Exit Unicorns

By: Cindy Brandner

Narrated by: Gary Furlong

Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

In this sweeping and powerful epic the journey begins in the "terrible beauty" of Northern Ireland during a time when conflict reigns and no one is spared from tragedy and sorrow, the time known as The Troubles.

It is the spring of 1968 in Belfast and James Kirkpatrick has just lost his father under suspicious circumstances, Casey Riordan is released from prison after five years and Pamela O'Flaherty has crossed an ocean and a lifetime of memories to find the man she fell in love with as a little girl. All three lives are on a collision course with each other against the backdrop of the burgeoning civil rights movement and a nation on the brink of revolution.

They come from disparate backgrounds - Jamie a wealthy aristocrat whose life is like an imperfect but multi-faceted jewel-brilliant, flawed and with a glitter that is designed to distract the observer. Casey, a card-carrying member of the Irish Republican Army, who must face the fact that five years away has left him a stranger, a misfit in his own neighborhood where not everyone is sympathetic to a convicted rebel. Pamela, who has come to Ireland in search of a memory and a man who may not have existed in the first place.

Through it all runs the ribbon of a love story: love of country, the beginning love of two people unable to resist the pull of each other regardless of the cost to themselves and those around them, and the selfless love of one man who no longer believes himself capable of such emotion.

It is an electrifying tale of a people divided by religion and politics, a tale of love and danger, of triumph and tragedy. Ultimately it is the story of that "terrible beauty" herself - Ireland - and how nation is bound to one's identity, woven into the weft of all we become.

©2001, 2012 Cindy Brandner (P)2017 Cindy Brandner

Wow, just wow!!

This is my first Audible book. I have read this story and loved it so much I decided I needed to hear it too. The narration is first rate. Gary Furlong has an amazing ability to change the voices of each character, along with a narration voice that is perfect. I loved having an audio so I could listen in the car, while working, while cleaning, everywhere!
Cindy Brandner is an amazing writer. The characters in her story, and the other books in the series, become part of your family. I laughed and I cried, I was happy and I was sad. The historical events in the book are well researched. Her writing is so descriptive you will feel that you are right there in Northern Ireland with Pamela, Casey, Pat & Jamie. I gave the book 5 stars, for both the story and the narration, but I really wanted to give it more stars. Let's say it's a 5+ for sure. I loved this Audible book and I think you will too.

2nd time round I I still love it!

i read this 5 years ago. I just finished listening to it. Amazing either way!

Not what I expected

Trolling the Audible site and searching “romantic comedy”, I came upon this curious title. The result pulled this up and since it was “free” included without spending a credit, I clicked. Well to my surprise, it was the opposite of a comedy. This story was dark and brooding like its characters.

Finding that I am like that at times, I stuck with it. Though a fictional story, I was thrust into the world of Ireland. Catholics v Protestants ...strife, prejudice, injustice and violence of its history, not unlike what we are going through now in the U.S. with BLM.
But the voice of the narrator’s lovely lilt egged me on to keep listening. I was hooked but the underlying violence turned me off at times. However there were many glimpses of tenderness and often quoted Irish poets of long ago.
I did keep on nonetheless but it was not the “cozy, happy story” I was searching for, this story was quite on the heavy side. Oh, well. It was a good listen at any rate.

LOVED This Book

This is a great book and I cannot wait until the others come out on AUDIBLE!!! The narrator is perfection. I was looking for a series that could keep me hooked after reading Outlander, and this book did it.

Loved every minute of it!

I'm not always a fan of audio books. The voices don't always work for me. This one works! The book itself is amazing. The voice by Gary is some of the best I've heard. His inflections and characters were very well done. His ability to change accents so quickly is admirable! I truly enjoyed the story and voice. Well done Cindy and Gary!

A remarkable story, a great reading.

This has been the best Audible book I've ever enjoyed. I've been listening to Audible books for years now, and have read this series several times before the Audible version of Exit Unicorns came out.

While anxiously and patiently (yes, it's possible!) awaiting the next n the series I had the opportunity to download this unabridged version and enjoyed revisiting the beginning of the series.

I read fairly fast, and tend to gulp books down without chewing (so to speak). Listening to a book, however, enables me to slow down and really grasp all the nooks and crannies, the nuance, the flavor.

Preferring descriptive writers, I have been enormously satisfied to crawl into this book and live there for a time.

As the characters became known to me I became invested in them. At times I've wanted to slap them silly, warn them, comfort them or even offer advice. I've never felt that way about a fictional character before, just been a passive observer. Perhaps it is in part the most excellent narration by Gary Furlong, someone I've never listened to before. It's unbelievable that a man can so distinctively narrate so many different characters. I've had no problem keeping the dialog straight in my mind so far as who was whom in the conversations.

Politics in novels has not thrilled me in the past, and my knowledge of Irish politics was next to nothing. Only vague memories of the bombings in London in the mid 1970's. This book got my curiosity whetted and I've done some further non-fiction reading since.

Like any long and descriptive book, there were a few parts that didn't light my fire, but in all fairness I can say that about Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, and also Mary Stewart's Crystal Cave series, two favorites of mine.

That an indie writer is even comparible to a mainstream author is testimony to her talent. I hope to see much more of Cindy Brandner, and hear much more of Gary Furlong.

Breathless was a story told of history and love.

I wanted to give a five star review but it wouldn’t allow me to. The writer is absolutely outstanding, such detail of Irish history, with a complicated love story, the narrator captured each individual, love love him. Left me wanting more.

At long last!

Love the series and was anxiously awaiting the audible version so that I could have this intriguing and beautifully descriptive novel read to me by someone with a lovely Irish accent! Home run - the narrator is just perfect and I’m thrilled so far. May update after I’ve listened to the entire thing, but I’m sure it will only be to heap further praise upon both the author and her excellent choice of narrator!

Wonderful work of historical fiction!

Gary Futlong has an enchanting, melodic voice that breathes life into Cindy Bradner’s story set during the 1960s struggle for Irish independence.. At the heart is the heartbreaking love triangle of Pamela, Casey, and Jamie. They are so expertly intertwined. Their paths into and through one another’s lives is so cleverly woven with the effect the political struggles have on them. Highly recommend this audio book!

Beautiful prose in a story of harsh realities and the relentlessness of the human spirit

I read this book and the ones following a few years ago, and as the author is working on the next installment, I wanted to reacquaint myself with the characters. Listening to the audiobook only enhanced the beauty of the writing. I had forgotten the intricacies of the story and the subtleties that enrich a reading experience. I found myself rationing the chapters so that it wouldn’t end. Exit Unicorns is really setting the stage for an epic saga that will twist and move through time and space like few storylines I have read. The paths of these characters is sometimes brutal, but achingly raw and real at the same time. I read these books before visiting Belfast for the first time, and the descriptions of the city’s entwinement with “The Troubles” were so accurate that I recognized landmarks and knew where key incidents had occurred. Cindy’s writing weaves a spell around her readers that invokes literature and poetry long forgotten from English class, the harshness of an age-old bloody battle for territory, and the perspective of historical reflection - all wrapped up in the complex relationships of a group of people caught in a vicious time in history. Survival in this tale is a personal pursuit, gone about in a multitude of ways in which only the reader ever truly understands. As with life, the characters go through their struggles the best way they know how, sometimes to their own detriment. If given the chance, these books will draw the reader so deep inside another time that the reemergence into the “now” is wistful. The writing is vivid in description without getting lost in the weeds. I can’t recommend this series enough for readers who relish storytelling that connects them with the characters, flawed and as different as any people could be, but real and so personable that the reader is able to see a bit of themselves in each of the main characters. It’s history. It’s poetry. It’s war at its worst. But it’s also about love in every facet imaginable, between lovers, parents and children, brothers, friends, countrymen, and even strangers. Give it a try. You’ll be happy you did!