The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

A Novel

De: Emma Knight

Narrado por: Saskia Maarleveld

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY

“Undeniably delicious.”—The New York Times

“A spellbinding debut about friendship, motherhood, first love, and the choices that bind us. . . I couldn't put it down!”—Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Summer Will Be Different

A witty, atmospheric, and brilliantly told novel that offers compelling portraits of womanhood, motherhood and female friendship, along with the irresistible intrigue surrounding an extraordinary British family

Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term, Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she’ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father’s—now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox—lives. When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lord Lennox’s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents’ secret, just as she’s falling in love for the first time . . .

As Pen experiences the sharp shock of adulthood, she comes to rely on herself for the first time in her life. A rich and rewarding novel of campus life, of sexual awakening, and ultimately, of the many ways women can become mothers in this world, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus asks to what extent we need to look back in order to move forward.

©2025 Emma Knight (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

”Undeniably delicious . . . . A tantalizing yet quietly touching debut about inheritance, emerging sexuality and what it truly means to come into one’s own.”—The New York Times

”A witty novel about navigating independence and complicated relationships.”—People

“An amazingly accomplished debut.”—Oprah Daily

Boring. DNF.

OMG. Usually I can’t wait to get back to an audio book. This was SO BORING. I quit with 5 hours to go, and at 1.4 speed. Do yourself a favor. Don’t.

Well written and excellent and performances by the narrators, but shallow story.

What was the point of the novel? The story was not worthy of a novel. Very weak premise.

the story was real and perceptive

What a beautiful reading of a lovely story. A story of coming of age amongst the familiar and unfamiliar. Read on and discover this lovely story and may be a little of yourself.

Gorgeous prose, women’s connections to themselves and each other, and fantastic narrator.

Gorgeous prose, memorable multi-dimensional characters (especially the female characters), intelligent without being didactic, and expressed what is to be a girl, woman, wife, mother through the lens of each character while making different choices. Their choices. I saved so many passages, and though the narration was exceptional (so much so that I want to listen to other novels due to her voice and voice acting skills) I also want to buy the novel and underline all of the sentences and pages that I loved. It will be full of yellow.

A wonderful book!

The characters and their stories are so well written. It’s a fascinating listen with an excellent narrator.

Ugh

I wanted to like this.
It’s a good listen but left me wanting more.

I read it for book club and would suggest it to someone else.

Excellent writing

Beautifully narrated/ excellent writing/ detailed richly developed characters/ vivid descriptions of landscape and interiors/ lyrical musings on life’s many journeys and choices made

Get this wonderful book!!! Couldnt put it down!!!!

Whether or not you attended college- you have a history of your early adulthood- when youre away from your family, and trying to figure out who you are- this book will hit home with you. Its so great! The writing is so colorful and thorough!!!

a beautiful story

a beautiful read. i will be thinking about this book and the characters for a long time

Predictable

Several boring chapters, predictable and anticlimactic. Character development was mediocre. Not worst but probably not worth the listen