Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
by Adrienne Brodeur
Narrated by Julia Whelan, Adrienne Brodeur
Why Listen to This Audiobook?
A mother woke her fourteen-year-old daughter at midnight to confess an affair — and somehow made it feel like a gift.
- Great if you want: unflinching memoir about maternal enmeshment and its aftermath
- Listening experience: intimate and unsettling, builds dread slowly under a calm surface
- Narration: Whelan and Brodeur together split your sympathy in two
- Skip if: you need emotional distance from dysfunctional family dynamics
Listen to Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me on Audible →
About This Audiobook
When fourteen-year-old Adrienne receives a midnight confession from her charismatic mother about kissing her father's best friend, she becomes an unwitting accomplice in a forbidden affair that will span years. Set against the backdrop of privileged Cape Cod summers, this memoir explores the dangerous territory between mother and daughter when boundaries dissolve and secrets become shared currency. Adrienne finds herself intoxicated by her mother's sudden attention and trust, but the weight of complicity in this deception gradually warps her understanding of love, loyalty, and her own identity.
The dual narration elevates this intimate story into a particularly compelling audio experience. Julia Whelan's polished delivery captures the adult perspective with measured reflection, while Brodeur's own voice adds raw authenticity to her deeply personal recollections. The contrast between narrators mirrors the memoir's central tension between past and present understanding. Whelan's expert pacing allows the emotional complexity to breathe, while Brodeur's presence reminds listeners that these painful memories belong to a real person who survived to tell her story. The audio format intensifies the confessional quality of this family drama, making listeners feel like trusted confidantes themselves.