The Eighth Life cover art

The Eighth Life

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Eighth Life

By: Nino Haratischvili
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £30.99

Buy Now for £30.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

At the start of the 20th century, on the edge of the Russian empire, a family prospers. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down the generations with great solemnity and caution. A caution which is justified: this is a recipe for ecstasy that carries a very bitter aftertaste....

Stasia learns it from her Georgian father and takes it north, following her new husband, Simon, to his posting at the center of the Russian Revolution in St. Petersburg. Stasia’s is only the first in a symphony of grand but all too often doomed romances that swirl from sweet to sour in this epic tale of the red century.

Tumbling down the years, and across vast expanses of longing and loss, generation after generation of this compelling family hears echoes and sees reflections. A ballet dancer never makes it to Paris and a singer pines for Vienna. Great characters and greater relationships come and go and come again; the world shakes, and shakes some more, and the listener rejoices to have found at last one of those glorious old books in which you can live and learn, be lost and found, and make indelible new friends.

©2019 Nino Haratischvili (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction World Literature Imperialism

Listeners also enjoyed...

 My Soul Twin cover art
Watch Us Dance cover art
The Covenant of Water cover art
Three Apples Fell from the Sky cover art
Fair and Tender Ladies cover art
The Big Green Tent cover art
The Dog of Tithwal cover art
The Book of Fate cover art
Mornings in Jenin cover art
We Hope for Better Things cover art
The Polish Nurse cover art
The Lost Vintage cover art
The Winds of War cover art
The Venice Sketchbook cover art
Disoriental cover art
The Complete Jaipur Trilogy cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
A great read. The story of revolution, family, love, betrayal as experienced by a Georgian family throughout the 20th century and beyond. Larger than life characters and great storytelling kept me enthralled.

Great Storytelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The eighth life tells a beautiful and painful story about a family, told through the women of that family, living in Georgia as it becomes part of the Soviet Union, about all the trauma the people in that family carry with them and pass it on.

A beautiful story about generations in Georgia

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Despite the slightly grating narration ( pas de DeUX!? ) an all-encompassing family saga that is so varied in it's styles; harrowing , lyrical, opulent, abrasive. Loved this writer's very original voice.

An engrossing listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is fantastic. War and peace mixed with Virginia Woolf the years. This book is a family saga at heart yet this description does not do justice to the story. It’s so great the writing, the characters, the settings. And the narrator does a fantastic job.

An epic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There is a point when purchasing a book when you consider its length. Can I really commit to something this long, but soon you are wrapped up in a tumble of stories, history and heartbreak. Ending the book is quite emotional as you have to leave this remarkable family behind. A set of beautifully drawn and realised characters who have been with you through a turbulent century. Wonderful.

A great big rollicking read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this complex, interesting and beautifully told story spanning a century of Georgian, Russian and European history.
The narrator unfortunately speaks so fast I had to put the speed to 0.9 to not get nervous listening. Also her attempts to voice act the different characters is not that great.
Despite that I highly recommend the book, as it’s moving, entertaining, very educational on a part of the world and history I realised I know little about. The many characters and interwoven story lines became my “friends” over the 40plus (!!) hours of listening.

A trigger warning is due, I feel, regarding the description of a number of intense violence and sexual abuse scenes. I personally had to fast forward a couple of those.

Fabulous story, narrator rather annoying

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Aside from a few trips to the lovely Georgian restaurant near where I live in south London I knew nothing whatsoever about Georgia so found this really interesting. I found the American accented narrator very irritating to the point that it did sometimes detract from the story…. Because pronouncing ’plaits’ as Plates or ‘shone’ as Shown was jarring because the words then didn’t make sense so I’d have to decipher what she was saying. Even more irritating was her ‘childhood’ voice which made me want to switch off. Presumably audible pays the narrators so why can’t they be bothered to check pronunciation before they start work?!
The story is good though with daft magic realist parts which for me weren’t convincing- such as the curse of the chocolate. Odd how everyone always woke up when it being made, I’m sure I’d sleep through someone making a hot drink but hey, maybe not if it’s a cursed one.
Ultimately I loved the early parts and grew less and less enamoured as it went on .

Enthralling family saga with a really irritating narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is quite a commitment in both length and graphic content so won't be for everyone, but if you feel able to commit then it will give you a really good story whilst also teaching you something of the history of the USSR. In particular through the eyes of thè female line of a fictitious Georgian family.

However it really does not shy away from the brutality of life behind the iron curtain and tells a tragic tale in many particularly given the geopolitical situation we find ourselves in at the moment.

Please proceed with exstreame caution if you are struggling with your mental health. I don't know whether I would have started the journey had I been fully armed with the facts before doing so but I was too gripped to stop once I had started. A masterpiece.

This is an amazing book, but not for everyone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is really amazing. There is nothing I disliked about it. It’s raw and full of emotions. It takes you to another time, a time when everything was so different and dificult too. I am so glad I got to enjoy it so much. It’s been a while since I found such an interesting book. It also made me wonder about certain things. And mostly about its “coming to surface”. Is it true? At least a few things if not all of them… my favorite at the moment 🤍

Everything 🤍

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The most beautiful intricately woven carpet I have ever read. The words drew me into the worlds of every character as they unfolded.

A beautiful intricately woven carpet

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews