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Old Soul

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Old Soul

Written by: Susan Barker
Narrated by: George Blagden, Jill Winternitz, Olivia Vinall
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About this listen

The Historian meets Under the Skin in this searingly provocative literary horror novel about one woman’s determination to stay alive at any terrifying cost.

In Osaka, two strangers, Jake and Mariko, miss a flight, and over dinner, discover they've both brutally lost loved ones whose paths crossed with the same beguiling woman no one has seen since.

Following traces this mysterious person left behind, Jake travels from country to country gathering chilling testimonies from others who encountered her across the decades—a trail of shattered souls that eventually leads him to Theo, a dying sculptor in rural New Mexico, who knows the woman better than anyone—and might just hold the key to who, or what, she is.

Part horror, part western, part thriller, Old Soul is a fearlessly bold and genre-defying tale about predation, morality and free will, and one man’s quest to bring a centuries-long chain of human devastation to an end.

©2025 Susan Barker (P)2025 Penguin Audio Editors Select Horror Psychological Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Exciting Scary

What the critics say

“Every subplot is a beautifully complete, historically accurate little world of its own. . . Rendered so bleakly that H.P. Lovecraft would be envious. . . Do not miss Old Soul, the most satisfyingly grim supernatural novel in years.” —Wall Street Journal

"Old Soul is an extraordinary achievement. A brutal interrogation of art, connection, the meaning of and impulse toward life itself. I couldn't put it down." —Beth Underdown, author of The Witchfinder's Sister

"Susan Barker is a tremendous writer and Old Soul snags the reader in its claw and mesmerises from page one. I often wondered if I was devouring the story or vice versa, I was so engrossed. It is not an option to put this book down." —Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch

Dear Listener,

What drew me to write Old Soul, and what am I excited for you to discover?
"I wrote Old Soul out of a love of many things: horror and the supernatural, monstrous women, darkly romantic love stories, and novels that contain stories-within-stories, spiraling across decades and continents. The novel is about one man’s quest to track down a mysterious woman who destroyed the lives of many, including his closest friend. It’s about the tug-of-war between our self-centered desires and the obligations we owe to others, especially to those we love. At the center of it all is the question: Without human connection, is life—even eternal life—worth living at all?
My hope is that listening will be an exhilarating ride. I would love for you to experience all the heart-thudding, spine-chilling escapism of the horror genre as you move through time and place with our appalling antihero, witnessing her deeds through her victims’ eyes. And if Old Soul leaves you feeling scared, maybe even too nervous to turn out the lights ... then my job as an author is done."– Susan Barker, writer of Old Soul

What listeners say about Old Soul

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Excellent

Great story really well narrated. such a pleasure to follow an actual plot, with complete characters, a beginning middle and end. Highly recommended.

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Brilliant!

Not for the faint hearted but a riveting psychological horror thriller. Less gore and violence than pure malevolence.

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