From a Low and Quiet Sea, Donal Ryan
From a Low and Quiet Sea, Donal Ryan
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From a Low and Quiet Sea

Author: Donal Ryan

Narrator: Alana Kerr Collins, Gerard Doyle, Alan Smyth, Vikas Adam, Tim Gerard Reynolds, various narrators

Unabridged: 5 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/17/2018


Synopsis

A new moving novel of three men, each searching for something they have lost.For Farouk, family is all. He has protected his wife and daughter as best he can from the war and hatred that has torn Syria apart. If they stay, they will lose their freedom, will become lesser persons. If they flee, they will lose all they have known of home, for some intangible dream of refuge in some faraway land across the merciless sea. Lampy is distracted; he has too much going on in his small town life in Ireland. He has the city girl for a bit of fun, but she’s not Chloe, and Chloe took his heart away when she left him. There’s the secret his mother will never tell him. His granddad’s little sniping jokes are getting on his wick. And on top of all that, he has a bus to drive; those old folks from the home can’t wait all day.The game was always the lifeblood coursing through John’s veins: manipulating people for his enjoyment, or his enrichment … or his spite. But it was never enough. The ghost of his beloved brother, and the bitter disappointment of his father, have shadowed him all his life. But now that lifeblood is slowing down, and he’s not sure if God will listen to his pleas for forgiveness. Three men, searching for some version of home, their lives moving inexorably towards a reckoning that will draw them all together.

About Donal Ryan

Donal Ryan is from County Tipperary in Ireland. His novels, The Spinning Heart, The Thing about December, and All We Shall Know, and his short-story collection, A Slanting of the Sun, have all been published to major acclaim. The Spinning Heart won the Guardian First Book Award, the EU Prize for Literature (Ireland), and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Donal is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Limerick. He lives with his wife, Anne Marie, and their two children just outside Limerick City.

About Gerard Doyle

Gerard Doyle reads everything from adult, young adult, and children's books to literary fiction, mysteries, humor, adventure, and fantasy. He has won countless AudioFile Earphones Awards and was named a Best Voice in Young Adult Fiction in 2008. His audiobook credits include the bestselling Inheritance series (Eragon, Eldest, and Brisinger),  How to Train Your Dragon, The Looking Glass Wars, Clubland, And Thereby Hangs a Tale, and Risk Worth Taking. His career in British repertory theatre includes many productions, most notably The Crucible, The Tempest, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Fiddler on the Roof.  In America, he has appeared in Broadway in The Weir and on television in New York Undercover and Law & Order.  Born of Irish parents and raised and educated in England, Gerard has taught drama at Ross School for the past several years.

About Alan Smyth

Alan Smyth, an audiobook narrator, has worked as a professional actor for more than fifteen years. He has toured extensively in Ireland and the United States and has worked with such companies as the BBC, Paramount Pictures, and Showtime Productions.

About Vikas Adam

Vikas Adam is a classically trained actor who has performed on stage, film, and television. He has also recorded over one hundred audiobooks, for which he has garnered numerous awards and nominations, including Earphones, various Best of the Year lists, and the Audie Award. When not recording, acting, or directing, he can be found lecturing in the Theater Department at UCLA.

About Tim Gerard Reynolds

Tim Gerard Reynolds is an established audiobook narrator who has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards and was a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Fantasy Narration. He trained for the stage at the Samuel Beckett Center at Trinity College in Dublin and the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in New London, Connecticut.


Reviews

Though described as a novel, this felt like three separate stories of three different men, having only in common that each experiences loss and sadness. However, their lives touch in ways in the final part that I did not see coming. The first narrative is heartbreaking, painful , sad - no other way......more

Goodreads review by Meike

Longlisted for the Booker 2018, Shortlisted for the Costa and the Irish Book Award 2018 According to Sebastian Barry, Ryan is "the king of the new wave of Irish writers", his award collection encompasses, e.g., four Irish Book Awards and the European Union Prize for Literature. While "From a Low and Q......more


Quotes

“An engrossing, unpredictable, beautifully crafted novel.” Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize–winning author of Smile

From a Low and Quiet Sea is brutal and beautiful, carefully crafted portraits, deep and real, tied together, fashioned by a true artist. I absolutely loved it.” Kit De Waal, author of My Name Is Leon

From a Low and Quiet Sea is not only very cleverly constructed, but deeply moving, too. I loved it.” Louis de Bernières, author of Corelli’s Mandolin

“It’s a beautiful, luminous kind of piece—full of mystery, compassion, woven with such skill; heartbreaking and restorative. I will carry these splintered men around with me for a long time, along with the women who have loved them.” Rachel Joyce, New York Times bestselling author