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  • The Women Who Ran Away

  • And the secrets that followed them . . .
  • By: Sheila O'Flanagan
  • Narrated by: Shelly Atkinson
  • Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (172 ratings)
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The Women Who Ran Away cover art

The Women Who Ran Away

By: Sheila O'Flanagan
Narrated by: Shelly Atkinson
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Summary

In Sheila O'Flanagan's engrossing new novel, two women form an unlikely friendship as they face up to shocking truths about the men they've loved - and start to make their own decisions about what to do next....

Deira is setting out on the holiday she'd planned with her long-term partner, Gavin...only she's on her own. Gavin will not be amused when he finds out she's 'borrowed' his car, but since their brutal break-up Deira's not been acting rationally. Maybe a drive through beautiful France will help her see things differently.

Grace has been sent on a journey by her late husband, Ken. She doesn't really want to be on it, but she's following his instructions as always. She can only hope that the trip will help her to forgive him. And then - finally - she'll be able to let him go.

Thrown together by chance, Deira and Grace are soon motoring down the French highways, sharing intriguing stories of their pasts, as they each consider the future.... 

©2020 Sheila O'Flanagan (P)2020 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Critic reviews

"One of my favourite authors." (Marian Keyes) 

What listeners say about The Women Who Ran Away

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Loved the story but narration has a problem

Loved the story but took longer to listen due to the electronic sounding words ie every time a characters name was mentioned .it sounded like my sons speak machine had said it . Very metallic and false . Not all the words but the ends of sentences ie said ? Found it very irritating and not necessary . I asked friends to listen they said the same thing

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narration niggle

With 4 hours to completing the book, I’m loving the story, however I’m finding the narration really annoying. It seems that the repeated ‘said Deira’ ‘said Grace’ and similar repeated phrases are pre recorded and inserted? These are delivered in a flat tone and as a result doesn’t match the sentence being delivered. Because I’ve noticed it, it’s ruining the flow of the book for me. I’ve been listening to audio books for 12 months and this is the first book I’ve noticed that has done this. Hoping this isn’t the same for other Sheila Flanagan books as I’m loving audio books for the long dog walks!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Shame about the "she said" parts

Update - gave up in the end because I was so fed up with the mechanical "she/Grace/Dera said" being inserted. It really annoyed me and spoiled the story. Returned for a refund.

Great story. Narration, in general, is good but the "he said, she said" inserts seem mechanical and irritating after speech. Somewhat spoils the story and narration as it feels so false.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Not a bad story

The he said/she said in the narration because quite irritating. I struggled to finish this one. I normally love this authors work for a relaxing read/listen but nor this one unfortunately.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Lovely story but

The but is she said. He said so irritating. So annoying and so spoilt it for me’n

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

seemed to drag on at times

the story was good but seemed to drag on at some stages the end was what I expected but overall I enjoyed it as a light read

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thoroughly enjoyable listen

This is the story s of Grace and Deira, two women who have taken their own trips to France for very different, but equally interesting, reasons. Through fate, the two ladies trips become entwined and they join up to travel together on a road trip through France and Spain leading to them learning about themselves and each other while healing from their own personal experiences.
I liked both Grace and Deira and was hoping for a happy outcome for them as the trip unfolded and we learnt more about why each woman had gone away on their own.
The descriptions of each town the ladies visited was great and i felt the little bits of local information for each made trip seem authentic. I enjoyed the clues along the way too..
I enjoy Sheila O’Flanagan’s writing and enjoyed this book very much as I did her previous releases. It was a gentle, engaging tale.
I’m a big fan of Aoife McMahon who has narrated a lot of Sheila’s previous books and was A bit disappointed to see she wasn’t reading this one but was delighted to find Shelly Atkinson’s narration every bit as good. Will look out for more narrated by Shelly also
Highly Recommended

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very enjoyable

Well-performed, light, entertaining book. Unusual accent on the word 'said' in the phrase 'she said' and 'he said' was somewhat distracting, but otherwise easy listening. Perhaps a bit long but I do recommend it and will read another Sheila Flanagan as this was my first.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Terrible narration

Please change the narration, it’s awful. I had to stop listening. The story was good.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

She said

Great story as always but I was very aware of computer sounding she said , he said which by the end was very annoying!

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6 people found this helpful