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Sign up todayWhat I Was
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Learn moreWhat I Was is a beautifully crafted and heartbreakingly poignant coming-of-age tale that is set mainly in a hut on an isolated strip of land in East Anglia. The narrator is an older man who recounts the story of his most significant friendship—that with the nearly feral and completely parentless Finn, who lives alone in a hut by the sea. He idolizes Finn and spends as much time with him at the beachside hut as possible, hoping to become self-reliant and free instead of burdened by the boarding school dress code and curfew. But the contrast between their lives becomes ever more painful, until one day the tables turn and everything our hero believes to be true explodes—with dire consequences.
Meg Rosoff is the author of several books, including the Picture Me Gone, a finalist for the National Book Award, and other novels for young people, including the McTavish series. She is the winner of the 2016 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Carnegie Medal.
Geoffrey Howard (a.k.a. Ralph Cosham) (1936–2014) was a British journalist who changed careers to become a narrator and screen and stage actor. He performed in more than one hundred professional theatrical roles. His audiobook narrations were named “Audio Best of the Year” by Publishers Weekly, and he won seven AudioFile Earphones Awards, and in 2013 he won the coveted Audie Award for Best Mystery Narration for his reading of Louise Penny’s The Beautiful Mystery.
Reviews
“Riveting…Readers will emerge much shaken, a little wiser, and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity.”
“[What I Was] makes us fall in love not only with Finn but also with the Suffolk coast, the land, the sky and the sea passionately described in airy and crystalline prose. It’s already a classic.”
“[A] remarkable friendship story…What a shocking ending!…Cosham’s husky, mature voice fits well with the older man’s reminiscence.”
“The poignant reminiscences of an old man about the life-changing experiences of his sixteenth year are recounted with spellbinding immediacy and evocative language.”
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