Openhearted, Ann Ingle
Openhearted, Ann Ingle
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Openhearted
Eighty Years of Love, Loss, Laughter and Letting Go

Author: Ann Ingle

Narrator: Ann Ingle, Michael Ingle

Unabridged: 7 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Sandycove

Published: 09/23/2021


Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

'Something they don't tell you about getting older is that you fall. Oh, you hear about it in passing, of course, "She had a fall, poor thing". Falling is not something you ever think about as a younger woman. You think about falling in love . . .'

At 20 Londoner Ann Ingle fell madly in love with an Irish fellow she met on holiday in Cornwall. At the church to arrange their shotgun wedding she discovered that he hadn't even told her his real name.

Sixty-odd years later Ann looks back on that first glorious fall and in a series of essays considers what she has learned from the life that followed - bringing eight children into the world, their father's years of mental illness and tragic death at 40, being a cash-strapped single mother in 1980s Dublin, coming into her own in her middle years - going to college, working and writing, and continuing to evolve and learn into her ninth decade, even as she accepts the realities of being 'old'.

Candid about everything that matters - love, sex, heartbreak, money, class, religion, mental health, rearing children (and letting them go), reading and writing, ageing - Open-Hearted is a compelling story about living life in a spirit of curiosity and delight and with a willingness to look for good in others.

© Ann Ingle 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mella on October 01, 2021

One day he took the children for a walk along the old railway tracks in Sandymount and he came home with a plant in his hand with bright green and shiny leaves. Beneath the leaves was a long white root, like a parsnip. 'It's horseradish,' he said, 'you can make sauce out of it.'......more

Goodreads review by Terry on March 07, 2024

Loved this memoir. Ann ingle reminds me of my mum. A strong, intelligent, patient woman who raised a large family in difficult circumstances. She writes with honesty and integrity and I so enjoyed listening to her narrate her own story.......more

Goodreads review by Bláithín on July 25, 2022

Absolutely amazing, would recommend to readers of all ages!......more

Goodreads review by Claire on April 15, 2022

In her very honest and frank memoir, Ann Ingle writes about what it's like to be in your 80s and become either invisible or infantilised. It really made me think, and I think most of society could do with reading some of the sections. She also talks very candidly about her husband's mental health is......more

Goodreads review by Mary on October 28, 2025

I loved this memoir. There were many moments that hit me hard with a feeling of connection. As Ann looks back over her full, busy, not-always-positive life, there is a sense of wisdom and understanding that comes with hindsight. Her love for her husband, Peter who died aged 41, is complicated and ye......more


Quotes

A beautiful book Irish Times

Lifted my spirits beyond description! So loving and non-judgemental and Ann Ingle's enjoyment of life is beautiful to behold. Genuinely inspirational. I LOVE ANN INGLE

I loved it, really loved it . . . a very uplifting, hopeful book . . . brilliant

What a beautiful openhearted, at times broken-hearted memoir . . . honest, funny, searingly direct, a wonderful voice . . . remarkable

Heart-breaking yet funny, and jaw-droppingly honest . . . by some distance, the most courageous, most poignant, most life-affirming memoir I've read in the last twenty years and more

Incredibly poignant and so compelling, honest, warm and unique - I love this!

Profoundly honest . . . I relish its kindness, its humour and its courage

A breathtakingly honest account of marriage, motherhood and widowhood . . . extremely moving and hugely inspiring

Those who read openhearted will experience the warm glow of Ann Ingle's company - you are lucky

Really beautiful. Searingly honest, astonishingly frank and very, very funny