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Bel Canto
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
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Bel Canto
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Publisher's summary
“Blissfully Romantic.... A strange, terrific, spellcasting story.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
“Bel Canto...should be on the list of every literate music lover. The story is riveting, the participants breathe and feel and are alive, and throughout this elegantly-told novel, music pours forth so splendidly that the reader hears it and is overwhelmed by its beauty.” (Lloyd Moss, WXQR)
“Glorious.” (The New Yorker)
Ann Patchett’s award winning, New York Times best-selling Bel Canto balances themes of love and crisis as disparate characters learn that music is their only common language. As in Pratchett’s other novels, including Truth & Beauty and The Magician’s Assistant, the author’s lyrical prose and lucid imagination make Bel Canto a captivating story of strength and frailty, love and imprisonment, and an inspiring tale of transcendent romance.
Critic reviews
- 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction
- Book Sense Book of the Year Award Winner, Paperback, 2003
- PEN/Faulkner Award Winner, 2002
"Patchett can be counted on to deliver novels rich in imaginative bravado and psychological nuance. This fluid and assured narrative...demonstrates her growing maturity and mastery of form." (Publishers Weekly)
"Mixing art and politics can have unexpected results, but rarely are they so poignant....[Anna Fields'] performance is the essence of Bel Canto, easy, pure of tone, with an agile, precise vocal technique." (AudioFile)
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Story4 out of 5 stars 285
Award-winning poet Marisa de los Santos crafts an irresistibly touching debut novel. Love Walked In is a contemporary tale, steeped in nostalgic, cinematic charm, of love in all its forms. Unapologetically idealistic about love, Cornelia Brown appears to catch the break of a lifetime when the dashing Martin Grace, her own personal Cary Grant, comes strolling into her life. But it is Martin's connection to 11-year-old Clare Hobbes that touches Cornelia's heart in ways she never imagined.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Dreadful audio quality
- By Marenghi on 09-16-11
-
The Magician's Lie
- A Novel
- By: Greer Macallister
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Nick Podehl
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,458
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,312
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,317
The Amazing Arden is the most famous female illusionist of her day, renowned for her notorious trick of sawing a man in half on stage. One night in Waterloo, Iowa, with young policeman Virgil Holt watching from the audience, she swaps her trademark saw for a fire ax. Is it a new version of the illusion, or an all-too-real murder? When Arden's husband is found lifeless beneath the stage later that night, the answer seems clear.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Too Fantastic
- By Ms. Lucy on 02-22-15
-
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 357
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 215
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 216
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
Brick Lane
- By: Monica Ali
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 236
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 94
Nanzeen's inauspicious birth in a Bangladeshi village imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents. Married off to a man old enough to be her father, Nanzeen moves to London and cares for her family. But gradually she begins to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. She discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters and her new world.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A truly wonderful book!
- By A M on 11-24-03
By: Monica Ali
-
A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
- By: Brigid Pasulka
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 696
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 601
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 591
The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Old & New Worlds Converge & Transcend Time
- By Sara on 11-22-16
By: Brigid Pasulka
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The Secret Keeper
- By: Kate Morton
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15,883
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14,190
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 14,164
England, 1959: Laurel Nicolson is 16 years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Kate Morton (and Caroline Lee) does it again!
- By Maria on 10-20-12
By: Kate Morton
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The Singing Bone
- By: Beth Hahn
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 77
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Alice and her three closest friends meet the enigmatic Jack Wyck. Enticed by his philosophy and the promise of a constant party, Alice and her friends join Mr. Wyck's small group of devoted followers. Their idyll takes an increasingly sinister turn. Mr. Wyck's grand scheme goes wrong, culminating in a night of horrific murders.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mixed feelings - you may love it - or not!
- By C. Vincent on 04-19-16
By: Beth Hahn
-
The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 79
Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
-
Diamond Head
- A Novel
- By: Cecily Wong
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Samantha Chen, Angela Lin, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 112
Told through the eyes of the Leongs' secret-keeping daughters and wives and spanning the Boxer Rebellion to Pearl Harbor to 1960s Hawaii, Diamond Head is a breathtakingly powerful tale of tragic love, shocking lies, poignant compromise, aching loss, heroic acts of sacrifice, and miraculous hope.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
.
- By Gina on 09-06-15
By: Cecily Wong
-
The Muse
- A Novel
- By: Jessie Burton
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Maria Elena Infantino
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 391
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 361
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 356
England, 1967. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mixed narration
- By Amy Fleury on 08-05-16
By: Jessie Burton
-
One Amazing Thing
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Purva Bedi, Soneela Nankani, Neil Shah
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 99
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 97
Winner of a Pushcart Prize for poetry and an American Book Award for her short stories, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores themes of women, immigration, and her vibrant Indian culture to great effect. Divakaruni expands on these ideas in One Amazing Thing, a project long in the making and full of electric prose.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
An ok way to kill some time
- By R.Reader on 11-07-12
-
Hum If You Don't Know the Words
- By: Bianca Marais
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 427
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 378
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 378
Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a 10-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred...until the Soweto Uprising.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Completely wrong accents
- By Debbie on 02-12-22
By: Bianca Marais
-
Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 300
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 254
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 258
Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
-
Funerals for Horses
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 104
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 106
Ella Ginsberg's brother, Simon, has disappeared. His clothing, shoes, and watch were found abandoned near a freight line track in Central California. His jockey shorts and wallet were never found. The police have no clue, and Simon's wife had no warning that anything was wrong. Ella takes off on foot across much of California and Arizona, thinking she can find Simon using nothing but her knowledge of the way he might think. Her search leads her to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Funerals for Horses
- By Carolyn Ferrell on 03-26-18
-
Russian Winter
- A Novel
- By: Daphne Kalotay
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 166
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 116
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 114
In Russian Winter, the beautiful debut novel by critically acclaimed writer Daphne Kalotay, a famed ballerina’s jewelry auction in Boston reveals long-held secrets of love and family, friendship and rivalry, harkening back to Stalinist Russia. Called “tender, passionate, and moving” by Jenna Blum, the New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us, Russian Winter is a perfect choice for fans of the novels of Debra Dean (The Madonnas of Leningrad), Ann Patchett (Bel Canto), and Ian McEwan (Atonement).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Read this review; Sophisticated and wonderful!
- By Cookie on 01-15-12
By: Daphne Kalotay
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 8,437
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,783
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Research scientist Dr. Marina Singh is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have disappeared in the Amazon while working on an extremely valuable new drug. The last person who was sent to find her died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infested jungle in hopes of finding answers to the questions about her friend's death, her company's future, and her own past.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Do yourself a favor and listen to this book!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 7,756
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,971
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One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother, Beverly - thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Patchett and Me--In-sympatico
- By Mel on 09-18-16
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The Patron Saint of Liars
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,176
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 972
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Story4 out of 5 stars 971
St. Elizabeth's is a lovely old place in a small town in Kentucky that used to be the beautiful Hotel Louisa. In the 1960s, it is a home for unwed mothers run by nuns. Life at St. Elizabeth's is not unpleasant, but it is temporary. All the pregnant women who come there will go home within the year. Except for Rose, a beautiful, mysterious woman, who is neither unwed nor alone. She is simply pregnant and doesn't want her husband or her mother to know. She plans to give her baby up because she knows she cannot be the mother the baby needs.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Incomplete
- By Deborah on 04-24-08
By: Ann Patchett
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Run
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,003
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 660
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Story4 out of 5 stars 659
It's a winter evening in Boston and the temperature has drastically dropped as a blizzard approaches the city. On this fateful night, Bernard Doyle plans to meet his two adopted sons, Tip the older, and more serious and Teddy, the affectionate dreamer, at a Harvard auditorium to hear a speech given by Jesse Jackson. Doyle, an Irish Catholic and former Boston mayor, has done his best to keep his two sons interested in politics, from the day he and his now deceased wife became their parents, through their childhoods, and now in their lives as college students.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Don't listen to the interview at the end.
- By S. Elder on 12-16-07
By: Ann Patchett
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The Magician's Assistant
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Karen Ziemba
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,343
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,893
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,891
When a gay Los Angeles magician named Parsifal dies suddenly, he leaves behind his heartbroken assistant, Sabine, and a secret past that leads her to Nebraska and a father she never knew he had.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Patchett Has It
- By Pamela Harvey on 06-10-08
By: Ann Patchett
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Truth & Beauty
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- By: Ann Patchett
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- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 835
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 566
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 563
The author of Bel Canto, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Orange Prize, and long-running New York Times best seller, turns to nonfiction in a moving chronicle of her decades-long friendship with the critically acclaimed and recently deceased author, Lucy Grealy.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A grim tale of unrecovered co-dependency
- By Charles on 04-05-05
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State of Wonder
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 8,437
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,783
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Story4 out of 5 stars 6,761
Research scientist Dr. Marina Singh is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have disappeared in the Amazon while working on an extremely valuable new drug. The last person who was sent to find her died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infested jungle in hopes of finding answers to the questions about her friend's death, her company's future, and her own past.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Do yourself a favor and listen to this book!
- By F. B. H. In TN on 06-10-11
By: Ann Patchett
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Commonwealth
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- Narrated by: Hope Davis
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 7,756
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,971
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Story4 out of 5 stars 6,970
One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother, Beverly - thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Patchett and Me--In-sympatico
- By Mel on 09-18-16
By: Ann Patchett
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The Patron Saint of Liars
- By: Ann Patchett
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,176
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 972
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Story4 out of 5 stars 971
St. Elizabeth's is a lovely old place in a small town in Kentucky that used to be the beautiful Hotel Louisa. In the 1960s, it is a home for unwed mothers run by nuns. Life at St. Elizabeth's is not unpleasant, but it is temporary. All the pregnant women who come there will go home within the year. Except for Rose, a beautiful, mysterious woman, who is neither unwed nor alone. She is simply pregnant and doesn't want her husband or her mother to know. She plans to give her baby up because she knows she cannot be the mother the baby needs.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Incomplete
- By Deborah on 04-24-08
By: Ann Patchett
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Run
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,003
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 660
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Story4 out of 5 stars 659
It's a winter evening in Boston and the temperature has drastically dropped as a blizzard approaches the city. On this fateful night, Bernard Doyle plans to meet his two adopted sons, Tip the older, and more serious and Teddy, the affectionate dreamer, at a Harvard auditorium to hear a speech given by Jesse Jackson. Doyle, an Irish Catholic and former Boston mayor, has done his best to keep his two sons interested in politics, from the day he and his now deceased wife became their parents, through their childhoods, and now in their lives as college students.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Don't listen to the interview at the end.
- By S. Elder on 12-16-07
By: Ann Patchett
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The Magician's Assistant
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- Narrated by: Karen Ziemba
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,343
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,893
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,891
When a gay Los Angeles magician named Parsifal dies suddenly, he leaves behind his heartbroken assistant, Sabine, and a secret past that leads her to Nebraska and a father she never knew he had.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Patchett Has It
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 566
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The author of Bel Canto, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Orange Prize, and long-running New York Times best seller, turns to nonfiction in a moving chronicle of her decades-long friendship with the critically acclaimed and recently deceased author, Lucy Grealy.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A grim tale of unrecovered co-dependency
- By Charles on 04-05-05
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This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,683
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,504
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,487
Blending literature and memoir, Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder and Bel Canto examines her deepest commitments: to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. Together, these essays, previously published in The Atlantic, Harper, Vogue, and The Washington Post, form a resonant portrait of a life lived with loyalty and with love.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining, engrossing, and elucidative essays
- By Bonny on 01-07-14
By: Ann Patchett
-
Taft
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: J.D. Jackson
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 108
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4 out of 5 stars 95
John Nickel is a black ex-jazz musician who only wants to be a good father. But when his son is taken away from him, he's left with nothing but the Memphis bar he manages. Then he hires Fay, a young white waitress, who has a volatile brother named Carl in tow. Nickel finds himself consumed with the idea of Taft - Fay and Carl's dead father - and begins to reconstruct the life of a man he never met. But his sympathies for these lost souls soon take him down a twisting path into the lives of strangers.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Patchett's Novel's all Available on Audio Now
- By Murmansk on 09-26-19
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Dutch House
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Tom Hanks
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55,080
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 49,207
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48,872
At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Not my favorite Patchett
- By Regina on 12-07-19
By: Ann Patchett
-
These Precious Days
- Essays
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,754
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,542
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,534
“Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Heartfelt Essays, Beautifully Performed
- By Brent Holcomb on 11-23-21
By: Ann Patchett
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What Now?
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
Based on her lauded commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College, this stirring essay by best-selling author Ann Patchett offers hope and inspiration for anyone at a crossroads, whether graduating, changing careers, or transitioning from one life stage to another. With wit and candor, Patchett tells her own story of attending college, graduating, and struggling with the inevitable question, "What now?"
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A commencement message for life
- By Annie M. on 06-17-08
By: Ann Patchett
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Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11,806
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 11,036
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11,022
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
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Escape Goat
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
The Farmer family has a big problem! Every day, their goat escapes, and every day, Mr. Farmer brings him back. So when things start to go awry on the farm, it must be the goat’s fault. Who’s to blame when Mrs. Farmer’s petunias are trampled? Or when all the cupcakes for Archie’s party disappear? And when the whole bucket of paint is spilled? Of course, everyone blames the goat! But is it really his fault?
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story
- By michelle on 11-07-20
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Bluest Eye
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,341
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,610
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,584
It is the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing
- By psiegler on 07-25-18
By: Toni Morrison
-
The Secret History
- A Read with Jenna Pick
- By: Donna Tartt
- Narrated by: Donna Tartt
- Length: 22 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 460
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 417
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 417
Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Horrible narration
- By M. Cardoso on 07-23-23
By: Donna Tartt
-
Lambslide
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 8
Nicolette Farmer is running for class president, and the rest of the Farmer family tells her she’ll win by a landslide. A pack of overconfident lambs mistakenly hear lambslide and can’t believe there’s a slide made just for them. But when they can’t find one on the farm, there’s only one thing left to do: take a vote! They campaign. They bargain. They ask all the other animals if they, too, would like a lambslide.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Short and Sweet. And good.
- By Susanna Goodin on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Kate Burton
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,958
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,640
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,603
A moving coming-of-age story set in the 1900s, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the lives of 11-year-old Francie Nolan, her younger brother Neely, and their parents, Irish immigrants who have settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Johnny Nolan is as loving and fanciful as they come, but he is also often drunk and out of work, unable to find his place in the land of opportunity.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Book: flawless. SKIP THE RECORDED INTRO!!
- By Wild Wise Woman on 09-04-11
By: Betty Smith
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A Little Life
- A Novel
- By: Hanya Yanagihara
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 32 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,872
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,734
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,733
A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma.
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1 out of 5 stars
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And the hits just keep on coming…
- By Mark T. Vernon on 01-04-23
By: Hanya Yanagihara
What listeners say about Bel Canto
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Linda
- 02-29-12
Rich, well written wonderful.
This book took my breath away. I held on to every word. The narration was complex enough to make me concentrate and focus on the characters. The story was beautiful, I could hear the song, feel the heat, the fright, the love that unfolded during their ordeal. I did not cry in the end for those that died. Terrorists and hostages alike were given the rare opportunity to truly live in the moment, to experience all that really matters in life.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Sherry
- 08-03-11
loved the book, loved the narration
beautiful book, the narration was great too, I love Anna Fields narration- she seems like a warm, family member is reading to me
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- A4153
- 03-17-06
Wonderful Prose
I was thoroughly engrossed by this book. I wished all the characters could have lived happily after. Only the postlogue was disappointing and did not ring true, but the rest was superb.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Melissa
- 10-13-20
An absolute joy
I don’t listen to much fiction, but I’m glad I took a chance on this one. Several beautifully poignant lines will stay with me long after the title is back in the queue. Take a few hours and listen to this one slowly. Savor it.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amanda Surratt
- 01-20-20
Production error
In the interest of being helpful: A few lines are repeated when there are about 30 minutes left.
Performance was very good.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Judy
- 01-04-17
Great story, starts really slow...
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, AFTER I got to the middle of the book. It started slow and really dragged on and on.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Arnold C. Macdonald
- 08-23-14
Good story well-told, unfortunate narration
An interesting, thoughtful, and often elegantly written story of an ironically botched hostage taking provides a good commentary on power in relationships, the power of art, and class in society, all without being too heavy-handed. The ending is a bit abrupt. The narrator sounded bored as she read, and it was hard for me to stay engaged until I increased the speed of the playback on my iPod. It's a good book if you hang in there; speeding it up should help.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- another know it all
- 02-08-17
beautiful story
wonderfully done character development. a bit unbelievable but I was quite willing to believe, for a while. no mystery, kind of a love story, kinda not.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Vera
- 06-28-17
As Good as I've ever read
Realistic,thoughtful, charming, clever, brilliant characters and plot line. What more can you ask for. This is paced perfectly. Hostage taking story is usually from the viewpoint of the FBI but here is a story that brilliantly allows the reader inste into this desparate action.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lee Wilkins
- 03-26-13
Very enjoyable story
The author spent great effort and attention to developing the characters in this book. I gather from other hostage nonfiction articles and books that some patterns and relationships develop, but this story brings that dynamic to life. The narrator added feeling to the story, as well. I'd strongly recommend this book.
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