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The Whole Bright Year

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The Whole Bright Year

By: Debra Oswald
Narrated by: Maria Angelico
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About this listen

 In the summer of 1976 it's picking season on an Australian stone-fruit orchard run by Celia, a hard-working woman in her early forties. Years ago, when her husband was killed as a bystander in an armed robbery, Celia left the city and brought her newborn daughter Zoe to this farm for a secure life. Now sixteen, Zoe is a passionate, intelligent girl, chafing against her mother's protectiveness, yearning to find intensity and a bit of danger.

Barging into this world as itinerant fruit-pickers come a desperate brother and sister from Sydney. The hard-bitten Sheena has kidnapped her wild, ebullient eighteen-year-old brother Kieran and dragged him out west, away from trouble in the city. Kieran and Zoe are drawn to each other the instant they meet, sparking excitement, worry, lust, trouble . . .

How do we protect people we love? How do we bear watching them go out into the perilous world with no guarantee of safety or happiness? What bargains do people make with darkness in order to survive? From the creator of Offspring and author of Useful, The Whole Bright Year is a gripping, wry and tender novel about how holding on too tightly can cost us what we love.©2018 Debra Oswald (P)2018 Penguin Random House Australia Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction
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Took a punt on this and found it very worthwhile. Great characters and an absorbing story

Really enjoyable story

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Entertaining and well written Aussie novel. Great characters 😁 highly recommend. I listened to it while driving in my car 🚘

Fantastic book and narrator

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What a jewel of a story - emotionally poignant, great plot, drama and characters. Oswald has a knack for Aussie vernacular of the 70’s, and showing us every characters perspective. A wild ride.

Pulsating story, great characters

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I really enjoyed this book, different to what I was expecting which is always nice! The narrator could have used a few more voices, that always makes the book more interesting! But I still enjoyed it!

Lovely story

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The Whole Bright Year is a soft meandering novel with so many lovely moments and a surprising end. Maria does an incredible job narrating the story and voicing the characters to really light your imagination. Highly recommend.

A brilliant listen

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A most enjoyable story. The characters are well drawn, the story interesting and the ending satisfying and realistic.

An enjoyable Australian novel

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Loved everything about this book. The finely crafted characters, the setting, the pace and the sheer magic of being held within the story.

Glorious

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I enjoyed this book it has love compasion and made me laugh a few times ..

The Whole Bright Year by Debra Oswald 💜

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.