Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Mad Dash
    Mad Dash
    Mad Dash
    Audiobook12 hours

    Mad Dash

    Written by Patricia Gaffney

    Narrated by Laural Merlington

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The poor thing was cold and trembling, abandoned on their front doorstep. Dash, impulsive as always, decides on the spot that they should keep it. But her husband, Andrew, thinks it's the craziest thing he's ever heard. A fight over a scruffy little dog doesn't seem like much of a reason to walk out on your husband of twenty years—but the spat over the puppy is just the last of many straws.

    Dash is so tired of the faculty parties at Mason-Dixon College that Andrew insists they attend even though he won't mingle with his colleagues, tired of his constant fretting over illnesses he doesn't have, tired of the glass of warm milk he must have every night before bed. Why can't he see that with her mother gone and their daughter off at college, Dash needs something more?

    Now, living on her own for the first time in years, Dash can do whatever she wants . . . if only she could figure out what that is. But every time she starts making plans for the future, she finds herself thinking about the past—remembering the mother she's lost, her daughter's childhood, and the husband she isn't entirely sure she wants to leave behind. . . .

    By turns poignant and hilarious—often on the same page—Mad Dash is a novel about the funny ways love has of catching up to us despite our most irrational efforts to leave it behind.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateAug 7, 2007
    ISBN9781423330097
    Mad Dash
    Author

    Patricia Gaffney

    Patricia Gaffney's novels include The Goodbye Summer, Flight Lessons, and The Saving Graces. She and her husband currently live in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania.

    Related to Mad Dash

    Related audiobooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      Mary-kate’s Empty House

      May 22, 2020

      Mary-kate’s Empty House
      4 min read

    • Article

      Romantic Entanglements Bring Humor And Heartache To Small Town

      Jun 21, 2021

      Katherine Heiny’s novel transplants readers to Boyne City, Michigan, through the keen eyes of the town’s new schoolteacher.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Top 10 Books

      Jun 16, 2023

      Top 10 Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      You’re The Dirty Rascal

      Apr 6, 2023

      You’re The Dirty Rascal
      5 min read

    • Article

      For April, 3 Romances That Provide Delicious Escapes

      Apr 23, 2020

      Nothing guarantees a happy escape like a romance novel, and escape has never been more necessary — so for April we've got three reads packed with humor and heartache to savor while you stay inside.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Queen Of Booktok

      Feb 17, 2023

      Queen Of Booktok
      4 min read

    • Article

      Summer Thrills

      Aug 5, 2019

      Summer Thrills
      3 min read

    • Article

      March’s BOOK CLUB

      Feb 2, 2023

      Other Women by Emma Flint (£16.99, HB, Pan Macmillan) Bea Cade can’t resist the charms of Tom Ryan. Any time the attractive and enigmatic salesman visits the offices where Bea works she goes weak at the knees. But Tom is married to Kate. While it’s

      4 min read

    • Article

      Happy birthday, Darling

      Dec 30, 2020

      DARLING, our English pointer, turns 127 (in dog years) this week. I am proud to report that she can still manage a definite, if slightly shaky, point. Moreover, my response, as I don’t shoot, still annoys her. She will stand, one paw raised, nose dir

      2 min read

    • Article

      All Of Us Here

      Jun 4, 2020

      All Of Us Here
      6 min read

    • Article

      Come with Me

      Dec 1, 2022

      Come with Me
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Leather Coat

      Apr 4, 2024

      The Leather Coat
      6 min read

    • Article

      Summer Beach Reads

      Jan 10, 2021

      Summer Beach Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Man I Should Have Married

      Dec 29, 2019

      The Man I Should Have Married
      11 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Jason the Heat Guy

      Jan 11, 2021

      Jason the Heat Guy
      11 min read

    • Article

      No Party Pooper

      Jan 16, 2023

      No Party Pooper
      5 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Play Dead

      Mar 3, 2020

      There was a man, let’s call him Henry VIII. There was his wife, let’s call her Anne B. Let’s give them a castle and make it nice. Let’s give her many boy babies but make them dead. Let’s give him a fussy way of being. Let’s make her smart and sneaky,

      17 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Penny

      Jul 2, 2020

      Penny
      6 min read

    • Article

      Intelligent Creatures

      Jul 6, 2023

      Intelligent Creatures
      19 min read

    • Article

      Excerpts From The Works Of The 2024 Whiting Award Winners

      Apr 10, 2024

      The 2024 Whiting Award winners were announced Wednesday night. Below are excerpts from their work.

      19 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Mad Dash

    3.5/5

    46 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Patricia Gaffney's women's fiction books are a real challenge for me. I can't resist them, because she's such a fabulous writer, and because she's witty and wise and, well, I don't think it's exaggerating much to call her a goddess. On the other hand, it's women's fiction. In general, it's the one genre I loathe. At best, it's serious. At worst, it's whiny women who blame men for all their problems. It's a good thing I love Gaffney, because otherwise I'd hate her. Not only does she make me read women's fiction... she makes me love it.Dash and Andrew have been married nearly 20 years. He's a stuffy history professor, she's a free-spirited photographer. Dash's mother died recently, and now their only child is going off to college. Then a puppy shows up on their doorstep. Dash wants to keep it, Andrew's allergic. Dash and the puppy out, going to their cottage.Andrew: She's leaving me? Over a puppy?Dash: How can he not see that it's not about the puppy?I'd venture to say that most long-married couples will recognize the spirit behind their confusion--Pat has human nature down so well that these characters feel utterly real.Like many couples in their situation, they've taken each other for granted, focused on their careers, their children, their aging parents, and when that outside focus is taken away, they find themselves married to someone they don't know, and maybe don't even like all that much. And the women (though this could apply to men, too, but in this case, it's Dash) discover that after years of devoting themselves to other people--husband, parents, children--there's nothing left of themselves.How Dash and Andrew cope with the separation and learn and grow and find themselves and each other again is a story full of warmth and humor and pain and love and realism. It's truly a wonderful book.
    • 4/5
      Sometimes you have to leave before you learn where you belong. After an argument with her husband over an abandoned dog, Dash moves out to a family cottage in Virginia for an undefined "interlude". Dash has always been the vivacious, flighty one, while Andrew has been her "rock". Each must face their aloneness and examine their side of the story of their marriage. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and envied them in their marriage, boulders and all.
    • 2/5
      Chick Lit for 40-somethings. 45-year-old Dash leaves her staid husband while she tries to deal with her mother's death last summer, her daughter's leaving for college, and the fact that her hypochondriac, ponderous husband drives her crazy most of the time. Light-weight but endearing.
    • 5/5
      I'm not that crazy about chick lit but DearAuthor's review made me want to give this book a try and I'm glad I did. I liked the fact that it wasn't all written in first person. Dash's POV was first person but we also get portions of the book with husband Andrew's POV written in third person. Dash Bateman is going through a mid-life crisis after her mother dies and her daughter leaves home for college. She walks out on her husband after he objects to her keeping an abandoned puppy. I have to admit this book came a little too close to home and I found myself identifying with how she is feeling. Although I thought she was way too impulsive (something I'm not). I also sympathized with Andrew who was completely bewildered and clueless. I loved their story though and the ending was great too.