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Stowaways
- Author
- André Aciman
- Narrator
- Edoardo Ballerini
- Publisher
- Faber & Faber
- Publish Date
- 10 February 2026
- Run Time
- 1 hour 37 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
This contemporary twist on
Brief Encounter is a tender meditation on what might have been.
'Maybe we love people because they won't let us know them.'
A summer's evening in Manhattan. Nothing - not cold drinks, not showers not a stroll through the chilly aisles of an all-night drugstore - can undo the heat's hold on the city. Julian is half watching the evening news, his husband filling the dishwasher. That's when it arrives. An email with the subject line: 'From Paul Axel'. An email about a dead man from Carol - a woman Julian has never met. Paul has left a message he'd like her to relay.
Emails are exchanged. Morning coffee is agreed. Carol, fulfilling Paul's final request, wonders how she will tell Julian of a life - and a love - he has no idea existed. A life, encased in a flash drive, containing multitudes.
'I have unashamedly fallen in love with Andre Aciman's writing. . . I couldn't stop reading until the very last page.'
'It's a really beautiful book of two people talking about love.'
'Poignant, heart-warming, stimulating and challenging. All readers should recognise something of themselves in this story.'
'I had no idea what to expect going into this book but in true André Aciman style, I was floored by the sheer beauty of it.'
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Details
- Author
- André Aciman
- Narrator
- Edoardo Ballerini
- Duration
- 1 hour 37 minutes
- Release Date
- 10 February 2026
- ISBN
- 9780571402021
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Faber & Faber
- Genre
- Fiction: literary and general non-genre, Narrative theme: death, grief, loss
Synopsis
This contemporary twist on Brief Encounter is a tender meditation on what might have been. 'Maybe we love people because they won't let us know them.' A summer's evening in Manhattan. Nothing - not cold drinks, not showers not a stroll through the chilly aisles of an all-night drugstore - can undo the heat's hold on the city. Julian is half watching the evening news, his husband filling the dishwasher. That's when it arrives. An email with the subject line: 'From Paul Axel'. An email about a dead man from Carol - a woman Julian has never met. Paul has left a message he'd like her to relay. Emails are exchanged. Morning coffee is agreed. Carol, fulfilling Paul's final request, wonders how she will tell Julian of a life - and a love - he has no idea existed. A life, encased in a flash drive, containing multitudes. 'I have unashamedly fallen in love with Andre Aciman's writing. . . I couldn't stop reading until the very last page.' 'It's a really beautiful book of two people talking about love.' 'Poignant, heart-warming, stimulating and challenging. All readers should recognise something of themselves in this story.' 'I had no idea what to expect going into this book but in true André Aciman style, I was floored by the sheer beauty of it.'
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