Macmillan Audio will release a special audio version of the latest book from rock musician Nick Cave, the publisher announced in a news release.
The audiobook edition of Faith, Hope and Carnage, written with U.K. arts journalist Seán O’Hagan, was “recorded so that the listener—especially when playing through headphones—sits between Cave and O’Hagan.”
Faith, Hope and Carnage focuses heavily on grief and the creative process and deals with the death of Cave’s 15-year-old son from a fall in 2015. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called it “a somber, sage book about art-making that deserves a readership beyond Cave’s fan base.”
Cave, who first rose to musical prominence with the bands the Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds, is one of the most respected figures in post-punk and alternative rock. He’s also the acclaimed author of the novels And the Ass Saw the Angel and The Death of Bunny Munro.
His new audiobook, according to Macmillan, will feature 16 “musical codas and elements from the Carnage, Skeleton Tree and Ghosteen albums” and will include “an exclusive, additional 12-minute conversation between Cave and O’Hagan about the production of the recording.”
The audiobook’s producers, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, said in a statement that they aimed to give listeners “a direct experience—a seat at the table with Nick and Seán—two incandescent minds trying to just figure things out.”
All editions of Faith, Hope and Carnage are scheduled for release on Sept. 20.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
