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The Dinner Party
- Author
- Viola van de Sandt
- Narrator
- Roze Elisa
- Publisher
- Headline
- Publish Date
- 4 November 2025
- Run Time
- 9 hours 1 minute
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Lucy Rose, author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Lamb
I remember everything that happened in those three minutes at the beginning of the evening, him and me in the kitchen. That, and what happened at the end: the knife, and what I did with it.
Franca left the Netherlands behind to start her new life in England with Andrew. Andrew, whose parents lived in South Kensington but had a flat their son could 'borrow' nearby. Andrew, an old-fashioned British gentleman, who encourages her not to work but to instead focus on her writing. Andrew who suggests a dinner party with his colleagues to celebrate their big upcoming launch. A dinner party that Franca must plan and shop and cook and clean for. A dinner party during a heatwave, when the fridge breaks, alcohol replaces water and an unexpected guest joins their ranks. A dinner party where everything she once was and everything she now is comes together and she feels like she might implode.
Critics Review
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'This formidable debut offers plenty to savour . . . There are echoes here of Natasha Brown's astonishing debut Assembly, as well as Olivia Sudjic's Asylum Road' GUARDIAN
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What could have operated as a simple comedy of errors full of broken fridges, pompous guests and a wayward kitten, is revealed as something both far darker and more deeply emotionally compelling. A blistering debut
MARIE CLAIRE
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Revels in exposing what lies beneath
IRISH TIMES
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Beautifully written and brilliant on loneliness, grief and violence. Compelling
DAILY MAIL
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A powerful, provocative study of female rage unleashed. Franca's intoxicating tale is often darkly funny despite the subject matter
THE SCOTSMAN
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'A tense, provocative debut' MAIL ON SUNDAY
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An unflinching read
THE MIRROR
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'The Dinner Party is a profoundly confronting novel which consumed me whole. It's tender, astonishing, and unflinching, and a deeply moving portrayal of experiencing sexual trauma in the domestic. Warning, dear reader, side effects may including utter speechlessness, a deep sinking feeling, and staring at walls for prolonged periods upon turning its final pages' -- LUCY ROSE, author of The Lamb
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'An intimate, provocative, and irresistible debut. I was mesmerised' -- JAMIE ATTENBERG, author of The Middlesteins
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'A mesmerising debut that will make you laugh and cry' NAOMI KELSEY, author of The Burnings
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'The Dinner Party is relentlessly engrossing and seething with suspense from the first to the very last word' CHARLOTTE PARADISE, author of Overspill
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'Raw, compassionate, and compelling - what a beautiful world we live in where a book can be messy and tender all at once' LIT HUB
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'A slow-burn, time-shifting, suspenseful thriller . . . Tense and compelling' BOOKLIST
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'A powerful, provocative and confronting study of female rage unleashed' WOMAN'S WAY
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Viola van de Sandt
- Narrator
- Roze Elisa
- Duration
- 9 hours 1 minute
- Release Date
- 4 November 2025
- ISBN
- 9781035429875
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Headline
- Genre
- Fiction: literary and general non-genre, Sexual abuse and harassment
Synopsis
'A profoundly confronting novel which consumed me whole... tender, astonishing and unflinching'Lucy Rose, author of the Sunday Times bestseller The LambI remember everything that happened in those three minutes at the beginning of the evening, him and me in the kitchen. That, and what happened at the end: the knife, and what I did with it.Franca left the Netherlands behind to start her new life in England with Andrew. Andrew, whose parents lived in South Kensington but had a flat their son could 'borrow' nearby. Andrew, an old-fashioned British gentleman, who encourages her not to work but to instead focus on her writing. Andrew who suggests a dinner party with his colleagues to celebrate their big upcoming launch. A dinner party that Franca must plan and shop and cook and clean for. A dinner party during a heatwave, when the fridge breaks, alcohol replaces water and an unexpected guest joins their ranks. A dinner party where everything she once was and everything she now is comes together and she feels like she might implode.
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