The Wren, the Wren

By: Anne Enright

Narrated by: Anne Enright, Aoife Duffin, Owen Roe, Liza Ross

An incandescent novel from one of our greatest living novelists (The Times) about the inheritance of trauma, wonder, and love across three generations of women.

Nell McDaragh never knew her grandfather, the celebrated Irish poet Phil McDaragh. But his love poems seem to speak directly to her. Restless and wryly self-assured, at twenty-two Nell leaves her mother Carmel’s orderly home to find her own voice as a writer (mostly online, ghost-blogging for an influencer) and to live a poetical life. As she chases obsessive love, damage, and transcendence, in Dublin and beyond, her grandfather’s poetry seems to guide her home. Nell’s mother, Carmel McDaragh, knows the magic of her Daddo’s poetry too well, the kind of magic that makes women in their nighties slip outside for a kiss and then elope, as her mother Terry had done. In his poems to Carmel, Phil envisions his daughter as a bright-eyed wren ascending in escape from his hand. But it is Phil who departs, abandoning his wife and two young daughters.

Carmel struggles to reconcile “the poet” with the father whose desertion scars her life, along with that of her fiercely dutiful sister and their gentle, cancer-ridden mother. To distance herself from this betrayal, Carmel turns inward, raising Nell, her daughter, and one trusted love, alone.

The Wren, the Wren brings to life three generations of McDaragh women who must contend with inheritances of poetic wonder and of abandonment by a man who is lauded in public and carelessly selfish at home. Their other, stronger inheritance is a sustaining love that is “more than a strand of DNA, but a rope thrown from the past, a fat twisted rope, full of blood.” In sharp prose studded with crystalline poetry, Anne Enright masterfully braids a family story of longing, betrayal, and hope

©2023 Anne Enright (P)2023 Recorded Books

The narration was great

The story was a bit ho hum. Never really got into it or cared much about what was being said. If not for the amazing narration I would not have finished.

Too dark for me

The writing in this book is absolutely gorgeous. But for me, the story was just too sad. And it’s not like I’m a Hallmark movie fan, lol! I usually prefer the realistic to the sappy. But this one was just a bit too realistic for me. The creepy patriarch, the abuse the young woman seeks out and endures, the mom’s negativity- just a downer. I stuck with it until the end but would not recommend.

The different kinds of love, spoken and unspoken in a family.

I so enjoyed hearing the perspectives of the generations in this Irish family. It sharpened the contrast of shared experiences, showing how we are often in our own head, even when among those we love, and we miss opportunities to connect and understand each other.

Literary language all throughout!

Beautifully written and narrated. Peppered with meaningful gems about nature, human condition, gender, relationships. So rich! Thank you for yet another masterpiece!

Exceptional writing

I liked it so much I’m going to read everything else she’s written. It’s also great that she read the audiobook herself.

Exquisite and insightful

Anne Enright’s language is so superb, her characters, dialogue, and settings so honest and convincing that her novels become reality on the page. I am always sorry to reach the end of her novels. This is not about plot, so don’t ask me for a summary of “what happens.”
The Wren, The Wren is a loving yet unflinching exploration of the human mind, of the human connections we make and break and what we leave behind… The good and the bad.
Literary in the very best sense - She makes art with language. She is more than a writer or a poet. She is a magician.

The writing the writing

I have never done this before but when I was finished I started it all over again. It is just that good and Anne Enright who narrates Nell, is Nell, there just is not other voice in my head. I have spent way too much on Audible books and was hanging out for a month with the plus catalog then it was time for a break with a real book from my wish list. It was just so good. You know how your brain fills in the blanks, well this is a book for that and it was truly crafted to be that way. It's not a book that beats you up with the obvious. You have been these people in your life, you have felt this way.

Tedious but beautiful language-phrasing

On the good side, the writing is superb On the bad side. The characters are not compelling. It’s hard to care what happens to them.

I couldn’t get past the first hour.

Didn’t like characters or the little bit of plot I experienced. I usually stick with things. This seems a waste of time.

No plot- terribly boring

This has to be the worst audio book I have ever listened to. It is basically just a stream of consciousness- babble. It is beautiful in the beginning but becomes very boring quickly. Do not waste your money