Death Valley cover art

Death Valley

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
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.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Death Valley

By: Melissa Broder
Narrated by: Melissa Broder
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/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
Switch payment method
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

 Bloomsbury presents Death Valley written and read by Melissa Broder.

‘Riotously original ... A triumph’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘A journey unlike any you've read before’ NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH

‘Her most profound book yet ... Surreal, hysterical and beguiling in every sense’ GLAMOUR

The most profound book yet from the visionary author of Milk Fed and The Pisces, a darkly funny novel about grief that becomes a desert survival story.

A woman arrives alone at a Best Western seeking respite from an emptiness that plagues her. She has fled to the California high desert to escape a cloud of sorrow — for both her father in the ICU and a husband whose illness is worsening. What the motel provides, however, is not peace but a path, thanks to a receptionist who recommends a nearby hike.

Out on the sun-scorched trail, the woman encounters a towering cactus whose size and shape mean it should not exist in California. Yet the cactus is there, with a gash through its side that beckons like a familiar door. So she enters it. What awaits her inside this mystical succulent sets her on a journey at once desolate and rich, hilarious and poignant.

This is Melissa Broder at her most imaginative, most universal, and finest. This is Death Valley.

PRAISE FOR THE PISCES

'Of all the books that I read this summer I think this was my absolute favourite. It really blew me away' DOLLY ALDERTON
'Frank, provocative and brilliant' INDEPENDENT
'Hilarious, poignant, sexy. A brilliant story about why we crave connection and how to find ourselves' ELLE
'Laugh-out-loud funny' i©2023 Melissa Broder (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Metaphysical & Visionary Witty Funny

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Best American Short Stories 2020 cover art
Dark Neighbourhood cover art
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 1 cover art
The Rachel Incident cover art
Boy Parts cover art
Open My Eyes, That I May See Marvellous Things cover art
The Mythic Dream cover art
The Carrying cover art
Natural Beauty cover art
The Rage Less Traveled cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Brilliantly read. I love everything Melissa writes and this was as thought provoking, strange and wonderful as I hoped it would be.

A surreal and lyrical journey

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Funny, relatable, profoundish (and no other descriptive words but at least past the minimum of fifteen).

Hot desert on desert action.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I had this preordered for months and it didn’t disappoint. The narrative of a woman lost in the desert interwoven with the fear of loss was so well executed, and took the theme of bereavement to a new place.

Utterly absurd and brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really enjoyed this book - it's not perfect, but still a bright fun thing. will definitely seek out more from the author

Fabulously odd

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I wonder what the author is on! The strangest book ever, and I really didn’t understand one part of it

Weird!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I gave up listening. Uninspired and quite frankly boring. It has potential but is painfully predictable and repetitive. I don’t need to hear “my father the baby” or “my father the teen” ever again, lest I tear my hair out.

Repetitive mess

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