X-Book

More Than I Love My Life

Click Buy to Log in and see personalised pricing.

Send as a gift Get in the xigxag app

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

An epic, deeply moving novel about the power of love and loving with courage - from the Man Booker International Prize-winning author of A Horse Walks into a Bar

On a kibbutz in Israel in 2008, Gili is celebrating the ninetieth birthday of her grandmother Vera, the adored matriarch of a sprawling and tight-knit family. But festivities are interrupted by the arrival of Nina: the iron-willed daughter who rejected Vera's care; and the absent mother who abandoned Gili when she was still a baby.

Nina's return to the family after years of silence precipitates an epic journey from Israel to the desolate island of Goli Otok, formerly part of Yugoslavia. It was here, five decades earlier, that Vera was held and tortured as a political prisoner. And it is here that the three women will finally come to terms with the terrible moral dilemma that Vera faced, and that permanently altered the course of their lives.

More Than I Love My Life is a sweeping story about the power of love and loving with courage. A novel driven by faith in humanity even in our darkest moments, it asks us to confront our deepest held beliefs about a woman's duty to herself and to her children.

'Grossman's work resonates with emotional intelligence, humanity and truth' Irish Times

© David Grossman 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critics Review

More Than I Love My Life... is a profound testament to the emotional power of fiction and shows why some critics regard Grossman as a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Financial Times
Immaculately translated by Jessica Cohen, this is another extraordinary novel from Grossman, a book as beautiful and sad as anything you'll read this year.
Observer
Unforgettable . . . This adds another remarkable achievement to Grossman's long list.
Publisher's Weekly *Starred Review*
In More Than I Love My Life he [Grossman] tells a sombre and affecting tale... [a] delicately crafted novel, crisply translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen.
Sunday Times
[Grossman gives] vivid voice to each of the characters as they navigate their pain, both present and past... Grossman's 12 previous novels and five volumes of non-fiction have brought him renown on both sides of the Atlantic. This book will earn him more.
Economist
[A] concisely devastating novel... [Grossman] has demonstrated again that the novel - elastic, expansive, amenable to painful fragmentation - can provide a space for the most harrowing and resistant material.
Guardian
Nobody can see the political in the personal like David Grossman. He is an interpreter of hearts and an investigator of social forces. Every book he writes is a revelation.
Juan Gabriel Vásquez
A moving exploration of the power of love, secrets and forgiveness. A sweeping narrative rooted in a deep faith in humanity.
Mail on Sunday
Grossman is surely now the greatest living Israeli writer. And his new novel, More Than I Love My Life, is arguable his best yet... what makes the book so powerful and complex is not just the daughters' refusal to forgive, but the way Grossman lets the story unfold.
Jewish Chronicle
A meditation on love, on memory, and on the power of storytelling.
Financial Times, *Books of the Year*
Author David Grossman
Narrator Gilli Messer
Duration 10 hours and 48 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781473597198
Format Audiobook
Publisher Random House
Genre Family life fiction, Gender studies: women and girls, Generational sagas, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Social issues, Trauma and shock, War, combat and military adventure fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE

About xigxag

xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.

There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.

Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.

Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.