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Great Big Beautiful Life

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Great Big Beautiful Life

Written by: Emily Henry
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
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About this listen

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.

As featured in
The New York TimesRolling StonePeople ∙ Good Morning America ∙ NPR ∙ Vogue ∙ The Cut ∙ USA TodayCosmopolitanHarper's BazaarMarie Claire Glamour ∙ E! Online ∙ The New York Post ∙ Bustle ∙ Reader's Digest ∙ BBC ∙ PopSugar ∙ SheReads ∙ Paste ∙ and more!

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.

©2025 Emily Henry (P)2025 Penguin Audio
Editors Select Women's Fiction

What the critics say

"Her best-selling romances have made her a new standard-bearer of the genre."—The New York Times


“Readers can count on Em-Hen to transport them to a kinder, sunnier, and funnier galaxy where happy endings can be counted on . . . Henry’s magic elixir, it seems, is to return again and again to a simple boy-meets-girl formula while writing textured novels populated with vivid characters that never feel formulaic: she takes us back to a time when we believed, with all our being, that love conquers all.”—The Boston Globe

“A sweeping love story about the choices we make and the threads that knit us together. Thoughtful, moving, and deliciously tender. Emily Henry is as captivating as ever. I love everything she does.”—B.K. Borison, New York Times bestselling author of First Time Caller

What listeners say about Great Big Beautiful Life

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another great EH novel, but not a romance.

Okay this is so different to the usual EH romance, and is more fiction than romance, but still so incredible.

This is giving the quintessential great EH characters, a spot of tension, high stakes job opportunity, and a lot of great prose.

Adore reading this, especially with how different it is than her usual romance. I’m not sure everyone will love this if they’re expecting the usual EH romance, but if you look at it objectively as fiction, I think you’ll really enjoy this.

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Heart Squeezing

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is my favourite Emily Henry book by a long shot, and I really enjoyed her others. I found this so poignant and heart squeezing. Really wonderfully paced with a broad spectrum of personalities, histories, tensions and some surprises. I may have cried a bit 🙃 I’m a sucker for heartfelt family moments though

As always, Julia Whelan narrates this wonderfully.

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amazing narration and story

So so so beautiful. Emily Henry writes magic and I’ll read anything she writes. She creates characters that feel like friends.

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Emily Henry and Julia Whelan are formidable

I adored this book. It was so beautifully written and narrated. A heartfelt gem

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Loved it

1. Julia Whelan is an amazing narrator and her man-voice is one of my favourites.
2. This was like a mix between seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo & beach read and I was here for it!!

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The best book I’ve read in a very long time

From the beautiful writing, to the performance, to the story, this book was perfect. Emily Henry does it again.

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Wonderful Audiobook

I loved everything about this book. I loved Alice and Hayden and was so invested in Margaret’s story. The narration was perfect also. It was a big beautiful audiobook!

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Love story and a mystery

Julia whelan is a great narrator and brought the story to life. I enjoyed the interaction between Margaret and Alice and the sexual tension between Alice and Hayden. I look forward to another Emily Henry book.

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Great range of emotions!

I really enjoyed this book. it did end a bit abruptly for me though. But overall it was a feel good story with some important lessons learned. Would recommend!

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An absorbing and touching story

Julia Whelan is a great narrator as always. My first 5-star listen in quite some time.

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