Thomas Halliday Audiobooks

Otherlands: immersive nature writing, shortlisted for the 2022 Wainwright Prize

1 audiobook reviewed

★ 4.5/5 average

877 listener ratings

Who is Thomas Halliday?

Thomas Halliday is a writer whose public reputation rests, so far, on a single book – and one has proved enough. Otherlands earned him a place on the shortlist for the 2022 Wainwright Prize, the sort of early recognition that marks out a writer worth watching. Beyond that, the record is slim, and we prefer honest brevity to confident padding: with Halliday, the book is the story.

What can fairly be said is that prize juries do not shortlist books for good intentions. Something in the writing earned its place, and the title’s promise – other lands, unfamiliar ground, a guide prepared to take you there – is a fair statement of intent.

Thomas Halliday in audiobooks

Otherlands is the Halliday title in our catalogue, and it belongs to a category that thrives in audio: the single immersive work you settle into for the long haul rather than dip in and out of. A book built to carry its audience somewhere unfamiliar asks for a narrator’s steady company, and rewards the sustained listening that a good commute or a long walk provides. For UK listeners drawn to writing that has already impressed a prize jury, it is a low-risk way to meet a newer voice – and the shortlisting suggests the risk is smaller than most.