Narrated By: Gavanndra Hodge
Duration: 8 hours and 53 minutes
What to expect
Discover the highly anticipated, remarkable and fearless, The Consequences of Love, brought to you by Penguin.
Seven-year-old Gavanndra Hodge's life is a precarious place. Her father is a hairdresser and drug dealer to Chelsea's most decadent inhabitants; her mother an alcoholic ex-model. So, it is up to Gavanndra to keep her little sister Candy safe.
But when Candy dies suddenly on holiday aged nine, Gavanndra's family, already so fragile and damaged, implodes.
Now a mother herself, and with only memories of Candy's awful final moments, Gavanndra embarks on a journey to write her way back to the little girl whose death tore her family apart.
The Consequences of Love is a story of loss and recovery, trauma and memory. It is a joyous and compelling account of the strength of the love between sisters and how nothing is ever truly lost if we are brave enough to return to where we began.
© Gavanndra Hodge 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020
Genre
Memoirs, True stories of survival of abuse & injustice, Coping with death & bereavement, Trauma & shock
Listen to a sample
It's a vivid and oddly entertaining memoir, a hand plunged into the dark hole of grief . . . uncovers surprising treasures - most importantly, strength, resilience and love
Hodge pours heartbreak and love into the pages of a book that never pretends to know the answers, and is all the better for it
Looks at the power of love and loss in shaping one's life. Moving and beautifully written
This book is genuinely extraordinary
'Beautifully-written, calm-but-utterly-compelling life-story of trauma and healing... the author seems lovely and I want to be her pal!'
A devastating, heart-breaking and magnificent meditation on the function of memory. It will stay with me forever, so beautifully written
Extraordinary . . . profoundly moving
I read it in one sitting without pause. It is an astonishing book. I haven't stopped thinking about it
A completely unforgettable and unique family memoir. A total cliché but I honestly couldn't put it down
There are books - and then there are books that you'll never forget reading. A quite extraordinary memoir
An elegant study of grief and memory
Life affirming [...] an enrapturing journey through darkness, destructive behaviour and an urgency for light and happiness now
A brave, lyrical, painful tale of bereavement, addiction, and the building of a new life
Unflinchingly honestly. A beautiful book . . . everyone should read it
By turns painful and joyful, this beautiful book has plenty of poignant lessons to teach us about grief and love
The Consequences of Love is undoubtedly one of this year's most hotly-anticipated books, and with good reason
A brave, brilliant book that is both beautiful and important. Read it then buy it for all your friends
Gavanndra writes beautifully, her words are unsentimental but very lyrical [...] I loved this book and my tears fell into the bath as I read it
This stunning exploration of grief is so well written and profoundly moving
Gavanndra's memoir The Consequences of Love is absolutely beautiful. It's compelling, heartbreaking, sweet, honest, fascination. I recommend it HIGHLY. I absolutely LOVED it.
One of the most beautiful memoirs I've ever read. This story will say with you long after you put the book down
An eye-opening snapshot of the fashion world in '90s London
Gavanndra Hodge's moving memoir recounts the consequences of an early life framed by beauty, glamour and tragedy
Hodge's beautiful memoir is both a devastating, grief-fuelled account of her sister's death and a redemptive tale of an emotional reckoning
Searing
I just turned the last page (reluctantly!). A bold, often brutal exploration of memory, grief and love. Full of hope and heart. I can't recommend it enough
An elegant study of grief and memory
Wise and moving . . . this memoir is an acknowledgment that love demands a price
Brilliantly written and heartbreaking but also joyful and uplifting
Searing. A masterful writer with a gift for storytelling. Her prose is rich with detail, combining a sharp sense of place with escalating drama. A triumph
This is one of the best books I've read about grief - and the catastrophic consequences of addiction. Exquisitely written. Profoundly moving
There are scenes that will reduce you to tears, but there's also humour, forgiveness and uplifting optimism [...] by the end of this dazzling debut you just want to give her a huge cheer for coming through
A heartbreaking and compelling memoir
The most moving, most exquisitely written book about addiction, grief, loss and coming to terms with trauma even decades on. One that you will be thinking about, and remember long after finishing
Brilliant and moving
A wonderful and transformative memoir about the impact of loss and the power of love; and one that illustrates how it is never too late to tackle suppressed grief
Brave and beautifully written
A powerful memoir
So brilliantly written . . . ultimately joyful and uplifting
A real tear-jerker
Timely and highly original
Superbly written. Beautifully written and utterly heartbreaking. Courageous, inspired, bleakly comic, extreme candour
I read this in one sitting, tears splashing onto its pages. A beautiful book about grief, losing a sibling, trauma, drugs, parenting & memory in the most exquisite way. Please everyone read it
The must-read of the summer
At a time when so many families are losing loved ones, and are denied even the scant comfort funerals provide, there is no more poignant moment for this book to appear