Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

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.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Tess of the Road

By: Rachel Hartman
Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
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.

Summary

Award-winning Rachel Hartman's newest YA is a tour de force and an exquisite fantasy for the #metoo movement.

"Tess of the Road is astonishing and perfect. It's the most compassionate book I've read since George Eliot's Middlemarch." (NPR)

In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons can be whomever they choose. Tess is none of these things. Tess is...different. She speaks out of turn, has wild ideas, and can't seem to keep out of trouble. Then Tess goes too far. What she's done is so disgraceful, she can't even allow herself to think of it. Unfortunately, the past cannot be ignored. So Tess's family decide the only path for her is a nunnery.

But on the day she is to join the nuns, Tess chooses a different path for herself. She cuts her hair, pulls on her boots, and sets out on a journey. She's not running away, she's running towards something. What that something is, she doesn't know. Tess just knows that the open road is a map to somewhere else - a life where she might belong.

Returning to the spellbinding world of the Southlands she created in the award-winning, New York Times best-selling novel Seraphina, Rachel Hartman explores self-reliance and redemption in this wholly original fantasy.

Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, Boston Globe, The Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews.

"The world building is gorgeous, the creatures are vivid and Hartman is a masterful storyteller. Pick up this novel, and savor every page." (Paste Magazine)

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Rachel Hartman (P)2018 Listening Library
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Seraphina cover art
Glass and Steele Boxed Set: Books 1-3 cover art
The Summer Tree cover art
Against All Gods cover art
New Spring cover art
Demon in the Wood cover art
A Different Blue cover art
A Gift of Time cover art
Dawn of Wonder cover art
Daughter of Dragons cover art
The Sharing Knife, Volume 1 cover art
A Warrior's Path cover art
Florence Grace cover art
Shadow of the Conqueror cover art
The Black Witch cover art
This Tender Land cover art

Critic reviews

"This achingly real portrayal of a young woman whose self-loathing takes help to heal is a perceptive examination of rape culture rare in high fantasy. Not to be ignored, this is also a fascinating road trip adventure. Absolutely essential." (Booklist, starred review)

"Like Tess' journey, surprising, rewarding, and enlightening, both a fantasy adventure and a meta discourse on consent, shame, and female empowerment." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

"[A] rousing adventure set in a richly drawn world.... Newcomers to Hartman’s work will be every bit as enthralled as her fans with this companion novel to Seraphina and Shadow Scale." (Bulletin, starred review)

What listeners say about Tess of the Road

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    21
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    20
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just wonderful

A fully realised world with fully human characters who are simultaneously flawed and fantastic, as are we all. Oh, and dragons, Quigtl (sp?), Anathuthia (spsp???) and feminism, polyamory, LGBTQ++ (the extra + because who can even guess about saints and dragons and how they identify?) families, motherhood and the whole darn world. These books take very current issues and ideas and transpose them into a world of fantasy, thereby somehow holding a mirror up to our own society to help us see it more clearly by comparison. This trilogy is a masterpiece and a delight but I'd much rather that it didn't end here.The author's imagination is as tall and broad as the sky and brings forth wonders, monsters and the people down the road. And it's... wonderful. More, please.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Riveting!

It's been a while since a book gripped me this much, especially the second half, just couldn't put it down I was so desperate to hear what happened next! Please please let there be another one in this series. Such a rich and unique world, dragons yes but not as you've seen them before and new and intriguing creatures and myths. Love it.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

This is one of my all time favourite books. There is a perfect balance of adventure, fantastic storytelling, beautiful prose and insightful character development. This is a book that offers fresh vistas into the human soul and psyche, delivered through an engaging story with characters you might fall head over heels in love with.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I want the next one

In some ways this doesn't have narrative push of the others.,however great read and hoping for more

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Refreshing!

Get this book if you want something a bit (a lot) darker, than the stereotypical romantic fantasy genre has to offer, and love a plot twist.
This is by far my favorite book by Rachel Hartman and Katharine Lee McEwan reads it wonderfully!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!