True Biz cover art

True Biz

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
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.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

True Biz

By: Sara Novic
Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith, Lisa Flanagan
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
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

A transporting novel that follows a year of seismic romantic, political and familial shifts for a teacher and her students at a boarding school for the deaf, from the acclaimed author of Girl at War.

One of the most anticipated books of 2022—Oprah Daily, The Millions, Lit Hub, BookPage

True biz (adj./exclamation; American Sign Language): really, seriously, definitely, real-talk

True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history finals and have politicians, doctors and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges listeners into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they'll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who's never met another deaf person before, Austin, the school's golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing and February, the headmistress, who is fighting to keep her school open and her marriage intact, but might not be able to do both. As a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin and February find their lives inextricable from one another—and changed forever.

This is a story of sign language and lip-reading, disability and civil rights, isolation and injustice, first love and loss and, above all, great persistence, daring and joy. Absorbing and assured, idiosyncratic and relatable, this is an unforgettable journey into the Deaf community and a universal celebration of human connection.

©2022 Sara Novic (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK
Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Student Business
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Five Wounds cover art
The Year of Discovery Box Set cover art
Shadow of the Lions cover art
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You cover art
The Sign for Home cover art
From Foster Care to Millionaire cover art
It All Comes Back to You cover art
The Town of Babylon cover art
No One Ever Asked cover art
American Like Me cover art
Sigh, Gone cover art
Refugee cover art
Carnegie's Maid cover art
She Would Be King cover art
Kamikaze Boys cover art
Tell Me What I Am cover art

Critic reviews

"Part tender coming-of-age story, part electrifying tale of political awakening, part heartfelt love letter to Deaf culture, True Biz is a wholly a wonder." (Celeste Ng)

What listeners say about True Biz

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    33
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Food for thought

It was interesting to listen to the book. What impressed me most was hearing the sign language as background.
This book definitely makes you think again about the level of pressure society has over us - where and how to belong, where and what to study, what options for medical care you have and can choose fro....

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good insight into deaf community

It’s always good to learn about other communities. This book allows that whilst telling a story that on its own is interesting. I enjoyed it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

really interesting insight into deaf culture

I found the story really interesting as well as the informational bits in-between. a proper amount of teenage angst as well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

interesting story

i did enjoy listening to the book. for me inserted informative parts were too much, like from different book so it was breaking the story for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely Phenomenal

Loved this book, so inspiring and eye opening to the deaf experience and the ignorance of the hearing and lack of support given to deaf people.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Important and great book!

Really really enjoyed this book and I learnt a lot. It's entertaining and compelling and no doubt I will be thinking about the characters for some time to come. The ending is slightly sudden but made sense to me! Spend your credit on this one! :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable and educational

This book brilliantly combines a great story about deaf teenagers and a history of deaf culture. Love the the use of sound effects when characters are using sign language.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Totally Confused

So many loose ends and unanswered event happenings in this book. I listened to the last few chapters 4 times to see if I had missed something... I didn't, the book just didn't wrap the story up or make sense. Really disappointing, although the premise was good but could have been executed so much better.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!