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The Walking People

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The Walking People

By: Mary Beth Keane
Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the author of the New York Times best seller Ask Again, Yes.

Greta Cahill never believed she would leave her village in west Ireland, until she found herself on a ship bound for New York, with her sister, Johanna, and a boy named Michael Ward, a son of itinerant tinsmiths.

Despite her family's cynicism, Greta discovers that in America she can fall in love, earn a living and build a life.

She longs to return to show her family what she has made of herself, but at risk of revealing a secret about her past to her children, decides to keep her new life separate, torn from the people she is closest to.

Decades later, she discovers that her children, with the best of intentions, have conspired to unite the worlds she has kept apart.

And though the Ireland of her memory may bear little resemblance to that of present day, she fears it is still possible to lose it all....

©2021 Mary Beth Keane (P)2021 Penguin Audio Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction

Critic Reviews

"A fearless writer." (Lisa Taddeo)

"'A writer of extraordinary depth, feeling and wit." (Meg Wolitzer)

"I'll read everything she writes." (Liane Moriarty)
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The story seems very long but then it does encompass a whole life time for different characters. It’s touching in its simplicity but complicated family relationships. I felt the ending was too abrupt and would love to hear the ongoing story. The narration was as always superb.

Simple, informative, story

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Good author and interesting book, full of great characters. I think I would have preferred to know the progress of the characters that remained in Ireland and this would have balanced things out better. Not portraying the development of those characters’ lives was as abrupt as the ending.

Enjoyable

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