My Real Children
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Narrated by:
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Alison Larkin
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By:
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Jo Walton
About this listen
It's 2015, and Patricia Cowan is very old. "Confused today," read the notes clipped to the end of her bed. She forgets things she should know - what year it is, major events in the lives of her children. But she remembers things that don't seem possible. She remembers marrying Mark and having four children. And she remembers not marrying Mark and raising three children with Bee instead. She remembers the bomb that killed President Kennedy in 1963, and she remembers Kennedy in 1964, declining to run again after the nuclear exchange that took out Miami and Kiev.
Her childhood, her years at Oxford during the Second World War - those were solid things. But after that, did she marry Mark or not? Did her friends all call her Trish, or Pat? Had she been a housewife who escaped a terrible marriage after her children were grown, or a successful travel writer with homes in Britain and Italy? And the moon outside her window: does it host a benign research station, or a command post bristling with nuclear missiles?
Two lives, two worlds, two versions of modern history; each with their loves and losses, their sorrows and triumphs. Jo Walton's My Real Children is the tale of both of Patricia Cowan's lives... and of how every life means the entire world.
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Hope Dunne has carved out a name for herself as a top photographer, known the joys of marriage and motherhood and the heartbreak of loss. In her chic SoHo loft, Hope is content with her life, finding serenity and beauty through the lens of her camera. She isn't looking for a man or excitement. But these things find her when she accepts a last-minute assignment to fly to London at Christmas and photograph one of the world's most celebrated writers - an Irish-American author known for novels of thrilling literary darkness.
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Much better than expected
- By Rachel on 03-12-12
By: Danielle Steel
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44 Scotland Street
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The brilliant Alexander McCall Smith became an international sensation with his New York Times best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels. His award-winning wit, made famous through that series, is fully on display in 44 Scotland Street.
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Smith's answer to Maupin
- By Amazon Customer on 10-23-05
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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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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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The Forgotten Secret
- By Amazon Customer on 08-31-20
By: Kathleen McGurl
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Saints for All Occasions
- A Novel
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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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 Fifth Child
- By: Doris Lessing
- Narrated by: Sue Pitkin
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Harriet and David Lovatt, parents of four children, have created an idyll of domestic bliss in defiance of the social trends of late 1960s England. While around them crime and unrest surge, the Lovatts are certain that their old-fashioned contentment can protect them from the world outside - until the birth of their fifth baby. Gruesomely goblin-like in appearance, insatiably hungry, abnormally strong and violent, Ben has nothing innocent or infant-like about him.
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60's, English Family Drama
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-26-17
By: Doris Lessing
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Shadow of a Century
- By: Jean Grainger
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Doyle arrives in Dublin in 1913, doomed, she fears, to a life of domestic service. Instead, however, she finds herself deeply affected by the social and political turmoil of a fledgling nation struggling for independence. Suddenly, all that was once inevitable is no longer a certainty as she is embroiled in the very heart of the Easter Rising.
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Loved this book!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-14-20
By: Jean Grainger
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The Brimstone Wedding
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Unlike the other residents of Middleton Hall, Stella is elegant, smart and in control. Only Jenny, her care assistant, knows that she harbours a painful secret, and only she can prevent Stella from carrying it to the grave. As the women talk, Jenny pieces together the answers to many questions that arise: Why has she kept possession of a house that her family don’t know about? What happened there that holds the key to a distant tragedy?
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Amazing reader elevates book to a higher level
- By Doggy Bird on 10-04-14
By: Barbara Vine
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Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
- The Journals of Alice Walker
- By: Alice Walker, Valerie Boyd - editor
- Narrated by: Aunjanue Ellis, Alice Walker, Janina Edwards
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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From National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Alice Walker and edited by critic and writer Valerie Boyd, comes an unprecedented compilation of Walker’s fifty years of journals drawing an intimate portrait of her development over five decades as an artist, human rights and women’s activist, and intellectual.
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A must-read for any creative artist!!
- By amazonluver on 04-30-22
By: Alice Walker, and others
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The Dark Flood Rises
- A Novel
- By: Dame Margaret Drabble
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Francesca Stubbs has a very full life. A highly regarded expert on housing for the elderly who is herself getting on in age, she drives restlessly round England. Amid the professional conferences she attends, she fits in visits to old friends, brings home-cooked dinners to her ex-husband, texts her son, who is grieving over the sudden death of his girlfriend, and drops in on her daughter, a quirky young woman who lives in a floodplain in the West Country.
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Life Observed By An Exceptional Writer
- By Sara on 03-22-17
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The Postcard
- By: Leah Fleming
- Narrated by: Elaine Claxton
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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2002, Australia. When Melissa discovers a postcard addressed to 'Desmond' among her recently deceased father's effects, she is determined to discover this person's identity and his relationship to her father. She soon embarks on a journey that will take her across oceans and into the past...
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Meh
- By Summer Layne on 03-06-15
By: Leah Fleming
What listeners say about My Real Children
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Don Norman
- 09-20-19
A beautiful performance of an extraordinary story.
I wont go on and on. This one is worth your time. It is full of unpresupposing wisdom and simple beauty. The reader made me love.
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- RueRue
- 04-17-15
Great story, intriguing concept
Loved the concept and the story built from the choice made by Patricia. A very intriguing and interesting story. Very much a character-driven plot, and very little "science fiction". Alison Larkin was the perfect narrator for this.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Lauren
- 01-08-15
A strange take on an otherwise simple story.
What did you like best about My Real Children? What did you like least?
I liked the alternate history elements mentioned in the background of the main story, The main story itself, both Pat and Trish was engaging enough, but slow paced and without tension. The ending was ultimately unfulfilling, and i would have enjoyed some kind of exploration into the "why" of the parallel worlds. Was a little depressing overall.
Would you be willing to try another book from Jo Walton? Why or why not?
Probably not, a little substanceless and slow paced for my liking. not a bad book overall however.
Would you listen to another book narrated by Alison Larkin?
yes. she did a good job.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Don Chartock
- 01-24-15
Beautiful and Sad
Two lives lived. Do you like thinking about alternative timelines and character development? Then this may be a good book for you.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Safe Mommy
- 12-29-15
Intriguing
What did you love best about My Real Children?
Nothing is decided at the end of this book. Which path did Patricia (Pat) really take? Did she marry the man who would make her life miserable? Did she take the unconventional path? Why can't she figure out which of her memories are real? Which of the dear children she remembers are her real children? Are the others really a figment of her imagination? Does she even really want to know or would she rather just keep her happy memories?
Who was your favorite character and why?
Things are clear in the memory of sweet Patricia until dementia takes over and she can't remember the details of her life after a life-changing decision. Did she say yes to the overbearing man who would become her husband or did she say no and follow a completely unconventional and controversial path. Was she known to those she loved as Patricia or as Pat?
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Nothing about this novel is ordinary. This book will leave you guessing long after the last page has been read. It leaves you wondering about Patricia (Pat's) choices in life as well as your own.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jeff Koeppen
- 11-02-19
Excellent Tale of Patricia's Two Lives
I've said it a number of times, these books in which a character lives multiple lives fascinate me to no end. I can't help to think back on my own life and the the pivotal decisions I made which brought me to where I currently am. It all could've been so different!
My Real Children begins and ends with Patricia Cowan in a nursing home in England suffering from dementia while trying to keep straight the memories of her past life (lives). Memories of two sets of families and two world history timelines are swirling around in her head, and she can remember details of both when her memory is functioning. In between the beginning and ending chapters we live both of her lives with her. Her life seems to have diverged when, as a young lady, she was given an ultimatum from her boyfriend that they had to wed "now or never".
I was really impressed how fleshed out the characters were, and there were many; a unique set in each timeline. Both timelines contained alternate world histories, which were also interesting, but confusing. Living in Europe from the 1920s to the 2010s, world events had a major effect on the lives of Pat and her families as you would expect. I believe it would've made more sense to have one timeline consist of real world history which I already knew, so I wouldn't have to wrack my brain to try to remember what was going on in whichever of the two worlds each chapter happened to be set in. My own failing memory would've appreciated getting a break on half of the chapters.
Overall, this was a very well written tale and a fun read. The Audible narrator Alison Larkin was excellent and a pleasure to listen to. 4.5 stars.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amanda W.
- 08-06-18
Such a lovely book
This is what I would classify as a “soft sci-fi.” It is about a woman who lives two lives, and no different lives were ever lived.
I love this book! It takes a little while to get used to the narrator, but I wouldn’t want anyone else to read it!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-06-23
The book I keep thinking about
I didn’t expect much from the description but the story captivates and keeps you interesting in the rest of the book. Highly recommend
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-11-24
Enjoyable
I really enjoyed the alternate histories in this book. It was a thought provoking book with a likable main character and easy to read. I throughly enjoyed reading about the diverging worlds, and the struggles life throws at a person. I thought the author did a really good job of portraying one core personality, with the main character Patty, and following her through two different realities with different ups and downs/struggles and achievements. Bonus points for the LGBTQ aspects of this book.
I waived back and forth between rating this book a 5 star or 4.5. I decided with 4.5 however because, though the story/stories of Patty’s lives were enjoyable and the book overall was thought provoking, I never got the spark of “feeling.” Essentially, I felt like the book didn’t draw me in emotionally. Yes there were happy and sad moments in Patty’s lives, but as the reader I never felt like I was in the trenches with her. Because of this I just couldn’t add that extra 1/2 star.
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