AuthorRoddy Doyle
NarratorRoddy Doyle
Duration5h 5m
CategoriesAdult Fiction, Novels
PublisherRandom House
VersionUnabridged
Smile has all the features for which Roddy Doyle has become famous: the razor-sharp dialogue, the humour, the superb evocation of childhood - but this is a novel unlike any he has written before. When you finish the last page you will have been challenged to re-evaluate everything you think you remember so clearly. Just moved in to a new apartment, alone for the first time in years, Victor Forde goes every evening to Donnelly's pub for a pint, a slow one. One evening his drink is interrupted. A man in shorts and pink shirt brings over his pint and sits down. He seems to know Victor's name and to remember him from school. Says his name is Fitzpatrick. Victor dislikes him on sight, dislikes too the memories that Fitzpatrick stirs up of five years being taught by the Christian Brothers. He prompts other memories too - of Rachel, his beautiful wife who became a celebrity, and of Victor's own small claim to fame, as the man who says the unsayable on the radio. But it's the memories of school, and of one particular Brother, that he cannot control and which eventually threaten to destroy his sanity.
Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
Author Tsitsi Dangarembga
Narrator Adenrele Ojo
Duration 11h 32m
Anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job, Tambudzai finds herself living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare. For reasons that include her grim financial prospects and her age, she moves to a widow's boarding house and eventually finds work as a biology teacher. But at every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself,...
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Author: Brandon Taylor
Author Brandon Taylor
Narrator Kevin R. Free
Duration 9h 25m
Almost everything about Wallace is at odds with the Midwestern university town where he is working uneasily toward a biochem degree. An introverted young man from Alabama, black and queer, he has left behind his family without escaping the long shadows of his childhood. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even wit...
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Author: Roddy Doyle
Author Roddy Doyle
Narrator Stephen Hogan
Duration 3h 19m
When Uncle Ben's Dublin business fails, Gloria and Raymond realise that something is wrong. So when the children overhear their granny saying that the Black Dog has settled on Ben's back and he won't be OK until it's gone, they decide they're going to get rid of it and they set out on a midnight quest to hunt it down and chase it away. But loads of...
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Author: Abbi Waxman
Author Abbi Waxman
Narrator Jessica Preddy
Duration 9h 28m
Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, a kick-butt trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. When the father Nina never knew existed suddenly dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. They all live close by! They're excited to meet her! She'll have to Speak. To....
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Author: Curtis Sittenfield
Author Curtis Sittenfield
Narrator Carrington Macduffie
Duration 13h 58m
'Awfully opinionated for a girl' is what they call Hillary as she grows up in her Chicago suburb. Smart, diligent, and a bit plain, that's the general consensus. Then Hillary goes to college, and her star rises. At Yale Law School, she continues to be a leader- and catches the eye of driven, handsome and charismatic Bill. But when he asks her to ma...
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Author: Roddy Doyle
Author Roddy Doyle
Narrator Laurence Kinlan
Duration 3h 39m
The Commitments are spreading the gospel of the soul. Managed by Jimmy Rabbitte and brilliantly coached by Joey 'The Lips' Fagan. Their twin assault on Motown and Barrytown takes them by leaps and bounds from the parish hall to the steps of the studio door. But can The Commitments live up to their name?
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The Woman Who Walked Into Doors
Author: Roddy Doyle
Author Roddy Doyle
Narrator Ger Ryan
Duration 3h
Paula Spencer struggles to reclaim her dignity after marriage to an abusive husband and a worsening drinking problem. She recalls her contented childhood, the audacity she had as a teenager, the exhilaration of her romance with Charlo, and the marriage to him that left her feeling powerless.
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Author: Jane Fallon
Author Jane Fallon
Narrator Jo Joyner
Duration 10h 8m
Brought to you by Penguin. Welcome to The Close - a beautiful street of mansions, where gorgeous Stella is the indisputable Queen Bee . . . It is here that Laura, seeking peace and privacy after her marriage falls apart, rents a tiny studio. Unfortunately, her arrival upsets suspicious Stella - who fears Laura has designs on her fianc‚, Al. W...
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Summer At the Comfort Food Cafe
Author: Debbie Johnson
Author Debbie Johnson
Narrator Dawn Murphy
Duration 9h 50m
The Comfort Food Cafe is perched on a windswept clifftop at what feels like the edge of the world, serving up the most delicious cream teas, beautifully baked breads and carefully crafted cupcakes. For tourists and locals alike, the ramshackle cafe overlooking the beach is a beacon of laughter, companionship and security - a place like no other, a...
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Author: Cecelia Ahern
Author Cecelia Ahern
Narrator Amy Huberman
Duration 9h 52m
When Holly Kennedy is approached by a group calling themselves the PS, I Love You Club, her safe existence is turned on its head. Inspired by hearing about her late husband Gerry's letters, the club wants Holly to help them with their own parting messages for their loved ones to discover after they're gone. Holly is sure of one thing: no way is she...
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