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Paperboy: An Enchanting True Story of a Belfast Paperboy Coming to Terms with the Troubles
- Narrated by: Tony Macaulay
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
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Publisher's summary
It's Belfast, 1975. The city lies under the dark cloud of the Troubles, and hatred fills the air like smoke. But Tony Macaulay has just turned 12 and he's got a new job. He's going to be a paperboy. And come rain or shine - or bombs and mortar - he will deliver....
Paperboy lives in Upper Shankill, Belfast, in the heart of the conflict between Loyalists and Republicans. Bombings are on the evening news, rubble lies where buildings once stood, and rumours spread like wildfire about the IRA and the UDA.
But Paperboy lives in a world of Doctor Who, Top of the Pops and fish suppers. His battles are fought with all the passion of Ireland's opposing sides - but against acne, the dentist, and the "wee hoods" who rob his paper money. On his rounds he hums songs by the Bay City Rollers, dreams about outer space, and dreams even more about the beautiful Sharon Burgess.
In this touching, funny, and nostalgic memoir, Tony Macaulay recounts his days growing up in Belfast during the Troubles, the harrowing years which saw neighbour fighting neighbour and brother fighting brother. But in the midst of all this turmoil, Paperboy, a scrappy upstart with a wicked sense of humour and sky-high dreams, dutifully goes about his paper round. He is a good paperboy, so he is.
Paperboy proves that happiness can be found even in the darkest of times; it is a story that will charm your socks off, make you laugh out loud and brings to life the culture, stories, and colourful characters of a very different - but very familiar - time.
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Welcome to the childhood of Catherine McClure Gildiner. It is the middle of the 1950s in Lewiston, New York, a small and sleepy American town very near Niagara Falls. No one is divorced. Mothers wear high heels to the beauty salon and children pop Pez candy and swing from vines over a local gorge. But at the tender age of four, it becomes clear to her Cathy's parents that their rambunctious daughter is no ordinary child and they soon put her "to work" at her father's pharmacy.
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Brilliant and funny and touching.
- By Kindle Customer on 11-07-19
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Trumpet
- By: Jackie Kay
- Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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The death of legendary jazz trumpeter Joss Moody exposes an extraordinary secret. Unbeknown to all but his wife Millie, Joss was a woman living as a man. The discovery is most devastating for their adopted son, Colman, whose bewildered fury brings the press to the doorstep and sends his grieving mother to the sanctuary of a remote Scottish village. Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize, Trumpet by Jackie Kay is a starkly beautiful modern classic about the lengths to which people will go for love.
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Beautiful and True
- By Colin on 05-24-17
By: Jackie Kay
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Pearl in a Cage
- By: Joy Dettman
- Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
- Length: 20 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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On a balmy midsummer's evening in 1923, a young woman - foreign, dishevelled and heavily pregnant - is found unconscious just off the railway tracks in the tiny logging community of Woody Creek. The town midwife, Gertrude Foote, is roused from her bed when the woman is brought to her door. Try as she might, Gertrude is unable to save her, but the baby lives.
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Pearl in a Cage
- By Verita on 06-16-17
By: Joy Dettman
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A Great Deliverance
- Inspector Lynley, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth George
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. Along with the redoubtable Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a savage murder that has stunned the peaceful countryside. For fat, unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an ax in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father's headless corpse. Her first and last words were "I did it. And I'm not sorry".
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good debut novel
- By Stevon on 11-11-19
By: Elizabeth George
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Lights Out Liverpool
- By: Maureen Lee
- Narrated by: Maggie Ollerenshaw
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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As Britain stands alone against a monstrous enemy, the inhabitants of Pearl Street face hardship and heartbreak with courage and humour. The war touches each of them in a different way: for Annie Poulson, a widow, it means never-ending worry when her twin boys are called up and sent to France; Sheila Reilly's husband, Cal, faces the terror of U-Boat attacks; Eileen Costello is liberated from a bitter, loveless marriage when her husband is sent to Egypt.
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Wonderful
- By Tansy Adderley on 10-03-18
By: Maureen Lee
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I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan
- By: Alan Partridge
- Narrated by: Alan Partridge
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Journalist, presenter, broadcaster, husband, father, vigorous all-rounder – Alan Partridge – a man with a fascinating past and an amazing future. Gregarious and popular, yet Alan’s never happier than when relaxing in his own five-bedroom, south-built house with three acres of land and access to a private stream. But who is this mysterious enigma? Alan Gordon Partridge is the best – and best-loved – radio presenter in the region. Born into a changing world of rationing, Teddy Boys, apes in space and the launch of ITV, Alan’s broadcasting career began as chief DJ of Radio Smile....
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An Anglican giant among pygmies
- By John on 06-20-12
By: Alan Partridge
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Good Muslim Boy
- By: Osamah Sami
- Narrated by: Osamah Sami, David Tredinnick
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet Osamah Sami: a schemer, a dreamer and a madcap antihero of spectacular proportions whose terrible life choices keep leading to cataclysmic consequences...despite his best laid plans to be a good Muslim boy. By the age of 13, Osamah had survived the Iran-Iraq war, peddled fireworks and chewing gum on the Iranian black market, proposed 'temporary marriage' not once but three times, and received countless floggings from the Piety Police....
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Funny, heartwarming and one of the best
- By Sylvia Green on 07-26-17
By: Osamah Sami
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. But years later, she learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors.
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Emotional & Powerful
- By Miss Toni on 06-30-13
By: Maya Angelou
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The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
- By: Sue Townsend
- Narrated by: Nicholas Barnes
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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"Friday January 2nd. I felt rotten today. It’s my mother's fault for singing "My Way" at two o clock in the morning at the top of the stairs. Just my luck to have a mother like her. There is a chance my parents could be alcoholics. Next year I could be in a children's home..." Meet Adrian Mole, a hapless teenager providing an unabashed, pimples-and-all glimpse into adolescent life. Writing candidly about his parents' marital troubles, the dog, and his life as a tortured poet and misunderstood intellectual, Adrian's painfully honest diary is a hilarious and compelling listen.
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Hapless, clueless, and hysterically funny
- By Sheila on 08-31-12
By: Sue Townsend
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Finding Fish
- A Memoir
- By: Antwone Q. Fisher
- Narrated by: Thomas Penny
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Baby Boy Fisher was raised in institutions from the moment of his birth in prison to a single mother. He ultimately came to live with a foster family, where he endured near-constant verbal and physical abuse. In his midteens he escaped and enlisted in the navy, where he became a man of the world, raised by the family he created for himself. Finding Fish shows how, out of this unlikely mix of deprivation and hope, an artist was born.
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This book will not disappoint you.
- By Joseph on 10-16-16
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Street Without a Name
- Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria
- By: Kapka Kassabova
- Narrated by: Emily Gray
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Kassabova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and grew up under the drab, muddy, gray mantle of one of communism’s most mindlessly authoritarian regimes. Escaping with her family as soon as possible after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, she lived in Britain, New Zealand, and Argentina, and several other places. But when Bulgaria was formally inducted to the European Union she decided it was time to return to the home she had spent most of her life trying to escape. What she found was a country languishing under the strain of transition. This two-part memoir of Kapka’s childhood and return explains life on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
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Good start, but ended up not liking the author
- By Giselle on 11-02-21
By: Kapka Kassabova
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The Bone Clocks
- By: David Mitchell
- Narrated by: Jessica Ball, Leon Williams, Colin Mace, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Following a scalding row with her mother, 15-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: A sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as "the radio people," Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. Now, as she wanders deeper into the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life.
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Not Short Listed, This Time
- By Mel on 09-23-14
By: David Mitchell
What listeners say about Paperboy: An Enchanting True Story of a Belfast Paperboy Coming to Terms with the Troubles
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- J. Miller
- 11-17-19
Falling Down Funny and Achingly Sad
I listen while I walk the Dog and coming from a very close Irish family descent I had to stop and catch myself from laughing so hard that I might fall into a Hedge. I can't say enough about this beautiful, hysterical, sad and transformational book. One of the best reads of 2019 for me.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Geoff Bradley
- 07-16-19
brilliant and funny
a great memory obviously and so funny
I hope more books will come from this author 😎
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- Kim C
- 04-11-17
Great memories
Perfectly captures the innocence of the young people who were growing up in the midst of "the troubles" My husband was a paperboy and then on a bread truck.in the exact same years snd his mom was even a seamstress. Only difference was he grew up on Falls Road. Same experiences yet a universe apart. We both loved the book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- moonspath
- 07-24-18
Brilliant!
I loved this book! I was about the same age and of Irish American parents. I remember watching the news and thinking I'll never get to go to Belfast. My family came from North Ireland. It felt like I got a piece of a part that I had been missing. As kids we had so much in common. I did get to go to Belfast and it like Tony Macaulay's book was amazing!
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- Michellerose
- 10-18-19
Surprisingly Funny
Great read if you've lived around people from or lived with people of the Uk. Witty, funny, and charming. It is rare that I find a book that makes me laugh out loud, but this continually had me butsing my guts laughing. It totally caught me off gaurd since the subject matter is quite serious .
Definitely a re-read because I liked it so much.
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- Laura
- 08-09-18
A personal window into N Ireland 1970s
Brilliant! Delightful turn of phrase and imagery. Superb dramatic reading! Warning: strong language in places, but it is never gratuitous. I bought this audiobook to hear and study the accent of N Ireland. I had no idea the story itself would be so good, so engaging, and so well-written. I look forward to the next audiobook I can find by Tony Macaulay, and hope he has read his own book again!
Note: N Ireland dialect and phraseology glossary is in the final chapter. There were things I looked up along the way for clarity; this glossary is quite helpful.
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- The Fleming’s
- 01-21-21
This book is wrote with the characteristically dry and dark Northern Irish sense of humour. Great read!
Great story with plenty of funny and relatable stories. Refreshing tale of the experiences of The Troubles in Northern Ireland from a young persons unique point of view.
Recommend this for anyone. For people who grew up in Northern Ireland its particularly relevant but also for readers interested modern political history and that of the conflict in Ulster. This book is told with characteristically dry and dark Northern Irish sense of humour. Great read!
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- David D.
- 12-31-20
Very Entertaining.
Any boy who had a paper route will love it. Anyone who loves a good story need not be a paperboy. It's a great story.
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- Heiders
- 05-30-21
Hilarious-would give even more stars if possible
This was one of the funniest books I’ve ever heard. The author’s narration really makes the story come alive. I was laughing out loud and likely will do a re-listen, which is rare for me.
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- Scott&Scott (aka Romentics)
- 05-17-17
Bad Quality Recording; Remarkably Uninteresting
What was most disappointing about Tony Macaulay’s story?
The quality of the recording was terrible -- repeated lines, broken words, guitar sounds between chapters that were too loud relative to the recording. Beyond that, the story could have been any childhood in the 70s. It was littered with banal pop cultural references, and the central paperboy story didn't resonate at all. If this was meant to illustrate the ordinariness of childhood in a extraordinary (and extraordinarily violent) time, it succeeded. But ordinariness does not a compelling narrative make!
How could the performance have been better?
Professional sound control with a professional reader.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
Macauley spent some time on structure, ensuring that certain jokes -- however weak -- persisted through the narrative.
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2 people found this helpful