In a small town on the land’s edge, in the strange space at a war’s end, a widow, a poet and a doctor each try to find their own peace, and their own new story.
In Thirroul, in 1948, people chase their dreams through the books in the railway’s library. Anikka Lachlan searches for solace after her life is destroyed by a single random act. Roy McKinnon, who found poetry in the mess of war, has lost his words and his hope. Frank Draper is trapped by the guilt of those his treatment and care failed on their first day of freedom. All three struggle with the same question: how now to be alive.
Written in clear, shining prose and with an eloquent understanding of the human heart, The Railwayman’s Wife explores the power of beginnings and endings and how hard it can sometimes be to tell them apart. It’s a story of life, loss, and what comes after, of connection and separation, longing and acceptance. Most of all, it celebrates love in all its forms and the beauty of discovering that loving someone can be as extraordinary as being loved yourself.
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“Narrator Fiona Hardingham…is superb at bringing the characters in Annika’s story to life with unique voices, allowing the listener to know and care about the grief and wounds that Iris, Roy, and Frank carry in the aftermath of war. In alternating chapters, narrator Steve West portrays the Scottish Mac, who is full of life, humor, and love for Annika, his wife, and Isabel, his daughter. The language is beautifully poetic and descriptive, and the narrators’ deliveries complement the author’s strengths.”
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