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Fragments from France: The Live Performance Edition
- Narrated by: Steve Matchett
- Length: 2 hrs and 1 min
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Fragments from France: The Live Performance Edition
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Publisher's summary
Steve Matchett's thought-provoking short story - Fragments from France - has proved one of the author's most popular pieces of memoir writing. This atmospheric tale was first published in his highly acclaimed collection of short stories, These Desired Things. This new audiobook sees "fragments" elevated in status - this truly essential story of First World War survival now narrated as a compelling "live performance edition" with the text delivered in three distinct acts: the listener immersed in a theater-style reading of the work, as though sitting in the packed orchestra stalls of a live show.
Through his masterful use of differing English dialects and accents, Steve Matchett's uncanny ability to bring his characters to life, seemingly so effortlessly, is a joy to behold. The story itself is set amid the author's tranquil childhood when, one snowy day, back in the early 1970s, Mr. Goodman, a former infantryman, decides to share his Great War experiences with the young boy - this the first time he has talked with anyone of his horrific military experiences in the vile, gas-filled trenches of the first world war.
The stark truth of the realities of that ghastly conflict are harrowing in the extreme - and that one snowy day spent listening to an old man's wartime memories would change the entire course of the author's adult life. This collectors' audiobook also includes an exclusive interview with the author - a wonderfully warm, revealing Q&A session in which Steve Matchett discusses, among other things, the backstory behind his book's title.
This forthright Q&A also sees Matchett give more insight into the book's central character, the remarkable Mr. Goodman; and the author also talks of his fascination with the events of the Great War itself. All things considered this "live performance edition" audiobook is a recording to enjoy over and over again - a volume to be kept forever safe, its lessons shared with future generations. Lest we forget.
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 194
George Bowling, an insurance salesman, hits middle age and feels impelled to “come up for air” from his life of quiet desperation. With seventeen pounds he has won at a race, he steals a vacation from his wife and family and pays a visit to Lower Binfield, the village where he grew up, to fish for carp in a pool he remembers from thirty years before. But the pool is gone, Lower Binfield has changed beyond recognition, and the principal event of Bowling’s holiday is an accidental bombing by the RAF.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Orwell Flirts and Fishes w/ Nostalgia & Modernity.
- By Darwin8u on 07-10-12
By: George Orwell
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Lanny
- By: Max Porter
- Narrated by: Annie Aldington, Clare Corbett
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 171
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 150
There’s a village an hour from London. It’s no different from many others today: one pub, one church, redbrick cottages, some public housing, and a few larger houses dotted about. Voices rise up, as they might anywhere, speaking of loving and needing and working and dying and walking the dogs. This village belongs to the people who live in it, to the land and to the land’s past. It also belongs to Dead Papa Toothwort, a mythical figure local schoolchildren used to draw as green and leafy, choked by tendrils growing out of his mouth, who awakens after a glorious nap.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Narration is a masterpiece
- By Amazon Customer on 08-24-19
By: Max Porter
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The Third Policeman
- By: Flann O'Brien
- Narrated by: Jim Norton
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 593
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 408
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Story4 out of 5 stars 409
Flann O'Brien's most popular and surrealistic novel concerns an imaginary, hellish village police force and a local murder.
Weird, satirical, and very funny, its popularity has suddenly increased with the mention of the novel in the TV series Lost.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Hell is other people's bicycles.
- By Darwin8u on 03-01-15
By: Flann O'Brien
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Foster
- By: Claire Keegan
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 1 hr and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 539
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 459
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 456
It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas' house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household—where everything is so well tended to—and this summer must soon come to an end.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A story that will stay with me a long time
- By CTKG on 11-01-22
By: Claire Keegan
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Cocaine Blues
- By: Kerry Greenwood
- Narrated by: Stephanie Daniel
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,007
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,462
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,453
It's the end of the roaring twenties, and the exuberant and Honourable Phryne Fisher is dancing and gaming with gay abandon. But she becomes bored with London and the endless round of parties. In search of excitement, she sets her sights on a spot of detective work in Melbourne, Australia. And so mystery and the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse, appear in her life. From then on it's all cocaine and communism until her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A series that just gets better
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 02-01-11
By: Kerry Greenwood
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Pennies for Hitler
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 51
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
It's 1939, and for Georg, son of an English academic living in Germany, life is full of cream cakes and loving parents. It is also a time when his teacher measures the pupils' heads to see which of them have the most 'Aryan'- shaped heads. But when a university graduation ceremony turns into a pro-Nazi demonstration, Georg is smuggled out of Germany to war-torn London and then across enemy seas to Australia where he must forget his past and who he is in order to survive. Hatred is contagious, but Georg finds that kindness can be, too.
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4 out of 5 stars
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This could be a Bryce Courtenay novel
- By K Cornwinkle on 07-02-14
By: Jackie French
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The Dream House
- By: Craig Higginson
- Narrated by: Terry Lloyd-Roberts
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
A farmhouse is being reproduced a dozen times, with slight variations, throughout a valley. Three small graves have been dug in the front garden, the middle one lying empty. A woman in a wheelchair sorts through boxes while her husband clambers around the old demolished buildings, wondering where the animals have gone. A young woman – called ‘the barren one’ behind her back – dreams of love, while an ageing headmaster contemplates the end of his life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant Dream House Narration
- By Simon Griffiths on 05-05-21
By: Craig Higginson
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Clovenhoof
- By: Heide Goody, Iain Grant
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 506
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 424
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 421
Charged with gross incompetence, Satan is fired from his job as prince of Hell and exiled to that most terrible of places: English suburbia. Forced to live as a human under the name of Jeremy Clovenhoof, the dark lord not only has to contend with the fact that no one recognizes him or gives him the credit he deserves but also has to put up with the bookish war-gamer next door and the voracious man-eater upstairs.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This Series Is Phenomenal
- By Marcus on 10-27-19
By: Heide Goody, and others
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Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders
- By: Tessa Arlen
- Narrated by: Madeleine Leslay
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
Charming and feisty Poppy Redfern stumbles into murder in this exciting new World War II historical mystery series from critically acclaimed author Tessa Arlen. In a remote English village, two popular women who are dating American servicemen are found strangled, and Poppy must team up with a pilot to unearth chilling secrets before she becomes the next victim.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfect! Can't Wait for More!
- By Meg on 12-17-19
By: Tessa Arlen
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The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes
- A Novel
- By: Ruth Hogan
- Narrated by: Elaine Claxton
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Once a spirited, independent woman with a rebellious streak, Masha's life was forever changed by a tragic event 12 years ago. Unable to let go of her grief, she finds comfort in her faithful canine companion Haizum and peace in the quiet lanes of her town's swimming pool. Almost without her realizing it, her life has shuddered to a halt.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Sweet Story
- By Nancy Briggs on 12-14-19
By: Ruth Hogan
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Small Things Like These
- By: Claire Keegan
- Narrated by: Aidan Kelly
- Length: 1 hr and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,042
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 917
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 915
It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man, faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery that forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Charming and Inspiring
- By David P on 09-05-22
By: Claire Keegan
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The 13th Witch
- The King's Watch, Book 1
- By: Mark Hayden
- Narrated by: Ciaran Saward
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 129
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
Conrad Clarke, former RAF pilot and alleged gangster, gets a text – and a visit – from The Allfather. Odin has a challenge for Conrad: Sign up to protect England from wild magick and get a commission in the King’s Watch. All he has to do is find a missing witch. Simple. Conrad never could resist a challenge. Before you can say “Ragnarok”, he’s plunged into a world of gods, mages, witches, dwarves, and one very aggressive giant mole.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great story becomes even better
- By Pine wind on 11-09-20
By: Mark Hayden
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The Bermondsey Bookshop
- By: Mary Gibson
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 164
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 149
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 146
Set in 1920s London, this is the inspiring story of Kate Goss' struggle against poverty, hunger and cruel family secrets. Her mother died in a fall, her father has vanished without trace, and now her aunt and cousins treat her viciously. In a freezing, vermin-infested garret, factory girl Kate has only her own brave spirit and dreams of finding her father to keep her going. She has barely enough money to feed herself, or to pay the rent. The factory where she works begins to lay off people and it isn't long before she has fallen into the hands of the violent local money-lender.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A glimpse into the past
- By Luci-Lu on 10-27-21
By: Mary Gibson
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Pearl in a Cage
- Woody Creek, Book 1
- By: Joy Dettman
- Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
- Length: 20 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
On a balmy midsummer's evening in 1923, a young woman - foreign, dishevelled and heavily pregnant - is found unconscious just off the railway tracks in the tiny logging community of Woody Creek. The town midwife, Gertrude Foote, is roused from her bed when the woman is brought to her door. Try as she might, Gertrude is unable to save her, but the baby lives.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Pearl in a Cage
- By Verita on 06-16-17
By: Joy Dettman
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Elmet
- By: Fiona Mozley
- Narrated by: Gareth Bennett Ryan
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 533
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 495
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Story4 out of 5 stars 495
In this atmospheric and profoundly moving debut, Cathy and Daniel live with their father, John, in the remote woods of Yorkshire, in a house the three of them built themselves. John is a gentle brute of a man, a former enforcer who fights for money when he has to, but who otherwise just wants to be left alone to raise his children. When a local landowner shows up on their doorstep, their precarious existence is threatened, and a series of actions is set in motion that can only end in violence.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Strains credibility
- By DM on 01-06-18
By: Fiona Mozley
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Summer
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Juliette Burton
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 62
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Story5 out of 5 stars 62
Here is the exciting culmination of Ali Smith's celebrated Seasonal Quartet, a series of stand-alone novels, separate but interconnected (as the seasons are), wide-ranging in timescale and light-footed through histories.
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5 out of 5 stars
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terrific book, beautifully read.
- By Sasha on 02-07-21
By: Ali Smith
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The Shepherd's Hut
- By: Tim Winton
- Narrated by: Kate Mulvany
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 73
Jaxie Clackton is a brutalized rural youth who flees from the scene of his father's violent death and strikes out for the vast wilds of Western Australia. All he carries with him is a rifle and a waterjug. All he wants is peace and freedom. But surviving in the harsh saltlands alone is a savage business. And once he discovers he's not alone out there, all Jaxie's plans go awry. He meets a fellow exile, the ruined priest Fintan MacGillis, a man he's never certain he can trust, but on whom his life will soon depend.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Stunning!
- By Antoniya Boyd on 07-09-18
By: Tim Winton
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The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted
- By: Robert Hillman
- Narrated by: Daniel Lapaine
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 87
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4 out of 5 stars 75
It is 1968 in rural Australia and lonely Tom Hope can't make heads or tails of Hannah Babel. Newly arrived from Hungary, Hannah is unlike anyone he's ever met - she's passionate, artistic, and fiercely determined to open sleepy Hometown's first bookshop. Despite the fact that Tom has only read only one book in his life, the two soon discover an astonishing spark. Recently abandoned by an unfaithful wife - and still missing her sweet son, Peter - Tom dares to believe that he might make Hannah happy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Mezmerizing and Stirring
- By C. Cohen on 05-02-20
By: Robert Hillman