The Pub across the Pond by Mary Carter; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Kirsten Potter

Sometimes leaving home is the only way to find where you truly belong.

Carlene Rivers is many things. Dutiful, reliable, kind. Lucky? Not so much. At thirty, she’s living a stifling existence in Cleveland, Ohio. Then one day, Carlene buys a raffle ticket. The prize: a pub on the west coast of Ireland. Carlene is stunned when she wins. Everyone else is stunned when she actually goes.

As soon as she arrives in Ballybeog, Carlene is smitten, not just by the town’s beguiling mix of ancient and modern but by the welcome she receives. In this small town near Galway Bay, strife is no stranger, strangers are family, and no one is ever too busy for a cup of tea or a pint. And though her new job presents challenges — from a meddling neighbor to the pub’s colorful regulars — there are compensations galore. Like the freedom to sing, joke, and tell stories and, in doing so, find her own voice. And in her flirtation with Ronan McBride, the pub’s charming, reckless former owner, she just may find the freedom to follow where impulse leads and trust her heart — and her luck — for the very first time.

“Superb storytelling and fun and fantastic characters make this a story not soon forgotten.” —Romantic Times

“This story is most deeply rooted in Carlene’s own self-discovery…A fun, quirky read.” —Publishers Weekly

Mary Carter is a freelance writer and novelist. Her works include My Sister’s Voice, She’ll Take It, Accidentally Engaged, Sunnyside Blues, and The Honeymoon House in the bestselling anthology Almost Home. She is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, which is part of the Rochester Institute of Technology. She recently completed A Very Maui Christmas, a new novella included in a Christmas of 2010 anthology.

Kirsten Potter, a graduate of the Boston University School for the Arts, has performed on stage, film, and television, including roles on Medium, Bones, and Judging Amy. An award-winning audiobook narrator, Kirsten has won AudioFile Earphones Awards for her reading of The Snowball by Alice Schroeder and her performance as Barbara in George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara. Her other titles include The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley, Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson, Sammy's House by Kristen Gore, and Madapple by Christina Meldrum, which was a Booklist Editors' Choice for Best Audiobook 2008. Kirsten has received recognition from the American Academy of Achievement and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, as well as numerous regional awards.