Oh my word this book was just so beautiful. It was such an absolute pleasure to listen to. After listening to this book I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Such a poignant read. I listened to this book on audio and the narration was excellent.

I have loved The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse since it came out. I also follow Charlie on Instagram and he is a pure delight and as a bookseller, I just love talking about it and bringing it into people's lives.
I wasn’t sure how I would find the audio book because so much of the magic of the book is in the drawings he does of these 4 friends, but to my delightful surprise, if anything I think it is actually more magical to listen to it.
Narrated by Charlie himself, he encapsulates the wonder of the journey that they all go on and more. With added descriptions and narratives throughout the book you can easily visualise what is going on and where they are travelling. It is perfect to listen to alone or follow with the book for that extra special feeling.
The music could not be more perfectly chosen and helps bring these 4 beautiful creatures to life, it fills out the atmosphere and if you lay back and close your eyes you can almost imagine yourself there with them.
This book with his beautifully inspirational words has gotten me through some really tough times over the last year or so and to have the added bonus of listening to it, is just amazing and helped pick me up more than I realised I needed.
I urge you to go listen to this book and recapture the love of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse all over again. Thank you Charlie for such wonderful friends and their journey and I hope that there will be more to follow.
Also a huge Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
5/5

This was fantastic. I wasn't sure how it was going to work as an audiobook as the illustrations are so important to the book. I was very pleasantly surprised! Charlie Mackesy does a great job of narrating, and that is a lot of the reason that this works in my opinion. He describes what you would see in the pictures so that the story makes sense. The addition of music also worked really well, and again was something that I wasn't sure I would like until I actually listened to it. The music is very gentle and definitely adds to the audiobook experience. Overall it was a really calming and enjoyable short listen, and I loved it!

What a beautiful and touching audiobook about special friendships with a simple and heartwarming message of love, empathy and kindness!

In this uncertain time, listening to this audiobook was like an escape from the stress of everyday life and a reminder about the things that truly matters.

Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy.

This was a lovely way to experience Charlie Mackesy’s bestseller. I wondered how the audiobook could possibly live up to Charlie’s popular illustrations but he beautifully paints the story in your mind. It was an especially lovely bedtime story!

The publisher and author will be tagged if the book is reviewed and/or featured on Caboodle or Pretty Books.

I own a limited edition hardback copy of The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and The Horse, and it is absolutely beautiful. I was intrigued as to how it would work as an audio book as the illustrations are a big part of the story, so I requested from Netgalley and was delighted to receive a copy.

After listening I can confirm that it works brilliantly as an audio book! Firstly, I love that the author himself reads the book, this gives it real feeling and emotion, the way the author intended.

The book is full of calming music and spftly spoken words, and the content is just magical. It's a very uplifting, insighful book which is extremely relatable in these times.

If anyone hasn't seen, Charlie Macksey often posts pages form his book on his Instagram, meaningful pages that fit with the day, and this is wonderful too.

The audio book definitely works and I would highly recommend.

Thak you to Netgalley, Penguin Random House UK Audio and Charlie Macksey for an Advance Copy of this audio book in return for an honest review.

This was a lovely audio version of this now very famous book. It was beautifully read by the author making it even more special. He obviously knows his book so well that it felt like a quite an intimate recoding. As I haven’t actually read the book myself I really appreciated the beautiful descriptions of the illustrations that we all know so well through social media. At just 58 minutes it’s a short recording that could be used as a kind of meditation or during a lunch break.

Stillness made manifest. Pure and perfect.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance audio copy of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse in exchange for an honest review. (Thank-you Netgalley). After reading other reviews I purchased the book and read / absorbed the art work as I listened. I found the narration (provided by the author himself) just right, the two mediums (audio and print) complemented each other beautifully and together they made the experience whole.

I treasured the time spent with this book, highly recommended. A much needed breath of calm in these times of fear and conflict.

Although I had gifted this as a book a few times, I have never read it myself. I was delighted therefore when I saw the audio version on NetGalley. My initial uncertainty about how the story, with its beautiful illustrations, would be translated into an audiobook was immediately dispelled by the first few seconds. The music, the calming and warmth of the author’s voice as well as the plot worked beautifully together to produce an uplifting and reassuring tale. I had already listened to it three times in the first week of receiving it. I have since recommended it to my friends and family. Thank you Netgalley and everyone for gifting this to me.

What a truly beautiful book. So uplifting in these difficult times. The sort of book you want to read again and again and then share it with everyone you know. A book to be treasured.

I am sorry to break ranks and say this just wasn't for me. Perhaps it's because I haven't already bought the book so I had more work to do to make sense of what I was hearing. The illustrations in the book look lovely, though to my eye very similar to E P Shepherd's Winnie the Pooh line drawings. The music was very pleasant, if repetitive, and the idea of a group of animals accompanying a boy on a journey was nice enough.
I am afraid I found the text rather sentimental and mawkish and was not surprised to find that the whole project began on instagram. Neither did I care for the narrator's whimsical self-deprecation. I can see that other listeners found this comforting so that has to be a good thing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK Audio for a free audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw this was selling so highly last year I was curious, but I thought I wouldn't be interested in this children's book. Yet, when I saw there was an audio available on NetGalley my curiosity took over and I just had to request it, and I'm so glad that I did.

This is literally the most wholesome book, and most wholesome audiobook I've ever listened to. It's narrated by the author and he has such a soothing voice to match the sweet, powerful story of this book and I absolutely adored the hour I spent listening to this book.

I listened to the audiobook of this and it was beautiful. I loved the ambient sounds and the background piano music that went with each animal. There are some profound messages in this book that will make people think. I found the narrator very slow.

Just glorious! I am waiting for a copy of this book from my library and was intrigued to see this audio version. I must admit I was skeptic about how the tone evoked by the wonderful artwork could be conveyed without something being lost, but decided to give it a go and I’m so glad I did. The narration is outstanding and the whole audio experience truly breathtaking! I cannot recommend this book highly enough, both for children and adults.

Absolutely love the author/ illustrator making his words and pictures accessible to the audio audience. It’s just beautifully done, perfectly paced. I felt I was sitting in a room listening to a true storyteller.

It really is impossible not to love this story.

When I mentioned to a friend that I was going to be listening to the Audiobook edition, he couldn’t quite comprehend how the book in its original format with its wonderful illustrations could be converted into audio. Well, Charlie Mackesy saw there was a need and means to deliver his story and messages to a wider audience (many who are incapable of enjoying the physical book) and managed to deliver an offering that is filled with wonder, joy, love, and some inspiring wisdom.

The combination of the music (which at times reminded me of The Gruffalo, an all-time favourite), the descriptive imagery, and Charlie’s brilliant narration really make up for the lack of pictures.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK Audio for a review copy.

“Doing nothing with friends is never doing nothing, is it?'
― Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

I was a little unsure how this book would translate to audiobook but this was done beautifully. Such a calming, heartwarming tale, would be perfect to listen to while falling asleep.

A Mole makes friends with a Boy and together they meet a Fox and a Horse. Through asking each other questions, they teach each other and learn from each other, passing on lots of wise words. Some of my favourites are "Isn't it weird, we can only see our outsides, but nearly everything happens on the inside." and "Asking for help isn't giving up, it's refusing to give up." This book made me really crave cake as it seems to be Mole's favourite thing ever.
The reading was pleasant though a little slow, it's always a bonus if the author reads the book themself! There are also some little notes about the drawings from the author.
Being predominantly a picture book, it probably does lose something as an audiobook, not being able to see the drawings. However you do gain the author's reading and insight, as well as the music.

This is a self-help book that is meant to bring hope and simple pleasures with encouraging words. Yes. “Winnie the Pooh” and “Christopher Robin” did spring to mind when reading it. However, I think it could be used for anyone of any age to read when they need some encouragement or reflections on life. It does offer some good advice, and it uses a story to tell it instead of sounding preachy.

Like many people, I fell in love with The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse last year when I read the book. Immediately after reading the book, I sent out copies to friends and family and promoted the book in the library I work in.

I have to say that I was a little sceptical about how this beautifully illustrated book would translate to an audiobook, but I was completely won over by it. The very simple profound conversations sometimes brought a tear to my eye and other times made me smile.

Charlie Mackesy provides a lovely warm introduction, talking about the e-book project and his hope of drawing the pictures in the listeners imaginations and for the listener to just close their eyes and be part of the story.

As instructed by Charlie, I closed my eyes, listened to his soothing voice and the beautiful music running throughout with perfect nature sound effects, and let the charming story take me away.

I loved the anecdote midway through the audiobook. In the story, Mole shares his thought that the greatest illusion is that life should be perfect. At this point Charlie segues explaining how he put the drawing of this part of the story on the floor to dry and his pet dachshund walked across it smudging the image. In the chaos, he put his mug of tea on a piece of paper which left a perfect moon-shaped ring on the table, which he kept and drew around - life shouldn’t be perfect.

Huge thanks to Penguin Audio for making this available to me to listen to. I will be sending out this very special e-book to family and friends and will promote this absolutely enchanting e-book in my library. Everyone should have the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse in their lives and consider them as friends.