My Father's Suitcase
A Story of Family Secrets, Abuse, Betrayal and Breaking Free
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My Father's Suitcase
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Narrated by:
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Mary Garden
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By:
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Mary Garden
About this listen
A gripping tale of resilience and survival that offers hope to others who have experienced family violence and suffered at the hands of a sibling.
A deeply personal and heart-breaking memoir that explores the troubled relationship between Mary Garden and her younger sister, Anna, who died in 2023 after a short illness. Mary unpacks her life of growing up in New Zealand in the 1950s and ’60s, before making Australia home. She reveals complex layers of intergenerational trauma, including the baggage of her eccentric, deeply flawed father and the secret her mother kept from all of them, revealed only after her death. Mary deals movingly with her sister’s long battle with mental illness and how she once saved Anna’s life.
As she unravels these narratives, Mary touches on the guilt and shame familiar to anyone who has had to deal with secrets, violence and ‘madness’ in their family. And she shines a light on sibling abuse, the most common form of abuse in the context of family violence ‒ occurring up to five times as frequently as spousal or parental child abuse ‒ although it is often dismissed as ‘sibling rivalry’. It causes far-reaching, long-lasting harm.
©2024 Mary Garden (P)2024 Mary GardenWhat listeners say about My Father's Suitcase
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 18-08-2024
A Must-Read for Anyone from a Dysfunctional Family
“My Father's Suitcase" is an exceptional book that had me hooked from the very start. I couldn't stop listening; the depth of emotion and the raw honesty in the storytelling resonated deeply with me. Every person who has experienced the complexities of a dysfunctional family should read this book. Highly recommended.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- BM
- 26-05-2025
Starts well but deteriorates and needs editing for pronunciation
This begins as a compelling story but declines into a self-pitying mess. As an audiobook it also has some issues. It is very distracting to hear the mispronunciation of Māori places and words and the use of “s” at the end of te reo words is jarring. The te reo alphabet has no “s” so Māori is the plural form, for example. But there are a number of English words also mispronounced throughout - Bohemian, albeit and hagiography are examples - and there are plenty more. As the author and narrator is a writer I found this strange to say the least. In terms of content, I accept the story is the author’s alone and written from her perspective but I find the lack of empathy toward her sister shocking, given the acknowledged mental illness. Her sister’s book is so obviously a sign of that illness rather than a direct attack on the author and so the latter part of the book comes across as an extended, repetitive and unwarranted tantrum. The real villain of the piece as I see it is the brother who comes across as totally hopeless especially when it comes to helping with their aged mother and aunt.
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