A Grandmother Begins the Story
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By:
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Michelle Porter
About this listen
Award-winning author Michelle Porter makes her fiction debut with an enchanting and original story of the unrivaled desire for healing and the power of familial bonds across five generations of Métis women and the land and bison that surround them.
Written like a crooked Métis jig, A Grandmother Begins the Story follows five generations of women and bison as they reach for the stories that could remake their worlds and rebuild their futures.
Carter is a young mother, recently separated. She is curious, angry, and on a quest to find out what the heritage she only learned of in her teens truly means. Allie, Carter's mother, is trying to make up for the lost years with her first born, and to protect Carter from the hurt she herself suffered from her own mother. Lucie wants the granddaughter she's never met to help her join her ancestors in the Afterlife. And Geneviève is determined to conquer her demons before the fire inside burns her up, with the help of the sister she lost but has never been without. Meanwhile, Mamé, in the Afterlife, knows that all their stories began with her; she must find a way to cut herself from the last threads that keep her tethered to the living, just as they must find their own paths forward.
This extraordinary novel, told by a chorus of vividly realized, funny, wise, confused, struggling characters—including descendants of the bison that once freely roamed the land—heralds the arrival of a stunning new voice in literary fiction.
Audiobook is read by a full cast:
- Mamé - Tantoo Cardinal (she/her)
- Geneviève - Jani Lauzon (she/her)
- Velma - Tara Sky (she/they)
- Lucie - Monique Mojica (she/her)
- Allie - Lisa Cromarty (she/her)
- Carter - Jenny Pudavick (she/her)
- Bio Sister - Kiawentiio (she/her)
- Solin - Michelle Porter (she/her)
- Dee - Alison Deon (she/her)
- Tell - Jacob MacInnis (they/them)
- Grasslands - Elle-Màijà Tailfeathers (she/her)
- Perkins - Bernard Starlight (he/him)
- Lottery - Dakota Ray Hebert (she/her)
- Bets (the Volvo) - Yolanda Bonnell (they/she)
- Slavko - Wesley French (he/him)
- Pam - Brefny Caribou (she/her)
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It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.
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A Revelation!
- By wotsallthisthen on 04-07-24
By: George Orwell, and others
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The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
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Overall
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The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
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The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Nemo71 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
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Dead Med
- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso, Scott Merriman
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
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When Heather McKinley dreamed of becoming a doctor, she imagined curing sick kids and sporting pink stethoscopes. She never anticipated the sleepless nights, grueling exams, and endless labs. And she certainly never knew that her medical school earned the nickname Dead Med thanks to the tragic history of students overdosing on illegal drugs. But Heather would never consider doing anything like that. That is, until her longtime boyfriend dumps her, she finds herself failing anatomy, and her world starts to crumble.
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Hmm
- By Morgan Meaux on 08-22-24
By: Freida McFadden
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When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears. Night after night, Mackenzie’s dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina’s untimely death: a weekend at the family’s lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt.
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Gripping & emotional & terrifying
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VenCo
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Métis millennial Lucky St. James is barely hanging on when she learns she’ll be evicted from the tiny Toronto apartment she shares with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella. But then one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky. She burrows through a wall to find a tarnished silver spoon, humming with otherworldly energy, etched with a crooked-nosed witch and the word SALEM.
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Can I please live in this book?
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By: Cherie Dimaline
What listeners say about A Grandmother Begins the Story
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Janet Carlson
- 11-29-23
The story line and the characters.
I loved this book, best I have listened to in a long time. I did not love some of the crude language, but it worked with the characters.
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- Lynn76
- 04-07-24
So Much Life!
So many lovely things about this book - connections, real people, aches and love. Stories, so many stories, told by people living and dead, by bison, by grasslands, a car and 2 dogs. Just awesome!
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Story
- Erin D
- 12-02-23
Exceptional story and narration
One of the finest listens I’ve enjoyed. An incredible gift of a story, fine narration by every actor. This has become one of a few treasured all-time favorites.
Thank you to the author and narrators - what a pleasure!
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Caroline
- 11-12-23
Wrapped up in story
A beautiful telling in many voices that weave their way into our hearts…
This gorgeous beaded tale blends sorrow and joy, magic and stark reality, colorful humor and love that gathers us, like a herd, into a circle, to shelter us from the storm.
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1 person found this helpful
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Story
- River Ivy Rose
- 11-22-23
So creatively imaginative.
I liked the whole story, it is very original. I liked that each character had its own narrator.
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Story
- India Hudson
- 04-25-24
So much life
This story was packed with life and death. The characters were so real and heartbreaking and funny. I loved it.
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- Kathleen F
- 04-21-24
Great actors
I enjoyed the story itself and the way it was structured. The actors were great, their voices and delivery perfectly matched the characters they were speaking for. I recommend to anyone who enjoys magical realism.
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-31-24
Stories are Great
Loved each woman’s story and felt their pain with each beautiful narration. Was a little disorienting in the beginning until I figured out the flow of the book. Loved the added stories of the land, the dogs, and the bison.
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