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Finding Mrs. Ford
- Author
- Deborah Goodrich Royce
- Narrator
- Saskia Maarleveld
- Publish Date
- 25 June 2019
- Run Time
- 9 hours 36 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
On a sunny summer morning by the sea in New England, Susan Ford’s cocoon of privilege is threatened when an Iraqi man from her distant past boards a plane in Baghdad to come find her.
Mrs. Ford leads a privileged life. From her Blenheim spaniels to her cottage on the coast of Watch Hill, Rhode Island, she carefully curates her world. Hair in place, house in place, life in place, Susan Ford keeps it under control.
Early one morning in the summer of 2014, the past pays a call to collect. The FBI arrives to question her about a man from Iraq—a Chaldean Christian from Mosul—where ISIS has just seized control. Sammy Fakhouri, they say, is his name and they have taken him into custody, picked up on his way to her house.
Back in the summer of 1979, on the outskirts of a declining Detroit, college coed Susan meets charismatic and reckless Annie. They are an unlikely pair of friends, but they each see something in the other—something they’d like to possess. Studious Susan is a moth to the flame that is Annie. Yet, it is dazzling Annie who senses that Susan will be the one who makes it out of Detroit.
Together, the girls navigate the mine fields of a down-market disco where they work their summer jobs. It’s a world filled with pretty girls and powerful men, some of whom—like Sammy Fakhouri—happen to be Iraqi Chaldeans.
What happened in that summer of 1979 when Susan and Annie met? Why is Sammy looking for Susan all these years later? And why is Mrs. Ford lying?
Critics Review
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“Tackles big themes of identity, friendship, and loss, spinning out the suspense to the last page.”
Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author
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“Juicy and suspenseful.”
People magazine
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“Something about the flashbacks…made it feel sexy and a little dangerous…The story is a fun one, with a nifty twist midway.”
New York Times Book Review
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“Unravels the decades-old secret behind an otherwise perfect life…reconciling the person Susan says she is with the girl she used to be.”
Foreword
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“An impressively original, immediately engaging, and thoroughly entertaining novel…Unreservedly recommended.”
Midwest Book Review
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“Royce has done a sterling job of incorporating all the things our mothers warned us about.”
BookTrib
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“A compelling, well-written thriller with an effective, twisty plot.”
Kirkus Reviews
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“An exquisitely written literary thriller that compels the reader forward right to the last page.”
Patricia Chadwick, author of Little Sister
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“Entertains as much with imagery as with its masterful plot twists. I couldn’t put it down.”
Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg, author of Eden
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“Narrator Saskia Maarleveld is outstanding in this absorbing, multilayered listen…Maarleveld seamlessly transitions between time periods and points of view…[and] one can’t stop listening.”
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Details
- Author
- Deborah Goodrich Royce
- Narrator
- Saskia Maarleveld
- Duration
- 9 hours 36 minutes
- Release Date
- 25 June 2019
- ISBN
- 9781094008806
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Fiction: general and literary, Thriller / suspense fiction
Synopsis
On a sunny summer morning by the sea in New England, Susan Ford’s cocoon of privilege is threatened when an Iraqi man from her distant past boards a plane in Baghdad to come find her.Mrs. Ford leads a privileged life. From her Blenheim spaniels to her cottage on the coast of Watch Hill, Rhode Island, she carefully curates her world. Hair in place, house in place, life in place, Susan Ford keeps it under control.Early one morning in the summer of 2014, the past pays a call to collect. The FBI arrives to question her about a man from Iraq—a Chaldean Christian from Mosul—where ISIS has just seized control. Sammy Fakhouri, they say, is his name and they have taken him into custody, picked up on his way to her house.Back in the summer of 1979, on the outskirts of a declining Detroit, college coed Susan meets charismatic and reckless Annie. They are an unlikely pair of friends, but they each see something in the other—something they’d like to possess. Studious Susan is a moth to the flame that is Annie. Yet, it is dazzling Annie who senses that Susan will be the one who makes it out of Detroit.Together, the girls navigate the mine fields of a down-market disco where they work their summer jobs. It’s a world filled with pretty girls and powerful men, some of whom—like Sammy Fakhouri—happen to be Iraqi Chaldeans.What happened in that summer of 1979 when Susan and Annie met? Why is Sammy looking for Susan all these years later? And why is Mrs. Ford lying?
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