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The Vanishing of Margaret Small
- Narrated by: Annie Aldington, Rachel Atkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
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The Vanishing of Margaret Small
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Summary
Meet Margaret Small: 75, plain spoken, Whitstable native and a Cilla Black super fan. Shortly after the death of her idol, Margaret begins receiving sums of money in the post, signed simply 'C'.
She is convinced it must be Cilla, but how can it be? To solve the mystery of her benefactor Margaret must go back in her memories almost 70 years, to the time when she was 'vanished' to a long-stay institution for children with learning disabilities.
An absorbing mystery with a dual timeline, The Vanishing of Margaret Small takes listeners into a fascinating past, and introduces an unforgettable literary heroine.
Perfect for fans of Libby Page and Gail Honeyman.
Critic reviews
"An evocative, endearing, entertaining and thoroughly delicious character portrait and a terrific first novel." (Donal MacIntyre, TV presenter)
"A tender, thought-provoking and totally gripping novel from a wonderful storyteller...deserves to be a huge hit!" (Matt Cain, author of The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle)
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What listeners say about The Vanishing of Margaret Small
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Poshy
- 22-11-22
Engaging and just wonderful
The story is challenging, with plenty of love.
As the mother of a daughter with a learning disability, some of Margaret’s experiences cut me to the bone.
Margaret as the narrator in the story is engaging throughout, and the audible narrator is pitch perfect.
I loved it.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lea w.
- 07-02-23
What an absolute pleasure
Loved this book from begining to end, thought i would struggle with the sad parts in terms of the difficult childhood however, the overiding theme of this book is strength and resilience so hear warming and profound. Thank you 🥰
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Kunde
- 01-12-22
delightful, poignant, beuatiful
I listened to the whole book in one go. the main caracter is such a beautiful ordinary soul. both fragile and strong. I couldn't help falling in love with Margrer Small and thinking about all other people who experienced anything like this being done to them in the name of civilized society. Amazing story, wonderful language and bot narrators are splendid :)
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C K Dunn
- 02-02-23
Excellent and thought provoking
I really enjoyed this book. I found it very moving and informative. I especially liked that the story was told from the point of view of someone experienced first hand what it was like live in institutional care for"mental defectives" and to have no way out. Margaret is a very engaging character. You want her to be able to have a good life & be free of the treatment she received from a prejudiced and ill informed system.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Scarlet 23
- 09-01-23
Super story and perfect narration
I absolutely loved this book. Margaret Small is definitely a new favourite heroine. I'm really picky about narration, and the narrator was superb. I'm sad I've finished it!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Georgia Wilmot
- 03-01-23
Fantastic audiobook
Loved this story. Difficult subject matter at times but so we’ll told. Didn’t want it to end.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 23-12-22
Absolutely heart warming
The warm, innocent, kind and all round amazing Margaret Small will stay with me for a long, long time. A beautifully written book that is brought to life, so that I felt like Margaret was next to me having a cup of tea, with Cilla Black on in the background as she told me her heartbreaking life story. The best audiobook I have listened to in years.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Julie Davies
- 07-12-22
Lovely and local to me
A lovely story based in my home town. Enjoyed it, and the narration was excellent
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JG-T
- 29-11-22
Excellent.
Great story and excellently performed. An honest and frank dip into the life of a dyslexic person from late ‘40s to 2015.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Tony Barker
- 28-11-22
brilliant story and narration very emotional
We loved this unusual story based on fact it was a nice change from our usual listens 5 stars
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- meandmommy
- 23-01-23
It was pretty good
This book was well written and had an interesting premise, but got bogged down in the middle chapters. I did finish it, but I was losing interest by the end. The ending redeemed it somewhat, but I still can’t wholeheartedly recommend this book. Too drawn out for me.