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This Must Be the Place  By  cover art

This Must Be the Place

By: Maggie O'Farrell
Narrated by: Graham Rowat, Saskia Maarleveld
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Publisher's summary

The dazzling new novel from best-selling, award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell, This Must Be the Place crosses time zones and continents to reveal an extraordinary portrait of a marriage.

Meet Daniel Sullivan, a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California; a father he loathes in Brooklyn; and a wife, Claudette, who is a reclusive ex-film star given to shooting at anyone who ventures up their driveway. He is also about to find out something about a woman he lost touch with 20 years ago, and this discovery will send him off course, far away from wife and home. Will his love for Claudette be enough to bring him back?

This Must Be the Place crosses continents and time zones, giving voice to a diverse and complex cast of characters. At its heart it is an extraordinary portrait of a marriage, the forces that hold it together, and the pressures that drive it apart. Maggie O'Farrell's seventh novel is a dazzling, intimate epic about who we leave behind and who we become as we search for our place in the world.

©2016 Maggie O'Farrell (P)2016 Recorded Books

What listeners say about This Must Be the Place

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Not as good as others but still enjoyable.

Somewhat complicated family structure. I didn't warm to any of the characters. Attempts at voice changes by the narrator were not convincing.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

this must be the place

very good. but its 400 pages long so its 30 chapters and 14 hours of listening. even though like a book I did not want to stop listening and stayed up late to finish it. which of course I didn't. but if not paying attention closely you can get confused because the author jumps from past history of the characters to the present hence why 400 hundred pages. still a good book

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Magnificent

Beautiful and deeply human story of life and the choices that form who we are

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great characters… great writing

Not my favorite Maggie book but still very good! Lots of interesting characters you come to know well. Love, loss, pain: weaved into the story in an engaging tale.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Liked it?

I tried to Not like this book. But, in the end, I loved it. Persevere !

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Pretty good

After hearing Maggie O'Farrell's books recommended by several people I decided to go with this as my first read. It was ok but but I just couldn't really get into it. I have since read other works by the author and enjoyed them more than this one. The book was ok but just not particularly memorable.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent story!

I loved this book and the readers. What’s not to love with all these related characters?

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

LOVED this storyline and SM's narration

Admittedly it took me a minute to get pulled in by this story, because I was put off by GR's narration. He sounded like Eeyore... whiny and affected. His voice was so mismatched with Daniel's character but would have been perfect as the Todd character.
SM's reading of Daniel was spot on... gravelly voice and brooding tone... and she nailed the other characters' tones as well.
Maggie O'Farrell's writing is completely addictive, as always... her character development makes me love these people with all their frailties and strengths. I'm worried about what I'll do when I've finished her last book! I love the way she describes anything and everything. The house in Ireland sound magical. I did take exception and winced at her portrayal of Ari's school counselor, as I am a school counselor. Unfortunately, she's not wrong. That type of ego-driven, migsuided, judgey savior type is well represented in my field.
Anyway, I'm still a devoted fan despite the mistaken choice of narrator and her dim view of school counselors (we're not all that stupid). Thank you for sharing your talents with the world Ms. O'Farrell. Looking forward to the next one!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Some narration problems but Maggie O’Farrell is worth it

Wandering story, and I almost stopped listening because of too fast-paced SM narration (wch I hot used to, she’s great) and wholly miscast GR voice for Daniel (inflection and cavalier tone drove me crazy). SM did a far better job speaking as Daniel and it would have been a better listening experience with just her as narrator. .

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • jl
  • 10-13-16

Wonderful book

I truly enjoyed this - and loved the female narrator. Something about the male narrator's reading voice very much annoyed me, though, which is why I can only award three stars for performance.

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4 people found this helpful