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My Phantoms

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My Phantoms

By: Gwendoline Riley
Narrated by: Helen McAlpine
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About this listen

Helen Grant is a mystery to her daughter. An extrovert with few friends who has sought intimacy in the wrong places; a twice-divorced mother-of-two now living alone surrounded by her memories, Helen (known to her acquaintances as 'Hen') has always haunted Bridget.

Now, Bridget is an academic in her forties. She sees Helen once a year, and considers the problem to be contained. As she looks back on their tumultuous relationship - the performances and small deceptions - she tries to reckon with the cruelties inflicted on both sides. But when Helen makes it clear that she wants more, it seems an old struggle will have to be replayed.

From the prize-winning author of First Love, My Phantoms is a bold, heart-stopping portrayal of a failed familial bond, which brings humour, subtlety and new life to the difficult terrain of mothers and daughters.

©2021 Gwendoline Riley (P)2021 Gwendoline Riley Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Haunted Emotionally Gripping Heartfelt

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This is a short book and at first seems quite straightforward but is actually really sophisticated. The story is narrated by a woman mainly about her dysfunctional realtionship with her mother but it's really clever as it exposes a lot about the narrator herself which isn't expressed explicitly. Brilliant writing. The narration was spot on too. I very rarely listen to books more than once but I will definitely listen to this again.

Brilliant in its apparent simplicity

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While the story tells of a daughter’s familial struggles, predominantly with her mother, I could not help but feel derision for the cat-loving, vegan with a supercilious view on the world. Well read by the narrator but not a book I could enjoy as much as I wanted.

I Wanted To Like This But…

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My Phantoms is as enjoyable a novel as I have read this year, perceptive, funny, heartbreaking, beautifully written and very well performed here. It is a short book but full of moments that will linger in the memory. As far as literature goes, this is the real stuff. I cannot wait to read more Gwendoline Riley’s work.

Absolutely loved this book.

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Wonderful narration. I thought more would happen in this but it doesn't need to. The depiction of the fractured awkwardness of the narrators conversations with her mother are brutally sharp and detailed in their observation. The narration is pitched beautifully as the narrator really gets under the skin of the protagonist making this an almost immersive read. Would listen again.

Wonderful writing

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A short but powerful depiction of a woman's fraught relationship with her mother. Much of it makes for difficult listening, as both mother and daughter wrangle with largely unexpressed feelings and tensions, frequently attempting to outmanoeuvre one another. The narrator's lower-middle class English upbringing with attendant affectations and misplaced snobberies will be a little too close to home for some of us. As Bridget embarks upon PhD studies and then becomes an academic, the tensions between the lower-middle class and the professional middle class (in the UK) are laid bare, producing chasms between the central characters which are both trivial and enormous.
I was some way into the novel before I realised that the story reveals at least as much about Bridget as it does about her mother. This is brilliant writing, and wonderfully narrated.

Brilliant and unsettling

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searingly honest writing with a narrator of incredible skill, I was transported into the story in a way so few seem to manage on here.

best reading I've heard yet

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Best avoid if feeling depressed.
This is not a feel good book.
It is a brilliant description of 'challenging' personalities, family relationships and how fairy tale endings are fairy tales.

The desire to see one's mother happy, or at least content, resonates.

There is love here, I think, for no matter how brittle the relationships between the mother and her daughters they did not quite break.

The father not so much...

Brilliant but

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Gwendoline Riley's portrayal of a sharp, sad mother/daughter relationship. There is no happy ever after in this novel but it certainly made me feel very grateful for the warmth and deep love I have for my own mother, even though she has gone now. Narration is excellent and I will seek out more from this author.

Bleak but brilliant reflection on a broken bond

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misunderstanding and sometimes outright dislike. I'm not sure whether I'm glad I listened or whether I'd rather not have heard any of the bitterness. Maybe it's too clever for me but I can't say I enjoyed it

what a bitter story

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I really enjoyed this book. The story is heartbreaking, yet subtle, a lot comes from what isn't actually on the page. Great narration as well.

Loved it

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