The sequel to McBride's 2016 novel The Lessor Bohemians, there is unfortunately no mention of that in this books description, which will impact on readers enjoyment of this novel.

McBride ignores all the rules of sentence structure and how to write, and creates a jarring and unique style, that depending on the reader will be somewhere between completely unreadable and masterfully iconic. Once I allowed myself to get use to her style, I started enjoying this book much more, appreciating the raw pieces of doubt, anger, sadness, regret, trauma or whatever emotion McBride wanted me to sample with each line.

Going into this I thought this would be an age gap romance, that wasn't actually a romance - but I couldn't have been more wrong. The 20 year age gap between Eily and Stephen is put to much more interesting effect as Grace, Stephen's daughter, 2 years younger than Eily turns up, creating a list of complex emotions, which make sense considering Stephen's history of abuse - but then Eily reveals her own secrets from her past.

This is messy in the best possible way, and McBride doesn't explain much to you, but she gives you all the hints, so everytime you think about this novel more is revealed.

It took some time for me to get into this book, but once there I couldn't help but be in awe. McBride's writing is like seeing a magic trick you just can't work out - but it's not slight of hand, it's emotions, themes, characters, trauma, desire and so on.

Incredible.

The story navigates a 20-year age gap, which is a lot and makes everything more complicated, yet it’s handled with depth and realism. The writing is well done, making the emotional weight of the characters' experiences feel genuine.

The audiobook enhances the story, drawing you in and making the complexities even more engaging. If you appreciate well-written narratives that explore challenging relationships, this one is worth a listen.

I requested an ARC through Netgalley, but since it was declined, I opted for the audiobook instead and I'm so glad I did! I was a bit anxious at first, as I prefer to read rather than listen to literary novels. But Eimear McBride was the narrator and she does a wonderful job here. I loved the way she went about it and I was really drawn in by her storytelling and voice. It's an intensel and intimate story about love and the hardships and struggles in life, going back and forth in time. Often hard to listen to, but at the same time beautifully done. Absolutely brilliant and highly recommended!
Thank you Bolinda Audio and Netgalley UK for the audiobook.

The City Changes Its Face is both a sequel to and a partial retelling of The Lesser Bohemians. It could be read as a standalone, but why deprive yourself? This novel opens a little under 18 months after Lesser Bohemians ends, and Stephen and Eily's tempestuous relationship is going through tough times. It's clear something has happened to Eily, although of course the exact nature of this isn't revealed straight away. Interspersed with these sections in the present are sections that tell the story of their relationship over the intervening 18 months, including moving flats and a visit from his teenage daughter. The writing in this book is just as stunning as in The Lesser Bohemians. If McBride wrote a telephone directory, I'd be first in line to buy it. The style of this felt slightly less fragmentary than its predecessor, but there is an extra experimental element in the form of a film Stephen has made about his life. This is where the retelling comes in. At their insistence, he shows the latest rough cut of his film to Eily and Grace. Eily narrates the film in cinematic detail shot by shot, each accompanied by the thoughts, feelings, and commentary of the three of them as they are watching. Plenty of trigger warnings in this section of the book. I'm sometimes a little nervous going into the sequel of a book I've really loved. What if it doesn't live up to the original? No worries here. The City Changes Its Face is a stunning read, either on its own or as a follow up to The Lesser Bohemians. Eily and Stephen are memorable characters, believable, and oh so flawed. Their relationship certainly has its ups and downs which keeps the plot interesting, but it's McBride's writing, her way with words and her innovative structure and style, which make this an unforgettable standout book for me.

I listened to this on audio. Many thanks to @NetGalley and @Bolindaaudio for the eARC. It's read by the author herself, so the pacing, cadence, emphasis, etc, are all as she wants them. An Irish accent is always a pleasure to listen to, and it adds to the immersive experience given that Eily is Irish. I think audio is definitely the way to go for anyone intimidated by the experimental style of this book. For some reason, fragments can seem more cohesive and less challenging when consumed with the ears rather than the eyes. Even better would be to listen and read simultaneously, a technique which has often helped me settle into or understand books, which I find challenging. This was not the case for me here, but I do plan to get my hands on a physical copy and listen and read just for the pure enjoyment I'm sure it will bring me.

This started off well but unfortunately dwindled off a bit for me. I think the tale about consuming love / toxic love and the back and forth in timelines just stretched a bit longer. if this book was a bit shorter I think it would have been more successful at keeping my attention.

I have read , appreciated and enjoyed some of McBride's previous work but listening to her narrate The City Changes Its face took my appreciation of her writing to a different level. I was beguiled by this book, a sequel to her novel to The Lesser Bohemians ( although it is not strictly necessary to have read this before reading this one, I would recommend it)

From the opening chapter, I was right there in the room with the characters Eily and Stephen whose relationship has been maintained despite their age gap and now it faces its first test.

Poetic, introspective, so incredibly intimate, this book really got under my skin, so gorgeous, so realistic, a beautiful read. I am looking forward to buying the book and reading now, I feel after listening to the author, I know how to read the book. McBride's writing demands commitment and the pay off is so worth it.

I don't think I've ever read anything like this book. Was it a poem? A shriek into the void? Was it internal thoughts or performance or something beyond my reach? It was captivating and always surprising.

One rainy evening, Eily's partner comes home from work, bringing the cold with him. Not just the cold of the air, but of something broken in their relationship. What is it? Is it his teenage daughter who will soon arrive? Is it his work? Is it that Stephen is 40, and Eily is a 20-year-old student? Something has broken between them, in a relationship where they thought their love would be enough.

This was such a strange book. Almost haunting. Each section was like a little poem. You know that something has happened between Eily and Stephen. But even though the book is told from Eily's perspective, her mind is a strange place to inhabit. Both scattered and guarded, you never quite get a hold on what happened between them, until finally you do. It's a testament to how good McBride's writing is that the book is narrated by a character I found utterly unlikable, and yet I couldn't put it down.

This was a technically excellent book that I sometimes loved and sometimes struggled with. The way it is written keeps you at a distance, even when you are witness to some of the most intimate moments between these two characters. I ended up only giving it three stars because although it had a promising start, at the half-way point a huge chunk of the book is dedicated to the characters watching a film together. Every scene in the film is described in great detail, and I quite honestly started to lose interest. The film itself is a critical part of the plot, as it was made by Stephen and is autobiographical. However the format did not work for me at all.

A very mixed bag for me overall. Although there were some brilliant moments, the book ultimately fell short. Having said this, I do want to comment on the audio which is read by the author and is very wonderfully narrated. If this sounds like the kind of book you might enjoy, trying it in this format would be an experience that I would recommend. I think I would have struggled with the book a lot more had I read a printed copy, but the audio flows so nicely and having the author read it is quite special.

This book was beautifully written and poetic. I thought the narrator really leaned into that. Unfortunately I think I would have enjoyed this much more if I hadn’t listened to the audio version. I struggled to follow the jumps in it on audio. This made it really difficult to invest in the characters. Although when I did manage to follow it I enjoyed those parts.

I listened to the Bolinda audiobook of The City Changes It's Face narrated by the author Eimear McBride herself and I am so glad that I did as I heard as it was intended to be heard.

The story of Stephen, Eilie and Stephen's recently reacquainted daughter Grace is compelling and uniquely told using the parallel timelines but also using a movie in production based on Stephen's life experiences ( including flashbacks to each event further back in time).

It is quite a story that will remain with you after reading; the hardships and the relationships are absorbing and full of tension. I was on edge almost completely throughout. The London scenes are perfectly described and there are one of two other characters that support the plot wonderfully.

I would highly recommend this audiobook.

Do buy the Audiobook of this. I am not a usual Audiobook reader - but one of the few I ever loved was Eimear McBride's "A Girl Is A Half Form Thing" and equally here the audio book, narrated by the author herself, is an ideal way to get the tone, cadence and pacing of McBride's signature fragmentary, language bending narrative style

The book itself is a superb direct sequel as well as companion volume to "Lesser Bohemians" - already I know this will be one of my top reads of 2025

Much more detailed review on Goodreads

Eimear McBride’s *The City Changes Its Face* is an intimate, poetic exploration of love and transformation. Told in a hypnotic, second-person narration, the novel follows Eily as she recalls the early days of her relationship and the tensions in the present. McBride’s prose is dense and lyrical, demanding full attention—lose focus, and you risk losing entire fragments of meaning.

At times, the writing feels more like a long poem than a traditional narrative, but once I settled into the rhythm, I found it mesmerizing. The dynamic between Eily, her partner, and Grace (his daughter) was especially fascinating, showing how relationships evolve and shift. The dialogue—fragmented, realistic, full of unfinished thoughts—felt achingly true to life.

However, the protagonist, supposedly 19, often felt much older. The audiobook, narrated by the author, made some sections hard to follow, particularly in long stretches of dialogue. Still, the novel’s central idea—that relationships, like cities, are constantly reshaping themselves—was beautifully executed. As Baudelaire put it: *“The shape of a city, as we all know, changes more quickly than the mortal heart.”* A challenging but rewarding read.

Another brilliant novel from McBride. I love when audiobooks are narrated by the author as you know you are hearing the book exactly as the author intended.

The City Changes Its Face jumps right into the middle of Eily and Stephen's relationship 2 years after the end of McBride's earlier novel The Lesser Bohemians. Although this book could be seen as a sort of follow up, it stands strongly on its own and you don't need to have read the first novel for this one to make sense.

The narrative jumps between the present and the past. In the present, the relationship between Eily and Stephen has become more strained and the tension is high and uncomfortable. McBride sets the scene brilliantly with heaps of reminders through the pathetic fallacy of the seemingly constant grey weather any time a character steps outside. In the past chapters, we are given glimpses into the past 2 years of the couples' relationship and how they ended up where they are in the present. Both narratives are chronological and the tension builds gradually but confidently throughout the novel to the point of combustion.

McBride's lyrical prose is beautifully crafted; I'm very tempted to re-listen immediately to hear some of her experimental sentences again.

This book was beautiful to listen to and I have given it a positive review but I wasn't able to finish it - I just kept zoning out but when I was listening the storytelling was beautiful. When this book comes out I think I will buy a physical copy to read it and I defo want to see more from Elmear McBride

Starting this audiobook I struggled to get invested in the characters, I didn't realise when requesting this ALC that this book was the author's follow-up to The Lesser Bohemians. I'll have to read it first and try again. I'll come back to this.

This is... stunning. I've just finished listening to the audio, choked up with emotion - and with the beauty of this story and McBride's way of telling it. There's a sort of meta element as both Stephen and Eilie within the text offer up their own stories - he through a film of his past life, she through a novel at the very end - but the main book is told through Eilie's voice, even when it's mostly dialogue, alternating between the past and 'now'.

It's a conventional structure but there's nothing predictable about McBride's voice with its rhythmical pulse, assonance, full and partial rhymes that render the text so lyrical. But, for all the 'experimental' prose, there's also a raw intensity that cuts through any such experimentation - here the stylistic choices draw us closer into Eilie's head, claustrophobic and confused as that space might be.

I think what I'm saying is that this is a highly-crafted piece that both draws attention to and renders invisible its own artificiality in the service of the intimacy in which this story resides. I'm in awe of how McBride pulls off this balancing act. She manages to make the text feel pared back while drawing us almost uncomfortably close to her characters. Similarly, we understand so much about Eily, yet we don't know any more of what has happened than Stephen does, adding a feverish desire to <i>know</i> that drives the last sections. And the moments of intertexts - notably, a few mentions of the snow falling softly recalling Joyce's The Dead - are a testament to both literary craft and work beautifully to add a resonance to the scene.

I haven't read [book:The Lesser Bohemians|28186432] to which this is a sequel of sorts though it sounds like some of the past-set sections are set during the timeline of that book. This also reveals things that were kept hidden for much of that first book, according to other readers - it didn't bother me but some more literal readers may want to read Bohemians first. In any case, I can safely say that I'll be reading everything else that McBride has published very soon.

I listened to the audiobook read beautifully by McBride herself. I suspect reading the book will be a subtly different experience, and that the two media will complement each other in productive ways.

A gorgeous book, then, that touched and moved me, combined with a blazing literary talent that has managed to render a sense of real life lived on the page.

3.5 stars

Narrated by the author, I think that adds a little something extra to the whole thing.
Nobody knows the characters better than the person who wrote them.
McBride is one of those authors I'm always keen to read, and will recommend to anyone, yet I can't pinpoint what it is I enjoy so much.
This is the same, was it the story, the writing? The characters? All of it?
I genuinely can't tell, I'd just say it's always worth picking up one of her works.
You won't regret it.

The writing is stunning, lyrical and beautiful, the narration equally so, however I struggled to find my fit in the void of the age gap relationship, something made me a bit indifferent as to whether they found their way together or not.

If you’re looking for a conversation/dialogue study piece, this would be interesting for me the story was too thin to hold the weight of the words.

My thanks as to Bolinda Audio and NetGalley for this ALC to review 🎧