Audible acquires sportswriter novel by Simon Barnes

Audible will publish novel The Game's Gone by Simon Barnes, former chief sports writer of the Times, exclusively on audio. Inspired by Barnes's own work as a journalist, The Game's Gone follows the ups and downs of the life of a national sportswriter.

Audible has secured world English language audio rights for the title which will be released on 23rd April 2020. 

Protagonist David Rose is used to the ups and downs of a journalist’s life and has learned to keep his head down. But Rose's "especially venal" boss blames his own misdemeanours on Rose and the journalist is forced to work closely with "a frustrated poet, then with a moral puritan and then the final horror: a real woman." 

Barnes commented: "it was only after I had left the asylum that I was truly aware of the madness. So I thought I’d try and write the madness before I forgot it. But I thought I’d better tone it down a bit—to make it believable."

Barnes has previously published How to be a Bad Birdwatcher (Short Books, 2012) and Epic: In Search of the Soul of Sport and Why It Matters (Simon & Schuster, 2019).