The First Day of Spring
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Get 3 months for £0.99/mo
The First Day of Spring
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Kristin Atherton
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By:
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Nancy Tucker
About this listen
'So that was all it took,' I thought. 'That was all it took for me to feel like I had all the power in the world. One morning, one moment, one yellow-haired boy. It wasn't so much after all.'
Chrissie knows how to steal sweets from the shop without getting caught, the best hiding place for hide-and-seek, the perfect wall for handstands.
Now she has a new secret. It gives her a fizzing sherbet feeling in her belly. She doesn't get to feel power like this at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer.
Fifteen years later, Julia is working in a fish-and-chip shop and trying to mother her five-year-old daughter, Molly. She is always worried - about affording food and school shoes, about what the other mothers think of her. Most of all, she worries that the social services are about to take Molly away.
That's when the phone calls begin which Julia is too afraid to answer, because it's clear the caller knows the truth about what happened 15 years ago.
And it's time to face the truth: is forgiveness and redemption ever possible for someone who has killed?
©2021 Nancy Tucker (P)2021 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Tense, addictive and powered by an unforgettable narrative voice." (Paula Hawkins)
"A darkly dazzling debut, a harrowing story of neglect and cruelty written with a delicate touch and a big heart. As gripping as the tensest of thrillers and as moving and humane as the most intimate of memoirs." (Lisa Jewell)
"The First Day of Spring is Nancy Tucker's first work of fiction and my god this is outstanding.... This book is so powerful and so disturbing that I will be thinking about it for months to come. Without a doubt this goes into my Top Ten Books of 2021." (Tracy Fenton)
I was gripped, yet saddened at the same time but I was so invested in seeing a positive outcome for Chrissie as an adult, that I couldn't stop listening.
The book does touch upon issues of child neglect and child harm so won't be for everyone but it is done sensitively and we hear the reasoning of the 8 year old child as she comes to terms with her actions and her reasoning for doing what she did.
The narration was superb although I did speed it up to 1.5 as the slower pace added a depressing tone to the book.
A solid 4🌟 from me but like I say, be prepared for the book to make you feel uncomfortable at times.
A thought provoking story about nature vs nurture
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Was just a bit long but would still strongly recommend this novel
Fab narration- great story if a little long
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Also loved the voice and the brilliant accent. definitely worth listening to again and again.
incredible
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Not my type of book, BUT...
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Brilliant!!! I couldn’t stop listening!!!
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