Meghan Markle’s audiobook version of her children’s book The Bench is one of the most expensive on Amazon.

The 107-second audiobook costs 5.6-per-word even after critics slammed the book. It has been consigned to a half-price bargain sale only hours after its release.

The £12.99 book was inspired by a poem Meghan wrote for Prince Harry one month after Archie was born.

The novel’s 107-second audiobook version was on sale for £10.49, making it more expensive word for word than the 12-hour audiobook of Richard Osman’s bestselling book The Thursday Murder Club.

According to The Times, the book, read by Osman, fellow author Marian Keyes, and actress Lesley Manville, costs £17.49.

The Duchess of Sussex’s novel is already a part of a ‘buy one get one half price’ deal at a WHSmith store in Newcastle city center.

This comes after the book, which was published by Random House Children’s Books, was slammed by critics as a ‘vanity project,’ with one person calling it ‘semi-literate’ and another describing it as a ‘self-help manual for needy parents.’

One passerby in Newcastle said: “She’s trying to make a name for herself any way she can.”

Another also said: “The illustrations aren’t good enough. Especially when there are so few words.”

The book is illustrated by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson. It explores the ‘special bond between father and son’ as ‘seen through a mother’s eyes.’

The Telegraph’s Claire Allfree slammed the book and called it ‘semi-literate,’ writing: “One wonders how any publisher could have thought fit to publish this grammar-defying set of badly rhyming cod homilies, let alone think any child anywhere would want to read it. But that’s planet Sussex for you, where even the business of raising a family is all about the brand.”

The Times’ Alex Connell also criticized the book and called it a ‘self-help manual for needy parents,’ adding: “The story (is) so lacking in action and jeopardy you half wonder if the writing job was delegated to a piece of furniture…”

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