I Can Hear the Cuckoo

Life in the Wilds of Wales

De: Kiran Sidhu

Narrado por: Aysha Kala

From the award-winning writer of The New Yorker short film, Heart Valley

Kiran Sidhu never thought she could leave London, but when her mother passes away, she knows she has to walk out of her old life and leave her toxic family behind. She chooses fresh air, an auditorium of silence and the purity of the natural world - and soon arrives in Cellan, a small, remote village nestled in the Welsh valleys.

At first, the barrenness and isolation is strange. But as the months wear on, Kiran starts to connect with the close-knit community she finds there; her neighbour Sarah, who shows her how to sledge when the winter snow arrives; Jane, a 70-year-old woman who lives at the top of a mountain with three dogs and four alpacas; and Wilf, the farmer who eats the same supper every day, and teaches Kiran that the cuckoo arrives in April and leaves in July.

Tender, philosophical and moving, I Can Hear the Cuckoo is a story about redefining family, about rebirth and renewal, and respecting the rhythm and timing of the earth. It's a book about moving through grief and the people we find in the midst of our sadness - and what this small community in the Welsh countryside can teach us about life.

©2023 Kiran Sidhu (P)2023 Octopus Publishing Group

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A beautiful and poetic meditation on loss, nature, and what matters in life." (Nigel Warburton)

Young author from the city mourns her mother

This is no story of great struggles while living amongst the wilds; this is a slow, excruciatingly boring journey of a city person's journey to a small community of Welsh farmers. The narrator delivers a good performance but the writing is neither deep nor complex. Simple sentences, one after the other, with common phrases that deliver insight that makes you shake your head and say, seriously? That's it? Barely scratches the surface of creative thinking. Wish I could write a better review as the author seems a kind and caring person, but listening to this was like listening to a daily journal of a middle class, young woman who revels at the notion of a strong wind in fall.