Family Album
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Family Album
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Narrated by:
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Josephine Bailey
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By:
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Penelope Lively
About this listen
All Alison ever wanted was a blissful childhood for her six children, with summers at the beach and birthday parties on the lawn at their family home. Together with Ingrid, the family au pair, she has worked hard to create a real "old-fashioned family life". But beneath its postcard sheen, the picture is clouded by a distant father, Alison's inexplicable emotional outbursts, and long-repressed secrets that no one dares mention.
For years, Alison's adult children have protected her illusion of domestic perfection - but as each child confronts the effects of past choices on their current adult lives, it becomes evident that each must face the truth.
Penelope Lively's novels of history, memory, and character have earned her a loyal legion of fans. Like Ian McEwan's Atonement, this novel is a measured, thoughtful look at how events of the past, both small and large, seen and unseen, deeply inform character and the present. Quietly provocative and disturbing, Family Album is a highly nuanced work that showcases a master of her craft.
©2009 Penelope Lively (P)2009 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane
- By Nanette P. Riegert on 05-24-17
By: Ellen Berry
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Property
- Stories Between Two Novellas
- By: Lionel Shriver
- Narrated by: Lionel Shriver
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4 out of 5 stars 43
A striking new collection of ten short stories and two novellas that explores the idea of property in every meaning of the word, from the acclaimed New York Times best-selling author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international best seller We Need to Talk About Kevin.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Painful and drawn out
- By JR on 06-27-18
By: Lionel Shriver
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Wild Designs
- By: Katie Fforde
- Narrated by: Vanessa Benjamin
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4 out of 5 stars 46
Althea Farraday, a 38-year-old divorced mother of three, has a teenage son who’s a Buddhist, a hypercritical sister who knows how to push all her buttons, a job on the endangered species list, and a love life to match. Just as she’s settling in to a comfortable level of chaos, a near-perfect man enters her life. Equipped to steal her heart and help turn her passion for designing gardens into a new career, Patrick Donahugh may be too good to be true.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Perhaps a tad old-fashioned, but lovely!
- By Laura on 10-15-20
By: Katie Fforde
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Us: A Novel
- By: David Nicholls
- Narrated by: David Haig
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 862
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 769
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Story4 out of 5 stars 773
Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that seduces beautiful Connie into a second date...and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades later, they live more or less happily in the London suburbs with their moody seventeen year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells him she thinks she wants a divorce. The timing couldn’t be worse. Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead is for the best anyway? Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage, and might even help him to bond with Albie. Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves, and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great novel - my favorite in years
- By Mark on 07-21-15
By: David Nicholls
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Language Arts
- By: Stephanie Kallos
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4 out of 5 stars 56
Charles Marlow is a Seattle English teacher who instructs his students to expand their worlds through language. Lately, however, with one child off to college and the pressure from his ex-wife to make plans for their severely autistic son who's about to age out of the system, he prefers the company of the ghosts he turns up in the storage boxes in his crawl space.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The beauty of the broken
- By SJ Evans on 04-27-18
By: Stephanie Kallos
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The Darkest Secret
- A Novel
- By: Alex Marwood
- Narrated by: Beverley A. Crick
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,302
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,171
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,174
Real estate mogul Sean Jackson is throwing himself a splashy 50th birthday party, but trouble starts almost immediately: His ex-wife has sent his teenage daughters to the party without telling him; his current wife has fired the nanny; and he's finding it difficult to sneak away to his mistress. Then something truly terrible happens: one of his three-year-old twins goes missing. No trace of her is ever found. The attendees of the party, nicknamed the Jackson Associates by the press, become infamous overnight.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow
- By Christina on 09-14-16
By: Alex Marwood
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A Pleasure and a Calling
- A Novel
- By: Phil Hogan
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 130
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 114
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Story4 out of 5 stars 114
You won't remember Mr. Heming. He was the estate agent who showed you around your comfortable home, suggested a financial package, negotiated a price with the owner, and called you with the good news. The less good news is that, all these years later, he still has the key. That's absurd, you laugh. Of all the many hundreds of houses he has sold, why would he still have the key to mine? The answer is; he has the keys to them all. William Heming's most at home in a stranger's private things.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Invisible Man
- By Janice on 02-05-15
By: Phil Hogan
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Walking Back to Happiness
- By: Lucy Dillon
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 123
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
Juliet’s been in hiding - from her family, from her broken life, but most of all from the fact that Ben’s not around anymore. Her mother, Diane, has run out of advice. But then she insists Juliet look after her elderly Labrador and it becomes apparent that Coco the dog might actually be the one who can rescue her daughter. Especially when it leads to her walking dogs for a few other locals too, including a spaniel, Damson, who belongs to a very attractive man.... Before she knows it, Juliet realizes she has somehow become the town’s unofficial pet-sitter.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Read - makes you appreciate what you have
- By Leisha on 12-10-12
By: Lucy Dillon
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Things We Never Said
- By: Nick Alexander
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4 out of 5 stars 57
When Catherine learns that she is dying, she remembers the words her husband once jokingly uttered and decides to leave him the ultimate posthumous gift: a time capsule containing photographs of their life together along with tape recordings in which she recounts every secret she ever kept, every unspoken thought whether loving or treacherous - the things they never said.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Boring couple, Boring Book
- By Shell on 12-23-18
By: Nick Alexander
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The Mum Who’d Had Enough
- By: Fiona Gibson, Nigel Pilkington
- Narrated by: Paul Tyreman, Rachael Louise Miller, Sara Poyzer, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 39
Nate Turner has a nice life. He has a steady job as a driving examiner and lives with his wife, Sinead, and son, Flynn, in a lovely house in a good part of town. Yes, it’s a very nice life. Until one morning Nate comes downstairs to find Sinead gone and a note lying on the kitchen table, listing all the many things that Nate does wrong - or doesn’t do at all.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wrong title, but great story!!
- By Laurie on 05-21-19
By: Fiona Gibson, and others
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The Lost Girls of Ireland
- Starlight Cottages, Book 1
- By: Susanne O'Leary
- Narrated by: Jennifer Fitzgerald
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 333
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 300
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Story4 out of 5 stars 299
A heart-warming story about family secrets and one woman’s escape to dreamy Sandy Cove on the stunning west coast of Ireland. The picturesque beach of Wild Rose Bay is the last place Lydia Butler thought she’d be. But having just lost everything, the run-down cottage she inherited from her Great Aunt Nellie is the only place she can take her daughter, Sunny. Hidden away in a tiny Irish village, she can protect Sunny from the gossip in Dublin, and the real reason they have nowhere else to live....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Read
- By Mary k.campbell on 12-02-22
By: Susanne O'Leary
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Putney
- A Novel
- By: Sofka Zinovieff
- Narrated by: Michelle Ford
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4 out of 5 stars 51
In the spirit of Zoë Heller’s Notes on a Scandal and Tom Perrotta’s Mrs. Fletcher, an explosive and thought-provoking novel about the far-reaching repercussions of an illicit relationship between a young girl and a man 20 years her senior. Masterfully told from three diverse viewpoints - victim, perpetrator, and witness - Putney is a subtle and enormously powerful novel about consent, agency, and what we tell ourselves to justify what we do, and what others do to us.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One of the greatest stories of all time!
- By Valarie on 06-17-20
By: Sofka Zinovieff
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The Brightest Star in the Sky
- A Novel
- By: Marian Keyes
- Narrated by: Caitriona Keyes
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 135
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 76
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Story4 out of 5 stars 79
The Brightest Star in the Sky follows seven neighbors whose lives become entangled when a sassy and prescient spirit pays a visit to their Dublin townhouse with the intent of changing at least one of their lives. But what will this metamorphosis be and who will the sprite choose?
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1 out of 5 stars
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Terrible sound quality, worse narration
- By Jan on 02-23-10
By: Marian Keyes
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After the Party
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 761
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 707
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Story4 out of 5 stars 702
In this irresistible novel from the author of Then She Was Gone, Jem and Ralph discover the power of starting over after 11 years together have left them drifting apart.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Bitter, Anti-Christian Stereotyping Detracts.
- By Gretchen on 11-23-18
By: Lisa Jewell
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A Narrow Door
- By: Joanne Harris
- Narrated by: Alex Kingston, Steven Pacey
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 173
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 158
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 155
Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely 40, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Optional heading
- By TanyaB on 01-17-22
By: Joanne Harris
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The Forgotten Secret
- By: Kathleen McGurl
- Narrated by: Melanie MacHugh
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 138
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 115
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
It’s the summer of 1919, and Ellen O’Brien has her whole life ahead of her. Young, in love and leaving home for her first job, the future seems full of shining possibility. But war is brewing, and before long, Ellen and everyone around her are swept up by it. As Ireland is torn apart by the turmoil, Ellen finds herself facing the ultimate test of love and loyalty. A hundred years later and Clare Farrell has inherited a dilapidated old farmhouse in County Meath.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Forgotten Secret
- By Amazon Customer on 08-31-20
By: Kathleen McGurl
What listeners say about Family Album
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jdukuray
- 11-09-23
One of my favorite authors
This one did not disappoint. It is a wonderfully observant story of a family in all their dysfunction and resilience. When the world seems too much, Lively is one of the writers I turn to for her sharp eye, her humor, and her humane judgment of her more or less flawed characters.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- P. Carson
- 07-10-10
Our Family Members We Have Not Known
The book starts slowly and the English setting and English narrator voice initially put me off. As the author visits and revisits the personality of each of the six children, their parents, and the live-in governess, however, each revisitation is more penetrating and revealing. The unhappy children of this large family (by English standards) prove to be strong, independent people who are not as unhappy as they pretend. Their fear of having children seems to be their only shared characteristic. The story ends somewhat abruptly, for my taste, but I think this book is every bit as good as the author's earlier book, The Photograph.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth
- 01-31-11
character-driven
IF you're into plot, this probably isn't for you. I kept waiting for some big revelation or plot development that never occured. It's very well-written and mostly a character study of a family and its individual members. It looks at several different events in the life of the family through eyes of various family members. (I kept expecting the events to be revealed to be "bigger" than they actualy were).
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- kimberly
- 06-13-10
predictable
I listened to half of the book and did not come across a single character I cared about. They were rather unlikeable and predictable, and I did not care to be a part of their dysfunction any longer.
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1 person found this helpful