Wild Game Audiobook By Adrienne Brodeur cover art

Wild Game

My Mother, Her Secret, and Me

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Wild Game

By: Adrienne Brodeur
Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Adrienne Brodeur
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A daughter’s tale of living in the thrall of her magnetic, complicated mother, and the chilling consequences of her complicity.

On a hot July night on Cape Cod when Adrienne was 14, her mother, Malabar, woke her at midnight with five simple words that would set the course of both of their lives for years to come: Ben Souther just kissed me.

Adrienne instantly became her mother’s confidante and helpmate, blossoming in the sudden light of her attention, and from then on, Malabar came to rely on her daughter to help orchestrate what would become an epic affair with her husband’s closest friend. The affair would have calamitous consequences for everyone involved, impacting Adrienne’s life in profound ways, driving her into a precarious marriage of her own, and then into a deep depression. Only years later will she find the strength to embrace her life - and her mother - on her own terms.

Wild Game is a brilliant, timeless memoir about how the people close to us can break our hearts simply because they have access to them, and the lies we tell in order to justify the choices we make. It’s a remarkable story of resilience, a reminder that we need not be the parents our parents were to us.

Cover design by Christopher Moisan

©2019 Adrienne Brodeur (P)2019 Audible, Inc. Motherhood Parenting & Families Relationships Women Marriage Heartfelt Inspiring
A searing, indelible memoir of an extraordinary mother and her equally extraordinary daughter. Among Adrienne Brodeur's many achievements in Wild Game - beautiful prose, a riveting story, elegantly told - what I found most moving is the love threaded through every page of this unforgettable book.

About the Creator

Adrienne Brodeur began her career in publishing as the cofounder, with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, of National Magazine Award-winning Zoetrope: All-Story. She has worked as a book editor and is currently the executive director of Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute. She lives in Cambridge and on Cape Cod.

Captivating Memoir • Beautiful Descriptive Prose • Excellent Narration • Compelling Family Dynamics • Emotional Depth
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The first half of the book was great, the second half was overlong and boring. Good, not great.

Good, not great

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I am so proud of this author for she is a person who has survived her mother - who was so jealous of her and so empty inside who stopped at nothing to dim her daughter’s light. But the author developed significant insight and realized she had to make a choice and she made a good one. This is a story of success.

Jealous mother

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So, that was an insane story to have happened to someone. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully it helps someone who's in a dysfunctional relationship. it's hard to describe the feeling I'm left with after listening through this.

wow

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Love this touching memoir. You will too. Beautifully written. Keeps you wanting to hear more

Must read

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Julia Whelan you were meant for this storytelling. Got this book due to you narrating.
To sum up this story- I simply didn’t want it to end. Repeat I simply didn’t want it to end.
Beautifully written.

Didn’t want it to end!

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I loved this so much more than I thought I would. Julia Whelan does an excellent job narrating.

Great memoir

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I debated for at least 4 weeks and finally decided to get this book, mainly because I love Julia Whelan and I also enjoy a good memoir. I am conflicted and have mixed feelings, on one hand it was an entertaining book, well written and well performed but on the other hand if I don’t like the main characters it’s hard to like the book. Without getting too much into it I guess I can sum it up to a train wreck calls herself “ a mother” ,self centered, promiscuous, gold digger and morally corrupt and all around a child abuser. A home wrecker who plays a victim and a daughter who sounds more like a puppet and brainless and truly messed up. This has to be a fiction no mother can possibly be that selfish.

Just No

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Not everyone will be able to relate to this book but for those of us who do, it really resonates. Mothers can do real number on their daughters yet, like all abused children, they will continue to dream that the REAL mother who loves them will eventually emerge. It doesn't happen sometimes.

Hard to put down

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A real life accounting of a unique family drama. At times beautiful and always twisting and heartbreaking. What’s good for a parent may jeopardize a child’s stability and this story is so beautifully written and so sincerely shared that I could not put it down and it haunts me weeks after. L a very talented author.

Heartbreaking and beautiful

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I liked the story very much. I was hurt for the daughter/author to see how her mother made the biggest mistake, that unfortunately many do, to turn herself as a friend/ confidente to her daughter. That is never the role of a mother. A mother is there to nourish and be a parent/ adult to a child; not the other way around. On the other hand, listening to the epilogue, I was incredibly impressed that the author could find empathy in her mother’s behavior and forgive her. She is a role model in my eyes! Well done.

Mother daughter relationship

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