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Dear Miss Metropolitan
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
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Six critically acclaimed, best-selling, and award-winning authors bring the glowing warmth and electricity of Black teens in love to this charming, hilarious, and heartwarming novel that shines a bright light through the dark. This full-cast audio edition is performed by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Dion Graham, Imani Parks, Jordan Cobb, Shayna Small, A.J Beckles, and Audible Hall-of-Famer Bahni Turpin.
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Publisher's Summary
2021 NPR Best Book of the Year
Introducing an extraordinary and original writer whose first novel explores the intersections of grief and rage, personal strength and healing - and what we owe one another.
Fern seeks refuge from her mother’s pill-popping and boyfriends via Soul Train; Gwen finds salvation in the music of Prince, much to her congregation’s dismay; and Jessenia, miles ahead of her classmates at her gifted and talented high school, is a brainy and precocious enigma. None of this matter to Boss Man, the monster who abducts them and holds them captive in a dilapidated house in Queens. On the night they are finally rescued, throngs line the block gawking and claiming ignorance. Among them is lifetime resident Miss Metropolitan, advice columnist for the local weekly, but how could anyone who fancies herself a “newspaperwoman” have missed a horror story unfolding right across the street? And why is it that only two of the three girls - now women - were found?
The mystery haunts the two remaining “victim girls” who are subjected to the further trauma of becoming symbols as they continuously adapt to their present and their unrelenting past. Like Emma Donoghue’s Room, Carolyn Ferrell’s Dear Miss Metropolitan gives voice to characters surviving unimaginable tragedy. Inspired by real events, the story is inventively revealed before, during, and after the ordeal in this singular and urgent novel.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic Reviews
PEN Literary Award - Finalist, 2022
NPR Best Book of the Year, 2021

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Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Barbara S
- 07-19-21
Bahni Turpin is brilliant!
I listened to “Dear Miss Metropolitan” by Carolyn Ferrell, narrated by the fabulous Bahni Turpin. It is noted that the audio comes with a PDF of photos that I’m assuming Ferrell used in the printed version of her novel. Some of the photos are haunting in many ways, and some are “artsy”. I looked at them after I read the story, so I cannot comment on the relevance of the photos during the story.
That said, wow. This is a story that was inspired by the Cleveland kidnappings of women who were held and tortured for over 10 years without neighbors notice. It’s “the house of horrors” story that was in the news for a week? It was a story that captured our attention, and then we forgot. Ferrell explores the lasting impact on the women involved, the neighbors who turned a blind eye, and society in general.
Ferrell makes the girls sassy, which is the main personality attribute that keeps them alive. Thankfully, Ferrell has the girls narrate their time/torture in almost lyrical prose form. It’s nauseating, what occurs to the girls. Their coping mechanisms are amazing.
In this story, one of the neighbors writes for the Metropolitan newspaper. As the girls are discovered, emaciated and naked, the Metropolitan employee aka Miss Metropolitan is concerned about her lack of investigating skills. All the neighbors are shocked and appalled that this happened right under their noses. I’m not sure why Ferrell entitled her story as such, because not much of the story centers around this employee.
To survive such a horror, a person must have a healthy abundance of resilience. Ferrell provides the reader with the girl’s lives and personalities before their abduction and after their release. Plus, she showcases their friendship while being held captive. The girls bold and cheeky personalities allow the reader to keep with the story. I found a deep compassion for these girls; I grew to adore them and their responses to their predicament. I think I would have curled up and gone into shock. I certainly don’t think I could have survived what they did. Ferrell provides these girls with an almost inhuman ability to withstand horror.
I am happy that I listened to the story. I’ve read reviews where the structure of the book is difficult to read. Bahni Turpin’s performance made listening to the story an interesting experience. The cringe worthy parts are read with a lyrical style that made it easy to endure and interesting without wanting to quit listening. It’s difficult to explain, but I think Turpin made it a story that resonates without being appalled to the point of incompletion of the story. In other words, she made it endurable.
I found this to be a very interesting consideration of deep trauma and what it takes to survive it. Also, I found Ferrell’s exploration of society’s reaction to such horrors very interesting. She includes a popular TV Dr who wants to interview the girls (a Dr. Phil sort of personality) very realistically. Plus, she explores how some girls can go missing and no one really looks or is concerned. As a society, do we conveniently ignore all those missing children/people reports?
I found this very moving and to be an important exploration of how evil can occur right before our eyes.
5 people found this helpful
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- JazzMusicFan
- 07-06-21
Stunning, gripping, shamefully real
This story is told with such care and tenderness, yet the “horrors” that are the victim girls lives are never hidden. Somehow the author provides hope to the victim girls, hope during and hope after. All the characters, main and ancillary are so real. Every word is essential, nothing is superfluous. The author handles this delicate subject with artistry.
The narrator is fabulous. A perfect choice!
3 people found this helpful
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- Noah
- 01-06-22
Remarkable
The writing is just gorgeous and funny and heartbreaking and disturbing. The performance is exceptional - not easy with this free flowing almost poetry. It is glorious.
1 person found this helpful
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- Carol I. Meeds
- 08-15-21
can I return it>
one taste was enough to bore me. It is dishointed and unappealing More like modern poetry than literature, Do not want it
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- Lisa M. Franklin
- 08-15-21
Ugh!
The narrator was fantastic!! I wouldn't have been able to read the hard copy without listening to the audio version. I tried. The writing style was disjointed and hard to follow. Wish I could get that 11 hours of my life back. No one in my book club was able to finish the book. Disappointing at best.
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- Sharyn/Rick
- 08-07-21
Great, gone wrong
It's very likely I'm not smart enough to appreciate this book. I really marveled at the writing which was quite incredible but all in all it was very hard to follow and if there were lessons to be learned, I missed them. I don't know how to go about giving this book its due which is probably richly deserved but in the end I didn't like it.
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All the Children Are Home
- A Novel
- By: Patry Francis
- Narrated by: Kimberly Woods, Nora Hunter, Mia Barron, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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When Dahlia decided to become a foster mother, she had a few caveats: no howling newborns, no delinquents, and above all, no girls. A harrowing incident years before left her a virtual prisoner in her own home, forever wary of the heartbreak and limitation of a girl’s life. Eleven years after they began fostering, Dahlia and Louie consider their family complete, but when the social worker begs them to take a young girl who has been horrifically abused and neglected, they can’t say no.
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Great Potential, but the Ending Fell Flat
- By Brande Fraley on 05-03-22
By: Patry Francis
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Ordinary Hazards
- A Memoir
- By: Nikki Grimes
- Narrated by: Nikki Grimes
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night - and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki's notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this accessible and inspiring memoir, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards - ordinary and extraordinary - of her life.
By: Nikki Grimes
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The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
- By: Deesha Philyaw
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church's double standards and their own needs and passions.
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An Honest, Modern-Day Telling
- By Jenee' Yvette Skinner on 01-06-21
By: Deesha Philyaw
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Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All
- By: Laura Ruby
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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When Frankie’s mother died and her father left her and her siblings at an orphanage in Chicago, it was supposed to be only temporary - just long enough for him to get back on his feet and be able to provide for them once again. That’s why Frankie's not prepared for the day that he arrives for his weekend visit with a new woman on his arm and out-of-state train tickets in his pocket. Now, Frankie and her sister, Toni, are abandoned alongside so many other orphans - two young, unwanted women doing everything they can to survive.
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Boring, boring, boring
- By Marie J. on 08-20-21
By: Laura Ruby
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Taína
- By: Ernesto Quiñonez
- Narrated by: Daniel José Molina
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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When Julio, a teenager living in Spanish Harlem, hears that Taina, a pregnant 15-year-old from his high school claims to be a virgin, he decides to believe her. Julio has a history of strange visions and his blind and unrequited love for Taina will unleash a whirlpool of emotions that will bring him to question his hard-working Puerto Rican mother and his communist Ecuadorian father, his beliefs and even the building blocks of modern science (after seeing the conception of Taina’s baby as a revolution in nature).
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Great
- By Melissa Vega on 08-10-20
By: Ernesto Quiñonez
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Love After Love
- A Novel
- By: Ingrid Persaud
- Narrated by: Ingrid Persaud
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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After Betty Ramdin’s husband dies, she invites a colleague, Mr. Chetan, to move in with her and her son, Solo. Over time, the three become a family, loving each other deeply and depending upon one another. Then, one fateful night, Solo overhears Betty confiding in Mr. Chetan and learns a secret that plunges him into torment. Solo flees Trinidad for New York to carve out a lonely existence as an undocumented immigrant, and Mr. Chetan remains the singular thread holding mother and son together.
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Great book
- By Alicia J. on 09-19-20
By: Ingrid Persaud
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Blanche on the Lam
- Blanche White Series, Book 1
- By: Barbara Neely
- Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Blanche White is a plump, feisty, middle-aged African-American housekeeper working for the genteel rich in North Carolina. But when an employer stiffs her, and her checks bounce, she goes on the lam, hiding out as a maid for a wealthy family at their summer home. That plan goes awry when there's a murder and Blanche becomes the prime suspect. So she's forced to use her savvy, her sharp wit, and her old-girl network of domestic workers to discover the truth and save her own skin.
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Beautifully read, and probably provocative to some
- By Mary M. Campbell on 05-14-18
By: Barbara Neely
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The Accidentals
- A Novel
- By: Minrose Gwin
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In the fall of 1957, Olivia McAlister is living in Opelika, Mississippi, caring for her two girls, June and Grace, and her husband, Holly. She dreams of living a much larger life - seeing the world and returning to her wartime job at a landing boat factory in New Orleans. As she watches over the birds in her yard, Olivia feels like an “accidental” - a migratory bird blown off course. When Olivia becomes pregnant again, she makes a fateful decision, compelling Grace, June, and Holly to cope in different ways.
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Why???
- By Jojo on 10-04-20
By: Minrose Gwin
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Little Girl Lost
- A Foundlings Novel
- By: Wendy Corsi Staub
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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May 1968 - On a murky pre-dawn Mother’s Day, sinister secrets play out miles apart in New York City. In Harlem, a church janitor finds a newborn in a basket. In Brooklyn, an elusive serial killer prowls slumbering families, leaving a trail of blood. These seemingly unrelated lives - and deaths - are destined to intersect on a distant, blood-soaked day. October, 1987 - Reeling from shocking personal discoveries, two strangers navigate a world where nothing is as it seems.
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Not Up To Staub's Standards
- By Gracie on 12-29-18
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Girl Who Fell from the Sky
- By: Heidi Durrow
- Narrated by: Karen Murray, Emily Bauer, Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The daughter of a Danish immigrant and a black G.I., Rachel survives a family tragedy only to face new challenges. Sent to live with her strict African-American grandmother in a racially divided Northwest city, she must suppress her grief and reinvent herself in a mostly black community. A beauty with light brown skin and blue eyes, she attracts much attention in her new home. The world wants to see her as either black or white, but that's not how she sees herself.
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meh
- By Victoria on 04-05-10
By: Heidi Durrow
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Speaking of Summer
- By: Kalisha Buckhanon
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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On a cold December evening, Autumn Spencer's twin sister Summer walks to the roof of their shared Harlem brownstone and is never seen again - the door to the roof is locked, and no footprints are found. Faced with authorities indifferent to another missing woman, Autumn must pursue answers on her own, all while grieving her mother's recent death. With her friends and neighbors, Autumn pretends to hold up through the crisis. She falls into an affair with Summer's boyfriend to cope with the disappearance of a woman they both loved.
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Too long
- By Ambee on 02-26-23
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And the Bridge Is Love
- A Novel
- By: David Biro
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Every week for twenty years, three friends meet in a leafy enclosure under the Verrazzano Bridge: Gertie, a feisty Norwegian divorcée and former athlete; Maria, a family-obsessed Italian American widow; and Corinna, a book-loving, hash-smoking eccentric. Together they sit and watch the sea as the ships - and the last years of their lives - sail by. On the eve of Gertie’s eightieth birthday, they realize that time is running out. Gertie decides she wants to travel the world. Maria secretly plots to reunite Gertie and Corinna with their estranged families. And Corinna falls in love.
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Awful
- By Stray1 on 12-15-21
By: David Biro
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A Piece of Normal
- By: Maddie Dawson
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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“You know what people really need? Somebody who will listen hard and then find a way to tell them, ‘It’s not all your fault. It’s going to work out fine. Don’t give up.’” So advice columnist ‘Dear Lily’ Brown deeply believes. But Lily could write a letter to herself, asking what to do about an ex-husband who still wants her dating advice, how to redecorate the family home she’s kept exactly the same since her parents died tragically young, how to move on with her strangely becalmed life...and what to do when your wild-child estranged sister storms back into town.
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Very Enjoyable Story
- By Debbie Cortina on 04-27-22
By: Maddie Dawson
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In Persuasion Nation
- By: George Saunders
- Narrated by: George Saunders
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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From the number one New York Times best-selling author of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Lincoln in the Bardo and the story collection Tenth of December, a 2013 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction. Talking candy bars, baby geniuses, disappointed mothers, castrated dogs, interned teenagers, and moral fables - all in this hilarious and heartbreaking collection from an author hailed as the heir to Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Pynchon.
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Disappointing
- By Cynthia on 06-14-21
By: George Saunders
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It All Comes Back to You
- By: Beth Duke
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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It's 1947. War's over, cherry-print dresses, parking above the city lights, swing dancing. Beautiful, 17-year-old Violet lives in a perfect world. Everybody loves her. In 2012, she's still beautiful, charming, and surrounded by admirers. Veronica "Ronni" Johnson, licensed practical nurse and aspiring writer, meets the captivating Violet in the assisted living facility where Violet requires no assistance, just lots of male attention. When she dies, she leaves Ronni a very generous bequest - only if Ronni completes a book about her life within one year.
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Don't waste your time
- By carolynn on 02-10-20
By: Beth Duke
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The Kindest Lie
- A Novel
- By: Nancy Johnson
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to—and was forced to leave behind—when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that she must make peace with the past. Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair.