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Giving Up the Ghost

A Memoir

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Giving Up the Ghost

By: Hilary Mantel
Narrated by: Jane Wymark
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About this listen

Opening with "A Second Home", in which Mantel describes the death of her stepfather, Giving Up the Ghost is a wry, shocking, and beautifully written memoir of childhood, ghosts (real and metaphorical), illness, and family. Finally, at the memoir's conclusion, Mantel explains how a series of medical misunderstandings and neglect left her childless, and how the ghosts of the unborn have come to haunt her life as a writer.

©2003 Hilary Mantel (P)2012 W F Howes Ltd Art & Literature Authors Memoir Haunted Ghost
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I had to stop occasionally in the descriptions of her endometriosis and her encounters with the medical profession. Brutal and frank, but still interwoven with observations of beauty and mystery. I slowed the narration down to 95%. This is not something to rush through.

Unflinching

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I had to read ( or listen) to this as part of an English paper. I did try to read it but got caught up on some of the imagery. However listening to it was much better and I have enjoyed both the story and narration.

Interesting creative non fiction

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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.