The Amusements cover art

The Amusements

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Amusements

By: Aingeala Flannery
Narrated by: Dónall Ó Héallai, Clara Harte
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

In the resort town of Tramore, County Waterford, visitors arrive in waves with the tourist season, reliving the best days of their childhoods at the seaside amusements. Local teenager Helen Grant is indifferent to the charm of her surroundings; infatuated with her glamorous classmate Stella Swaine, she yearns to escape with her to art college, and from there, the world. But leaving Tramore is easier said than done. With an alcoholic father and an unsympathetic mother, Helen's family life may shatter her dream, just when it seems to be within reach....

Following the Grant and Swaine families and their neighbours over three decades, The Amusements is an unforgettable story about roads taken and not taken. It is a brilliantly observed portrait of life in a small town.

©2022 Aingeala Flannery (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Family Life Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Duffy and Son cover art
So Late in the Day cover art
The Rachel Incident cover art
Poor cover art
There's Something I Have to Tell You cover art
Granta cover art
The Last Week of May cover art
Neon Roses cover art
Grand cover art
The Mash House cover art
Still Water cover art
Camberwell Beauty cover art

Critic reviews

"THIS BOOK is EVERYTHING. The characters are painfully, beautifully real, the writing is IMPECCABLE...I LOVED it." (Marian Keyes)

"Unputdownable...one of the best novels of the year." (Sunday Independent)

"Flannery's flawed, hopeful characters live and grow on the page." (Anne Enright)

What listeners say about The Amusements

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    19
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

No real plot

A mis match of a number of slightly interlinked stories
But no real plot .
What was that about ?
Was my feeling at the end .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Beautifully and authentically Irish

As a former small town Ireland resident, this story cut almost too close to the bone! It has at the same time both made me yearn for home and rejoice at my leaving it. It took me a moment to cotton on to the format (it's a bit like a Tarrantino out of sequence narrative) but when I did, I loved the idea and the picture being assembled. It's the most accurate description of Irish small town life I've read. Loved the performance too, very natural and real.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Connect to the characters

A well narrated collection of overlapping stories from a small Irish town. Very raw, witty descriptions that help us connect and understand the many characters of Tramore. Really enjoyed this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!