Listen free for 30 days
-
Letters from Brenda
- Two Suitcases. 75 Lost Letters. One Mother.
- Narrated by: Emma Kennedy, Juliet Stevenson, Rafa Euba
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £19.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Tent, The Bucket and Me
- By: Emma Kennedy
- Narrated by: Emma Kennedy
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the '70s child, summer holidays didn't mean the joy of CentreParcs or the sophistication of a Tuscan villa. They meant being crammed into a car with Grandma and heading to the coast. With just a tent for a home and a bucket for the necessities, we would set off on new adventures each year stoically resolving to enjoy ourselves. For Emma Kennedy, and her mum and dad, disaster always came along for the ride no matter where they went.
-
-
great fun.
- By c jennings on 02-12-15
-
The Never-Ending Summer
- By: Emma Kennedy
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best friends Agnes and Bea decide to embark on one last adventure before their adult lives begin. For Agnes's mother Florence, a fresh chapter is starting as her youngest flies the nest and her marriage settles into a new routine. But she can't help feeling that something is missing. As Agnes travels to London and Florence follows her heart to Europe, both will discover a world of possibilities they never could have dreamed of.
-
-
Beautiful Book
- By B-Bonzo on 01-05-21
-
The Things We Left Unsaid
- By: Emma Kennedy
- Narrated by: Emma Kennedy
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rachel’s relationship with her mother, Eleanor, has always been far from perfect. Eleanor is a renowned artist born from the swinging '60s, and Rachel has forever lived in the shadow of her success. When Rachel is left by her fiancé on the morning of their wedding she has no choice but to move back into her family home and spend an unbearably hot summer with a mother she feels distant from - in the presence of many painful memories. It will take another turn of events before Rachel realises that sometimes the past holds exactly the comfort we need.
-
-
Love Love Loved this book .....
- By JGC on 11-09-19
-
Old Rage
- By: Sheila Hancock
- Narrated by: Sheila Hancock
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sheila Hancock looked like she was managing old age. She had weathered and even thrived in widowhood, taking on acting roles that would have been demanding for a woman half her age. She had energy, friends, a devoted family, a lovely home. She could still remember her lines. So why, at 89, having sailed past supposedly disturbing milestones—50, 70 even 80—without a qualm, did she suddenly feel so furious? Shocking diagnoses, Brexit and bereavement seemed to knock her from every quarter. And that was before lockdown.
-
-
Engrossing story,so well written and read.
- By fin on 28-06-22
-
I Left My Tent in San Francisco
- By: Emma Kennedy
- Narrated by: Emma Kennedy
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1989, and Emma and her best friend, Dee, head to the USA to make their fortune. But completely inept and virtually unemployable, they discover that they can't even get a job in McDonald's. Forced to travel from California to New York with only pennies in their pockets, they bounce from scrape to scrape, surviving on their wits and the kindness of strangers. Bad luck and misfortune throw everything their way - snakes, earthquakes, black magic and incontinent dogs.
-
-
enjoyable
- By Helen on 12-07-15
-
This Is Not a Pity Memoir
- By: Abi Morgan
- Narrated by: Fiona Button
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One morning in June, Abi had her to-do list—drop the kids to school, get coffee and go to work. Jacob had a bad headache so she added 'pick up steroids'. She returned home and found the man she loved and fought and laughed with for 20 years lying on the bathroom floor. And nothing would ever be the same again. But this is not a pity memoir. It's about meeting your person. And crazed late-night Google trawls. It's about the things you wished you'd said to the person who matters then wildly over-sharing with the barista who doesn't know you at all.
-
-
Honoured to share this story.
- By POINT OF VIEW on 22-05-22
-
The Tent, The Bucket and Me
- By: Emma Kennedy
- Narrated by: Emma Kennedy
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the '70s child, summer holidays didn't mean the joy of CentreParcs or the sophistication of a Tuscan villa. They meant being crammed into a car with Grandma and heading to the coast. With just a tent for a home and a bucket for the necessities, we would set off on new adventures each year stoically resolving to enjoy ourselves. For Emma Kennedy, and her mum and dad, disaster always came along for the ride no matter where they went.
-
-
great fun.
- By c jennings on 02-12-15
-
The Never-Ending Summer
- By: Emma Kennedy
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best friends Agnes and Bea decide to embark on one last adventure before their adult lives begin. For Agnes's mother Florence, a fresh chapter is starting as her youngest flies the nest and her marriage settles into a new routine. But she can't help feeling that something is missing. As Agnes travels to London and Florence follows her heart to Europe, both will discover a world of possibilities they never could have dreamed of.
-
-
Beautiful Book
- By B-Bonzo on 01-05-21
-
The Things We Left Unsaid
- By: Emma Kennedy
- Narrated by: Emma Kennedy
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rachel’s relationship with her mother, Eleanor, has always been far from perfect. Eleanor is a renowned artist born from the swinging '60s, and Rachel has forever lived in the shadow of her success. When Rachel is left by her fiancé on the morning of their wedding she has no choice but to move back into her family home and spend an unbearably hot summer with a mother she feels distant from - in the presence of many painful memories. It will take another turn of events before Rachel realises that sometimes the past holds exactly the comfort we need.
-
-
Love Love Loved this book .....
- By JGC on 11-09-19
-
Old Rage
- By: Sheila Hancock
- Narrated by: Sheila Hancock
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sheila Hancock looked like she was managing old age. She had weathered and even thrived in widowhood, taking on acting roles that would have been demanding for a woman half her age. She had energy, friends, a devoted family, a lovely home. She could still remember her lines. So why, at 89, having sailed past supposedly disturbing milestones—50, 70 even 80—without a qualm, did she suddenly feel so furious? Shocking diagnoses, Brexit and bereavement seemed to knock her from every quarter. And that was before lockdown.
-
-
Engrossing story,so well written and read.
- By fin on 28-06-22
-
I Left My Tent in San Francisco
- By: Emma Kennedy
- Narrated by: Emma Kennedy
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1989, and Emma and her best friend, Dee, head to the USA to make their fortune. But completely inept and virtually unemployable, they discover that they can't even get a job in McDonald's. Forced to travel from California to New York with only pennies in their pockets, they bounce from scrape to scrape, surviving on their wits and the kindness of strangers. Bad luck and misfortune throw everything their way - snakes, earthquakes, black magic and incontinent dogs.
-
-
enjoyable
- By Helen on 12-07-15
-
This Is Not a Pity Memoir
- By: Abi Morgan
- Narrated by: Fiona Button
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One morning in June, Abi had her to-do list—drop the kids to school, get coffee and go to work. Jacob had a bad headache so she added 'pick up steroids'. She returned home and found the man she loved and fought and laughed with for 20 years lying on the bathroom floor. And nothing would ever be the same again. But this is not a pity memoir. It's about meeting your person. And crazed late-night Google trawls. It's about the things you wished you'd said to the person who matters then wildly over-sharing with the barista who doesn't know you at all.
-
-
Honoured to share this story.
- By POINT OF VIEW on 22-05-22
-
Shoes for Anthony
- By: Emma Kennedy
- Narrated by: Emma Kennedy
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"They’re running wild. Feral! If I had a shilling for every time a Scott Street boy said he was doing something when he was doing something else entirely I’d be living in Cardiff in a house made of Lardy cake. What did I say? Bad things will happen!" The idea of the war coming to their small, impoverished Welsh mining village always seemed remote, but with one explosive event and the arrival of the Americans preparing for the invasion of France, the people of Treherbert find their world turned upside down.
-
-
loved it
- By T. Leivers on 26-05-16
-
Delicacy
- A Memoir About Cake and Death
- By: Katy Wix
- Narrated by: Katy Wix
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From award-winning comedian and writer Katy Wix comes Delicacy - a different kind of memoir from an astonishing new voice. Twenty-one snapshots of a life - some staccato, raw and shocking, some expansive, meditative and profound, underpinned with moments of startling humour that shatter the darkness - all beginning with a single memory. A memory of cake.
-
-
Loved this book so much!!!
- By M Ryan on 20-05-21
-
Why Did You Stay?
- By: Rebecca Humphries
- Narrated by: Rebecca Humphries
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Actor, writer and hopeless romantic Rebecca Humphries had often been called crazy by her boyfriend. But when paparazzi caught him kissing his Strictly Come Dancing partner, she realised the only crazy thing was believing she didn't deserve more. Forced into victimhood by the story, Rebecca chose to reclaim her power, posting her thoughts on social media, including advice for other women who might be experiencing what she realised she'd managed to escape: a toxic, oppressive relationship.
-
-
Slightly irritating
- By Sara-Jayne Bunting on 12-07-22
-
Happy-Go-Lucky
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask—or not—was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes. But then the pandemic hits, and like so many others, he's stuck in lockdown, unable to tour and read for audiences, the part of his work he loves most.
-
-
Brilliant as ever - but a missed edit left in
- By keepingitreal on 11-06-22
-
Good Pop, Bad Pop
- By: Jarvis Cocker
- Narrated by: Jarvis Cocker
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a Gold Star polycotton shirt to a pack of Wrigley's Extra, from his teenage attempts to write songs to the Sexy Laughs Fantastic Dirty Joke Book, this is the hard evidence of Jarvis's unique life, Pulp, 20th-century pop culture, the good times and the mistakes he'd rather forget. And this accumulated debris of a lifetime reveals his creative process—writing and musicianship, performance and ambition, style and stagecraft.
-
-
I could have listened to this forever.
- By Rebecca Morgan on 11-06-22
-
Managing Expectations
- By: Minnie Driver
- Narrated by: Minnie Driver
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
I love stories. I have mostly told other people's, but now, in telling my own, I realise how all our stories are connected by that great leveller of acclaim, loss, fortitude and fortune: being human. When I look at my life from the alleged halfway point, some patterns are revealed: one, that the story does not necessarily begin or end where it should; two, happy endings are overrated. And three, happy endings are almost never the end. This book is memoir-ish. A tell-most. Largely because there's a lot I don't remember, and a lot that's not worth talking about.
-
-
Beautifully written
- By KK on 10-05-22
-
Pivot
- By: Laura Lexx
- Narrated by: Laura Lexx
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
58-year-old Jackie Douglas thinks she has everything she wants—kids, grandchildren and a comfortable retirement with her husband, Steve. Until one afternoon she comes home to find Steve packing a bag and her comfortable life suddenly moves out of bounds. Her best friend, Ros, a law firm boss with an appetite for life, laughter and (just the right amount of) wine, immediately leaps in to help Jackie back to her feet but soon finds herself feeling second best to Jackie's other priorities.
-
-
Fantastic, a perfect summer read
- By Matt on 29-06-22
-
i, Kunt : How I Became (and Remained) a Minor Internet Hit Singer
- By: Kunt
- Narrated by: Kunt
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Remember that time an Essex Council odd job man rode the social media boom to become a minor internet superstar? No? Well, Kunt does, because it was him! In this audiobook version of i, Kunt, Kunt from Kunt and the Gang recounts in his own words the unique story of how he went from bedroom studio bod to award-winning comedy phenomenon, set against the backdrop of the good old days of social media, before the thought police took it over.
-
-
Best thing on audible.
- By Michael O'Hooligan on 08-02-19
-
The Reluctant Carer
- Dispatches from the Edge of Life
- By: The Reluctant Carer
- Narrated by: William Andrews
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the kind of phone call we all dread. Your elderly father has been admitted to hospital. Your even older mum is now at home alone. The answer? Simple. Drop everything, go back and help. The reality? Not so straightforward. Suddenly, you’re a kid again, stranded in the overheated house you grew up in. Soon they need you 24/7. And you want to help, of course you do. But now your own life starts to unravel almost as quickly as their health. And then there is nowhere else to go.
-
-
Honest, Vulnerable and Personal
- By Nahla on 11-08-22
-
Nothing Left Unsaid
- By: Janey Godley
- Narrated by: Janey Godley
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Glasgow, 2019. Sharon has rushed home at the news her mother has been admitted to hospital. It's clear Senga's life is coming to an end. As Sharon gathers family and friends together to say goodbye, Senga, as always, does things in her own mysterious way. She instructs Sharon to find the red diary she kept in the 1970s and to read it. There's something Senga needs to talk about while she still has time. The journey into her mother's past is both shocking and surprising, forcing Sharon to re-evaluate her own childhood, her marriage and what she wants her own future to hold.
-
-
Amazing
- By Mrs on 14-05-22
-
Trespasses
- By: Louise Kennedy
- Narrated by: Brid Brennan
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One by one, she undid each event, each decision, each choice. If Davy had remembered to put on a coat. If Seamie McGeown had not found himself alone on a dark street. If Michael Agnew had not walked through the door of the pub on a quiet night in February in his white shirt. There is nothing special about the day Cushla meets Michael, a married man from Belfast, in the pub owned by her family. But here, love is never far from violence, and this encounter will change both of their lives forever.
-
-
Emotionally charged.. Outstanding!
- By Shar on 30-04-22
-
Camberwell Beauty
- By: Jenny Eclair
- Narrated by: Jenny Eclair
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a satellite-dish-free zone of tall houses, standing shoulder to shoulder with big front doors, five floors apiece. You could almost be in Kensington. This is where the actors, writers and media types live, where small children wearing smart uniforms and shoes in the shape of lightbulbs get ferried every day to schools that are not local. Some people are luckier than others; fortune smiles on some and gobs on the rest. Jo Metcalf smokes and spies on the smug Cunninghams down the street as they play their bile-inducing game of happy families.
-
-
Not easy listening
- By Maggie Balfour on 04-08-22
Summary
After her mother, Brenda, passed away and her father sold the family home, broadcaster and writer Emma Kennedy found herself floundering, unable to make peace with the complex, charismatic woman who had been her mum. And then they found the letters....
This heartbreakingly funny book about the impact of discovering lost letters is a celebration of correspondence; those lost acts of penned love, the vivid snapshots in time scattered back through a life.
It is also about a childhood shrouded in shame, the lies Brenda told her family, the madness that set in and ultimately, what it means to be a daughter and a mother. Finally, Emma allows herself to explore what she couldn't while she was growing up: the question of who her mother really was.
What listeners say about Letters from Brenda
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Simon Benham
- 14-06-22
Wonderful!
What a poignant book! So interesting and thought provoking. There’s sadness and seriousness in Emma’s reflections, but it’s also very funny - those letters!!Wonderfully read by the author, with Juliette Stephenson reading Brenda’s letters. I listened to this book whilst travelling by train from the UK to Croatia - which was just perfect! Highly recommended.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- nyecamden
- 05-06-22
Excellent
Hard to stop listening! Excellent performances by the author and Juliet Stevenson, and a really interesting epilogue by the psych in his own voice.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jean rOse
- 01-06-22
Sad yet funny and uplifting
I had already read Ms Kennedy’s books so knew Brenda from old. This was at times an impossible listen yet I couldn’t stop. Brenda was funny, charismatic, hard work and clearly mentally ill. Yet she was loved and loved her family, this much is clear.
Her letters are a triumph and had me howling with laughter.
Listen. Please do. You won’t regret it. Both Ms Kennedy and Juliet Stephenson are brilliant in the reading of the book and the letters that form part of it.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SP
- 24-05-22
Another triumph from Emma Kennedy
A beautifully written and performed account of Emma’s life through the letters of her mother. This book will have you laughing, weeping and pondering on your own relationships.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Peggypitstop
- 24-05-22
A sumptuous, moving book.
Delightfully narrated. In turn sad, funny and surprising. I highly recommend it.
Makes me miss my mum.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- B-Bonzo
- 22-05-22
Stunning labour of love
A fascinating and deeply sensitive exploration into the complex Woman that was Brenda Kennedy, undisputed star of book "The Tent, the bucket and Me" and TV series "The Kennedys".
Thankyou Emma for sharing your family with us in such a deeply personal way
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- lynnect
- 20-05-22
Absolutely brilliant
The best book I’ve read in ages. Absolutely loved it. It made me laugh, cry and understand my sister who died last year a little more.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ladygrey
- 13-08-22
Hilarious and heartbreaking by turns
Normally I intersperse audiobook chapters with the podcasts I listen to each week. Not this time; I was hooked on the book once I started, and didn't want to listen to anything else, so the podcasts piled up until I finished it!
Sometimes I think I would have been better off reading an audiobook myself; but sometimes, especially when read by the author, it takes on a special quality that I'd never have experienced inside my own head. This is definitely one of those. Emma Kennedy 'performs' this book, brilliantly, and adds a whole extra dimension to her own witty prose.
This is the first book I've read/listened to by Emma Kennedy but won't be my last; my next Audible credit is reserved for her. This is her very personal account of her own family, partly her own autobiography, partly delving into her family history, but always dominated by her mother, Brenda. Brenda certainly was a character; beautiful, funny and charming, outspoken and characteristic - and mentally unstable in an era when nobody talked about such things. Horrific stories - Brenda chasing her husband Tony round the garden with a hoe, and believing the CIA had given her cancer - are perfectly balanced with others showing the humour, absurdity and pathos of this situation. Tales of family and personal life are interleaved with letters sent from Brenda while on Continental holidays with her doting and long-suffering husband Tony. No matter where they went they seemed to encounter or engender disaster. The letters, read in Audible version by Juliet Stevenson, bring Brenda to life in technicolour. They are hilarious, made even more so by Emma Kennedy's very deliberate interruptions (you can hear the microphone switch click) to comment on them - this mother-daughter double act works brilliantly.
This isn't a sickly sweet 'families are wonderful' book. Emma is quite frank about how difficult it is to like someone who is behaving so irrationally, and what a burden it is. She's very honest and humerous about her own feelings, and very good at shining the full-beam headlights on her own failings and mistakes - 'What was I THINKING?' is a frequent refrain.
I think one reason I was so engaged with this book was that it spoke to me personally. Having recently lost a parent, I recognised the state of a household dealing with the nasty, slow death of a cancer patient, but I also recognised Emma's descriptions of 'walking on eggshells' around a volatile parent, of having a family secret you simply never talk about with anybody, of wondering far too late if you could have got some help. And I also recognised that feeling of guilty relief at the death - of realising so many problems are finally over. To use a hackneyed phrase, I felt seen. It's a good sign when you feel you really want to sit down with a book's author for a cup of tea and a chat. And I've done something I've never done with an Audible book before; finished it, then listened to the whole thing all over again!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 03-08-22
A rollercoaster ride
An emotional roller coaster of a book. So brilliantly funny, sad, scary and a deeply personal story.
I loved the wit and wisdom and was intrigued by Brenda’s story all at once.
Heartbreaking moments are suddenly lifted by the hilarity of her letters.
Not for the faint hearted though. A beautiful tribute.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carol Joice
- 03-08-22
A powerful, magnificent book
I haven’t stopped talking about this book. It’s funny, it’s touching, it’s enlightening, it’s difficult to put down. Emma Kennedy is such an inspiration who narrates this beautifully. Having Juliet Stevenson narrate the letters as Brenda is genius!
I was desperate to get to the end but also didn’t want it to finish.
Thank you, Emma, for sharing these letters and Brenda with us.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Daniel. F. Rockwell
- 30-07-22
Letters
Thank you Ms. Kennedy for a full & inspirational life story, about your relationship w/your mother & the paths you both traveled. So close to mine as well! Very well written!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Sun Day
- 03-07-22
Excellent!
You will not regret listening to this one. It was the best performance of an audiobook that I have heard so far. It will make you laugh out loud as well as tug at your heartstrings. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would!