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Missing Persons, or My Grandmother's Secrets
- Narrated by: Clair Wills
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
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Missing Persons, or My Grandmother's Secrets
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
How far would you go for the missing?
When Clair Wills was in her twenties, she discovered she had a cousin she had never met. Born in a Mother and Baby Home in 1950s Ireland, Mary grew up in an institution not far from the farm where Clair spent happy childhood summers. Yet she was never told of her existence.
How could a whole family - a whole country - abandon unmarried mothers and their children, erasing them from history?
To discover the missing pieces of her family's story, Clair searched across archives and nations, in a journey that would take her from the 1890s to the 1980s, from West Cork to rural Suffolk and Massachusetts, from absent fathers to the grief of a lost child.
There are some experiences that do not want to be remembered. What began as an effort to piece together the facts became an act of decoding the most unreliable of evidence - stories, secrets, silences. The result is a moving, exquisitely told story of the secrets families keep, and the violence carried out in their name.
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Missing Persons, or My Grandmother's Secrets
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- Happy 😊
- 17-05-24
Back in my time
Loved the lovely way it was put to paper so real and felt as true as could be found with facts to back it up I could fell my own and other families knocking on the door at times sad unbelievable but it happened
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 03-03-24
The purpose in writing the book ..So interesting and relatable .
Firstly the author's voice ..so easy to pay attention to her.
The amount of patient, researching and care when looking for answers ...
I'll probably buy the book and look for the family tree....
congratulations ..
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Jayne
- 09-02-24
Beautifully written and narrated.
An in depth exploration of the why's and how's of Irish culture, as well as the discovery of hugely personal family history. Helps to make sense of it all. Thank you Clair Wills.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ann D.
- 19-04-24
the familiaralities of Clair to me
Having been born at the same time as Clair to an Irish Mam in England ... and discovering 'secrets' that were never to be told since her recent death ... the stories told in Clair's familiar accent assuaged my pain and helped me fill some of my own gaps I have unknowingly carried for over 60 years.
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