Hame cover art

Hame

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Hame

By: Annalena McAfee
Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron, David Rintoul
Try Premium Plus free

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

Buy Now for $33.99

Buy Now for $33.99

About this listen

Hame, n. Scottish form of 'home': a valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin.

In the wake of the breakdown of her relationship, Mhairi McPhail dismantles her life in New York and moves with her nine-year-old daughter, Agnes, to the remote Scottish island of Fascaray. Mhairi has been commissioned to write a biography of the late Bard of Fascaray, Grigor McWatt, a cantankerous poet with an international reputation.

But who was Grigor McWatt? Details of his past - his tough childhood and his war years as a commando - are elusive, and there is evidence of a mysterious love affair which Mhairi is determined to investigate. As she struggles to adapt to her new life and put her own troubled past behind her, Mhairi begins to unearth the astonishing secret history of the poet regarded by many as the custodian of Fascaray's - and Scotland's - soul.

A dazzling, kaleidoscope of a novel, Hame layers extracts from Mhairi's journal, Grigor's letters and poems and his evocative writing about the island into a compelling narrative that explores identity, love and the universal quest for home.

©2017 Annalena McAfee (P)2017 Random House Audiobooks Family Life Genre Fiction Fiction Highlander
All stars
Most relevant  
Struggled to finish. The main female character was so self absorbed and neglectful of her daughter that I became more irritated by her than interested. The poets side was at first the best bit but the endless lists were irritating. The story dragged, but I hung in to see how it would end but found that a bit flat. The idea was good but just to drawn out. The narration saved it.

Didn't love it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I came to Hame because I enjoy listening to the lovely voice of Cathleen McCarron and got hooked on Karen Pirie, the character she brought to life in Val McDermid’s work. What I got, was a thoroughly enjoyable, well-crafted and produced ensemble piece on belonging, on the concept of home, on dispossession. Hame is a gentle musing on what it takes to be counted as native to place. On how quickly you can come adrift. On ones own attachment to your home. Is the place you choose to be more important than where you started? On the importance of place to one’s sense of self. The book is more like a radio play, chorused with vigorously melodic poetry breaks with the beautiful Scots accent of David Rintoul. Well done to the author Annalena McAfee, it rang so true, I felt I was watching a documentary unroll in my head. All too believable!

Great ensemble performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.