Press
"Golden has compiled her interviews and finessed them into a narrative that allows distinctive personalities and voices to shine through, adding a multifaceted richness and authenticity.”
"Some stories are almost Tarantino-worthy . . . If anything, this book doesn't shit on the legendary Factory myth – it enlivens it, filling in the gaps with true stories that have been sat on for too long . . . . Any woman will tell you that the stories they hear in the women’s bogs are the juiciest kind, and we’re lucky these ones didn’t get flushed. I Thought I Heard You Speak brings a new frequency to the songs we thought we knew. It reminds us that game-changing scenes are built on the work of a whole cacophony of creatives, regardless of gender. But this book isn’t just by women for women – it’s for anyone curious enough to read between the lines."
“Author Audrey Golden sets out to redress the balance with her brilliant oral history…which names and gives voices to the unsung heroines of a three-decade-long cultural movement...Thanks to Golden’s revealing interviews, we finally get to hear the missing half of the Factory story."
"Audrey Golden’s I Thought I Heard You Speak had to be written . . . In years to come, it will be looked upon as one of the most important books written about the Factory organisation, maybe even the final word."
"An oral history can be a tricky approach for a book to take. Yet everyone included has a story to tell . . . . Ultimately, I Thought I Heard You Speak provides a voice for those women who history has perhaps pushed to the side-lines."
"You don’t have to be interested in women’s rights to enjoy I Thought I Heard You Speak, just to be interested in women’s perspectives on Factory Records and the music industry more broadly. And, if you thought all the stories have been told, this is clear evidence that they’re only just starting to be."
"Myth busting, ball busting, incredibly detailed, with nary a dull page to be found, I Thought I Heard You Speak is simply one of the best books written about Factory Records (and I’ve read many of them). An instant classic."
"[T]he role of women in the scene has largely been ignored . . . I Thought I Heard You Speak is an overdue corrective."
"I Thought I Heard You Speak spotlights women's integral role at Factory Records"
“Amid a sobering sense that these women’s contributions were overlooked for far too long, there is also a distinct joy to their accounts, a sense of satisfaction in being heard at last.”
"Golden's book puts the Factory women front and centre. I Thought I Heard You Speak needs to be filed alongside James Nice's Shadowplayers: The Rise & Fall of Factory Records as one of two essential books on the label and its cultural significance."
"La escritora inglesa Audrey Golden firma uno de los libros mas interesantes sobre la que fuera casa de Joy Division y New Order.... Una narrativa que le da su lugar a las protagonistas de una de las historias más extraordinarias de la cultura pop contemporánea."
Resident Advisor
" I Thought I Heard You Speak gives a fresh perspective on Factory Records and The Haçienda . . . an oral history of the record label and its impact on rave culture in the UK, focusing on the women who worked to make it all happen."
“From Joy Division to New Order, Palatine Road to Charles Street, Haçienda to Dry 201, Golden has uncovered a goldmine of new material. Offering a long-overdue voice to the women that were working day and night on the Factory frontline, I Thought I Heard You Speak is an early contender for music book of the year.”
Thankfully, Audrey Golden has eschewed the idea of any official history of Factory and its affiliated exploits in her new book. I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women At Factory Records is an oral history of the women whose labor sustained Factory day in and day out . . . . Thanks to the generosity of its 500-plus pages, we receive a rich and layered version of something we thought we knew a lot about from decades of feature films, documentaries, and exhibitions."
"Audrey Golden's new book about Factory Records reframes 'the big capital H HIStory' and puts unheard women's voices front and centre.... 'I Thought I Heard You Speak' has arrived at long last."
A new book celebrating unsung female heroes.... A captivating and untold chapter....Through the firsthand accounts and insights, the book sheds light on the Factory Records’s extensive reach beyond its musical output.
"[O]ffers the first in-depth history of the label told from the perspective of women who have been integral to its cultural significance."
"A vast oral overview of the women who made Factory happen"