Grand cover art

Grand

Becoming My Mother's Daughter

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Grand

By: Noelle McCarthy
Narrated by: Noelle McCarthy
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About this listen

'I’ll be grand, girl, I’ve great faith.'—Mammy, just before she died

Funny, charismatic and generous; angry, vicious and hurt; in pub lounges all over Cork City, Noelle McCarthy’s mother Carol rages against her life and everything she’s lost.

As soon as she can, Noelle runs away. All the way to New Zealand, to make a new, different kind of life. But then Mammy gets sick, and it’s time to face everything that’s waiting back home.

From Catholic Ireland in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s to sparkling Auckland in the first years of the new millennium, Grand is a story of the invisible ties that bind us, of bitter legacies handed down through the generations, and of the leap of faith it takes to change them.

©2022 Noelle McCarthy (P)2022 Penguin Random House New Zealand Ireland Funny

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Critic reviews

"Derry Girls meets An Angel at My Table is an improbable combination. Yet here it is, and it is perfect. Desperately funny, hysterically sad, so beautiful and so humane. All of life is in it. I utterly adored it." (Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss)

"In this stunning reckoning with demons, McCarthy’s mammy, Carol, lands on the page with a hilarious, indelible, appalling vivacity, stealing every scene. The trajectory of their relationship–intense, literally tooth and claw, barely survivable—takes them, in the nick of time, to something fierce and unbreakable. Grand will have you reassessing the power of love; the deep and painful channels it can cut." (Diana Wichtel, author of Driving to Treblinka)

"A howl of anguish and love." (Steve Braunias)
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Most relevant  
Noelle’s beautiful lyrical Cork accent brings her story to life. The exchanges between herself & her mother are such a treat. I cried in the end. Brilliant book.

Heartfelt memoir, charming & witty

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Great writing delivers the unsaid, the complexity of a mother daughter relationship that can only truly be understood by few. Bravo!

This book spoke to me it was meant for me

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I loved this book. It is ridiculously honest. The dry Cork wit makes what could have been a hard read into something beautiful and moving. I finished this book a few hours ago and I am still teary eyed.

loved this

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I enjoyed every minute of this beautifully written and narrated memoir. I laughed, cried and reminisced about my own troubled relationship with my mother.

Beautifully written and narrated memoir

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A perfect and poignant listen and wonderful in Noelle’s native Cork accent.

I cried at the end. Can’t recommend enough

Loved it

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A beautiful, engaging, witty, emotional and nostalgic account of the complicated and ever changing mammy daughter relationship so many of us have.
My only fault with this audible was that I didn't want it to end!

Gorgeous

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the detailed description of everything is spot on and it feels like she was just telling me the story. So honest

loved every minute of this

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This was very compulsive listening. A complex , difficult and beautiful story- lyrical descriptions all being read in such a gorgeous way. The way she reads really brings the narrative to life, the rhythm and flow of cork city. It is one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to from that perspective alone.
Gorgeous

I’m devastated it’s over

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