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The Wax Child audiobook vs book: which should you choose?

A wax doll tells the story of the real Danish witch trials of the 1620s in Olga Ravn’s short novel, longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.

Read vs Listen·Verdict last reviewed 2 November 2026·5 min read

Short answer: for The Wax Child audiobook vs book choice, we say read it on Kindle (68% confidence, leaning). Kirkus says the doll narrates the past, the present and the future all at once, and reviewers describe a lyrical, fragmentary style, both of which favour print. The doll tells the whole story in one voice, read by one narrator, which favours audio, but the reading side carries more weight.

Confidence 68%, which puts it in the leaning 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. Is listening the same as reading? See what the research says.

What this book actually is

The Wax Child is a short novel by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken. It is narrated by a wax doll made in 1620 by Christenze Kruckow, a poor noblewoman, and follows her and the other women accused of witchcraft in Northern Jutland. Ravn draws on the real trials and on letters, spells and court records of the time (Audible summary; The Wild Hunt).

It was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026, and Penguin calls it a Waterstones Paperback of the Year 2026. It includes the arrest, torture and execution of women accused of witchcraft, which The Wild Hunt calls “visceral”, and abusive husbands (The Brooklyn Rail). What becomes of the doll is not covered here.

The case for reading it

Kirkus says the doll “narrates from the distant future, the past, and the brutal present of the novella all at once”, and The Wild Hunt says the style “refuses linear time”. On the page it is easier to keep your bearings as the story moves through time.

The prose is the draw. The Wild Hunt calls it “lyrical, fragmentary”, with dialogue that “appears without quotation marks”, and the Chicago Review of Books notes spells set between the passages of story. In print you can slow down and reread.

The case for listening to it

The doll tells the whole story in one voice, and each audiobook has one narrator: Freya Miller in the UK and Stina Nielsen in the US.

It is short: 4 hours 34 minutes in the UK and 4 hours 19 minutes in the US, or about 3 hours 3 minutes and 2 hours 53 minutes at 1.5x. No review of either reading was found.

The audiobook in detail

There are two different English recordings. Penguin publishes Freya Miller’s reading in the UK (6 November 2025, 4 hours 34 minutes), and New Directions publishes Stina Nielsen’s in the US (21 November 2025, 4 hours 19 minutes). Both are unabridged. The US edition is newer, so it is the one scored.

Neither edition comes with a PDF. Audible UK credits Martin Aitken as translator.

Who should ignore this verdict

Lean towards audio if you want a short, atmospheric listen and are happy to let one voice carry you through the shifts in time. Lean towards print if you want to take the fragmentary prose slowly.

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Taiwan Travelogue

Also on the International Booker Prize 2026 list.

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Small Things Like These

A short literary historical novel, better read.

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Circe

Another story of a woman called a witch.

Opposite verdict

Demon Copperhead

One first-person voice tells the whole novel and Charlie Thurston reads all of it, so one voice carries the story naturally. His reading won an AudioFile Earphones Award, and a 560-page book goes further on audio.

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