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The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird
- Narrated by: Hannah Monson
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
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The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird
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Publisher's Summary
If you were charmed by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, laughed with Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and cried over A Man Called Ove, you will love Ricky Bird.
No one loved making forts more than Ricky. A fort was a place of safety and possibility. It shut out the world and enclosed her and Ollie within any story she wanted to tell ...
Ricky Bird loves making up stories for her brother Ollie almost as much as she loves him. The imaginary worlds she creates are wild and whimsical places full of unlimited possibilities.
Real life is another story. Ricky’s father has abandoned them and the family has moved to a bleak new neighborhood. Worse still, her mother’s new boyfriend, Dan, has come with the furniture.
But Ricky Bird is a force to be reckoned with. As the mastermind of so many outlandish adventures, her imagination is her best weapon. As her father used to say, if you can spin a good yarn you can get on in life.
The trouble is that in the best stories characters sometimes take on a life of their own and no one, not even Ricky, is able to imagine the consequences.
Beautifully written, heartbreakingly funny and deeply moving, this book has already been compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Lost and Found, Shuggie Bain, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and A Monster Calls. But Ricky’s story is all her own—and it will stay with you long after the last page.
"Fierce and wonderful and utterly singular, Ricky embodies the sheer joy and transformative power of storytelling." Kate Mildenhall, author of The Mother Fault and Skylarking
"A wise, tender but unflinching portrait of an ordinary family and the unordinary girl at its heart. Ricky—fragile, tough, endearing and funny—is a fabulous creation. She'll walk around in my world all year, and more." Kristina Olsson, award-winning author of Shell and Boy, Lost
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What listeners say about The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird
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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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Susan
- 09-12-2022
Powerful and Real
What a book! I am not often brought to tears by a book but this was one that did. Such a tough topic and yet wonderfully handled. I see this book as providing guidance for many who may have experienced similar issues and I was very impressed with the wisdom. Life can be hard and for some of us much harder. This book didn’t dwell but described an incredible journey in a way that made me want to keep reading. I recommend it highly.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- sarah martin
- 21-12-2023
Was not expecting the roller coaster read from the title🌺
Definitely a roller coaster read! The author has weaved her story with beautiful words and vivid descriptions. The audio was a bit frustrating with long pauses between chapters and a few glitches along the way but the narrator was perfect.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 22-11-2022
A sad story… but great!
A beautifully sad story. I’m sure it will take a while to shake these characters off. Very well written.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Nawwal
- 16-11-2022
Was OK.
This story was hard to rate. The first 2/3 just seemed to fluff around not going anywhere and there were so many editing errors which really pulled you out of the story. But the last chunk was interesting and the ending, although sad and rushed, was complete.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Atara kaye
- 24-10-2022
boring book
struggled to finish this book. it felt like the author threw every possible story line at this book. t was overkill. also I would have liked it if the author explored at least one aspect in more depth.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anon
- 07-03-2024
Underwhelming listen
It's an ok story but took most of the book before I even became interested in what was going on, so it didn't really make any great impact on me. Narrator was pleasant to listen to, however there are quite a few faults with the recording in later chapters where it doesn't match up and also noises in the audio which are distracting. This sometimes happens occasionally in other audio books but this book in particular had the most I've ever encountered. It needed to be edited properly before putting it up for sale as I feel it's the equivalent of printed books having print errors.
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