Quick Take
- Narration: Sandy Rustin reads thirty stories from girls around the world with warmth and accessible energy, well-suited to the age range and the global scope of the material.
- Themes: confidence through action, global girlhood, risk-taking and resilience
- Mood: Warm, inspiring, and deliberately real, aimed at teen listeners and their parents equally
- Verdict: A companion volume to the Confidence Code series that works beautifully as shared listening for parents and daughters, though adult listeners seeking the original Kay and Shipman research-driven thesis should seek the first book in the series instead.
A note before diving in: the audiobook catalogued here under The Confidence Code is actually Living the Confidence Code, the companion volume by Katty Kay, Claire Shipman, and JillEllyn Riley that collects thirty true stories of girls from around the world demonstrating confidence in action. If you’re looking for the original 2014 Confidence Code, the adult-oriented investigation of the science behind women’s confidence gap, this is not that book. It shares a series name and two of the three authors, but it’s a distinct title aimed at a considerably younger audience and built around narrative rather than analysis.
That clarification matters because it changes who should be listening and what they should expect. The original Confidence Code is a research-driven argument; Living the Confidence Code is a story collection. Both are valuable, but they serve different purposes, and the listener who picks this up expecting the first book’s blend of neuroscience, behavioral research, and cultural analysis will find themselves in a different, younger-facing project. Taken on its own terms, however, this is a genuinely well-executed piece of work.
Thirty Stories, Thirty Versions of Confidence
The organizing principle here is deceptively simple: rather than arguing that confidence can be built (as the original series does), Living the Confidence Code shows it being built, in thirty different girls, across thirty different contexts, across a range of countries that includes Bali, Brazil, South Africa, Seattle, Australia, and Afghanistan. The scope is intentional. Kay, Shipman, and Riley are making an argument through curation, that confidence doesn’t look like one thing, doesn’t come from one kind of girl, and doesn’t express itself through one type of action.
The girls in these stories pursued goals ranging from protesting contaminated water to championing inclusive books to improving accessibility of girls’ basketball shoes. The specificity of those causes is worth pausing on: these are not generic ambition stories. They’re stories about specific problems that specific young people identified and decided to do something about. That specificity is what gives the collection its texture, and it’s what prevents the book from collapsing into a generic inspirational anthology. Reviewers describe stories that inspire, motivate, and serve as meaningful examples, which is accurate, but undersells the care with which the causes and contexts were selected.
What the Narrative Format Adds to the Series’ Argument
The original Confidence Code made a research-backed argument about the relationship between action and confidence, that confidence is built by doing, by failing, by getting back up, rather than by feeling ready. Living the Confidence Code makes the same argument through story, which is a different kind of persuasion and arguably a more effective one for the audience it’s targeting. Teenagers respond to peer examples in ways that make research statistics less effective than seeing someone their age navigate doubt and act anyway.
The global range amplifies this. A reviewer noted that girls from many cultures was a significant strength, and this connects to something important about the project’s design. Many confidence books, even good ones, present Western, typically American or European, models of what confident action looks like. These thirty stories deliberately complicate that picture, presenting confidence as it emerges in different cultural contexts, with different constraints, toward different ends. The result is a collection that models a wider range of what confidence can look like than most books in this space attempt.
Sandy Rustin’s Narration and the Listener Experience
Sandy Rustin narrates, and she’s well-cast for this material. Reading stories about young people for a young audience requires a narrator who can convey genuine warmth and engagement without tipping into the condescending singsong register that mars some narration aimed at teen readers. Rustin stays on the right side of that line throughout. Her voice has a natural energy that suits the global-storytelling format, she conveys the different contexts and personalities across the thirty stories without relying on dramatic character differentiation, letting the writing do its work while keeping the narration clear and connected.
At just under five and a half hours, the runtime is right for the format. Thirty stories at this length averages to roughly eleven minutes each, enough space to establish character, context, and arc without overstaying. The pacing stays alive. This works well as shared family listening as much as solo, and parents who have read the original Confidence Code will find this a natural companion for conversations with adolescent daughters about risk, failure, and what it actually feels like to act before you feel ready.
Who Should Listen and Who Should Look Elsewhere
Listeners who want this specifically as a book for adolescent girls, particularly girls aged twelve and up who are navigating the specific confidence challenges of early adolescence, will find it thoughtfully constructed and well-narrated. Parents looking for a shared listening experience with their daughters have an excellent option here. Adult listeners who want the original Confidence Code’s research-driven framework should seek the first book in the series. And anyone who wants deep engagement with a single confidence story, rather than thirty shorter ones, may find the anthology format less satisfying than a full-length individual narrative.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same as the original Confidence Code book by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman?
No. This is Living the Confidence Code, a companion volume to the Confidence Code series that collects thirty true stories of girls from around the world. The original Confidence Code (2014) is a research-driven exploration of the science behind women’s confidence gap. Both are by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, but they are distinct books aimed at different audiences and built around different approaches.
What age range is this book written for?
The book is aimed at adolescent readers, roughly ages twelve and up, and the stories feature girls of similar ages pursuing goals across a range of contexts. It functions well as read-aloud for parents and daughters together, and multiple reviewers describe sharing it with their teenage children. Adult listeners can engage with it meaningfully but should know it’s oriented toward a younger audience.
Does Sandy Rustin’s narration work for a story collection with thirty different subjects?
Yes. Rustin handles the variety well by maintaining warmth and engagement throughout without over-differentiating individual stories in ways that might feel performed. She lets the writing carry each story’s specific character while keeping the overall narration consistent and accessible. At under five and a half hours, the runtime supports the thirty-story format without fatigue.
Are the stories in this collection from well-known girls or ordinary young people?
Ordinary young people. The collection is specifically designed to show confidence in action across a range of non-famous girls from different countries and contexts, rather than featuring celebrities or high-profile achievers. The causes they pursued, accessible footwear, inclusive books, clean water, are specific and real rather than generic, which gives the stories more texture than typical inspirational anthologies.
