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The Painted Girls
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Julia Whelan, Danny Cambell
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
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Publisher's summary
Paris, 1878: Following the death of their father from overwork, the three van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without their father’s wages, and with what little their mother earns as a laundress disappearing down the absinthe bottle, eviction from their single boarding room seems imminent. With few options for work available for a girl, bookish 14-year-old Marie and her younger sister Charlotte are dispatched to the Paris Opera, where for a scant seven francs a week, the girls will be trained to enter its famous ballet. Their older sister, stubborn and insolent 17-year-old Antoinette, dismissed from the ballet, finds herself launched into the orbit of Émile Zola and the influence of his notorious naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir - and into the arms of a young man who may turn out to be a murderer.
Marie throws herself into dance, hoping her natural gift and hard work will enable her to escape her circumstances, but the competition to become one of the famous étoiles at whose feet flowers are thrown nightly is fierce, and Marie is forced to turn elsewhere to make money. Cripplingly self-conscious about her low-class appearance, she nonetheless finds herself modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized in his controversial sculpture Little Dancer, Aged 14. Antoinette, meanwhile, descends lower and lower in society and must make the choice between honest labor as a laundress and the more profitable avenues available to a young woman in the Paris demimonde - that is unless her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie derails her completely.
Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is ultimately a tale of two remarkable girls rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of "civilized society". In the end, each will come to realize that her individual salvation, if not survival, lies with the other.
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Jane Eliot wears an iron mask. It's the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin. When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a “delicate situation”—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.
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Light Fantasy With A Compelling Story
- By Jeff Jackson on 11-14-12
By: Tina Connolly
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The Passion of Artemisia
- By: Susan Vreeland
- Narrated by: Gigi Bermingham
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Set against the glorious backdrops of Rome, Florence, and Genoa, and Naples, peopled with historical characters and filled with the details of the life of a 17th-century painter, The Passion of Artemisia is the story of Gentileschi's struggle to find love, forgiveness, and wholeness through her art.
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Disappointing
- By Kay on 05-21-03
By: Susan Vreeland
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The Dressmaker's Dowry
- A Novel
- By: Meredith Jaeger
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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For listeners of Lucinda Riley, Sarah Jio, or Susan Meissner, this gripping historical debut novel tells the story of two women: one an immigrant seamstress who disappears from San Francisco's gritty streets in 1876 and the other a young woman in the present day who must delve into the secrets of her husband's wealthy family only to discover that she and the missing dressmaker might be connected in unexpected ways.
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Even two good narrators can't redeem this
- By RueRue on 03-27-17
By: Meredith Jaeger
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The Affair of the Porcelain Dog
- By: Jess Faraday
- Narrated by: Philip Battley
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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London, 1889. For Ira Adler, former rent-boy and present plaything of crime lord Cain Goddard, stealing back the statue from Goddard's blackmailer should have been a doddle. But inside the statue is evidence that could put Goddard away for a long time under the sodomy laws, and everyone's after it, including Ira's bitter ex, Dr. Timothy Lazarus.
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Brilliant book, Phenomenal audio experience!
- By 'Nathan on 04-24-13
By: Jess Faraday
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The Nurse’s Secret
- By: Amanda Skenandore
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In the slums of 1880s New York, Una Kelly has grown up to be a rough-and-tumble grifter, able to filch a pocketbook in five seconds flat. But when another con-woman pins her for a murder she didn't commit, Una is forced to flee. Running from the police, Una lies her way into an unlikely refuge: the nursing school at Bellevue Hospital.
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Predictable
- By Lorraine E. Collins on 07-05-22
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Brentwood's Ward
- By: Michelle Griep
- Narrated by: Pam Turlow
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Place an unpolished lawman named Nicholas Brentwood as guardian over a spoiled, pompous beauty named Emily Payne and what do you get? More trouble than Brentwood bargains for. She is determined to find a husband this season. He just wants the large fee her father will pay him to help his ailing sister. After a series of dire mishaps, both their desires are thwarted, but each discovers that no matter what, God is in charge.
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Action-packed and fun, but a little too much for me at times
- By Mommynificent on 04-01-20
By: Michelle Griep
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The Irish Healer
- A Novel
- By: Nancy Herriman
- Narrated by: Amanda McKnight
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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1830s London is rich with promise ... and fraught with peril. Rachel Dunne and James Edmunds are about to discover that love is too. Rachel Dunne has always been a healer ... until she’s accused of causing the death of a child under her care. Acquitted but shunned, she flees Ireland in search of a new life, convinced that she’ll be fine so long as no one in London learns of her disgrace - or forces her to ever sit at another sickbed.
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should have a Christian/Religion tag
- By Wendy on 07-06-12
By: Nancy Herriman
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The Little Giant of Aberdeen County
- By: Tiffany Baker
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Truly Plaice, an overly large and ungainly girl, is the polar opposite of her sister, Serena Jane, the epitome of feminine perfection. With their parents dead, Truly and Serena Jane are separated: Serena Jane to live a life of privilege as the future May Queen and Truly to live on the outskirts of town, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation.
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meh...
- By Victoria on 02-25-09
By: Tiffany Baker
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The Magician's Lie
- A Novel
- By: Greer Macallister
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Nick Podehl
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Too Fantastic
- By Ms. Lucy on 02-22-15
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The School of Mirrors
- A Novel
- By: Eva Stachniak
- Narrated by: Ell Potter
- Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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During the reign of Louis XV, impoverished but lovely teenage girls from all over France are sent to a discreet villa in the town of Versailles. Overseen by the King’s favorite mistress, Madame de Pompadour, they will be trained as potential courtesans for the King. When the time is right, each girl is smuggled into the palace of Versailles, with its legendary Hall of Mirrors.
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Fascinating but pedophilia nonetheless.
- By Barbara W. on 05-10-22
By: Eva Stachniak
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12 Days at Bleakly Manor
- Once Upon a Dickens Christmas, Book 1
- By: Michelle Griep
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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England, 1851: When Clara Chapman receives an intriguing invitation to spend Christmas at an English manor home, she is hesitant yet feels compelled to attend - for if she remains the duration of the 12 day celebration, she is promised a sum of 1,000 pounds. But is she walking into danger? It appears so, especially when she comes face to face with one of the other guests - her former fiancé, Benjamin Lane.
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Delightful Dickens Mystery!
- By A+D on 11-29-18
By: Michelle Griep
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Jerusalem Maiden
- By: Talia Carner
- Narrated by: Lise Bruneau
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, a young Orthodox Jewish woman in the holy city of Jerusalem is expected to marry and produce many sons to help hasten the Messiah's arrival. While the feisty Esther Kaminsky understands her obligations, her artistic talent inspires her to secretly explore worlds outside her religion, to dream of studying in Paris - and to believe that God has a special destiny for her. When tragedy strikes her family, Esther views it as a warning from an angry God....
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No dreaming, No painting, No thinking . . .
- By Debbie on 04-18-15
By: Talia Carner
What listeners say about The Painted Girls
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lisa
- 03-03-20
Casandra Campbell
Detest Campbell’s rhythm of speech—especially around consonants. True over many books.
Loved Julia Whelan immensely however.
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- Ray Stewart
- 09-10-14
Sad Lives
What a horrible time in history for women. Painful to read this historical fiction about the lives of the dancers and opera performers during the time Degas was painting them. This author easily transported me into the lives of three sisters struggling to succeed during the late1800's.
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- Susan N.
- 02-27-21
Intriguing look at history
Very captivating novel. It highlighted the strife for women and the poor. I could not quit listening.
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- Beth Anne
- 02-02-13
Stellar Listen, even with semi-flawed read
what a well imagined and written story. you don't have to be a fan of Degas to enjoy the story "behind" his ballet paintings...thought, it's amazing how author wound a tale of sisterhood and misery and mistrust and love all based on images that Degas produced.
i was truly enthralled by each of the sister's stories (as they were told in alternate chapters), and of course the culminating final moments of their childhood stories were chilling and touching and exciting.
i'm assuming that the reader was supposed to have moments of falling deeply in love with the sisters, then feeling anger towards them, then sympathy, pity...running through the gamut of emotions for (and with) each of them. of course i had a "favorite" sister. whom i was rooting for and empathizing with and with whom i wanted to choose the right path for success.
i will confess, i did not like the way that Antoinette's narrator read her part. it took me a few chapters to separate myself from her reading of it...and just hear the words, not her reading. if it was solely narrated by her, I'm not sure i'd have gotten through it...and that would have been a real shame, as this is one of the best stories i've listened to in a while. Marie's narrator, however, was spot on.
i really truly loved this story. in itself it felt like a painted picture...which makes the writing a success.
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- Mel
- 02-03-13
Only a Pastel Version of the *Beautiful Era*
A beautiful carving is made at the expense of all that is thrown away...a thought that describes this story of the young *ballet rat* that poses for Edgar Degas's sculpture, (Little Dancer of Fourteen) her family, and the Belle Epoque period of France. Behind the beauty of the opera, ballet, and the arts, is the contrast of the discarded and impoverished, their hard and sad lives of struggling to make a living.
The Belle Epoque.."the beautiful era"...Van Gogh, Gaugin, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, the birth of Impressionism, the Ballet Russes, Baudelaire, Debussy, Ravel...a primordial soup of creativity in an amazing time. But Painted Girls views only the underbelly of Paris, through the eyes of 3 sisters struggling to pay rent and buy bread--the artists to them are men or patrons who will pay money for *services.* With such a vibrant and creative climate, the author never uses the full palette available, and paints only a watery view of Paris at its artistic height. It ends up being a story that could be told in almost any era.
I thought the first half of the book slow and almost juvenile, told through the younger girl's point of view; then the older sister starts to narrate, and the book quickly goes blue. Definitely not a YA novel! The debauchery the girls have to put up with just to make a living is sad to listen to, and even worse, their acceptance of that fact of life. The focus shifts to the older sister's infatuation with a young man--with all the charm of Bill Sikes--accused of murder. Degas makes just a brief appearance (his sculpture of the girl obviously gained its appreciation after his death), and while a few ballets of the times are mentioned, the listener hears more about the barre work than the lavish productions or famous dancers.
To the patient listener, there is a story, and even some historical bits, but it was much less than what I had anticipated (the 3* overall should probably be 2*)--even with the author's research, and so very slow. The narrator does a good job with the pronunciation of French names, as well as with the different female characters; her attempt at the male voices could have been spared by using Danny Campbell for all of the male parts instead of just the interludes...miniscule issue.
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22 people found this helpful
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- Carol
- 01-24-13
The Painted Girls
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
I would not recommend this book. It failed to hold my interest and I couldn't wait for the
end to come.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
No
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2 people found this helpful
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- Janna Wong Healy
- 07-09-14
DREARY AND DEPRESSING
There are some things about this novel about poor sisters living in the slums of Paris in the late 1800s that I really liked. For example, the author paints a vivid picture of the place and time so we can almost feel what Marie and Antoinette are going through. When Marie works so hard to pass her ballet exam to move up to the cadre, the reader can feel the poor girl's fatigue. Basically, I liked the story (up to a point) and got caught up in their dramatic situations -- how they both had to work so hard for so little; how they had to deal with their father's death and their mother's alcoholism; how Antoinette is so in love with the loser Emile that you want to just shake her; and how Marie succumbs to her patron, Mr. Lefevre, which nearly ruins her life and almost destroys her future.
The author's senses of verisimilitude of the time and place feels spot-on.
But, there is no joy in this book and, most importantly, very little hope for these characters. It is dreary, depressing and dramatic. It is also somewhat repetitious, as you see similar scenes play out at different times again and again. If the book were shorter, the dreariness wouldn't feel quite so overwhelming. But, it is long and all-encompassing and soon becomes oppressive.
The book is nicely written; the author's use of language is superb. And, she creates an environment that is realistic and characters that you feel for. But, eventually, it was too oppressive an experience. I wanted to like this more than I did...but I just didn't.
The narration was superb, though. I really loved the voices of the two sisters; they were distinct and yet had similar tones.
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1 person found this helpful
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- lynn
- 06-05-15
Slow start but stick with.
I thought this was a slow starter. To the point were I had to push myself to listen to one more chapter or I would move on to a new story. I am quite glad I stayed with it. I can't even say what I liked about this story .... I just liked it more and more as the story went on. Maybe it's that I have three daughters and can appreciate the different personalities that create a synergy that is difficult to explain but is clearly felt .
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 12-29-21
Touching, Informative
A time period of which I knew very little, this tale of two Paris sisters in the 1870s was informative & touching. Antoinette & Marie's ever-present poverty mixed with opportunities for dance, work & love pull at your heart while the details & truths from historical murderers & their trials, Zola's popular naturalism theory (thieves & murderers are born, not made) and even the famous Degas' dancing girl paintings & statues generate disbelief of history's harsh realities. Read aloud by three talented artists, this well-researched & cleverly-connected story was an addictive listen and now I want to study more closely Degas' art and delve into the reform movements of the late 19th century.
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- Susan
- 09-14-13
Took a while to get hooked, but landed a whopper.
Did not grab my attention initially but once it did I loved it. Great character development in a historical setting with literary liberties
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