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This Shining Life

A Novel

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This Shining Life

Written by: Harriet Kline
Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells, Jenny Sterlin, Sam Newton, Simon Hedger, Ella Lynch, Nano Nagle, Steve Fortune
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About this listen

A boy struggling to process an unexpected loss believes he has been given a series of clues to the biggest puzzle of all - the meaning of life - in this deeply felt debut novel.

“An exquisitely beautiful and compelling novel about love, loss, and life.” (Rachel Joyce, New York Times best-selling author of Miss Benson’s Beetle)

Meet Ollie. He’s eleven years old. He hasn’t yet met a Killer Sudoku he can’t solve, but he finds the world around him difficult. People don’t say what they mean, and he hates being wrong. And now, a sudden tragedy teaches him there is no easy answer to the problem of grief.

When Ollie’s happy-go-lucky father, Rich, dies of brain cancer, his mother, Ruth, has no idea how to keep living, and the entire family is thrown into disarray. The only thing that makes sense to Ollie is the puzzle he’s convinced his father left behind: one gift for each member of the family. If Ollie can find the connection between a pink vase and an old pair of binoculars, then somehow he’ll discover the secret he believes Rich wanted to share with them all: what it means to be alive.

Interweaving the voices of each character in turn, this deeply felt novel paints a portrait of a family learning to come together through the darkest times. This Shining Life is a poignant yet ultimately uplifting meditation on grief, healing, and love.

©2021 Harriet Kline (P)2021 Random House Audio
Fiction Genre Fiction
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What the critics say

“A welcome lesson to writers of tragedy that death can incorporate every emotion in the world, including laughter, anger, and selfishness, and still be honest and touching. Kline has given a difficult subject a loving, tender, and occasionally funny tone which is pleasing and very satisfying.” (ON Magazine)

“By exploring how each of the characters felt and behaved, as well as showing their individual perspectives on shared experiences, [Kline] not only added layers of emotional depth to her storytelling but also very effectively demonstrated that there is no magic ‘blueprint’ for successfully negotiating the bereavement and the grieving process.” (NB magazine)

“I loved this exquisitely written novel for its terrific characterization.... Unforgettable.” (Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner)

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