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Our Father cover art

Our Father

By: Marilyn French
Narrated by: Marianne Fraulo
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Summary

Famed presidential advisor Stephen Upton has suffered a stroke, and his four very different daughters gather in his perfectly appointed mansion outside Boston to await his death or recovery.

Elizabeth, cold and calculating, fights hard for every success and pays a high price; beautiful Mary has always needed a man to support her tastes, but time is catching up with her; Alex can't remember her childhood and wants to know why; and Ronnie, illegitimate and proud, refuses to acknowledge her feelings for the man they all love and hate.

In the weeks to come, they will learn one another's terrible secrets, and the astonishing truth about the life they might have shared.

Once again, Marilyn French has written an extraordinary novel of our times - a novel of family love and resentment, of sisterhood and fatherhood, of acceptance and rejection and the search for peace.

©1994 Belles-Lettres, Inc. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Should strike a chord with every woman who is willing to think honestly about the place of femaleness in the world." (Chicago Tribune)

What listeners say about Our Father

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Our Father

Powerful and moving story. Excellently written and narrated. Trite as it seems, I feel like a better person after listening to this! Gave me a lot to think about in terms of my own relationships.

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Slow but so good

The characters are interesting and the story is just a background to some very interesting thoughts about the feminine condition and racial discrimination. Really enjoyed this book.

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Beautifully written, moving and intelligent

The narration is excellent and I found the story compelling and powerful. This felt like an important novel to read with fully developed characters.

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  • Overall
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What a clever storyteller!

Such strong messages told through the experiences of 4 very different women. Men didn’t come out of it so well. Maybe not all men, but the system - the patriarchy. The enduring power of such a state makes one quake at the very idea of working out a way to change it. The corruption runs so deep, the privilege and entitlement the very heartbeat of our western culture. Seems a very steep mountain …

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Superb narration and characters

I have never read a book from this author before but I would definitely look for more of her work.

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Very engaging

I kept trying to stop listening to this book. I felt I had no interest in the character's lifestyle, background etc. but I kept coming back to it. The characters gradually grew on me and I was interested in knowing more about them and listening to their thoughts, and the narratives about class, race, status and survival. This was a very long gently unfolding story that ultimately, and to my surprise I really enjoyed.

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Intimate Brave Compelling Story

I loved this book. Well read. I could envisage each character and saw the surroundings as if I was there. Very thought provoking, interesting and informative. Five stars all the way.

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  • Vi
  • 26-02-22

Nice long story.

Good narration and interesting characters. Listened to it every night
in bed for a week.

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  • Overall
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I miss them all already!

Immersive, tremendous, great value listening. I loved the development of the women’s relationships; four sisters by different mothers, all bound together by terrible shared experience that has been buried deep but still seeping out awful damage. So very human and relatable the reveals are perfectly placed. Ronnie, Alexandra, Elizabeth and Mary I salute you! Now off to find more Marilyn French audible books. Excellent narration, addictive and hypnotic.

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I found out the "Why should I care about them?"

gracefully interwoven narratives of 4 disparate sisters illustrate the need for a renewal of our commitment to caring. #EthicsofCare awaits our attention

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