The Last Gift
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Narrated by:
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Ali Zayn
About this listen
From the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, an astounding meditation on family, self and the meaning of home.
Abbas has never told anyone about his past—before he was a sailor on the high seas, before he met his wife Maryam outside a drugstore in Exeter, before they settled into a quiet life with their children, Jamal and Hanna. Now, at the age of sixty-three, he suffers a collapse that renders him unable to speak about things he thought he would one day have to.
Jamal and Hanna have grown up and gone out into the world. They were both born in England but cannot shake a sense of apartness. Hanna calls herself Anna now, and has just moved to a new city to be near her boyfriend. She feels the relationship is headed somewhere serious, but the words have not yet been spoken out loud. Jamal, the listener of the family, moves into a student house and is captivated by a young woman with dark blue eyes and her own complex story to tell. Abbas's illness forces both children home, to the dark silences of their father and the fretful capability of their mother, Maryam, who has never thought to find herself—until now.©2011 Abdulrazak Gurnah (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Seventeen-year-old Lorelei Patio is the adopted daughter of 200-year-old vampire Sergio Patio. She never realized why her family has had to move so often or why she is not permitted to get too friendly with other young people. In fact, except for one shocking moment that seemed more like a dream, Lorelei never fully realized who and what her father was nor what her sisters were brought up to do for him. But one day, that all changed.
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not the usual vc andrews book
- By Janae on 09-14-13
By: V. C. Andrews
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Past Imperfect
- By: Julian Fellowes
- Narrated by: Richard Morant
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Damian Baxter is hugely wealthy and dying. He lives alone in a big house in Surrey, England, looked after by a chauffeur, butler, cook and housemaid. He has but one concern--his fortune in excess of 500 million and who should inherit it on his death.
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Read Snobs instead
- By cristina on 02-14-13
By: Julian Fellowes
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Under Heaven's Shining Stars
- By: Jean Grainger
- Narrated by: Alan Smyth
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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For three young boys, Liam, Patrick, and Hugo, life in Ireland of the 1960s proves to be both idyllic and flawed. Living in close proximity but leading vastly different lives, the bonds of friendship bind these young men as they grow, dream, and navigate the storms of youth.
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A Modern Irish Catholic Tale
- By Jane Meddaugh on 12-19-20
By: Jean Grainger
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The Quilter's Apprentice
- Elm Creek Quilts, Book 1
- By: Jennifer Chiaverini
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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An engaging tale full of warmth and wisdom, The Quilter’s Apprentice is the first novel in best-selling author Jennifer Chiaverini’s Elm Creek Quilts series. Sarah McClure takes a job helping elderly Sylvia Compson prepare her family estate for sale. Sylvia, a master quilter, agrees to share the tricks of the trade with Sarah. As the two women grow close, Sylvia shares her family’s tragic past, compelling Sarah to look at her own life more closely.
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A Mixed Bag
- By Potato Potato on 09-19-13
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Up a Road Slowly
- By: Irene Hunt
- Narrated by: Jaselyn Blanchard
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Julie would remember her happy days at Aunt Cordelia’s forever. Running through the spacious rooms, singing on rainy nights in front of the blazing fireplace. There were rides in the woods on Peter the Great, the races with Danny Trevort. Maybe best of all were the precious moments alone in her room at night, gazing at the sea of stars. But there was sadness too - the painful jealousy Julie felt after her sister got married, the tragic death of a schoolmate, and the bitter disappointment of her first love. Sometimes it all seemed like too much to handle.
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Coming of age in mid century
- By Mary A. Kozy on 01-17-21
By: Irene Hunt
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Philomena
- A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty-Year Search
- By: Martin Sixsmith
- Narrated by: John Curless
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Story
Now a major motion picture directed by Stephen Frears ( The Queen, High Fidelity) and starring Judi Dench ( Skyfall, Notes on a Scandal) and Steve Coogan ( The Trip, Hamlet 2): the heartbreaking true story of an Irishwoman and the secret she kept for 50 years. When she became pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to a convent to be looked after as a "fallen woman". Then the nuns took her baby from her and sold him, like thousands of others, to America for adoption. Fifty years later, Philomena decided to find him.
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Very Moving Story
- By Cariola on 02-09-14
By: Martin Sixsmith
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Half a Lifelong Romance
- A Novel
- By: Eileen Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Manzhen is a young worker in a Shanghai factory where she meets Shijun, the son of wealthy merchants. Despite family complications, they fall in love and begin to dream of a shared life together - until circumstances force them apart. When they are reunited after many years, can they start their relationship again? Or is it destined to be the romance of only half a lifetime?
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super
- By Marcus Aurelius on 10-05-17
By: Eileen Chang
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Forbidden Sister
- Forbidden, Book 1
- By: V. C. Andrews
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Emmie Wilcox was only six when her sister, Roxy, was thrown out of their New York City apartment. Their stern father's military style left no room for rebellion, and Roxy was continually defiant and rebellious. Emmie is obedient, respectful. Two sisters, total opposites - yet Emmie is secretly obsessed with the mystery and imposed silence surrounding Roxy. She wants excitement, and being a good girl all the time is harder than it seems. Finally, Emmie goes behind her father's back to track down and spy on the sister she can't help but be fascinated with.
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I love VC Andrews series !
- By Grace R. on 02-05-18
By: V. C. Andrews
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The Museum of Innocence
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Maureen Freely (translator)
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the long-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeosie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay.
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one of the very best I've ever heard
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 03-06-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
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Hello from the Gillespies
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- Narrated by: Ulli Birvé
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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For the past 33 years, Angela Gillespie has sent to friends and family around the world an end-of-the-year letter titled ‘Hello from the Gillespies’. It’s always been cheery and full of good news. This year, Angela surprises herself - she tells the truth....
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Engaging
- By mgn on 08-18-15
By: Monica McInerney
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Chopin's heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a wanderer, a body in motion not only through space but through time.
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What listeners say about The Last Gift
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Thomas Graham
- 10-16-22
Excellent writing
Gurney has a gift describing people and dialogues. This is well written and insightful. As an American who works a good deal in Africa and with UK folks it clearly explains the large challenges any immigrant faces going to a new culture and the cultural differences between peoples trying to mix in
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-17-23
Stay interesting
I found merit and truth in the telling of the story. I enjoyed the way it ended. The bit of redundance, and the dialogue added to the picture of the redundance of life for immigrants in many areas of the western world.
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- X
- 11-09-23
A Depressing Story About Nothing
Too many characters and too many story lines that end up going nowhere. It was a kaleidoscope of disconnected vignettes of immigrant experiences but the story did not build up to anything. A continuous vomit of isolated immigrant struggles. Overall the book was disappointing and slightly depressing.
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- Rebecca P.
- 11-01-22
Disappointed
Found it difficult to listen to. The writing and performance was too flat for my taste. The book was far too lengthy for what it had to say. If felt like a monotone going on and on with too little infection & expression. Not my cup of tea!
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