This Shining Life
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $15.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
By:
-
Harriet Kline
About this listen
A boy struggling to process an unexpected loss believes he has been given a series of clues to the biggest puzzle of all - the meaning of life - in this deeply felt debut novel.
“An exquisitely beautiful and compelling novel about love, loss, and life.” (Rachel Joyce, New York Times best-selling author of Miss Benson’s Beetle)
Meet Ollie. He’s eleven years old. He hasn’t yet met a Killer Sudoku he can’t solve, but he finds the world around him difficult. People don’t say what they mean, and he hates being wrong. And now, a sudden tragedy teaches him there is no easy answer to the problem of grief.
When Ollie’s happy-go-lucky father, Rich, dies of brain cancer, his mother, Ruth, has no idea how to keep living, and the entire family is thrown into disarray. The only thing that makes sense to Ollie is the puzzle he’s convinced his father left behind: one gift for each member of the family. If Ollie can find the connection between a pink vase and an old pair of binoculars, then somehow he’ll discover the secret he believes Rich wanted to share with them all: what it means to be alive.
Interweaving the voices of each character in turn, this deeply felt novel paints a portrait of a family learning to come together through the darkest times. This Shining Life is a poignant yet ultimately uplifting meditation on grief, healing, and love.
©2021 Harriet Kline (P)2021 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Measure
- A Novel
- By: Nikki Erlick
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live. From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?
-
-
heavy content
- By Cherece on 09-12-22
By: Nikki Erlick
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Turn of the Key
- By: Ruth Ware
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss - a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten - by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare - one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
-
-
Wow. So awful I can't even describe how awful.
- By Amazon Profile on 08-12-19
By: Ruth Ware
-
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot
- A Novel
- By: Marianne Cronin
- Narrated by: Sheila Reid, Rebecca Benson
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventeen-year-old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though the teenager has been told she’s dying, she still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined. As their friendship blooms, a world of stories opens for these unlikely companions who, between them, have been alive for one hundred years.
-
-
A Must Read (Listen)
- By Patricia on 06-03-21
By: Marianne Cronin
-
Too Close
- A Novel
- By: Natalie Daniels
- Narrated by: Clara Salaman, Sara Stewart
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Working as a dedicated forensic psychiatrist for many years, Emma is not shocked so easily. Then she is assigned to work with Connie, a wife and mother accused of a despicable crime. Connie is suffering from dissociative amnesia - or at least seems to be. Now it is up to Emma to decide whether Connie can stand trial for her sins. But there is something about Connie that inexorably pulls Emma into her orbit. Too Close is a masterfully written riveting listen about the powerful - yet dangerous - closeness between women.
-
-
Absolutely worth it!
- By PollyAnna2 on 09-17-19
By: Natalie Daniels
-
A Keeper
- A Novel
- By: Graham Norton
- Narrated by: Graham Norton
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after her mother’s death, she’s focused only on saying goodbye to that dark and dismal part of her life. Her childhood home is packed solid with useless junk, her mother’s presence already fading. But within this mess, she discovers a small stash of letters — and ultimately, the truth. Forty years earlier, a young woman stumbles from a remote stone house, the night quiet except for the constant wind that encircles her as she hurries deeper into the darkness away from the cliffs and the sea.
-
-
Satisfying twists & compelling cadence
- By Sarah.Quinn on 08-19-19
By: Graham Norton
-
The Measure
- A Novel
- By: Nikki Erlick
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live. From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?
-
-
heavy content
- By Cherece on 09-12-22
By: Nikki Erlick
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Turn of the Key
- By: Ruth Ware
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss - a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten - by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare - one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
-
-
Wow. So awful I can't even describe how awful.
- By Amazon Profile on 08-12-19
By: Ruth Ware
-
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot
- A Novel
- By: Marianne Cronin
- Narrated by: Sheila Reid, Rebecca Benson
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventeen-year-old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though the teenager has been told she’s dying, she still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined. As their friendship blooms, a world of stories opens for these unlikely companions who, between them, have been alive for one hundred years.
-
-
A Must Read (Listen)
- By Patricia on 06-03-21
By: Marianne Cronin
-
Too Close
- A Novel
- By: Natalie Daniels
- Narrated by: Clara Salaman, Sara Stewart
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Working as a dedicated forensic psychiatrist for many years, Emma is not shocked so easily. Then she is assigned to work with Connie, a wife and mother accused of a despicable crime. Connie is suffering from dissociative amnesia - or at least seems to be. Now it is up to Emma to decide whether Connie can stand trial for her sins. But there is something about Connie that inexorably pulls Emma into her orbit. Too Close is a masterfully written riveting listen about the powerful - yet dangerous - closeness between women.
-
-
Absolutely worth it!
- By PollyAnna2 on 09-17-19
By: Natalie Daniels
-
A Keeper
- A Novel
- By: Graham Norton
- Narrated by: Graham Norton
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after her mother’s death, she’s focused only on saying goodbye to that dark and dismal part of her life. Her childhood home is packed solid with useless junk, her mother’s presence already fading. But within this mess, she discovers a small stash of letters — and ultimately, the truth. Forty years earlier, a young woman stumbles from a remote stone house, the night quiet except for the constant wind that encircles her as she hurries deeper into the darkness away from the cliffs and the sea.
-
-
Satisfying twists & compelling cadence
- By Sarah.Quinn on 08-19-19
By: Graham Norton
-
The Traveller and Other Stories
- By: Stuart Neville, John Connolly - foreword
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since his debut novel, the modern classic The Ghosts of Belfast, was published a decade ago, Stuart Neville has published eight other critically acclaimed novels and achieved international recognition as one of crime fictions great living writers. Now for the first time Neville offers listeners a collection of his short fiction - 12 chilling stories that traverse and blend the genres of noir, horror, and speculative fiction and which bring the history and lore of Neville's native Northern Ireland to glittering life.
-
-
Absolutely brilliant!
- By Kindle Customer on 11-03-20
By: Stuart Neville, and others
-
The Playground
- A Novel
- By: Jane Shemilt
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of a long, hot summer in London, the lives of three very different married couples collide when their children join the same tutoring circle, resulting in illicit relationships, shocking violence, and unimaginable fallout. There’s Eve, a bougie earth mother with a well-stocked trust fund; she has three little ones, a blue-collar husband, and is obsessed with her Instagrammable recipes and lifestyle.
-
-
remarkable
- By lisa on 01-10-20
By: Jane Shemilt
-
The Heatwave
- By: Kate Riordan
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Sylvie Durand receives a letter calling her back to her crumbling family home in the South of France, she knows she has to go. In the middle of a sweltering 1990s summer marked by unusual fires across the countryside, she returns to La Reverie with her youngest daughter, Emma, in tow. As memories of the events that shattered their family a decade earlier threaten to come to the surface, Sylvie struggles to shield Emma from the truth of what really happened all those years ago. In every corner of the house, Sylvie can't escape the specter of Elodie, her first child.
-
-
Too much missing details
- By Ashley on 08-26-20
By: Kate Riordan
-
The Safe Place
- A Novel
- By: Anna Downes
- Narrated by: Anna Downes
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emily Proudman just lost her acting agent, her job, and her apartment in one miserable day. Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, has a problem that neither his business acumen nor vast wealth can fix. Until he meets Emily. Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate. Enchanted by his lovely wife Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool. But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets.
-
-
Good debut novel-big twist ending!
- By TammieK on 09-12-20
By: Anna Downes
-
We Must Be Brave
- By: Frances Liardet
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle, Juliet Mills
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
December 1940. As German bombs fall on Southampton, England, the city's residents flee to the surrounding villages. In Upton village, amid the chaos, newly married Ellen Parr finds a girl asleep, unclaimed at the back of an empty bus. Little Pamela, it seems, is entirely alone. Ellen has always believed she does not want children, but when she takes Pamela into her home, the child cracks open the past Ellen thought she had escaped and the future she and her husband, Selwyn, had dreamed for themselves. As the war rages on, love grows where it was least expected, surprising them all.
-
-
Nasty reviews, why? Beautiful book.
- By Kelly on 11-27-19
By: Frances Liardet
-
The Garden of Lost Memories
- By: Ruby Hummingbird
- Narrated by: Naomi Frederick
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This moving tale is for anyone who has ever felt the pang of loneliness, or worried that their broken heart might never be the same again. Fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, The Keeper of Lost Things and The Library of Lost and Found will fall head over heels for this life-affirming novel that shows us that if you’re willing to take a risk, happiness is only ever a heartbeat away.
-
-
The best book I’ve read in a long time
- By Juliana Nicewarner on 07-14-22
By: Ruby Hummingbird
-
We Were Sisters: An Absolutely Gripping Psychological Thriller
- By: Wendy Clarke
- Narrated by: Jasmine Blackborow
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kelly is taking her twin daughters to their first day of school, ushering them into the classroom, her heart breaking to think they might not need her any more, when she turns around and sees that her newborn baby is gone. As a desperate search ensues, baby Noah is quickly found - parked in front of a different classroom. But when Kelly reaches forward to comfort him, she finds something tucked beside his blanket. A locket that belonged to her sister Freya. A locket Kelly hasn’t seen since the day Freya died.
-
-
Excruciatingly boring!
- By Katherine M. Houston on 08-19-19
By: Wendy Clarke
-
Good Enough
- 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection
- By: Kate Bowler, Jessica Richie
- Narrated by: Kate Bowler, Jessica Richie
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Kate Bowler’s bestselling memoir Everything Happens for a Reason, listeners witnessed the ways she, as a divinity-school professor and young mother, reckoned with a Stage IV cancer diagnosis; in her follow-up memoir, No Cure for Being Human, she unflinchingly and winsomely unpacked the ways that life becomes both hard and beautiful when we abandon certainty and the illusion of control in our lives.
-
-
Good for the Soul!
- By Rev. Julie on 02-19-22
By: Kate Bowler, and others
-
The First Wife
- By: Jill Childs
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Sophie’s life falls apart, she accepts an invitation from a childhood friend, Caroline, to visit her family’s beautiful beach house, miles from the nearest town. The silence is broken only by the rhythmic crash of the waves against the jagged black rocks below. But when Sophie arrives, she finds her friend much changed. Caroline - who used to be so warm and confident - is secretive and on-edge, spending long, unexplained hours away from her family. And then there’s Caroline’s little daughter Lucy - who stopped speaking soon after they moved in.
-
-
Predictable, but good.
- By Kelly on 03-19-20
By: Jill Childs
-
Transforming
- The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians
- By: Austen Hartke, Matthew Vines - foreword
- Narrated by: Austen Hartke
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians provides access into an underrepresented and misunderstood community and will change the way listeners think about transgender people, faith, and the future of Christianity. By introducing transgender issues and language and providing stories of both biblical characters and real-life narratives from transgender Christians living today, Hartke helps listeners visualize a more inclusive Christianity, equipping them with the confidence and tools to change both the church and the world.
-
-
I am changed
- By Charlotte Wessels on 07-02-23
By: Austen Hartke, and others
-
After You’d Gone
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Elle Newlands
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Raikes takes a train from London to Scotland to visit her family, but when she gets there she witnesses something so shocking that she insists on returning to London immediately. A few hours later, Alice is lying in a coma after an accident that may or may not have been a suicide attempt. Alice’s family gathers at her bedside and as they wait, argue, and remember, long-buried tensions emerge. The more they talk, the more they seem to conceal. Alice, meanwhile, slides between varying levels of consciousness, recalling her past and a love affair that recently ended.
-
-
Very well written.
- By Audible Fan on 02-24-21
By: Maggie O'Farrell
-
I Couldn't Love You More
- A Novel
- By: Esther Freud
- Narrated by: Niamh Cusack
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping story of three generations of women, crossing from London to Ireland and back again, and the enduring effort to retrieve the secrets of the past.
By: Esther Freud
Critic reviews
“A welcome lesson to writers of tragedy that death can incorporate every emotion in the world, including laughter, anger, and selfishness, and still be honest and touching. Kline has given a difficult subject a loving, tender, and occasionally funny tone which is pleasing and very satisfying.” (ON Magazine)
“By exploring how each of the characters felt and behaved, as well as showing their individual perspectives on shared experiences, [Kline] not only added layers of emotional depth to her storytelling but also very effectively demonstrated that there is no magic ‘blueprint’ for successfully negotiating the bereavement and the grieving process.” (NB magazine)
“I loved this exquisitely written novel for its terrific characterization.... Unforgettable.” (Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner)
Related to this topic
-
The Playground
- A Novel
- By: Jane Shemilt
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of a long, hot summer in London, the lives of three very different married couples collide when their children join the same tutoring circle, resulting in illicit relationships, shocking violence, and unimaginable fallout. There’s Eve, a bougie earth mother with a well-stocked trust fund; she has three little ones, a blue-collar husband, and is obsessed with her Instagrammable recipes and lifestyle.
-
-
remarkable
- By lisa on 01-10-20
By: Jane Shemilt
-
I Couldn't Love You More
- A Novel
- By: Esther Freud
- Narrated by: Niamh Cusack
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping story of three generations of women, crossing from London to Ireland and back again, and the enduring effort to retrieve the secrets of the past.
By: Esther Freud
-
The Puzzle Women
- By: Anna Ellory
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1989. Siblings Rune and Lotte are shaken awake by Mama and told to follow her quietly into the night. Last time they snuck away from Papa, with Mama bruised and broken, they were back within a week. But this time they are starting a new life, Mama says - where nobody can ever hurt them again. Ten years later, the memories of their escape are blurry; Mama is long gone, and the siblings are back at Papa’s house.
-
-
Heartbreak to Joy
- By Jo Ann Roussey on 01-17-21
By: Anna Ellory
-
The Daughter
- By: Jane Shemilt
- Narrated by: Sophie Aldred
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenny is a successful family doctor, the mother of three great teenagers, married to a celebrated neurosurgeon. But when her youngest child, 15-year-old Naomi, doesn't come home after her school play, Jenny's seemingly ideal life begins to crumble. The authorities launch a nationwide search with no success. Naomi has vanished, and her family is broken.
-
-
BORING...
- By Nyesha on 06-08-15
By: Jane Shemilt
-
The Lonely Life of Biddy Weir
- By: Lesley Allen
- Narrated by: Bríd Brennan
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Biddy Weir is a quirky girl. Abandoned by her mother as a baby, and with a father who's not quite equipped for the challenges of modern parenting, Biddy lives in her own little world, happy to pass her time painting by the sea and watching the birds go by. That is, until she meets Alison Flemming. Because there are a few things about Biddy that aren't normal, you see. And Alison isn't afraid to point them out to the world. All of a sudden, Biddy's quiet life is thrown into turmoil. If only there was someone to convince her that, actually, everyone's a little bit weird....
-
-
The Lonely Life Of Biddy Weir
- By George Criticos on 08-10-20
By: Lesley Allen
-
The Snakes
- A Novel
- By: Sadie Jones
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Snakes exposes the damage wreaked by parents on children as observed by a new member of the family, Dan, a mixed-race man from Peckham who marries Bea, the daughter who refuses to take any of her father’s filthy money. But when Bea’s brother, Alex (who runs a shabby hotel in Paligny, France), dies suddenly in unexplained circumstances, the confusion and suspicion which arise bring other dark family secrets - and violence - to the surface. And none of the family, even the good members, go untouched.
-
-
Extraordinary!
- By Bibliophile on 07-21-19
By: Sadie Jones
-
The Playground
- A Novel
- By: Jane Shemilt
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of a long, hot summer in London, the lives of three very different married couples collide when their children join the same tutoring circle, resulting in illicit relationships, shocking violence, and unimaginable fallout. There’s Eve, a bougie earth mother with a well-stocked trust fund; she has three little ones, a blue-collar husband, and is obsessed with her Instagrammable recipes and lifestyle.
-
-
remarkable
- By lisa on 01-10-20
By: Jane Shemilt
-
I Couldn't Love You More
- A Novel
- By: Esther Freud
- Narrated by: Niamh Cusack
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping story of three generations of women, crossing from London to Ireland and back again, and the enduring effort to retrieve the secrets of the past.
By: Esther Freud
-
The Puzzle Women
- By: Anna Ellory
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1989. Siblings Rune and Lotte are shaken awake by Mama and told to follow her quietly into the night. Last time they snuck away from Papa, with Mama bruised and broken, they were back within a week. But this time they are starting a new life, Mama says - where nobody can ever hurt them again. Ten years later, the memories of their escape are blurry; Mama is long gone, and the siblings are back at Papa’s house.
-
-
Heartbreak to Joy
- By Jo Ann Roussey on 01-17-21
By: Anna Ellory
-
The Daughter
- By: Jane Shemilt
- Narrated by: Sophie Aldred
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenny is a successful family doctor, the mother of three great teenagers, married to a celebrated neurosurgeon. But when her youngest child, 15-year-old Naomi, doesn't come home after her school play, Jenny's seemingly ideal life begins to crumble. The authorities launch a nationwide search with no success. Naomi has vanished, and her family is broken.
-
-
BORING...
- By Nyesha on 06-08-15
By: Jane Shemilt
-
The Lonely Life of Biddy Weir
- By: Lesley Allen
- Narrated by: Bríd Brennan
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Biddy Weir is a quirky girl. Abandoned by her mother as a baby, and with a father who's not quite equipped for the challenges of modern parenting, Biddy lives in her own little world, happy to pass her time painting by the sea and watching the birds go by. That is, until she meets Alison Flemming. Because there are a few things about Biddy that aren't normal, you see. And Alison isn't afraid to point them out to the world. All of a sudden, Biddy's quiet life is thrown into turmoil. If only there was someone to convince her that, actually, everyone's a little bit weird....
-
-
The Lonely Life Of Biddy Weir
- By George Criticos on 08-10-20
By: Lesley Allen
-
The Snakes
- A Novel
- By: Sadie Jones
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Snakes exposes the damage wreaked by parents on children as observed by a new member of the family, Dan, a mixed-race man from Peckham who marries Bea, the daughter who refuses to take any of her father’s filthy money. But when Bea’s brother, Alex (who runs a shabby hotel in Paligny, France), dies suddenly in unexplained circumstances, the confusion and suspicion which arise bring other dark family secrets - and violence - to the surface. And none of the family, even the good members, go untouched.
-
-
Extraordinary!
- By Bibliophile on 07-21-19
By: Sadie Jones
What listeners say about This Shining Life
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jillian
- 08-18-21
Beautiful Exploration of Love, Life, and Grief
This was one of those books where I had to simmer on it for a bit before I could figure out what to say. In the end, all I can say is that this title is just absolutely lovely. The story explores multiple perspectives as each character comes to terms with their own grief and the meaning of life. They each grapple with their emotions and relationships as they explore how to navigate life following the death of a loved one. Each character believes that they are handling their grief in the most appropriate and beneficial way possible, assuming that they are doing what is best to support themselves and their loved ones. But as the narrative changes from one POV to the next, we discover that those assumptions often miss the mark.
This book has now become very dear to me. There was nothing flashy or complex about the plot. Every aspect of “This Shining Life” was propelled by the development of individual characters and their unique perspective on life and death. A man, whose death is imminent, trying to dictate his feelings and leave a lasting mark on the world. A mother-in-law who wants to help her daughter but is unwilling to admit how her own past blinds her current choices. A wife who is left a widow and a single mother and must navigate her grief while standing firm for her family. A friend who is devastated but shoves aside her emotions to support her family, not realizing how her own unwillingness to face her grief is impacting those around her. A father who has lost his son and is struggling with his own failing health and deteriorating mind. A mother who has spent her life focusing on appearances and the proper ways of the world but feels everything proper and correct disappearing with the death of her son and the failing health of her husband. A boy who views the world through a neurodivergent lens and has spent his whole life trying to understand the world and people around him and must now understand something as complex as the death of his father. Each perspective is carefully crafted and beautifully complex. Kline delivers a cast of whole, developed characters in this story. There are no favorites, no centralized characters, no bias of perspective: only raw depictions of unique outlooks in a single situation. It is perfectly executed and uniquely special. The care that Kline put into developing this cast of characters is evident in every word of this book. And made even more special by her Author’s Note at the end of the narrative.
This book is sad throughout without much reprieve, which is usually something I would avoid reading. But none of it is sadness for shock value; it is sad because the characters are experiencing sadness. Every aspect is moving and important. This poignant tale is a beautiful exploration of love and life and grief.
I purchased this title in audio to listen to the narration of my dear friend Ella Lynch without knowing too much about the story. I was pleasantly surprised by every element of this audiobook. The selection of the full ensemble cast was spot-on with each performance uniquely brilliant. So much so, that the experience of this book and the intensity of the emotional delivery is, I imagine, stronger while listening to the production rather than reading it hard copy. Absolutely beautiful work on this production.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful