection is easily discoverable by looking for the distinctive purple x-book® ribbon, or by simply filtering your search by ‘x-book’.
Beyond our technology, xigxag is committed to sustainability and ethical practices, ensuring a guilt-free listening experience from an exceptional digital book platform. As the only B Corp certified UK audiobook service, we stand as a leader in audiobook innovation and a compelling alternative to big tech. Our commitment extends to delivering extraordinary customer service, provided by our friendly UK support team.
Effortlessly search audiobooks, gain insights from honest audiobook reviews evaluating both the content and narration, and easily discover hidden gems. You can download or stream top audiobook titles anytime, anywhere, guaranteeing the best possible listening experience on the UK’s best independent audiobook app. Experience the future of audiobooks today.