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Wah! Things I Never Told My Mother

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Wah! Things I Never Told My Mother

By: Cynthia Rogerson
Narrated by: Helen Keeley
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Cynthia’s mother is dying. Often.
Travelling between her home in Scotland and California, as she spends time at her mother’s bedside.
Cynthia recalls her youthful adventures: living in a squat, train-hopping, hitchhiking and all the other things she never told her mother.©2022 Cynthia Rogerson (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd Women
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I had never come across Cynthia Rogerson before, but am very glad I happened across this excellent memoir. The writing is very accomplished and the author's life has plenty of incident. It's reflective in tone, but fast paced. Structured as a series -- or constellation -- of self-standing short narratives, it would be ideal for bedtime reading or for a commuter. It deals with big themes -- death, childhood, parenthood, guilt -- with humour and without heaviness.

A big shout out to the reader, Helen Keeley. I assumed when listening -- if I assumed anything -- that I was hearing the West-coast American voice of the author, and was surprised by her talent for English accents from home-counties posh to cockneyfied to generic northerner. Only then did I realise that the narrator is a Brit who is a genius with accents and an excellent reader besides.

The publishers have made a complete pig's ear of the chapter titles. The chapter entitled 'Wah!' -- the actual name of the book FFS -- has been labelled 'Waaahh'. 'A Year is a Circle' becomes 'The Year is a Circa'; 'Priscilla the Pig' becomes 'Pressilup the Pig'; 'Hospice Doghouse' becomes 'Auspis Doc House'. It's bizarre that audiobook publishers treat their books with such apparent contempt. And a shame that the product of excellent writing and expert reading should be marred by such carelessness.

Brilliant

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Not my usual listen but what a revelation. This account of a life is deeply raw and emotional and makes you think deeply. It’s brave and triumphant but very honest and sometimes difficult to hear.
I’m looking for more from this author and it has expanded my listening genre.

Raw and emotional

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