Prima Facie

De: Suzie Miller

Narrado por: Jodie Comer

Brought to you by Penguin.

This audiobook is narrated by Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, The Last Duel, The End We Start From), who won Best Actress in both the Tony and Olivier awards for her performance in the theatre production of Prima Facie. Her performance in the play was lauded as "infusing breath-taking emotional drama into every word" (Guardian), with "tremendous skill and improbable stamina" (New York Times). Here she returns to Tessa in this intimate and skilful performance.

From the Olivier award-winning playwright of Prima Facie Suzie Miller comes her first novel, where power, patriarchy and morality diverge.

‘She played by the rules, but the rules are broken.'

Tessa Ensler is a brilliant barrister who's forged her career in criminal defence through sheer determination. Since her days at Cambridge, she’s carefully disguised her working class roots in a male-dominated world where who you know is just as important as what you know. Driven by her belief in the right to a fair trial and a taste for victory, there’s nothing Tessa loves more than the thrill of getting her clients acquitted.

It seems like Tessa has it made when she is approached for a new job and nominated for the most prestigious award in her field. But when a date with a charismatic colleague goes horribly wrong, Tessa finds that the rules she’s always played by might not protect her, forcing her to question everything she's ever believed in…

“It has been an absolute joy to return to Tessa’s story whilst recording this audiobook. My hope is that it will reach the widest number of people, perhaps who weren’t able to see the play. I’ve personally enjoyed delving into her story again and am excited for audiences to experience this further exploration gifted to us by the wonderful Suzie Miller.” Jodie Comer

'Enthralling and sharp-witted . . . Highly recommended' Karin Slaughter

'Bold, fearless, heartbreakingly timeless. Written with skill, humour, despair and hope, Prima Facie is a deeply rewarding, absolute must read' Chris Whitaker

©2024 Suzie Miller (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

'Miller's star shines as brightly as a novelist as it does as a playwright. Prima Facie the novel gives us what novels do: the intimacy of interior life.' (Anna Funder, author of STASILAND)

Enjoyed every minute

What a powerful story and narration. I loved every minute of it. It spoke to me so deeply.

Your word against mine.

A truthful and thoughtful performer, Jodie Comer, demonstrates her craft as she viscerally guides the listener on the based-on-true-life-events, story of ex-criminal defense lawyer and writer, Suzie Miller.

Based in the UK, the story is told through the eyes of the highly intelligent, successful and quick-witted, criminal defense barrister, Tessa Ensler. Tessa leads our narrative with a confidence and surety, which for most of her life, has rested on her intelligence and passion of the law. This is not to say she has always had positive experiences with it, but the way she sees it, as long as the truth is told, the law will serve justice accordingly. She believes in its ability to decipher the truth in the right hands. Her hands… It’s also possible that she feels she is owed to this belief… After all, partnered with her brilliance, it led her to a new life and status in the fast-paced and sophisticated city of London, but perhaps not…

After an exciting and fun night, a sudden and hard wall appears in front of Tessa as she is confronted by reality. This leaves her to question the very foundations and walls that have held up and helped her to build her life. The solid walls with its cemented foundations, unveiled as rather, a barrier instead protection. Things aren’t so black and white and the reliability of the law and her own interpretation of it and “the truth”, is pulled into question.

The story keeps you on edge, as each sentence furiously drives the narrative. The characters are grounded in their perspectives and identities. Our main character, Tessa confides in the audience honestly. A trust is built with the audience, as she confides in and shares intimate and deeply personal information about her life. It is told with an honesty and a piercing vulnerability, leaving you hanging onto her every word, or even when… She has none to say to those in her external world.

With the masterful pairing of Comer’s performance and Miller’s words, a devastating light is shone on something so dark, ignored and important. The listener is left with rage, despair and eventually… a spark of hope. A hope that illuminates that this story may inspire effective change. A shift in society. A shift that could potentially help so many victims, particularly women, who have been “swept under the rug” in the world, as it carries on with “(easier) things.” In 2024, the topic of “victim-blaming mentality” has become a discussion, that is building its way of being brought to the table. Stories like this assist this cause and the injustice experienced by victims who are not believed.

Tessa could be anyone. Anyone in the sense that despite her being extraordinary, she is not exempt from what life may throw your way.

Nerve wrecking, skin raw scratching, emotionally empowering.

Not only is the story artfully crafted and written with great flow. It is also delivered by a unbelievably talented actress; Jodie Comer, she received a Tony award, for the Prima Facie Play in 2023. And with her voice performance and the raw emotions in it shown. She together with the author, went on and spread the very important and very real message that the novel, the play and the audiobook renditions convey. I felt for Tessa, her situation, her career and her bravery. I felt all her emotions as if I was her. That I think is very rare in audiobooks. I am incredibly grateful for the author; Suzie Miller and her way of putting into such beautiful words, what so many of us were thinking. Something has to change. I will recommend this piece of work to everyone, with my whole heart. It is something that had to be said and something that must be acted upon. And I thank them both.

Brilliant!!

What passion, what a plot and what a performance. If you want to listen to a book that should change your view of the world then this is it.