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Did You Ever Have A Family
- Narrated by: Bill Clegg
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
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Publisher's summary
The stunning debut novel from best-selling author Bill Clegg is a magnificently powerful story about a circle of people who find solace in the least likely of places as they cope with a horrific tragedy.
On the eve of her daughter's wedding, June Reid's life is completely devastated when a shocking disaster takes the lives of her daughter, her daughter's fiancé, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend, Luke - her entire family, all gone in a moment. And June is the only survivor.
Alone and directionless, June drives across the country, away from her small Connecticut town. In her wake a community emerges, weaving a beautiful and surprising web of connections through shared heartbreak.
From the couple running a motel on the Pacific Ocean where June eventually settles into a quiet half life to the wedding's caterer whose bill has been forgotten to Luke's mother, the shattered outcast of the town - everyone touched by the tragedy is changed as truths about their near and far histories finally come to light.
Elegant and heartrending, and one of the most accomplished fiction debuts of the year, Did You Ever Have a Family is an absorbing, unforgettable tale that reveals humanity at its best through forgiveness and hope. At its core it is a celebration of family - the ones we are born with and the ones we create.
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Turtle Moon transports the listener to Verity, Florida, a place where anything can happen during the month of May, when migrating sea turtles come to town, mistaking the glow of the streetlights for the moon. A young single mother is murdered in her apartment and her baby is gone. Keith, a 12-year-old boy in the same apartment building also disappears. In pursuit of the baby, the boy and the killer, are Keith's divorced mother and a cop who himself was once considered the meanest boy in town.
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An enchanting story
- By A.J. on 05-09-11
By: Alice Hoffman
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Lost Lake
- By: Sarah Addison Allen
- Narrated by: Janet Metzger
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future. That was half a lifetime ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby’s past. Her husband, George, is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone.
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Pure Sarah Addison Allen
- By tooonce72 on 01-27-14
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After Visiting Friends
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- By: Michael Hainey
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Michael Hainey had just turned six when his uncle knocked on his family's back door one morning with the tragic news: Bob Hainey, Michael's father, was found alone near his car on Chicago's North Side, dead, of an apparent heart attack. Thirty-five years old, a young assistant copy desk chief at the Chicago Sun-Times, Bob was a bright and shining star in the competitive, hard-living world of newspapers, one that involved booze-soaked nights that bled into dawn. And then suddenly he was gone.
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Son's Search for Father Brings on Self-knowledge
- By sheila kehoe on 08-15-13
By: Michael Hainey
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The Walking People
- By: Mary Beth Keane
- Narrated by: Sile Bermingham
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Greta Cahill never believed she would leave her village in the west of Ireland until she found herself on a ship bound for New York, along with her sister Johanna and a boy named Michael Ward. Labeled a "softheaded goose" by her family, Greta discovers that in America she can fall in love, raise her own family, and earn a living.
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Irish immigratn story
- By Chrissie on 09-10-13
By: Mary Beth Keane
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Saints for All Occasions
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- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
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Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
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The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
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The Great Failure
- A Bartender, a Monk, and My Unlikely Path to Truth
- By: Natalie Goldberg
- Narrated by: Natalie Goldberg
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
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"The Great Failure is a boundless embrace, leaving nothing out. I wanted to learn the truth, to become whole. If I could touch the dark nature in someone else, I could know it in myself." So begins Natalie Goldberg in this candid exploration of her life. Here, Goldberg makes sense of primary relationships between father and daughter, teacher and student, and exemplifies the accomplishment available when creating daily writing practices.
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If you have been let down by anyone. Listen
- By Mia on 04-19-18
By: Natalie Goldberg
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The Daisy Children
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- By: Sofia Grant
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
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When Katie Garrett gets the news that she’s received an inheritance from the grandmother she hardly knew, it couldn’t have come at a better time. She flees Boston and travels to rural Texas. There, she’s greeted by her distant cousin Scarlett. Friendly and flamboyant, Scarlett couldn’t be more different from sensible Katie. And as they begin the task of sorting through their grandmother’s possessions, they discover letters and photographs that uncover the hidden truths about their shared history, and the long-forgotten tragedy of the New London school explosion of 1937 that binds them.
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Multigenerational storyline lacked dignity
- By John F. Oldani, Jr. on 06-07-24
By: Sofia Grant
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Nightwatcher
- By: Wendy Corsi Staub
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Nightwatcher, the first in a riveting new series, takes place in the days immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A serial killer is loose in New York City, and Allison Taylor may be the only one who can identify him. She doesn’t know the killer has now set his sights on her—and unless she acts fast, she’ll be his next victim.
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Nightwatcher!!!
- By barbara on 06-07-13
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The Wednesday Letters
- By: Jason F. Wright
- Narrated by: Art Allen
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Jack and Laurel have been married for 39 years. They've lived a good life and appear to have had the perfect marriage. With his wife cradled in his arms, and before Jack takes his last breath, he scribbles his last “Wednesday Letter.” When their adult children arrive to arrange the funeral, they discover boxes and boxes full of love letters that their father wrote to their mother each week on Wednesday. As they begin to open and read the letters, the children begin to uncover the shocking truth about the past.
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EXCELLENT!!!!!
- By Boomer on 02-28-15
By: Jason F. Wright
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How to Survive a Summer
- A Novel
- By: Nick White
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Grad student Will Dillard has largely buried memories of the summer he spent at a camp intended to "cure" homosexuality. But when he finds out a horror movie based on the camp is hitting theaters, he's forced to face his past - and his role in another camper's death. As he recounts the events surrounding his "failed rehabilitation", Will strikes out on an impromptu road trip back home to Mississippi, eventually returning to the abandoned campgrounds to solve the mysteries of that pivotal summer.
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A story full of heart and healing
- By ZippyBippy on 05-06-18
By: Nick White
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What listeners say about Did You Ever Have A Family
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Bonny
- 09-09-15
Tragedy and grief written incredibly well
Did You Ever Have a Family may possibly be one of the best books I've read this year. If they're done well, I'm a big fan of stories told through the eyes, hearts, and feelings of different characters and multiple perspectives, and Bill Clegg does this incredibly well. This heartbreaking, devastating, almost unimaginable tragedy is a very tough story to tell (and read), but Clegg drew me in with his characters, his writing, and plot.
June Reid loses everything – her daughter, her daughter's fiancee, her boyfriend, ex-husband, all of her identification, clothing and possessions – in an explosive fire the night before her daughter's wedding. A woman gossiping with friends in a coffee shop asks, “How do you recover from that? How would you even begin?” As Clegg begins to answer those questions and the story progresses, small but pertinent pieces are added by those affected directly and peripherally by the tragedy. These pieces recounted by characters serve to further the main story line, but also elucidate their own lives and stories. I had some trouble keeping the characters' relationships straight in the beginning, but found the novel so compelling that I kept reading. Stick with it; the story comes together, and the reward is worth a little reading effort. There are two small things (possible spoilers so I won't include them here) that kept me from giving Did You Ever Have a Family five stars, but this book is still entirely deserving of its place on the Man Booker Longlist.
I read Wave last year, and was surprised that I liked a memoir of unbearable grief so much. Did You Ever Have a Family deals with grief just as beautifully and truthfully. I'll be thinking about this book and its characters for a long time.
A note about the narration: Bill Clegg narrates this book himself, but may not have been the best choice. He has a very flat, blunted affect, which is understandable given the nature of the story, but I had trouble distinguishing when a new character and chapter began. The story is compelling and the narration didn't ruin that for me, but it would easily have been a 5-star listen for me with better narration.
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17 people found this helpful
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- Syd Young
- 02-29-16
Did you ever wonder how writers get so deep?
"Elegant and heartrending" describes this well. Part non-southern "As I Lay Dying," this book has a lot to say about life as we currently know it, as it makes you want to rush out and touch and hug and love on your loved ones.
Not very many writers can expose so deep, Snarky New York Times Book Review notwithstanding.
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- P. Mikolajczyk
- 09-29-15
Wonderful listen!!!
One of the best audiobooks I've listened to and I highly recommend it. A real pleasure.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Sunnys Day
- 02-27-17
Great story - OK narration
Strong story with believable characters. The author really understands human nature. I would encourage you to read, not listen to it. I got the audio version of the book, read by the author, and found it less than ideal. The author read the story in such a monotone, and tedious voice. Every character sounded exactly alike, flat, monotone, deadpan. No inflection in the readers voice to suggest a high or low moment, an excited moment, a sad moment. Just a very slow, monotonous, flat narration.
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- Deb Jacobson
- 01-24-16
Author narration ruined this for me.
The author narrated this book and unfortunately he sounded like the least motivated person I've ever heard. If the AUTHOR isn't passionate, why should I be?
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- jjoh11
- 09-08-15
Writers don't always make the best readers
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
I was really enjoying the book but found the narration was so bad I had to buy the written book to finish it. Please consider re-releasing with a different reader.
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27 people found this helpful
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- E. Wallen
- 05-11-18
Why do authors think they are readers?
This book was grim grim grim....and it was made worse by the author being the reader. Why??? Was it vanity? Was it a cost saving measure? I cannot recommend this audio book. I would not put someone else through this. I had trouble keeping up with the characters because it was read with the same monotonous voice. I had to rewind several times..."now, who is this?" I'm sure the story was much better than I give it credit for, but I just couldn't get past it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Story
- Elizabeth
- 09-03-15
One of my favorite books, but sadly, read by author
Amazing debut novel. One of my favorite books of 2015 and worthy of the award bestowed on it. This is a sad but beautiful story surrounding a catastrophic event. Many lives experience indescribable grief. Perfect tone. Beautiful words. Just the right length.
When I read the book summary, I thought I could not read a book so full of loss, so full of pain. I am so glad I made the right choice. This powerful story will stay with me for a long time. I will keep my family even closer.
However, as is often the case, authors usually should not narrate their books. Such an amazing story and they couldn't use a a professional? Mr Clegg narrates in a monotone voice as if he is doing a book reading at a library. There are many voices in this story and it was difficult to think of females speaking when he never changes tone. If I had the option of reading rather than listening, I would have returned the audio and bought the book. So I made the most of it and tried to picture him reading the book and enjoyed the story very much. Just listen to the narration first.
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32 people found this helpful
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Story
- Silence
- 08-14-16
wow
thought provoking and deep
the perspective from each person's point of view coming together at the moonstone was captivating I felt this story.
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- kaking
- 12-30-16
If you enjoy tragegy
This a very sad tragic story of loss. It is told through by every character. Be prepared to really work at keeping everyone straight. Enjoyable for those who like this sort of story.
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