Book Review | LISTENING STILL by Anne Griffin

LISTENING STILL
by Anne Griffin
Publication: 01 Mar 2022
Publisher: St. Martin Press
Genre: General Fiction
Rating: ★★★★★

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Jeanie Masterson has a gift: she can hear the last words of the dead.

Passed down from generation to generation, this gift means she is able to make wrongs right, to give voice to unspoken love and dying regrets. She and her father have worked happily alongside each other for years, but now he's unexpectedly announced that he wants to retire early and leave the business to her and her life is called into question.

Does she really want to be married to the embalmer, or does she want to be with her childhood sweetheart, off in London? Does she want to have children, and pass this gift on to them? And does she want to be stuck in this small town, or is there more of the world she wants to see - like the South of France, where she's discovered a woman who shares her gift?

Tied to her home by this unusual talent, she begins to question: what if what she's always thought of as a gift is a curse?

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If you are looking for a captivating and emotional read that explores the power of words, secrets and family, you might want to check out Listening Still by Anne Griffin. This is her second novel, after the acclaimed When All is Said, and it follows the journey of Jeanie Masterson, a young woman who inherits her father's funeral home and his unusual ability to hear the last words of the dead.

Jeanie has always helped her family with the business, listening to the final confessions, regrets and wishes of the departed and passing them on to their loved ones. But when her parents retired unexpectedly, she finds herself alone with this burden and a business to run. She also must deal with her own life, dreams, and regrets.

LISTENING STILL is a beautifully written and engaging novel that transports the reader to the rural Ireland. It is not only a compelling story of one woman's quest for happiness and fulfillment, but also a celebration of the Irish culture, history and tradition. The setting is richly described and full of life.

Anne Griffin has a gift for creating vivid and authentic characters that you care about and root for. She also tackles some of life’s big questions, while blending humor and heartache, realism and magic, in a way that makes you feel both enchanted and enlightened.

Listening Still is a novel that will make you laugh, cry, think and feel. It is a novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. It is a novel that will make you want to listen more closely to the voices around you, and to your own voice within.

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About the Author:

Anne Griffin is the author of the Irish No. 1 bestseller ‘When All Is Said’. Winner of the Newcomer of the Year Irish Book Awards 2019 and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2021. Her second novel, ‘Listening Still’ was published in 2022 and her third, ‘The Island Of Longing’ will be published on May 4th, 2023.

Anne’s books have been translated into several languages and recorded as e-audiobooks.

*Digital ARC provided by St. Martin Press and Netgalley in exchange for this unbiased review.

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Book Review | WHEN ALL IS SAID by Anne Griffin

January 24th, 2019,
Sceptre

Five toasts. Five people. One lifetime.

"I'm here to remember -all that I have been 
and all that I will never be again."

If you had to pick five people, to sum up your life, who would they be? If you were to raise a glass to each of them, what would you say? And what would you learn about yourself, when all is said?

At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He’s alone, as usual - though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story.

Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories - of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice - the life of one man will be powerful and poignantly laid bare.

Beautifully heart-warming and powerfully felt, the voice of Maurice Hannigan will stay with you long after all is said and done.

Brilliant!

WHEN ALL IS SAID is achingly beautiful. I can employ all the superlatives, but they will not suffice, I suppose. So, let me try again… Brilliant!

Maurice Hannigan is one solid farmer and family man. Rough on the edges and irascible at times, but appreciates hard work and recognizes a good soul. Tonight though, he’d be sitting alone, raising toasts to people who made his existence significant in distinctive ways, while exploring every nooks and cranny of his life –including his ghosts and regrets.

Anne Griffin employed the simplest of language, unassumingly raw, but razor-sharp. From the blurb alone, I knew this book will be piercing, although, I was never prepared to bawl over it at two in the morning. With her words, it was not hard to like Maurice and relate to him –all 84 years of him. I felt this old man like I was there sitting next to him in that bar.

"She was so self-contained that sometimes I think I missed the full extent of the hurt and guilt. I did my best to be on guard for it. But having spent half my life distracted by what was outside – my deals, my empire – I often forgot to see what lay inside and how precious it was."

This is one of those books I never wanted to end. It did, nevertheless. It was done but verberates in echoes and booms. I highly recommend it.

Book details:

Title: When All Is Said

Author: Anne Griffin

Publication: January 24th, 2019, Sceptre (UK)
                       March 5th, 2019, Thomas Dunne Books (US)

Genre: Literary Fiction

Rating: ★★★★★


*Thanks to Thomas Dune Books, Sceptre,  and NetGalley for the DRM, in exchange for this unbiased book review. 

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