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The Last Summer of Ada Bloom Audiobook
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A big-hearted story of a family filled with secrets, and the ways they grow up—and apart—over the course of a single, life-altering summer
In a small Australian country town during one long, hot summer, the Bloom family is beginning to unravel. Martha is straining against the confines of her life, lost in regret for what might have been, when an old flame shows up. In turn, her husband Mike becomes frustrated with his increasingly distant wife. Marital secrets, new and long-hidden, start to surface—with devastating effect. And while teenagers Tilly and Ben are about to step out into the world, nine-year-old Ada is holding onto a childhood that might soon be lost to her.
When Ada discovers an abandoned well beneath a rusting windmill, she is drawn to its darkness and danger. And when she witnesses a shocking and confusing event, the well’s foreboding looms large in her mind—a driving force, pushing the family to the brink of tragedy. For each family member, it’s a summer of searching—in books and trees, at parties, in relationships new and old—for the answer to one of life’s most difficult questions: How to grow up?
The Last Summer of Ada Bloom is an honest and tender accounting of what it means to come of age as a teen or as an adult. With a keen eye for summer’s languor and danger and a sharp ear for the wonder, doubt, and longing in each of her characters’ voices, Martine Murray has written a beguiling story about the fragility of family relationships, about the secrets we keep, the power they hold to shape our lives, and about the power of love to somehow hold it all together.
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“With a lovely Aussie accent, Katherine Littrell narrates this story about a dysfunctional family in a small town in Australia. Nine-year-old Ada’s point of view—a youthful, rambling introspection—is beautifully voiced by both author and narrator….The family members’ contemplative musings are the heart of this novel, and Littrell delivers them artfully.”
— AudioFile
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“Masterful…Murray nimbly illustrates the tensions running through the family using various points of view, describing emotions and events with fluid precision.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Perfectly captures the claustrophobia of family life…A story that’s about both coming-of-age and truth coming to light.”
— Booklist -
“Murray paints a vivid picture of the complications of family life and particularly of childhood…Her younger protagonists, Tilly and Ada in particular, are immediately gripping.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“The Bloom family will absolutely have your heart…Martine Murray’s stunning debut is a true delight.”
— Julia Fierro, author of The Gypsy Moth Summer -
“Murray writes with sensual tenderness about the buried yearnings that threaten and sustain our most cherished relationships, as well as our perverse human tendency to constantly test their strength.”
— Courtney Maum, author of Costalegre -
“I felt this wonderful story as much as read it.”
— Susan Crandall, author of The Myth of Perpetual Summer
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About Martine Murray
Martine Murray is an award-winning novelist and illustrator. She was born in Melbourne and now lives in Castlemaine, Victoria.
About Katherine Littrell
Caitlin Kelly, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is a seasoned voice-over artist with experience in Japan and the United States. She has a BFA in drama and studied musical theater at the Collaborative Arts Project 21, an off-Broadway theater company and musical theater training conservatory. She got started in voice-over work in 2009 while living in Japan where she toured with Disney’s World of English and World Family Club as a performer and a puppeteer.