The Disenchanted Widow

By: Christina McKenna

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's Summary

It’s the summer of 1981. Newly widowed Bessie Halstone is fleeing Belfast with her young son, Herkie. She’s wrongly suspected of pocketing £10,000, the loot from a heist carried out by Packie, her late (and unmourned) husband. Bessie has plans. She longs to make a fresh start. But first she must reach the safety of her sister’s home, in County Sligo, to borrow money for the trip.

She doesn’t make it. Car trouble forces her to sojourn in Tailorstown, a sleepy rural community. Her plans are put on hold as she decides to lay low for a while. She’ll need cash. She finds work as a housekeeper for the handsome but mysterious parish priest.

In the meantime, Lorcan Strong, an artist and a native of Tailorstown, is summoned home. With reluctance, he returns to the place where he feels almost a stranger, a town he has long outgrown.

A chance meeting with young Herkie Halstone leads Lorcan into the world of the disenchanted Bessie - and into a grave danger that has pursued them both from Belfast.

The Disenchanted Widow is an unforgettable peek into small-town life in Ireland’s recent past. It’s a glorious successor to McKenna’s first "Tailorstown" novel, The Misremembered Man.

©2013 Christina McKenna (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

A full bodied story, front to back...

I bought this book because of having enjoyed another story by this author, and while it too was quite good, this one, in my opinion, was excellent. Each character was wonderfully developed and provided vivid images of their personalities

So enjoyable

I nearly gave up the narration was soo fast,she hardly took a breath and the harsh tone made it worse. I was really into the story so tried it one step slower. After a while I got used to it all and settled down to a quite enjoyable story. Some tragic Irish history, a little mystery and a great little twist at the end rounded it all out. So glad I stuck it out!

Glorious Tale of What Can Be . . . If Only

Christina McKenna is a great story teller. I didn’t think she could write another tale that I’d like nearly as much as The Misremembered Man. Even going into this one, I thought, nah, not gonna happen. But as the tale continued, Bessie and Herkie grew on me . . . more and more. And about the time that Herkie met up with Lorcan Strong, the artist from Tailorstown, my heart began to melt for them all. You see, we all are products of our past . . . we ALL have to learn to shake off . . . change that within ourselves that isn’t very pretty . . . As the Dentist pursued them, these people tried their best to live their lives . . . perhaps not being completely forthright, but doing their best to get by. And in their midst was those whom they should have been able to trust . . . I laughed myself silly at the antics of pet pig, the trunk of underwear and the falsies falling out the window onto proper Rose and her uncle. This is an amazing tale of the hardship and hatred in Belfast, Ireland in the 1980s . . . with a fairytale ending that we can only dream about . . . Amazing story!

Ireland, out of Dublin and into the obscurity of a tiny town.

If you have to hide where do you go? Which side of people do you believe? How many twists and turns can one story make and still end because of a great coinsidense? Loved the story. It gave me a change from my "detective" story, but remained a mystery. The reader is very good, right down to the extremely annoying child's voice. Your in for a good time, have a listen!

Too slow but plenty of humor

Any additional comments?

Second book in the Tailorstown series. It is readable as a stand-alone book.

This book is about a widow and her ten year old son who must flee Belfast because her late husband had double-crossed an IRA enforcer. The story unfolds slowly but with a lot of humor. There were more coincidences in the story than I like and it was mainly the humor that kept me reading.

Fun Romp - Superb Narration

Highly recommend. I almost didn't purchase this book -- it was outside of my normal genre; mysteries and educational. I started this book without high expectations. Wow, what a find. Totally fun and entertaining. Story line is simple and easy to follow. Numerous laugh out loud moments. The son Herc (short for Hercules) is a hoot! The narration was perfect!! Not great literature but really great FUN!

voice of child

This is the first time I have read a talking book. I'm on holiday and find it hard reading in the sun.so this was a great way to relax. I love the story line and find the disciption of the place it is set in running though my mind. Although I was a bit taken back with the violence near the beginning as I don't like to read that sort of book. I find the main characters voice easy to believe but the child's voice annoying and almost stopped reading because of this.

Beautiful and Heartwarming!

This is an unexpectedly beautiful story real for those of us who remember the era and heartwarming for those of us who do not know how it is to live in that situation but glad to know that there is hope eventually.

I have not read the book to which this is the sequel, but if it is anything like this and I hope it is, I fully intend to read it soon. This is not my usual style of book and I am completely new to the author but both the narration and the story, were very well presented, so much so that I listened to it in one sitting!

It is a great book for a sunny, rainy, quiet afternoon. Whatever the weather, you will enjoy it!

a typical Irish fiction book

if you can forgive the book for having no real understanding of northern Irish history, the story has a great number of characters, who whilst slightly dubious the book ultimately brings out the best within the characters. as a result the story is a great easy read and brought a smile to my face throughout. however I would not recommend this book in audio, I have no idea who thought this was an Irish accent but it was truly appalling and I had to slow the speed down to understand it.

I tried this genre

I struggled to listen to the narrator. Story didn't keep me interested. Not my genre.

I really enjoyed this book. But after the amazing

I really enjoyed this book eventually. After the amazing narrating by Gary Furlong for the first book, the Misremembered Man, I felt let down by the narrator of this book. The main characters accent was ok but the rest were a terrible let down, the accents were all wrong. But I enjoyed the story so kept going to the end.

Enjoyable story but let down by the narrator

Having read the Christina McKenna’s novel The Misremembered Man and found myself laughing out loud on several occasions, I was disappointed with this audiobook. While I still found myself laughing in places I would have enjoyed it more had the narrator had a Northern Irish accent.

Don't purchase!

I've made it about half way through this audio book - The Disenchanted Widow - but can't listen to another word. The accents of the narrator range between highland Scottish and Pakistani traversing through Wales and Sweden in between. It is meant to be Irish!!! The accents are worse than Mel Gibson's in Braveheart and that's saying something. The story is good but I can't listen to that woman a moment longer. I'm trying to return it.....

great story

love to hear more from the writer and narrator really enjoyed it very much