Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The League of Beastly Dreadfuls
    Unavailable
    The League of Beastly Dreadfuls
    Unavailable
    The League of Beastly Dreadfuls
    Audiobook6 hours

    The League of Beastly Dreadfuls

    Written by Holly Grant

    Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A creepy Victorian house, secretive aunties, and a great escape combine in this debut that is part Mysterious Benedict Society, part Roald Dahl, and all quirky, smart, hilarious storytelling. Join the League. . . .

    Anastasia is a completely average almost-eleven-year-old. That is, UNTIL her parents die in a tragic vacuum-cleaner accident. UNTIL she's rescued by two long-lost great-aunties. And UNTIL she's taken to their delightful and, er, "authentic" Victorian home, St. Agony's Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

    But something strange is going on at the asylum. Anastasia soon begins to suspect that her aunties are not who they say they are. So when she meets Ollie and Quentin, two mysterious brothers, the three join together to plot their great escape!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 28, 2015
    ISBN9781101891650
    Unavailable
    The League of Beastly Dreadfuls

    Related to The League of Beastly Dreadfuls

    Related audiobooks

    Children's Family For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Christmas Books Guide

      Nov 30, 2022

      This is Fiona McIntosh’s first novel set entirely in Australia. Her heroine, Fleur, is just eight when she is already helping her adoptive undertaker parents prepare bodies. Mother Mae knows their only daughter is capable of running the Port Adelaide

      10 min read

    • Article

      Book CLUB

      Apr 2, 2024

      Book CLUB
      1 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Special

      Dec 28, 2023

      Summer Reading Special
      11 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Special

      Dec 28, 2023

      The distinctive depth of characterisation shines in this tightly knitted story of therapist Nick and retired solicitor wife Zoe, as they decide to view a deconsecrated Victorian church which is for sale. It’s “even more picturesque than it looked onl

      11 min read

    • Article

      SUMMER Reading SPECIAL

      Dec 28, 2022

      In last year’s Booker Prize shortlisted Oh William! we found narrator Lucy Barton reconnecting with her first husband, William, following the death of her second husband. In this sequel COVID has hit New York and William takes control. As a scientist

      10 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading Room

      Sep 11, 2019

      THE Reading Room
      4 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Jul 13, 2022

      Great Read
      7 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 22, 2022

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      Reading Room

      Sep 11, 2019

      Ann Patchett’s genius is in putting families and their fragile intimacy under the microscope. In The Dutch House, this unique author is at the height of her powers with a tale you won’t want to put down. The novel opens with eight-year-old Danny Con

      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      May 19, 2021

      Dot works at the Lost Property Office in Baker Street, where she is custodian of lost items. In her dedicated quest to reconnect people with their lost property, she becomes deeply moved by the emotional significance of memories attached to some of t

      2 min read

    • Article

      Read! Read!

      Jun 13, 2021

      Connor and Ethan are having a cosmically cool time selling ice cream on their summer holidays on board the world’s first orbiting city, Starville. However, the duo can’t resist a good mystery, and when they discover the space station is on a collisio

      1 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 16, 2021

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      Read! Read!

      Jan 15, 2024

      Lil and her pet crow, Augustus Scratchy, live at the Squawking Mackerel inn, where Lil does the grossest jobs (and Augustus steals). A villainous gang is attacking travellers, and customers are scared. Joining forces with Ned, a new servant, Lil plot

      1 min read

    • Article

      Storytime

      Mar 22, 2023

      It is the Fat Tuesday Night Feast and the refectory at the convent is ablaze with candles. The upstanding guests arrive in carriages plump with cushions from their fine palazzos to make merry before the Forty Day Fast. Sister Librarian Beatrice is la

      2 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      May 18, 2022

      Great Read
      5 min read

    • Article

      Better Books

      Apr 12, 2023

      At the end of a scorching hot Christmas Eve in 1959, a local man makes a dreadful discovery on the grounds of a grand country home in the Adelaide Hills. Police are called in and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in a dreadful murder case.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Jun 1, 2021

      Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      Book Reviews

      Mar 31, 2022

      Kyrie McCauley HarperCollins Publishers ISBN: 978-0-0628-8503-6 Tens of thousands of crows invading Auburn, Pennsylvania, is a problem for everyone in town except seventeen-year-old Leighton Barnes. For Leighton, it’s no stranger than her house, whic

      2 min read

    • Article

      Out Now! Home Entertainment

      Jul 2, 2020

      Launched into space by his scientist owner in 1969, puppy Buddy comes back home to the present-day in a small town where pets are rounded up by animal-hating cop, Peck. Desperate to find his owner, Buddy gets genius millionaire cat, Felix to help him

      1 min read

    • Article

      Great Reads

      Mar 13, 2024

      by Claire Douglas (£14.99, HB, Penguin) During a week’s life-swap in Venice, Tasha and husband Aaron receive an urgent call to say her sister, Alice, has been attacked and her brother-in-law murdered. Tormented by unanswered questions, they assume it

      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Nov 9, 2022

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Best Books

      Feb 1, 2022

      Best Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Dec 22, 2020

      It’s Christmas 1845, and the Bronte sisters are back as amateur detectives when they discover the bones of a child have been found in the walls of a local house. It’s not long before they’re on to a trail of other lost children. An absolute treat for

      1 min read

    • Article

      Great Reads

      Apr 3, 2024

      by Lesley Pearse (£22, HB, Penguin) Whether or not you’ve read Lesley Pearse’s novels, you will want to read the extraordinary story of her life. Born during World War Two, a neighbour found Lesley coatless in the snow, her mother having died days be

      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Dec 2, 2020

      Dogs, snow-topped mountains and a little romance – what more could you want in an escapist festive read? When tragedy strikes in Alice’s life, her world is turned upside down and along with it comes Bear, a rapidly growing puppy. Outgrowing her Londo

      1 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading room

      Mar 25, 2020

      THE Reading room
      5 min read

    • Article

      Tenor Of The Times

      Aug 7, 2022

      Tenor Of The Times
      4 min read

    • Article

      Best Books

      Dec 21, 2021

      Best Books
      1 min read

    Reviews for The League of Beastly Dreadfuls

    3.5/5

    36 ratings8 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This is a perfectly serviceable but nonetheless ersatz knockoff of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. Missing/dead parents, evil/unscrupulous guardians, and scrappy/resourceful child heroes. The setting (Victorian former lunatic asylum) is pretty great, though!
    • 4/5
      After Anastasia's parents die in a tragic vacuum cleaner accident, she is whisked away by her aunties who live in an abandoned asylum. They work her hard. She discovers many strange things included two other boys there. The three of them figure they should to run for their lives after the aunties are revealed to be not what they seem. It's campy. Slow at first, but it grew on me eventually. Not enough to continue on with the series, however.
    • 5/5
      This book is a wonderful young adult book, one that is both amusing and classic. Young misfit girl is mysteriously orphaned then taken in by mysterious aunties who live in a spooky isolated mansion. There are creepy animals, strange gardeners, and a thrilling rescue- all of the best elements of this type of tale. I loved it and can't wait to read more in the series! A great entry into the genre that is sure to delight those who love The Wolves of Willoughby Chase or the Lemony Snickets books.
    • 2/5
      Received this is my November Lit-Cube. Not my style and it doesn't help that pages 23-54 are repeated where pages 247-278 should be so I'm missing a few chapters of story.
    • 3/5
      "Anastasia's day began with a funeral, and it went downhill from there." For fans of the Series of Unfortunate Events, here's a new series that starts out similarly. Like the Baudelaire children, Anastasia is suddenly left an orphan after her parents' demise. She is whisked away to live with heretofore unknown great aunts in a former asylum, scrubbing chamber pots and battling cobwebs by day and locked in her room each night. Her sleuthing uncovers a host of mysteries and the realization that her life is in danger and she must escape. Who exactly are these sinister aunts who wear matching pinkie rings and have a collection of missing children photos that go back 100 years? Why are there vicious poodles patrolling the ground and who's the boy with the birdcage on his head? An omniscient narrator breaks the fourth wall and addresses the reader directly, often clarifying the calamitous events that are becoming part and parcel of Anastasia's dreadful new life. While the book gets bogged down about halfway through, the action picks up substantially and becomes more fantastical by the end. Recommend to readers who enjoy grim humor and mysteries with a fantastical element.
    • 3/5
      This was an interesting book. I don't think it compares to Roald Dahl, though (I hate it when they throw out comparisons like that). The main character is unfortunate and an unlikely hero, and her captors are sneaky and creepy, but that's about it. There's a lot of farting and that sort of humor; sometimes it's funny and sometimes you get the feeling that the author is trying too hard. Same with the sarcastic parts directly addressing the reader. Sometimes less is more. The very beginning and very end are the areas with the most action, while the middle was slow and slightly fluffy. I think the book could have been much shorter while still setting up for the next book in the series. Regardless of the things I didn't like I'll be looking forward to the next one because the ending of this one has me curious. I just hope book 2 is more even.
    • 3/5
      Anastasia is an ordinary 11 year old girl, until one day she is picked up from school by two "aunties" who claim her parents were in an accident. They take her to an old Victorian mansion and set her to work cleaning. During her cleaning, she discovers a secret room and starts to learn there is more to the story than her "aunties" are telling her and she may be in danger. This book started out so intriguing - I loved the quirky voice but thought "this might be too much quirky for over 200 pages." And it was...it reminded me of James and the Giant Peach mixed with The Bad Beginning, but trying too hard to be those things.
    • 3/5
      I started reading this book months ago- but first one, and then another of my children "stole" it. I found parts of the book creative, the artwork was delightful, and I was definitely rooting for the main character to escape St. Agony's. However, the ending left a major plot point unresolved-which left me feeling a little sour.