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One Life

My Mother's Story

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One Life

By: Kate Grenville
Narrated by: Kate Grenville
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About this listen

Nance was a week short of her sixth birthday when she and Frank were roused out of bed in the dark and lifted into the buggy, squashed in with bedding, the cooking pots rattling around in the back, and her mother shouting back towards the house, "Good-bye, Rothsay, I hope I never see you again!"

When Kate Grenville’s mother died, she left behind many fragments of memoir. These were the starting point for One Life, the story of a woman whose life spanned a century of tumult and change. In many ways Nance’s story echoes that of many mothers and grandmothers for whom the spectacular shifts of the 20th century offered a path to new freedoms and choices.

In other ways Nance was exceptional. In an era when women were expected to have no ambitions beyond the domestic, she ran successful businesses as a registered pharmacist, laid the bricks for the family home, and discovered her husband’s secret life as a revolutionary.

©2015 Kate Grenville (P)2015 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Historical Motherhood Parenting & Families Relationships Women Inspiring Thought-Provoking

Critic Reviews

"A few sentences of Grenville’s makes one realise that much of the writing one encounters in a novel these days is thin and perfunctory." (The Daily Express)

"One Life is a treat further enhanced by a contemplative and intimate narration." (AudioFile)
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Grenville's story about her mother is inspiring: how her mother managed a marriage and her desire to work in a time where it was considered inappropriate for a woman to do both provides insights into a challenging time period for women.
Grenville's reading of her own writing adds a positive touch and depth.

Insightful and inspiring

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After 3 hours of listening in the car, I couldn't wait to finish it at home.

So Ineresting

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i love thar Kate Grenville wrote about her mother and the ways she coped with in her world in spite of it's shortcomings.

it was a true story

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When an accomplished Australian author such as Kate Grenville, turns her hand to writing her mother Nance's story, it doesn't surprise me that she should deliver this ode with grace and humility.
Without her mother realising it, she was shaping and influencing her daughter's calling to be a writer and to tell important historical stories through the voices of the less represented folk who might have less education, confidence and time to write their own stories.
In the prologue Kate describes how when opening a box of her deceased mother's written memoirs, was as though she was there speaking to her in that very room. That's exactly how I felt whilst I listened to this audio book being read by Kate, in her Sydney dialect, that both these women were in my room. There was an ambience in my house for days until I managed to finish it, that conjured intimate memories of my mother and my aunties exchanging their experiences as intelligent working class women in the 1950's in Australia.
Nance's legacy and favourite Socrates quote, "the unexamined life is a life not worth living"" was not lost on her daughter, for Kate has added another title to the least represented and examined voices to her literary canon. I'm a humble fan.

An ode to Nance

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I love this book . It's a mothers story written by her daughter after her death . All the places are local well known names . It's a wonderful cultural across generations .

Very relatable , written about the 40s , 50s and up to the present .

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Very insightful, really makes you think about what women went through a hundred years ago in Australia.

Wonderful historical text

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Beautifully written story about her mother and her surprising life. I Really enjoyed this book.

A wonderful story evoking the eras

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Thoroughly enjoyed this book depicting the difficult lives of women in earlier years. I love the way Kate wrote it - I’d call it fictional history rather than historical fiction.
Her mother was ahead of her time. Modern women should be made aware of how lucky they are these days. Their lives have altered due to women like Nance starting the ball rolling toward education of women and showing what they’re capable of, if given the chance. This is the second book of Kate Grenville which I’ve enjoyed and I intend to try more.

Fascinating and Educational

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The story of Nancy, Kate Grenville’s mother. It deals with the difficulties of loneliness on the land, and later with the 30’s Depression. I alway enjoy stories re the ‘depression’

Interesting

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put it down recomend this book for quite listening its great when the speak about places i know

very good once you start to listen its hard to

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