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Wavewalker
- Breaking Free
- Narrated by: Suzanne Heywood
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
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Wavewalker
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Summary
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A TIMES BEST MEMOIR OF 2023
‘Grippingly vivid and pacey’ THE TIMES
‘A seven-year old girl on a seventy-foot yacht, for ten years, over fifty thousand miles of sailing’ SIMON WINCHESTER
'An astonishing almost day-by-day account of [a] hazardous journey and its legacy’ TELEGRAPH
‘This is a story of an epic childhood journey, so exciting and so shocking it is hard to know whether you’re reading about a dream or a nightmare… Wavewalker is thrilling, horrifying, beautifully written – I couldn’t put it down’ ED BALLS
Aged just seven, Suzanne Heywood set sail with her parents and brother on a three-year voyage around the world. What followed turned instead into a decade-long way of life, through storms, shipwrecks, reefs and isolation, with little formal schooling. No one else knew where they were most of the time and no state showed any interest in what was happening to the children.
Suzanne fought her parents, longing to return to England and to education and stability. This memoir covers her astonishing upbringing, a survival story of a child deprived of safety, friendships, schooling and occasionally drinking water… At seventeen Suzanne earned an interview at Oxford University and returned to the UK.
From the bestselling author of What Does Jeremy Think?, Wavewalker is the incredible true story of how the adventure of a lifetime became one child’s worst nightmare – and how her determination to educate herself enabled her to escape
‘A classic memoir of childhood. This is a book that every parent should read to consider the consequences of their midlife crises, and every child should read to learn how to deal with impossible mums and dads, as well as boils and barnacles’ Mail on Sunday 5*
‘An electrifying story about an extraordinary childhood, and Heywood tells it with remarkable clarity and assurance . . . an engrossing book that pitches the reader into the highs and lows of a young life spent in the “Wavewalker School of the Sea”’ TLS
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Wavewalker
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Runsalot
- 31-05-23
Hard to stop listening
This is an extraordinary story,
told through the eyes of the child, the teenager and the young woman she became. It’s hard to hear in places. The author does not seek sympathy, just to tell the story. A good book makes you think about more than the story though, and it’s hard not to be inspired to be a bit tougher, try a bit harder, when thinking about the obstacles that Suzanne overcame.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 28-05-23
Unbelievable true story
Although this story has a underlying theme of a childhood without real love there is such an amazing narrative by the author herself you can’t stop listening.
Her personal journey of the places seen and life experiences whilst growing up on a boat is unimaginable until you hear it from her.
It was a gentle and relaxing story but your heart goes out to the little girl who just wants to be loved unconditionally by her parents.
I enjoyed the story very much.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 04-12-23
Heart warming
Absolutely brilliant book it takes you on a real journey, An amazing, interesting and inspiring life story, well written and superbly read by the author.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mrs Emma Mungo
- 05-08-23
Captivating
I was gripped by this story. Her willpower to succeed despite everything is awe inspiring.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rachel Redford
- 24-04-23
AA child robbed of her childhood
What an astonishing childhood account this is!
When the author Sue (as she is called throughout) was seven years old , her totally driven and dictatorial father Gordon Cook announced to his family , that is to Sue, a brother younger than herself by one year, and her mother Mary who hated getting wet and suffered from sea sickness, that they would sail around the world for a year on his sailing ship Wavewalker, initially retracing the voyages of Captain Cook two hundred years before. In fact Sue remained with her itinerant parents at sea for an incredible ten years with sojourns on land, always brief but sometimes just long enough for Sue to make a friend or even have a taste of school before Gordon dictated that it was time to move on once more.
With her parents deaf to her pleas for education, Sue applied herself to her studies with savagely dogged determination in seemingly impossible situations on Wavewalker which was frequently further cramped by extra crew. She was ill-temperedly castigated for being ‘selfish’ and ‘mardy’ by both her parents who denied her any support, help or understanding. As she grew older her studies were her escape metaphorically , and eventually literally. It is no spoiler to say that after a path of formidable difficulties, she won a place at Somerville Oxford – and in the world.
Gordon Cook appears as a self-obsessed adventurer, monstrously, if not criminally. selfish for a father with two young children. He may have argued that whales, dolphins, fabulous islands and seamanship are a priceless education, but near-death experiences which haunted Sue’s life, frightening hardships, lack of friends and schooling and eventually a toxic relationship with her mother did not make up for the privations she suffered. It does of course make a great story!
To begin with I was disappointed with Wavewalker as it read like a very simple narrative with a great deal of reconstructed conversation, its banality emphasised by the author’s unnatural lack-lustre intonation for the book’s plentiful direct speech. I was hoping for reflection and analysis, but for this I had to wait for very much later in the story as the years passed and Sue grew up. The Epilogue was the most interesting of all, but overall I would have liked deeper reflection and fewer reconstructed conversations.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 20-05-23
Exceptional
One of kind. Honest. Brave. A must read for all those sea dreamers and family makers.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M. Courage
- 04-02-24
An amazing life
An amazing life story. Difficult to listen to some of the events that happened but ultimately a great story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Kirsty
- 01-10-23
Excellent
Gripping and shocking in equal measure. Great read. It’s easy to see there are ongoing issues in the family because of the gaps later on but really interesting.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Francisco
- 19-06-23
heartfelt and inspiring
it's hard to listen to Sue's telling of her story and not feel inspired. it's beautifully written and perfectly communicated how helpless you feel as a child with no power over your own life. I'm very thankful to Sue for sharing this
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mike
- 18-04-23
Brilliant
I’ve inhaled this in a day. An amazing, traumatic, and emotional story, brilliantly told by the author.
I bought it expecting an adventure story, but this is more of an allegory around the impact on children caught up in a storm of selfish parental ambition.
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