Book description
My Real Children: A Delightful Confusion Worth Every Moment
Let's be honest - listening to Jo Walton's "My Real Children" feels like having a fascinating conversation with your slightly eccentric grandmother who's forgotten whether she told you about her trip to Italy or that time she almost married the man who became your uncle. Except this grandmother also casually mentions JFK dying in 1963 and somehow remembers a world where Miami got nuked.
The audiobook version of this gem captures Patricia Cowan's delightful mental meandering perfectly. Our elderly protagonist can't quite remember if she's Trish or Pat, whether she married Mark or lived happily ever after with Bee, or if the moon is a peaceful research station or a nuclear threat. Honestly, at her age, does it really matter? The narration embraces this beautiful confusion without ever letting it become frustrating.
What makes this story particularly charming is how Walton treats both versions of Patricia's life as equally real and meaningful. One life features four children and a marriage that soured; the other brings three children and a partnership that flourished. Both paths brim with love, loss, and those perfectly ordinary extraordinary moments that make up a lifetime.
The historical what-ifs sprinkled throughout create a delightful game of "spot the difference." Kennedy's death versus Miami's destruction? Check. Different career paths, different friendships, different everything? Absolutely. Yet somehow Patricia's essential self remains constant across both timelines - which makes you wonder if we're all just multiple versions of ourselves anyway.
This audiobook succeeds beautifully because it doesn't try to solve the puzzle of which life is "real." Instead, it celebrates how every choice creates its own complete universe of meaning. It's like getting to live two fascinating lives in one very satisfying listen.
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Playing a wide variety of audio formats
Works on all devices with iOS 13 and newer
Huge amount of features for a small price
Frequent updates to add new features and improve existing ones
Advanced playback controls
Live sound processing
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice and noise reduction
Translated into more than 20 languages
If you love listening to fiction audiobooks, ListenBook has features to make the process easier.
Edit book data: title, author, cover
Use equalizer to make the sound comfortable for you
Adjust the playback speed
Enjoy dark and light app themes
Supported formats: MP3, M4B, AWB, FLAC, OGG audio files and many more (must be DRM free)
Auto-Bookmarks make it easy to find your place
AirPlay support allows redirection of audio output.
VoiceOver support
Dark mode for night owls
Convenient bookmarking system helps you mark the most important places.
Unlimited bookmarks for each audiobook
Put your own cover on the wager
Share your audiobook with friends
Lock-screen control
Customise app with extensive options
Sleep timer with shake to reset, set custom notification sounds, and a few unique options
Auto rewind depending on paused time, customize rewind times to your liking
Removing background noise from recordings made in classrooms and meetings
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice for a better listening experience