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When We Believed in Mermaids cover art

When We Believed in Mermaids

By: Barbara O'Neal
Narrated by: Sarah Naughton, Katherine Littrell
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Publisher's Summary

An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best seller

From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.

Her sister has been dead for 15 years when she sees her on the TV news....

Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions - grief, loss, and anger - that Kit finally has a chance to put to rest: by finding the sister who’s been living a lie.

After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the past: of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who’d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives.

Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.

©2019 Barbara Samuel (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

What listeners say about When We Believed in Mermaids

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Mellow yet emotional

I nearly didn’t bother with this book after reading some of the American reviews which were so disparaging of the narration. They were very critical of one of the narrator’s abilities to pronounce certain words. Turns out the narrator (and the character) just have a kiwi accent and her pronunciation was perfectly fine. Granted, a US/Kiwi accent is a bit of a mouthful, but it’s what the character has so it’s how she was narrated!
Anyway, this is a gently paced story of self discovery, reflection and love. Probably not one I’ll think of often but certainly enjoyable and engaging.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Shame about the narration

The use of the so called New Zealand accent was appalling and detracted from the story. If your going to quote place names etc at least get it correct. Maori has a specific pronunciation and it was disappointing to hear that incorrectly pronounced

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Dodgy kiwi accent

Liked the overall story but as someone who lives in NZ, I cringed every time they attempted the kiwi accent...so bad!!! If you’re familiar with the accent, maybe stick to reading this one! If you’re not familiar, the kiwi accent sounds nothing like this (just so you know!)

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

I really, really liked this book. Dammit, I loved it.

Bought this on a complete whim and was hooked from the beginning. Found the characters highly relatable and fell in love with Javier from the moment he arrived. Also enjoyed the inclusion of Kitt's relationship with Hobo, anyone with this type of love in their life will relate to her feelings of guilt and wariness in placing it under stress,

Disturbing at times but well handled in the telling. Looking forward to discovering more of Barbara O'Neal's work.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved the story and narration

I really enjoyed this book, it was so heartfelt and the mystery as to why Josie faked her death kept me going. I found the characters interesting and relatable and also especially enjoyed the description of Auckland, having visited there myself recently.

Reading other reviews from the USA it is amusing how many people didn’t understand that the narrators were using a Kiwi accent. Yep they do pronounce fingers as fungers!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Accents poorly executed but good story

Unfortunately the narration is spoiled somewhat by some very poorly executed “NZ” accents :( otherwise good story, but this made it difficult to lis n to and was very distracting. Would have been easier to listen to if read by people who could do the accents properly and correctly pronounce certain words.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Kay
  • 02-05-2020

The Narrators were amazing.

I loved this deep and moving story and the narrators were truly gifted at playing all the characters.

A quiet, soulful story. Although it was good, I had to have breaks along the way as it became very heavy with no lighter, humourous parts unless you count them enjoying surfing.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A whimsical story of two sisters with terrible NZ accents

The rendition of this story was marred by the worst attempts of New Zealand accents I’ve heard. I found the fake accents both irritating and distracting from the character development and plot line. This is a book to be read and not listened to.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Sweet book

This was a sweet book; frustrating to read to times. Though it did make me laugh and cry too! The accents were alright for me as I’m not a Kiwi.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not what I was hoping for.

I suppose my expectations are to blame. Every uninteresting object in every environment is described in excruciating detail. eg. credit cards, home decor etc.
Also too much talk of sex.

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