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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo audiobook vs book: which should you choose?

Three narrators read the audiobook, while the printed book includes more than a dozen press clippings set out as documents.

Read vs Listen·Verdict last reviewed 23 October 2026·6 min read

Short answer: for the The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo audiobook vs book choice, we say read it on Kindle (57% confidence, close call). The audiobook is read by Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan and Robin Miles and runs 12 hrs 10 mins, unabridged. Praised narration favours audio, while a story that cuts between a present-day interview and a past life favours print.

Confidence 57%, which puts it in the close call band. Bands run from close call at 50 to 64, through leaning at 65 to 79 and clear at 80 to 94, up to clear cut at 95 and above.

What this book actually is

A present-day interview is wrapped around a life story told looking back. A junior magazine journalist is summoned by a retired film star in her late seventies, ostensibly to cover a gown auction, and is instead given the whole life. The interview is not just a prologue: the book keeps returning to it, and the final reveal happens in the interview rather than in the life story.

After an opening block of chapters the book divides into seven titled parts, each named for a husband with a judgement attached, from 'Poor Ernie Diaz' to 'Agreeable Robert Jamison'. The book follows two timelines at once. The present-day sessions span about a week; the past runs chronologically from 1952 to roughly 2000 and does not jump about. Between the chapters sit more than a dozen fictional press pieces, each set as a masthead, a dateline and a tabloid headline. At two points the narration switches into the second person and addresses the reader directly.

The case for reading it

First, the clippings. In print, typography tells you what you are looking at before you read a word: you can see the masthead, see the date, and place it against whichever husband was current. Those datelines run from 1957 to 2000, and a reader can compare them at a glance. The audiobook has to show the same difference through a change of voice, and one reviewer reports that there were moments in the past sections where it was hard to tell whether they were in the story or being told the story. The seven part-title pages act as visual chapter markers. In print you also notice the two second-person passages straight away, because they break the book’s usual style.

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The case for listening to it

The story is set up as a recording. A woman is speaking her life into a device for a journalist to transcribe, and on audio that is literally what you get; one reviewer describes it as sitting there listening to an aged actress recount the highs and lows of her Hollywood life. Three narrators share the reading, and one reviewer notes that the gossip is done with a snarky tone that is a delight, and that tone is hard to get across in printed text. Reviewers also report that the multiple voices made changes of perspective easy to follow, which is usually seen as a strength of print.

The audiobook in detail

Simon and Schuster Audio released it on 13 June 2017 at 12 hours 10 minutes, unabridged, which is about 8 hours 7 minutes at one and a half times speed. Three narrators are credited: Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan and Robin Miles; no source we checked states which of them reads which part. It is multi-voice rather than a full cast, and it is not dramatised. The US, UK and Australian listings all credit the same three, which points to one recording distributed regionally. It was a 2018 Audie Award finalist for Multi-Voiced Performance.

Who should ignore this verdict

Listeners who have ever wanted a novel to feel like a confession should choose audio: the premise is a woman speaking her life into a device, and on audio that is what you get.

Anyone short of time can also choose audio, since the twelve hours can be heard over a weekend at a faster speed, and the recording was a 2018 Audie Award finalist for Multi-Voiced Performance.

Readers who like the printed book as a physical object, or who check dates, should stay with print. The clippings and part titles are part of the book’s design, and the datelines are easy to compare at a glance.

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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

This book also uses printed documents, and its verdict is also a close call.

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Atmosphere

This is another recording with several narrators, and its award record is stronger.

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