Explore
Pricing
For Authors
Listen Now

Sign In Start free trial

Search
Explore
Library

Publish a book
Help

A Stranger On The Shore

Biography and Memoir

A Stranger On The Shore

Listen with Sir Michael Caine™ and 1,000+ voices

Try for $0.00 Get for $6

A Stranger On The Shore

Length5h 9m

About this audiobook

Tracing the life of the author's father, this passionate, vivid memoir follows him through his childhood in the west of England, his successful 25-year career in the Indian Army prior to the country's independence in 1947, and his final years in Devonshire, where he raised a family while the symptoms of Huntington's disease gradually set in. Born of a family of impoverished Cornish fishermen, he and his six sisters cared for their dying mother after losing their father at the start of the First World War, before Huntington's reared itself in their lives and led to the early death of three of the siblings. An absorbing, tense story of an emerging family crisis, this is an inspiring narrative showing that, through courage and faith in the face of great adversity, peace can be found. William Symons was born in Newlyn in 1878. Following family tradition he became a fisherman and a member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. In 1914, following some early action at sea in the First World War, he died at the age of 36 yrs, leaving a widow and seven children, a boy and six girls. Unknown to him, and to his family, he left another legacy. In his body he carried a faulty gene, which, if inherited, could lead to Huntington's chorea, a disease that normally becomes apparent in middle age. William died before symptoms appeared but the disease, known at the time as St Vitus Dance, was to claim the lives of a number of his descendants. This book chronicles the life of his eldest child, and only son, William John, who was 12 years old at the time of his father's death. There was a small naval pension and William earned what pennies he could in his spare time until he left school the following year aged 13 years and went to work, initially for Dick Bath, the coal merchant. Somehow the family managed to stay together even after the death of his mother, Florence Louisa, from tuberculosis in 1921. They attended St.

Family Memory Grief Psychological Identity Healing

Audiobook details

GenreBiography and Memoir

Length5 hrs 9 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateFeb 2, 2015

LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1Dedication

1813. ‘One hundred and five, North Tower’

2PART ONE

1914. Home Thoughts from Abroad

31. Dad

2015. Making a Home

42. Chromosome 4 gene IT15

2116. ‘Huntington’s explains it all’

53. Florence Louisa and William

2217. Number 10

Show all chaptersShow less

64. ‘On Chorea’

2318. At Risk

75. ‘One and All’

24PART THREE

8Bone Pasty

2519. Interlude

9Beatus Vir: Blessed is the man …

2620. The Two of Them, Together

106. India

2721. No Way Out: Stranger on the Shore

117. ‘Floruit’

2822. ‘I love you, my darling’: They shall look on Him Whom they pierced

128. Commissioned

2923. ‘Dearly loved husband, father and brother’

139. Matchmaking

30Epilogue

1410. Home Leave

31Appendix: Huntington’s Chorea

1511. Mum

32Family Tree

1612. Courtship and Marriage

33Acknowledgements

17PART TWO

More from John Symons

The Teaching Of Reality

The Teaching Of RealityJohn Symons40m$6 · $0

More from Biography and Memoir

How to Test Negative for Stupid

How to Test Negative for StupidJohn Kennedy8h 13m$28 · $0

Where Cowards Go to Die

Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0

Black History Collection

Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m$18 · $0

A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller (The Complete Four-Volume Edition)

A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller (The Complete Four-Volume Edition)George Müller43h 39m$1 · $0

Old Path White Clouds

Old Path White CloudsThich Nhat Hanh16h 39m$25

EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m$20

The World of Yesterday

The World of YesterdayStefan Zweig15h 39m$2 · $0

The Storyteller: Expanded

The Storyteller: ExpandedDave Grohl11h 38m$5 · $0

The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme): The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme): The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of LisieuxDe Lisieux Saint Thérèse6h 48m$2 · $0

Lessons from the Edge

Lessons from the EdgeMarie Yovanovitch17h 11m$40 · $0

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Vol. 3

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Vol. 3William Manchester, Paul Reid53h 24m$35

Escape from Mariupol

Escape from MariupolAdoriana Marik, Anne K. Howard5h 57m$17 · $0

The Streets of Baltimore

The Streets of BaltimoreJoe Frantz6h 52m$17

Black BoxShiori Itō6h 21m$17 · $0

My Bondage and My Freedom (Autobiography)

My Bondage and My Freedom (Autobiography)Frederick Douglass15h 36m$1 · $0

Paris (Extended Edition)

Paris (Extended Edition)Paris Hilton9h 3m$29 · $0

Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 3

Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 3Mark Twain24h 54m$30

Fighter PilotRobin Olds17h 3m$28

The Story of John G. Paton; or, Thirty Years among South Sea Cannibals (Summarized Edition)

The Story of John G. Paton; or, Thirty Years among South Sea Cannibals (Summarized Edition)John Gibson Paton3h 13m$1

Berlin DiaryWilliam L. Shirer16h$28

You may also like

Between ThemRichard Ford3h 37m$18 · $0

Mothers and Dogs

Mothers and DogsFabio Morábito3h 49m$15

TwinAllen Shawn7h 2m$17 · $0

The House on Beartown Road

The House on Beartown RoadElizabeth Cohen7h 35m$17 · $0

Laying GhostsClare Reddaway50m$5

DownsizingMia Danielle3h 8m$15 · $0

Where the Light Gets In

Where the Light Gets InKimberly Williams-Paisley5h 31m$20

Loving from the Outside In, Mourning from the Inside Out

Loving from the Outside In, Mourning from the Inside OutAlan Wolfelt1h 25m$10 · $0

The Bridge Ladies

The Bridge LadiesBetsy Lerner8h 51m$29 · $0

HollowayElana K. Arnold11h 28m$29 · $0

My Father’s Fortune

My Father’s FortuneMichael Frayn10h 7m$26 · $0

Vanity Fair: May 2016 Issue

Vanity Fair: May 2016 IssueVanity Fair4h 17m$14

The Orphaned Swimming Pool

The Orphaned Swimming PoolJohn Updike13m$4 · $0

Sophie, Standing There

Sophie, Standing ThereMeg Mason9h 18m$29 · $0

The Grieving Brain

The Grieving BrainMary-Frances O'Connor8h 2m$26 · $0

The Emotional Brain

The Emotional BrainDean Burnett14h 2m$33 · $0

Be MineRichard Ford12h 27m$29 · $0

Motherless Mothers

Motherless MothersHope Edelman5h 21m$24 · $0

Never Can Say Goodbye

Never Can Say GoodbyeDarnell Lamont Walker6h 37m$24 · $0

DevotionDani Shapiro7h 20m$24 · $0