While I Was Gone

Written by:
Sue Miller
Narrated by:
Blair Brown

Abridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
66
Narrator
1
Release Date
July 2000
Duration
5 hours 0 minutes
Summary
A decade ago she put a face on every mother's worst nightmare with her phenomenal best-seller The Good Mother. Now, Sue Miller delivers a spellbinding novel of love and betrayal that explores what it means to be a good wife.

In the summer of 1968, Jo Becker ran out on the marriage and the life her parents wanted for her, and escaped--for one beautiful, idyllic year--into a life that was bohemian and romantic, living under an assumed name in a rambling group house in Cambridge. It was a time of limitless possibility, but it ended in a single instant when Jo returned home one night to find her best friend lying dead in a pool of blood on the living room floor.  

Now Jo has everything she's ever wanted: a veterinary practice she loves, a devoted husband, three grown daughters, a beautiful Massachusetts farmhouse. And if occasionally she feels a stranger to herself and wonders what happened to the freedom she once felt, or how she came to be the wife, mother, and doctor her neighbors know and trust--if at times she feels as if her whole life is vanishing behind her as she's living it--she need only look at her daughters or her husband, Daniel, to recall the satisfactions of family and community and marriage.

But when an old housemate settles in her small town, the fabric of Jo's life begins to unravel: seduced again by the enticing possibility of another self and another life, she begins a dangerous flirtation that returns her to the darkest moment of her past and imperils all she loves.

While I Was Gone is an exquisitely suspenseful novel about how quickly and casually a marriage can be destroyed, how a good wife can find herself placing all she holds dear at risk. In expert strokes, Sue Miller captures the precariousness of even the strongest ties, the ease with which we abandon each other, and our need to be forgiven. An extraordinary book, her best, from a beloved American writer.
Reviews
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Anonymous

Very dissapointing book, the main character was anything but sympathetic, very self absorbed and selfish.

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UQlady

I loved this book well written keeps your interest

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Anonymous

I enjoyed the story. though at times it seemed disconnected. A lesson in trust.

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Anonymous

I thought the book was a complete downer...a woman with a perfectly good life almost throws it away for a fling and she expects her husband to understand the termoil that goes along with why she didn't go through with the affair. I would not recommend the book.

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Anonymous

This was a difficult book to read, but the reader made it very interesting!

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Sara

There are two exquisite moments in this book and both involve Jo and her mother, just a beautiful interaction between them. The rest of the novel seemed to be like one of those movies on Lifetime Channel where people, including the main character, seem to be out of touch with reality.

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Paula Gutierrez

The main character lacked substance and intellect in her decision making, but it was a decent listen.

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Anonymous

Blair Brown is a great "storyteller". Would recommend to family and friends.

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Carmen Gabaldon

This was not a book I would have normally chosen, but I really enjoyed it and will be listening to other Sue Miller books

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Connie Harding

I enjoyed this book. It was interesting and unpredictable. I would recommend this one to my family and friends.

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Gladys Colon

this book is short but good very god is interesting and very placere to listen is very good you will have a good time thanks gladys

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Ronswife in PA

I enjoyed this book. It had a very interesting ending. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Miller's books.

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Nanette

I am not sure why I had chosen this book because it isnt the type of book I normally like, but this book was okay. Blair Brown is a great "storyteller".

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Mittens Gebbie

I continue to be delighted to have found Sue Miller and her work.

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Angela Jones

I have read this book in the past and now listened to it again. It is intriguing., how many of us think about just running away and never do it. This book is a good one to listen to just to get away from it all. Live vicariously thru Jo/Lisha.

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