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What a Mother's Love Don't Teach You

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What a Mother's Love Don't Teach You

By: Sharma Taylor
Narrated by: Jeannette Robinson
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As featured on BBC's Cultural Frontline podcast

At eighteen years old, Dinah gave away her baby son to the rich couple she worked for before they left Jamaica. They never returned. She never forgot him.

Eighteen years later, a young man comes from the US to Kingston. From the moment she sees him, Dinah never doubts - this is her son.

What happens next will make everyone question what they know and where they belong.

A powerful story of belonging, identity and inheritance, What a Mother's Love Don't Teach You brings together a blazing chorus of voices to evoke Jamaica's ghetto, dance halls, criminal underworld and corrupt politics, at the beating heart of which is a mother's unshakeable love for her son.

©2022 Sharma Taylor (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK African American Domestic Thrillers Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Thriller & Suspense Fiction Caribbean Mystery Suspense
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Critic reviews

"An outstanding debut." (Cherie Jones, author of How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House)

"Vivid and authentic." (Leone Ross, author of This One Sky Day)

"Takes us on a wonderful multifaceted journey through the lives, loves, pleasures and atrocities of the folks of Kingston." (Jacob Ross, author of The Bone Readers)
All stars
Most relevant
Enjoy the story, a lot about what Jamaica was like in the 1980s.
All the characters you heard their story and how the are connected to each other. A bit of history lesson on the country.
The ascent of the person reading was not Jamaican so that was a bit off putting.

Great story

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I enjoyed this novel. It’s well written. The back stories of each character enable the reader to have empathy for them. Many issues are handled very well including true love, loss, poverty and mental illness. The narrator did a good job although I would have preferred an authentic Jamaican accent to voice the Jamaican characters. I would strongly recommend this book.

A moving story

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I very much disliked the fake Jamaican accent and it ruined the whole experience as a listener for me

The plot and story line

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Well written story with strong believable characters & rich history off Jamaica

look forward to another book from this author

Motives

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Absolutely amazing!!! What a beautiful story , it was a pleasure to follow the journey of these characters

Captivating from start to finish

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