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Instructions for a Heatwave

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Instructions for a Heatwave

By: Maggie O'Farrell
Narrated by: Dearbhla Molloy
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The stunning new novel from Costa-Novel-Award-winning novelist Maggie O'Farrell: a portrait of an Irish family in crisis in the legendary heatwave of 1976.

It's July 1976. In London, it hasn't rained for months, gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back.

The search for Robert brings Gretta's children - two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce - back home, each with different ideas as to where their father might have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share.

©2013 Maggie O'Farrell (P)2013 Headline Digital Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Heartfelt
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I am a huge Maggie O'Farrell fan and sometimes I prefer a hard copy of my favourite books rather than an audiobook but was tempted by this. It is one of the best audio books I've ever purchased. Dearbhla Molloy's reading enhances Maggie O'Farrell's wonderful, subtle ,intuitive writing in such an engaging way that I was embarrassed to find myself shouting at, laughing with and crying at the dilemmas and disasters of this family as I listened to it on the tube. Only Maggie O'Farrell can write with such well observed realism and yet with such hopeful compassion. Only this reader, I suggest, could have done such a brilliant job of bringing these characters to even more complicated and vibrant life. I can't recommend this too highly.

Great book, brilliant performance

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Maggie o Farrell is a brilliant observer of family dynamics . I felt I was in that room , walking alongside & included in their life . This is my
3rd o'farrel books & ive just downloaded another . They are all v different . The narration was second to none ,it's a shame Dearbhla Malloy isnt listed to have narrated more books .

Loved it

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It took me back home to a time & place long gone now. Thank you.

Brilliant

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I will be honest and say that I was not sure when I purchased this. It was an however an easy and enjoyable book which got me listening for hours at a time. And is deeper and more thoughtful than may appear at first. It got better and better with a good ending. Well narrated. Fully recommend it.

A really lovely moving story

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A moving and beautifully written book that was at times heartbreakingly poignant. A wonderful portrayal of a family’s trials and tribulations during the hot summer of 1976.

Poignant

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