Crossing Over cover art

Crossing Over

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Buy Now for £15.99

About this listen

Edie is struggling. She’s increasingly confused, but she can’t let the women in the village find that out - they’d only talk. But she’s forgetting so much - forgetting to wear matching clothes, forgetting to bake one of her walnut cakes for the WI sale...and forgetting to lock the door...until one day she wakes to find Jonah in her house and herself in her past.

Jonah is struggling. The journey to England was illegal and dangerous, and he’s the only one who survived - and he still hasn’t made it to London. Everything will be fine if he can just get to London. But can he leave Edie to look after herself? And can he hide from the authorities? And from his past?

About the audiobook:

Ann Morgan has written an affecting and absorbing tale of an elderly woman losing herself to dementia and an illegal immigrant suffering from PTSD who has found England is not the utopia he was promised. The relationship between the two is touching yet mutually suspicious and uneasy; both are scared, moreover, of the outside world - Edie is worried she’ll be put in a home, and Jonah is worried he will be deported. Neither can cope on their own - but can they rely on each other when they can’t trust anyone else?

About the author:

Ann Morgan’s writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Independent, the Financial Times and the New Internationalist. Her first book, Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer (Harvill Secker/WW Norton), was published following the success of her project to read a book from every country throughout 2012. Her best-selling debut novel, Beside Myself (Bloomsbury), was released to great acclaim in 2016.

©2018 Ann Morgan (P)2019 Audible, Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction England Tear-jerking

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Wise Children cover art
Most relevant
This is the time when I write a review that is different to the general consensus. I disagree with a lot of the negative comments and would recommend this book.

I greatly enjoyed the story and thought it was written with passion and understanding, it is an unlikely friendship and some of the early part of the story had me laughing out loud. As the book progressed there were some equally sad moments that made your heart sink and sadness wash over you.

I loved the way Jonah often did not understand English people with his African upbringing and values, he was desperately trying to understand the meaning of what people say and their actions. His sense of family community and looking after the elders was touching and real, a trait that is often sadly lacking nowaday.
No spoilers but when Edie was in hospital and he described the scene on the ward with the nurses and doctors attending her, Jonah felt that no one truly cared about Edie as they were all wrapped up with their own lives, I found this quite haunting but could empathise with his views.

Jonahs story was very sad and the desperation of these refugees for a better future anywhere rather than where they are is described very well.

Edies story is equally well told, despite the reviews to the contrary.

I am a fan of Adjoa Andoh, but I felt it was not her best performance.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Unlikely friendship

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It was a rather interesting listen. Particularly that it contains story about old age and memory loss plus a story about immigration. Main characters were very well made and narrator done amazing job.

Two stories in one book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
maybe it's my age , but uncanny dialogue from.a different age performed brilliantly and such a brilliantly written story of the feelings related to hardships wherever we go. much recommended .

absolutely fabulous

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have just finished this book. Crossing Over. It was remarkable. I never read a book before that was in part in the voice of someone with dementia. Very powerful and well constructed. In addition, it is difficult to write in an African voice as the tone can easily become paternalistic and condescending. Ann Morgan nailed it. I felt enormous compassion for Jonah and felt your description of his journey was so insightful. She is a a really excellent author and I cannot wait for her next book.

Great book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story is sometimes confusing because it jumps over time and continents and because both narrators are, in their own ways, unreliable. And that is the point of this beautiful, colourful and erratic tale. Whether you like the characters or not, their stories are thoroughly believable and engaging. There is some very talented writing as the author gives us a realistic glimpse into the inner dialogue of a woman with dementia, as her mind fractures. And there is gentle humour as she plays with an african man's view of the eccentricities of the English language. The narration is excellent too and seamless. I strongly recommend this.

don't be put off by some negative reviews.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
not my usual genre but a fantastic story well written and brilliantly read enthralling five-star

fantastic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Adjoa Andoh is a very skilled voice actress however, I'm not a huge fan of readers who put on lots of different voices for different characters nor when an audio book has more than two readers. What I enjoyed the most was how the two, unlikely protagonists became entangled together and how their relationship develops. I found both characters intriguing and funny and could've happily listened to a lot more about them and their time shared together. The main issue I had with this book is how much the author dwelled on the characters pasts because I would switch off after a while during these parts and I'd rather the author had spent more time on the present but overall I thought it was a good story.

Enjoyable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Crossing Over - funny at times & sad at others
I would say this is a not read book, but it’s ok if on daily deals
Good narration

Crossing Over - funny at times

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Crossing Over has so many meanings within this excellent book from a literal crossing over the sea to the crossing over into an unknown world for the two main characters. The book has comical moments and times of tragedy and despair but through all of this, I as the reader, was rooting for Edie and Jonah. The narration is brilliant. Adjoa Andoh has a successful career in acting and narrating; each character in this book has their own distinctive voice from the older English lady to the young South African man.

A Very Clever Title

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I struggled with the middle part of this book. I was committed to finishing it because of Jonah's storyline/plot and the impact of climate change , livelihood and poverty. Eti's story for me felt like a framework we were being given to tell Jonah's story. It was too much for me to have such strong characters and as such felt like Eti's story fell flat. Andoa Anjoh is a brilliant narratar. She didn't get the Chewa accent as Jonah at times sounded Nigerian and in some.parts Zimbabwean but she was good at bringing his character to life

Jonah from Malawi

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews