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Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

A Novel

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Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

Written by: Kathleen Rooney
Narrated by: Xe Sands
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About this listen

Library Journal Editors' Pick

It's the last day of 1984, and 85-year-old Lillian Boxfish is about to take a walk. As she traverses a grittier Manhattan, a city anxious after an attack by a still-at-large subway vigilante, she encounters bartenders, bodega clerks, chauffeurs, security guards, bohemians, criminals, children, parents, and parents to be in surprising moments of generosity and grace. While she strolls Lillian recalls a long and eventful life that included a brief reign as the highest paid advertising woman in America - a career cut short by marriage, motherhood, divorce, and a breakdown.

A love letter to city life - however shiny or sleazy - Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic, the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop.

©2016 Kathleen Rooney (P)2017 Macmillan Audio Biographical Fiction Crime Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Vigilante justice Women's Fiction City Thriller
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What the critics say

"Between author Rooney's story and narrator Xe Sands's craftsmanship, this Walk will sweep listeners off their feet. Sands captures the essence of 80-year-old Lillian Boxfish, who is modeled after groundbreaking advertising icon Margaret Fishback, a former Macy's copywriter and poet.... Through Sands we feel the force of Lillian's personality - with all its drive, wit, and grace - as well as the counterforces that want to constrain it. A concluding interview explores why the performances of the most exemplary narrators are so seemingly effortless yet so compelling." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

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Profile Image for Anonymous User

Loved this book.

What a compelling story. As an older woman who loves to walk, I found Lillian’s story so intriguing. Very different from other books I have read. I listened to this while I was a patient in the hospital!

I thought the narrator was really gifted. It took a bit to get used to her fast pace but in the end all I heard was Lillian’s voice.

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Profile Image for scarlett Flowers

Lillian Boxfish is a Fully engaging book.

The character is authentic. Lillian contemplates the changing world, city and life. I’m not sure how the writer, being so young, captures the retrospective thoughts of a much older person.

I think anyone who appreciates history, the courage of a smart woman in a man’s world, who hopes for a better, kinder tomorrow where people respect one another, will very much enjoy this book.

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Profile Image for Amazon Customer

Whimsical and introspective

As always, Xe Sands did a fantastic job narrating this lovely story. The author does an excellent job of jumping back and forth in the character’s life and wrapping it all up in the context of a walk. The story of Lillian’s life draws the reader in and makes one want to be her friend. Loved this book! #Audible1

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Loved this #audible book

Both the author and the narrator do such a lovely job of bringing Lillian Boxfish alive, I sometimes found myself forgetting she is fiction and not a favourite aunt. This novel ranks in the upper 'much-loved' section of my #audible library!

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Profile Image for Lisa Cuthill

The narrator is too over the top.

This is a great story; however, I have had to give up on it as the narration just is too annoying and the narrator tries too hard to convey the age and wisdom of the title character - without any success.

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