The West's Awake

The Queenstown Series, Book 2

By: Jean Grainger

Narrated by: Siobhan Waring

Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Queenstown, Co Cork. Ireland. 1916

Sixteen-year-old Harp Devereaux is growing up in a country in turmoil.

Her mother Rose is struggling to navigate single parenthood, run the Cliff House, and stay out of the way of the authorities.

Harp’s uncle, Ralph Devereaux, has only one thing on his mind.

The port of Queenstown bustles with activity as people traverse the Atlantic either in search of new lives on foreign shores or returning to old familiar ones in Ireland. The Cliff House is fast gaining a reputation as a wonderful place to stay, and the business is going from strength to strength. Rose and Harp have turned their fortunes around and for the first time they are prosperous and independent. But all is not well. Civil and military unrest across the country in the wake of the Easter Rising is threatening to bubble over, and everyone is on edge. The British soldiers are making their presence felt in unpleasant ways, and the return of Ralph Devereaux to what he sees as his ancestral home is poses a serious threat.

Just as they are managing the situation, a series of unforeseen events places both Harp and her mother in grave peril. Ralph suddenly holds all the power and is not afraid to wield it. They desperately need help, and there’s only one place they can go to get it.

From a tense Queenstown to the vibrant Irish community in Boston, from wartime Liverpool, to the streets of Dublin seething with revolution, The West’s Awake continues the spellbinding Queenstown Story.

©2022 Gold Harp Media (P)2022 Jean Grainger

Excellent continuing story

I enjoyed following the lives of these very interesting people. i look forward to the next story.

Jean Granger and S Waring, a winning duo!

I really enjoy weaving the historical events with the romance and intrigue in a believable format. I felt like I was there,.

Great book

I really enjoyed the story and the narration. I want to start the next one right away.

Wonderful trip into the past

Learning about history through the lives of fictional characters is fascinating. I would frequently take a break to Google the events mentioned or to play songs like “The West’s Awake” and “I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls” on YouTube.

I am always amazed at the quality of these narrations with different accents and voices to portray the various characters. Very well done, Jean and Siobhan! I am starting Book 3 of this series now.

Loved it!

This series is great! Jean Grainger’ books are spellbinding! Looking forward to book 3 in this series.

Mother and Daughter bond

The meticulous character development at first seems slow, however, with this author the story always comes together with a long list of emotions. I enjoy the clever story telling and historic relevance in all of the Jean Grainger books. I also find them hard to put down.

The West’s Awake was well worth the wait!

I enjoyed this story and the narration was excellent!
Please continue with these caricatures as soon as possible. Waiting for Book 3 is so difficult.

The Farmer’s Daughter

Enjoyable read. Will continue the series

The narrator was wonderful and kept your attention. The mix of characters and historical perspectives was very clever. Altogether an enjoyable read- would make a great movie!

50/50 read: Loved it/ wanted to return it.

The West’s Awake alternated between “can’t put it down” and “not sure I want to finish.”
The story of Harp going to America on a mission and of Rose and Harp’s villainous Father we’re highly interesting and full of twists. The reader was fantastic when she had the woman’s voice and the brogue, but the way the “mans”” voice sounded was off and comical. No normal man sounds like that . The beginning of the book with all the “woman’s rights” talk was boring and not too realistic for the time period. The politics may have been part of the story, but was not enjoyable. So not sure about getting the next in the series but it’s possible.

A lot of fillers and no substance

It seems the author ran out of material after the first book. Lots of repetitive material comes across is just fillers to make up the 7 hour duration. Didn’t bother to listen to the third book of the series.