Consequences of Love
Gavanndra Hodge

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