Listening Still
A Novel
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From Anne Griffin, the bestselling author of When All is Said, comes Listening Still, a refreshing new novel about a young woman who can hear the dead—a talent which is both a gift and a curse.
Jeanie Masterson has a gift: she can hear the recently dead and give voice to their final wishes and revelations. Inherited from her father, this gift has enabled the family undertakers to flourish in their small Irish town. Yet she has always been uneasy about censoring some of the dead's last messages to the living. Unsure, too, about the choice she made when she left school seventeen years ago: to stay or leave for a new life in London with her charismatic teenage sweetheart.
So when Jeanie's parents unexpectedly announce their plan to retire, she is jolted out of her limbo. In this captivating successor to her much-lauded debut, When All Is Said, Anne Griffin portrays a young woman who is torn between duty, a comfortable marriage, a calling she both loves and hates and her last chance to break free. Listening Still is a heartachingly honest look at what we give up and what we gain when we choose to follow our heart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Irish writer Griffin (When All Is Said) follows in her frustrating latest a young woman who can talk to the recently dead. Jeanie Masterson grows up in the small town of Kilcross, where her funeral director father, David, has earned a reputation for sharing the last wishes of the dead. David teaches her the tricks of their trade, and she marries Niall, a childhood friend, seeming content with the plan to one day take over the family business. But when her parents announce their retirement, she questions her life choices. Jeanie reflects on her first love and her regret for not moving to London with him, the weight of her gift for clairvoyancy, her fear of having children, and her struggle to save her failing marriage. When she suffers a devastating loss, Jeanie leaves Ireland to visit a friend in Oslo, where she seems on her way to find some peace until she learns a dark secret about her family. The author does a good job building out the central premise ("not all wanted to talk or, as Dad said over the years that followed, needed to," Jeanie narrates, explaining why she only hears from some of the dead), but often gets mired in flat prose and unconvincing romantic subplots. Griffin's fans will appreciate this, but others can take a pass.
