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Lioness

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Lioness

By: Sue Brierley
Narrated by: Anna Skellern
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About this listen

Saroo Brierley's journey home to a small village in India with the help of Google Earth became an internationally bestselling book and inspired the major motion picture LION. But the story of how his adoptive mother, Sue, came into his life half a world away in Tasmania is every bit as riveting.

In this uplifting and deeply personal book Sue reveals for the first time her own traumatic childhood. The daughter of a violent alcoholic whose business gambles left her family destitute, she grew up in geographic and emotional isolation. When Sue married and broke free of her father she was determined to also sever the cycle of despair, and made the selfless decision not to have a biological child. Instead, inspired by a vision she'd had as a young girl, she chose to adopt two children in need - Saroo and Mantosh. Little did she imagine that twenty-five years later she would be portrayed on screen by another Australian mother who chose to adopt - Nicole Kidman.

Moving and inspiring, Lioness explores the myth of motherhood, how families are formed in many ways, and how love and perseverance can bring us together.

©2020 Sue Brierley (P)2020 Penguin Random House Australia Parenting & Families Relationships Fatherhood Adoption
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What an amazing story told from a mother's perspective. I ached for Sue's family for their pain and suffering while she was so young. I cheered her marriage to a kind man. And I listened intently as she retold Saroo's story. A very enjoyable book.

An Emotional Roller-coaster

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Enjoyed the story, felt educated & appreciate Sue sharing her's & John's journey & gained much insight into adoption. The gift received having Saroo & Mantosh came into their lives.
Enlightening of Saroo's story too.

Powerful, Healing & informative

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Loved it! Felt like the narrator was Sue herself! Very emotive and strong delivery of this incredible story!

Great Listen!

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Sue is an amazing mother. Saroo is an incredible man. Emotional, beautiful, heart breaking story.

Powerful story of a mother's love.

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I absolutely loved this book. Interesting to learn the other side of the story of Lion.
Highly recommended.

Awesome and interesting

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This book fills the gaps I didn't realise were left by the movie. Excellent.

A wonderful insight

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I am surprised by what an exellent book Sue Brierley has written. As the mother of the "Lion", I had expected her book would be a light-weight companion book to support Saroo's internationally-acclaimed feel-good story of adoption to Tasmania and ultimately finding his birth family in Indian after 25 years. However, Sue has suffered from childhood trauma herself and this story stands alone as a compelling tale of getting through a very challenging childhood to become an adult determined to make conscious choices that are good for the planet and enabled Sue to have a life filled with much love and achievement. Sue's story has some very dark parts as she copes with the damage caused by the mental illness of her father and her second son, who themselves had suffered trauma and abuse.

A powerful story about making conscious choices

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This is a incredibly thought provoking book in its telling of the lives of two little boys, both were born into extreme poverty with different experiences and how each at different times were rescued and given the opportunity of a new life with their loving adoptive Australian parents. Their different individual struggles and the ridiculous bureaucracy of the regional Human Services departments in Australia.
Sue Brierley’s memoir is beautifully written and paints a very real picture of their former lives in India and then Australia and in particular the love of the two mothers of one little boy.
I have to say I struggled a bit at first with the intonations of the narrator but made myself accept it and not detract from the story.
Much recommended.

An amazing story

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We listened to this book for book club.
Overall we all enjoyed the story - it was interesting hearing about Sue's Brierley's journey as well as Mantosh, giving us a better understanding of their roles in Saroo's story. We all felt that it could've been edited to improve grammar. Some parts of the book felt a little drawn out, where others I would've loved more detail. Overall, interesting read however, felt editing let it down.

Interesting story

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