Operation Mincemeat star Natasha Hodgson to narrate Caroline O'Donoghue's latest novel

Natasha Hodgson, co-writer and star of the Olivier and Tony-Award-winning musical Operation Mincemeat, will narrate Skipshock, the latest novel by New York Times bestseller Caroline O’Donoghue.

Hodgson is an award-winning writer-performer and co-writer and star of Operation Mincemeat which won Best New Musical at the 2024 Olivier Awards, and which also saw her nominated for Best Actress in a Musical for originating the role of Ewen Montagu. She is currently originating the same role on Broadway which opened in March 2025 to glowing reviews, packed houses and four Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Score of a Musical.

O’Donoghue and Hodgson are long-time friends and Skipshock is in fact dedicated to Hodgson, making this potentially the first time an audiobook has been read by the individual the book is dedicated to.

Caroline O’Donoghue said: “Collaborations like these are one of the great pleasures and privileges of working in this industry. Tash was the first friend I made when I moved to London, and she was the first person to read the early fragments of Skipshock. From the beginning she pushed me to pursue the idea and became such a supporter of its first drafts that I wound up dedicating it to her. Her own show, Operation Mincemeat, has been one of Skipshock's biggest influences (both works are VERY concerned with corpses, bureaucracy, found family, workplace dynamics and men's tailoring) and so it feels both deeply magical and strangely fitting that she has now become the voice of the book. Audiences who were impressed by her ability to do 50+ characters in a two-hour show are going to be amazed with what she can do with a 400-page long audiobook.”

Natasha Hodgson said: Every new Caroline O'Donoghue book is my favourite Caroline O'Donoghue book but this one really is my favourite Caroline O'Donoghue book. An entirely new world, a war, a love story, so many funny bits and an absolute gift for an actor like me. If there's one thing I love, it's playing difficult men, and I'm delighted to be doing that once again with this book's narrator, the dashing and mysterious salesman Moon. I cried about 6 times recording Skipshock because of just how much these characters mean to me, hoping that doesn't come across."

Skipshock is a genre-defying fantasy novel set in a universe where time is a resource, coveted and exploited, the key to power and privilege. Margo is on a train to Dublin when she slips into another dimension, passing from the height of Irish summer into the chill of an alien winter, from a 24-hour day to one that begins and ends in just six hours. She meets Moon, a mysterious travelling salesman, and learns that this new set of worlds exists along a continuous, interdimensional railroad line, each with their own time zone. Time is a resource that is fought and protected, and travelling between worlds is difficult – even deadly. When Moon makes a snap-second decision to protect Margo from the harsh ruling authority, their fates are bound together. Can Margo find a way to get home, or will she choose to stay with Moon in a world where her youth is slipping away faster than ever before?

To celebrate the audiobook publication of Skipshock, Caroline O’ Donoghue and Natasha Hodgson will be appearing together at the Strand in New York City on Sunday 7th September for a special discussion of the book. Tickets are available to purchase here.

O’Donoghue will also be discussing Skipshock at the ‘Weird Times in Otherworldly Novels’ panel with Ransom Riggs on Saturday 6th September in Washington, DC as part of the Library of Congress National Book Festival. More information is available here.

In the UK, Caroline will also be appearing at events up and down the country. On 13th September, Caroline will feature on the ‘Fantastic Fantasy Night’ panel at Waterstones Norwich. Tickets are available to purchase here. Caroline will also appear at two UK festivals later this year, hosting a world-building event at The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, for which tickets can be purchased here and at the Young Adults Literature Convention on 16th November, where she will appear on a panel alongside Kika Hatzopoulou, Laura Steven and Oraine Johnson. Tickets can be purchased here.

Further events across the UK and Ireland will be announced shortly.

The audiobook of Skipshock read by Natasha Hodgson, produced by W.F. Howes, will be published on 16th September and available to purchase from all audiobook retailers.