Coincidence audiobook

The first of Ironmonger's books published in the USA, the second of his books written, and my second read, Coincidence plops John Ironmonger onto my list of favorite writers.He is a wonderful storyteller, but he is also a philosophy teacher, a purveyor of social justice, and a romantic.A little girl named Azalea is found alone, apparently abandoned, in a fairground in Devon, England, and the story—put together like a jigsaw puzzle—proceeds to not only trace her back to her roots, but through Socratic dialogues, debate the merits of determinism (the notion that some outer force determines what happens to us) and free will, and expose the brutal army of Joseph Kony in Uganda.There is nothing better than a great story about big ideas, delivered in a compelling and loving way. And speaking of love, in both the Ironmonger books that I've read (the first being Not Forgetting the Whale), there is an omniscient storyteller who very occasionally voices a sweet amusement at the foibles of his characters. (I must steal this!) Also, both novels end with wonderful back-of-the-book material that adds to the reader's knowledge and is as well written as the rest of the book.

Coincidences happen. Wishes come true. Or maybe they don’t.”J.W. Ironmonger creates a real gem of a novel, interweaving an enchanting love story with an intellectually satisfying story of two people trying to make sense of their place in the universe. Is everything in our life controlled by an all-knowing creator who bends the future in any way that he – or she—wishes? or do things happen more or less randomly based on free will?Azelea Lewis, the key character of this novel, is the Queen of Coincidences. Her life is shaped by a series of uncanny events, starting from the time she was three years old and found wandering a fairground in England on Midsummer’s Day, 1982. Later, on Midsummer’s Day 1992, the couple that adopted Azelea are presumed killed by Uganda’s cult-like Lord’s Resistance Army. And the coincidences just keep piling up from there.Her lover and nemesis is Thomas Post, a respected academic who uncovers the scientific explanation behind so-called coincidences. In particularly fascinating prose, Thomas debunks some of our most widely-known and oft-repeated historical coincidences in an attempt to show that the universe is, in fact, random.This book will make you think about the concepts of pre-destination versus free will. Can anyone change the way the universe will unravel? Or have we humans tapped into a clever mechanism that allows us to enter our own will into the equation? And in the end, does it all even matter? It’s a rare book that entices the reader to think and feel at the same time. One thing’s for sure: you will never think of coincidences in precisely the same way again.

If you think that your life is charmed and charged with coincidence, meet Dr. Thomas Post, a London university applied philosophy professor and gangly, red-haired coincidence authority. He will shoot down divine belief in coincidences with statistics, theories, and candid, rational, un-magical thinking. That is whom Azalea Lewis seeks out to question all the tragic coincidences in her life.Azalea was born in the Isle of Man and orphaned at three when her mother disappeared while with her at a Devon fairground, Midsummer’s Day, 1982. Later, she finds out her mother was abducted and killed that day, and that her father could have been one of three men. She was adopted by good-natured, loving missionaries and moved to Uganda. Her adoptive parents were also killed on Midsummer’s Day, in 1992. Will she die, too, on the next Midsummer’s Day, June 21, 2012? She thinks so. There are more coincidences to be revealed as Azalea and Thomas kindle an affectionate relationship, and she tells him what she knows of her life story.As Thomas and Azalea become closer, they deliberate and examine the theories surrounding coincidence, luck, synchronicity--all the different and loaded words and beliefs that it entails. Thomas insists on the element of free will and randomness, and edifies Azalea on theories of determinism and providence, among other arguments. Azalea is open to the possibility of a master-controller, or divine intervention; Thomas trusts the scientific principles as explanation, although he is compassionate and sensitive to Azalea's position. Ultimately, he disregards the idea of a non-random influence.“…coincidences…aren’t the responsibility of any malign force—or even benign force. They’re just things that happen from time to time. That’s all.”Ironmonger’s euphonious narrative seamlessly alternates different time periods from 1982 to 2012, weaving in disparate events and settings. From the Isle of Man, to Uganda during the brutal civil war, and present day London, the author constructs a riveting, page-turning story that will appeal to readers of popular and literary fiction. Although the framework of coincidence calls attention to the mechanics of plot design, it is accomplished with subtlety. Occasionally, it veers into over-deliberation, but when it does, it is brief and doesn’t deter from its credibility. As June 21st draws near, the story becomes more and more intoxicating.Addendum: What a coincidence—this is the second novel in a row that I read which remarks on the inherent problems of quantum mechanics, and how the observer affects what is being observed!

A Novel Approach to StorytellingThis enjoyable British novel gripped me throughout, largely because of its unusual approach to storytelling. My friends and I often make a game of picking out those moments you sometimes find in fiction when an author inserts a blatant coincidence or plot contrivance to help the story along. Generally, it is laziness and shows disrespect for the reader. But here is an author who uses coincidence as his main constructive principle, and builds a story around it. And it works, it works superbly.Azalea Lewis is plagued by coincidence. Although adopted and, she thinks, an orphan, she meets not one but two men claiming to be her father, both of whom are blind. Significant events in her life seem to take place on Midsummer Day, ten years apart. A chance encounter also makes her collide (literally) with the one man in England who considers himself an expert in coincidence, the London University psychologist Thomas Post. She believes that strange things happen for a reason; he can prove that coincidences are either less statistically unlikely than commonly assumed, or else the result of outside manipulation: if a coin comes up heads five times in a row, it is unusual but not impossible; fifty times, and it is almost certainly weighted. Their discussions about these matters are fascinating, not just because of the examples that Thomas produces, but because they raise deeper issues of determinism, faith, and free will.The book begins as a mystery, when the four-year-old Azalea is found abandoned in a Devonshire fairground, and the police search in vain for further clues. Ironmonger caught my intention from the very first page, because of his apparently objective style that nonetheless leaves no doubt that he is in control of what he will reveal when; I thought especially of Jim Crace's writing in Being Dead. Later, as the connections ramify, I thought of Penelope Lively's interest in the apparently arbitrary linkages between events in books such as Consequences or How It All Began. I also thought of Kate Atkinson in Life After Life, although Ironmonger never goes so far as to multiply alternate realities like she does. But there is a particularly easygoing kind of narrative in all these British authors that I could see in Ironmonger too, especially once the genre shifted towards romance.Ironmonger was born in East Africa, and the action returns there for several scenes, to the West Nile region of Uganda, on the border with South Sudan. This is the region terrorized by Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, one of whose tactics is to abduct children from schools and force them into soldiering or childbearing, inflicting terrible mutilations on those who attempt to escape. A coincidence, since I have just been reading Susan Minot's recent novel Thirty Girls, about the very same subject. Ironmonger is the more successful of the two, I think, because he has the wisdom not to go deeper into the Kony story than he can handle, and not to risk making the affairs of his Western characters seem trivial by comparison.Although in this instance touching on a major humanitarian issue, Coincidence makes no claims to be an earth-shattering book. Instead, it is intelligent, artfully constructed, and warm. Nowhere did I admire it more than in its final pages, set back in Uganda, when the author abandons the conventions of romance and quite avoids melodramatic denouement. Instead, he offers an ending that is satisfying both in philosophical and in human terms, warmed by the wisdom of another character who has lived through it all and has made his own peace.

This book has to go on my favorite list. I’m so glad I found this author; this is his first novel published in the United States, and hopefully there will be more to come. So now that I told you that, let me tell you about the story. A toddler, maybe three years old, is found wandering around a fairground at night in Devon, England. Her family can’t be found, but through questioning her, she tells them that her name is Azalea and that her mother is taking her to see her daddy on a boat. They try to find her family, but after months go by they drop the ball; and when a woman’s body washes up on the coast line not far from where she was found, no one connects the dots to Azalea who is now adopted. Her adopted parents bring her to a small village in Uganda where they are taking over the Holy Tabernacle Mission of Saint Paul a school that helps the villager’s children and orphans. When a Ugandan rebel uprising hits their compound Azalea loses her parents again. Her life is a series of coincidences and missed communication, so when as an adult, she accidentally meets Professor Thomas Post whose specialty is debunking coincidences, she asks him what he thinks of her life and if a certain date that surrounds her families untimely deaths is bad luck or divine providence? The date is fast approaching and the answer could mean her death. This is an outstanding mystery by J.W. Ironmonger; it held me captive right till the last page. Seeing Africa, where he was raised, through his eyes was a pleasure and heart breaking at the same time. 5 stars.

Truly phenomenal book. It was really thought provoking, the details of the African landscape was so beautiful and I could see it in my minds eye. I loved the writing style of how it was written like someone telling a story (like it was a story of a story if that makes any sense? Lol). The characters were wonderful and it really made me rethink what good luck, coincidence, divine intervention and destiny might mean. It also was funny that while I was reading this, I was experiencing a lot of coincidences. Was that a… coincidence?

As seen on my blog: All my life, I've been a tireless, and possibly sometimes annoying, advocate of incidents in my life that are linked together, seemingly without explanation. I would read about the most obscure country in a magazine, and then turn on the television to find a documentary airing about that exact country; I would be having a conversation about the most random of things, and then later, with someone else, the exact topic will come up. Needless to say, I am endlessly fascinated with coincidences, and will always be. The fact that J.W. Ironmonger crafted a narrative around this very idea, thrilled me like you wouldn't believe, and once I started reading Coincidence , there was no doubt in my mind that it would become one of the BEST books I've read this year so far.Yes, one the BEST books. I say it without doubt, without regret, and with every ounce of appreciation and awe at what the author has accomplished in only 277 pages. The synopsis for Coincidence is one that is so easily explained, yet if I were to tell exactly how it made me feel, words would abandon me. But I want to try, because I want to tell you how Coincidence started it's spark in my brain, and spread throughout my entire being, until I was sure there was no more space for it to occupy. Though it did, it spread until I was bursting, and I needed to come on here and tell you AT ONCE how magnificent this book was. IT WAS MAGNIFICENT. A true testament of remarkable writing skill, and a story line that reads like the grown up version of some your favourite middle grades: in the sense that it was a story about someone telling a story. Coincidence was told in third person, with a narrating voice that I almost suspected was a close cousin to Lemony Snickett-albeit a less malicious-minded one. Azalea Ives was 'abandoned' at the precious age of 3, left alone on the fairgrounds of a brightly-lit pier. A year later, after she has been successfully adopted by two new parents, her birth mother's body washes up on the shores of that exact pier. Ten years later, on the exact date, Azalea's adoptive parents are brutally killed in Uganda, where the family was living as missionaries. Now it's present day, ten years later, and the dreaded date that all of her parents were killed on is soon approaching. Azalea can't help but fear for her life, especially when it's been completely run by a series of unexplained coincidences. She enlists the help of one Thomas Post, the "coincidence authority," and hopes on hope that he will be able to shed some light on her strange life, and potentially help her to see another ten years.The wonderment abound in this book was palpable. Every new revelation, or coincidence, was a jolt to the heart, a proverbial punch to the gut. Ironmonger's writing was profoundly poetic, and felt like an extension of a dream. His depiction of East Africa in the late 60's was told in a voice of someone who had to have lived there himself, which he did, and was a perfect addition of setting to the story. I've said it before, but I absolutely LOVE when author's bring personal experiences into their fictional narratives, it's such a smart move, and adds such a genuine depth to their tales.There are so many appreciative parts of me right now, there are so many places in my being that are still tingling with the after effects of reading a book that spoke straight to my soul. I urge EVERYONE who has every paused, for even one second, to consider a strange occurrence-anyone who has ever wondered if there has to be more to what meets the eye. You must, must read Coincidence -a million times more "musts".Recommended for fans of: A Series of Unfortunate Events , Christina Baker Kline, Markus Zusak, mystery, drama, speculative fiction.

This book was not what I was expecting. First of all, the book begins with a few strands of the same story. A child is found at a fair without an adult. She has bright red hair and a small scar on her face. She is soon placed with a couple named Folley and adopted. The original parents remain a mystery for many years. Somewhat forever. there is then an earlier strand of the Christening of a baby girl which goes awry. The first oddity is that the child has three godfathers, which is explained soon thereafter. The second is that the child finds herself with an identifying scar which helps with the rest of the book.At last we meet Marion, the birth mother of Azalea. She finds herself pregnant with Azalea and takes her concerns to the minister who later accidentally blesses Azalea with her scar. The quandary revolves around the fact that Marion is single and the DNA donor is one of three men. She tosses her fate to seagulls. Does this all seem random? Perhaps it is. Or is it Providence? Could it be predetermination? Because, much later, in a comical description of a few broken bones at the bottom of an escalator and then a proper meeting of Azalea and Thomas Post, Azalea recounts the coincidences of her life. Information regarding her history, the fates of those contributing to her care and parentage have come to light. Certain dates tend to coalesce into tragedy and patterns have emerged. The cerebral discussions of coincidences, chance, statistical probability and philosophy added to the story but was much less interesting to me than the descriptions of events, landscape, interactions, and history. Because, out of context, it seems random, Azalea's biggest turning points occur in Africa. Specifically Uganda, Sudan, and Kenya. There is a helpful map at the beginning of the book to assist the reader in understanding the geographical impact of choices made. Without revealing the story too much, Azalea's life is once again uprooted and the direction altered by the actions of one man; Joseph Kony, who is an actual man and made of stuff from nightmares.We know that Azalea returns to England and teaches poetry where she meets the somewhat nihilistic Thomas Post. Between her conception and the time with Thomas is a journey that defies statistical probability but can be put into a neat little equation. The events are not statistically improbable. What happens from the time she leaves Thomas and the ending of the book Is what then defines Azalea. For those of us who are a little thick, one character spells it out for Thomas. And the reader. Worthwhile read. Great for book club.

Are the events of our lives merely random? Are they determined by Fate? Are certain events predestined by God? How do we explain bizarre coincidences? These are some of the questions considered in Ironmonger's novel, Coincidence. Azalea Foley's entire life has been marked by uncanny coincidences, from the day she was discovered as an abandoned three-year old to the deaths of her mother, father, and adopted parents. Everything seems to hinge around the date of Midsummer's Day. Is she fated to repeat the pattern? This novel is exciting, fast-paced and well-plotted. Even though I personally don't like novels that skip back and forth in the timeline, this one really works. Throw in some philosophical discussions about free will, determinism and predestination -- and I am hooked. Just about a perfect novel.

I started reading this book a year ago... only got about 2 chapters in and it just couldn't keep my attention. I decided to pick it up again and give it a try. It's a complex story that has a lot of opinions on the subjects of Higher powers, if things are meant to happen as they do or if it's all randomly part of the pull and push of the world. It took a bit to get into but once I did, the story was interesting!