Delicate Absences cover art

Delicate Absences

A Novel

Audible Premium Plus 30-day free trial

Pre-order free with Premium Plus
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Delicate Absences

By: Aline Bei
Pre-order free with Premium Plus

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Pre-order for $14.18

Pre-order for $14.18

This Season's Biggest Deal | $0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo. after 3 months - terms apply.
Summary
When an estranged matriarch returns to the family she abandoned, four generations of women confront the secrets, betrayals, and long-buried wounds that bind them together. For readers of Elena Ferrante and Clarice Lispector, this slim, charged novel explores what we inherit and what it takes to break free.

In a modest house in Brazil, Margarida, a palm reader, has devoted her life to raising Laura, the granddaughter left behind by her mother. But when Margarida’s own estranged mother, Filipa, arrives with her boxes and old resentments, their fragile world begins to unravel and Laura is left increasingly alone as she’s coming of age. A vanished mother, an unnamed father, and a great-grandmother returned too late: so begins the delicate collection of absences at the heart of the novel.

Told through the shifting perspectives of its three unforgettable women, A Delicate Collection of Absences is a piercing, intimate portrait of motherhood, girlhood, and the legacies written on women’s bodies. For readers of Samanta Schweblin and Valeria Luiselli, it is a powerful novel about what we owe our families—and the courage it takes to choose a different future.
Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.