Listen to a sample
The Golden Book
- Author
- Kate Ryan
- Narrator
- Casey Withoos
- Publisher
- W. F. Howes Ltd
- Publish Date
- 3 August 2021
- Run Time
- 6 hours 25 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
It’s the 1980s, and in their small coastal town, Ali and her best friend, Jessie, are on the cusp. With ‘The Golden Book’, a journal of incantation and risk taking as their record, they begin to chafe at the restrictions put on them by teachers, parents, each other. Then Jessie suffers a devastating accident, and both their lives are forever changed.
When Ali is an adult, with a young daughter herself, the news of Jessie’s death brings back the intensity of that summer, forcing her to reckon with her own role in what happened to Jessie so many years ago.
As this stunning debut moves back and forth in time, and Ali’s secrets are forced into the light, Kate Ryan asks profound questions about responsibility and blame, and, ultimately, about love.
‘An exquisite study of the liminal space between words and acts, and the necessary redrafting of our life stories. This is a golden book.’
MYFANWY JONES, AUTHOR OF LEAP
"A gorgeous evocation of the wildness of youth…A beautiful, resonant book." PEGGY FREW, author of Islands
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Details
- Author
- Kate Ryan
- Narrator
- Casey Withoos
- Duration
- 6 hours 25 minutes
- Release Date
- 3 August 2021
- ISBN
- 9781004055005
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- W. F. Howes Ltd
- Genre
- Fiction: general and literary
Synopsis
Jessie had said they should go at midnight. 'It’s the gods’ time,' she said, narrowing her eyes dramatically. 'Anything could happen.’It’s the 1980s, and in their small coastal town, Ali and her best friend, Jessie, are on the cusp. With ‘The Golden Book’, a journal of incantation and risk taking as their record, they begin to chafe at the restrictions put on them by teachers, parents, each other. Then Jessie suffers a devastating accident, and both their lives are forever changed.When Ali is an adult, with a young daughter herself, the news of Jessie’s death brings back the intensity of that summer, forcing her to reckon with her own role in what happened to Jessie so many years ago.As this stunning debut moves back and forth in time, and Ali’s secrets are forced into the light, Kate Ryan asks profound questions about responsibility and blame, and, ultimately, about love.‘An exquisite study of the liminal space between words and acts, and the necessary redrafting of our life stories. This is a golden book.’MYFANWY JONES, AUTHOR OF LEAP"A gorgeous evocation of the wildness of youth…A beautiful, resonant book." PEGGY FREW, author of Islands
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