The States

De: Norah Woodsey

Narrado por: Síofra Brogan

“Eloquent and alluring, The States is a novel in which dreams crash into lived realities.” Forward Reviews

“A beautiful and thoughtful modernization of Jane Austen’s Persuasion that explores a modern heroine’s discovery of the difference between fantasy and agency.” IndieReader

"An inventive novel about wishes and regret." Kirkus Reviews

From the award-winning author of The Control Problem and When the Wave Collapses comes a modern reimagining of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, a story of love, obligation, and second chances.

Tildy Sullivan is the middle child in an elite yet fading Manhattan family. Her quiet practicality hides her deep, profound longing for childhood summers in western Ireland. She also carries a secret regret. After her mother’s death, she’s persuaded to abandon Ireland and the love of the local boy, Aiden.

When Tildy volunteers for a lucid dreaming experiment, it gives her all she wants – a life lived for her family during the day and a secret, perfect Ireland of her own at night. Will she face reality, or succumb to the ease of her dreams?

©2024 Norah Woodsey (P)2024 Norah Woodsey

Can dreams come true?

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined". So said Henry David Thoreau in 1857. This idea becomes reality for Tildy Sullivan when she takes part in an experimental sleep study in the present. During the day, Tildy faces the stresses of being part of an unsupportive and wealthy family in decline. Her mother, who she was close to, has passed away and her patriarchal father is insisting that she and her sisters move to Florida. At night, Tildy enters into a different world, with the help of medication and technology - one she has created from happy childhood memories of time spent in Ireland. She researches what has happened to Aidan, the boyfriend she sadly left behind in Galway and his current life and friends. Her dreams, which she has some ability to manipulate, are a blend of facts with fictional interpretations of who he and his friends are now. Will she have the courage to follow her dreams and actually move to Ireland and get to know these people in real time and recover a lost love? Woodsey's writing is descriptive and engaging, based on an original conceit through the spare use of science fiction and fantasy. The audible version is expertly narrated by Siofra Brogan who authentically reads various lines of untranslated Irish dialogue, the meanings of which can be inferred from context.