The Mother Act
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Beth Hicks
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Lisa Flanagan
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By:
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Heidi Reimer
About this listen
Set against the sparkling backdrop of the theater world, this propulsive debut follows the relationship between an actress who refuses to abandon her career and the daughter she chooses to abandon instead.
Sadie Jones, a larger-than-life actress and controversial feminist, never wanted to be a mother. No one feels this more deeply than Jude, the daughter Sadie left behind. While Jude spent her childhood touring with her father’s Shakespearian theater company, desperate for validation from the mother she barely knew, Sadie catapulted to fame on the wings of The Mother Act—a scathing one-woman show about motherhood.
Two decades later, Jude is a talented actress in her own right, and her fraught relationship with Sadie has come to a scandalous head. On a December evening in New York City, at the packed premiere of Sadie’s latest play, the two come face-to-face and the intertwined stories of their lives unfold—colorfully and dramatically. What emerges is a picture of two very different women navigating the complicated worlds of career, love, and family, all while grappling with the essential question: can they ever really understand each other?
Compelling, insightful, and cleverly conveyed as a play in six acts, The Mother Act is a stylish work that looks at what it means to be a devoted mother and a devoted artist—and whether it is possible to be both.
©2024 Heidi Reimer (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Wholly engrossing, beautifully crafted, and uncanny in its depiction of family intrigue and the life of the artist, this is a rare treasure of a book about both motherhood and daughterhood. I savored every page of this spellbinding debut. Reimer is truly a writer to watch.”—Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Spectacular
"Mesmerizing, poignant, and elegantly wrought, this is the best novel I’ve read in ages! Do yourself a favour and read The Mother Act—then share it with your book club, your best friends, and the women you love talking to most."—Marissa Stapley, New York Times bestselling author of Lucky
“Heidi Reimer’s debut The Mother Act is an incisive and at-times raw exploration of what it means to be both a mother and an artist, and the fallout that comes when you have to choose. Told in six acts, and spanning years in the lives of ambitious Sadie and the daughter she abandoned as a baby, Jude, readers are in expert hands with Reimer’s storytelling. Provocative and profound, this is a beautiful take on the mother-daughter story.”—Karma Brown, #1 international bestselling author of Recipe for a Perfect Wife
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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
- Unabridged
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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
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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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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Hats off to a job well done!
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What listeners say about The Mother Act
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- karen
- 08-21-24
Being a mother is hard
This story resonates with a lot of mothers who are overwhelmed with motherhood and the reality is we don't talk about it enough.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-17-24
Emotions
Strong emotions, filled with passion and regrets. A lot of justification on Mother and Daughter
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Overall
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- private
- 05-23-24
The characters are dull
There weren’t any ideas in the book we haven’t all come across millions of times. The characters were dull, almost caricatures. The readers added nothing and maybe made it worse. I did finish the book so 2 stars was as low as I could go.
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