ONE LIFE My Mother's Story

Kate Grenville has written a beautiful memoir of her mother, Nance, which she reads in a voice that is rich and resonant. Further, her Australian accent and sense of timing provide a marvelous sense of place. Grenville states that Nance was not the sort of person that biographers usually write about since she wasn’t a public figure and didn’t make history. But Nance led an extraordinary life, bucking gender restrictions by becoming a pharmacist (her class of 80 was almost entirely men), laying bricks for a house, and opening her own business. (The supplier of pharmacy drugs would accept only cash from her even though everyone else got credit.) Nance’s life provides a window on twentieth-century social changes. ONE LIFE is a treat further enhanced by a contemplative and intimate narration. A.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2015]