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  • The Sweetness of Forgetting

  • Written by: Kristin Harmel
  • Narrated by: Kim McKean
  • Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (24 ratings)

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The Sweetness of Forgetting cover art

The Sweetness of Forgetting

Written by: Kristin Harmel
Narrated by: Kim McKean
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Publisher's Summary

At 36, Hope McKenna-Smith is no stranger to bad news. She lost her mother to cancer, her husband left her for a 22-year-old, and her bank account is nearly depleted. Her own dreams of becoming a lawyer long gone, she’s running a failing family bakery on Cape Cod and raising a troubled preteen.

Now, Hope’s beloved French-born grandmother Mamie, who wowed the Cape with her fabulous pastries for more than 50 years, is drifting away into a haze of Alzheimer’s. But in a rare moment of clarity, Mamie realizes that unless she tells Hope about the past, the secrets she has held on to for so many years will soon be lost forever. Tantalizingly, she reveals mysterious snippets of a tragic history in Paris. And then, arming her with a scrawled list of names, she sends Hope to France to uncover a 70-year-old mystery.

Hope’s emotional journey takes her through the bakeries of Paris and three religious traditions, all guided by Mamie’s fairy tales and the sweet tastes of home. As Hope pieces together her family’s history, she finds horrific Holocaust stories mixed with powerful testimonies of her family’s will to survive in a world gone mad. And to reunite two lovers torn apart by terror, all she’ll need is a dash of courage, and the belief that God exists everywhere, even in cake....

©2012 Kristin Harmel (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Sweetness of Forgetting

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I loved this story but hated thr beginning

This book is such a good read. I just needed to get through the first 11 chapters. It was triggering for me the self doubt and give up attitude of the main character, the disrespect from the tween, and the way an alzheimer patient was spoken to. BUT once the adventure started, I couldn't stop listening. This is a story I will remember forever. Loved it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • DJ
  • 2023-02-20

Another wonderful story from this author

The narrator’s reading of the story was dreadful. She didn’t even know how to pronounce Paris in French

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story by the narration does not do it justice.

I did not enjoy the narrator’s use of the French accent. Such important info and she did not do it justice. The book was amazing. Such a great story. I learned a lot.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another winner from Harmel

The story was wonderful and the plot stayed interesting. The narrator did grate at times, especially when talking French. Overall though, Harmel doesn’t disappoint with a story of lost love set against the horrors of WWII and of overcoming loss and finding Hope.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed the story, not the narrator ☹️

I very much enjoyed the story, but the narration took away from my enjoyment of the book. The accents attempted by the narrator were not well done, and every accent sounded the same - French, Albanian, etc. I wish I had read this book instead of listening to it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing Story, Terrible Narrator

As per usual, Kristin Harmel’s novels are incredible. This was the last one I had to listen to in order to have listened to them all. If it had been the first, I wouldn’t have continued. It took everything in me to not stop listening. This narrator is awful. She sounds like a kindergarten teacher, and talks incredibly slow. I turned the speed up to 1.5 so that she would be speaking at an almost normal speed. As well, her French accent is atrocious. At least have someone who speaks French perform this part. Anyway, awesome story, awful narrator.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story, Terrible Narration

I admit I had to return this audiobook and switch to the paperback version. The narrator's terrible "accent from nowhere" attempt at a French accent was so distracting that I couldn't focus on the story. Her accent should have been tested before allowing her to carry on with narrating this book. The story? Great!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not with the purchase. Narration and story are FULL of issues.

I wish I had read the reviews before buying this book. Kristin Harmel’s books are usually very good. Is this book not as good in part because of the awful narration??? Yep! The narrator tries hard to get the French accents right. She fails miserably. The accent is bad! It often trails off mid sentence only to return in the next one. Sometimes the accent switches to an English one mid sentence!
Then there is the nasal vocal fry at the end of every sentence. Not a narrator I will ever listen to again.
I found the sorry no where close to that of the ones I have listened to. Much less historical and so much more fiction.

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