Abide with Me

A Novel

By: E. Lynn Harris

Narrated by: Mirron Willis

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Dare to dream--Since the publication of E. Lynn Harris's stunning debut novel, Invisible Life, millions of readers have laughed, cried, and anguished along with his unforgettable cast of characters. Now, his growing legions of fans will finally find out what happens in this delicious conclusion to the "Invisible Life" trilogy.

In Abide with Me, Harris returns with the utmost finesse to his signature themes of love, friendship, and family, and craftily guides his irresistible characters through new challenges and heartbreaks, and ultimately to redemption through love.

At the end of Just As I Am, Raymond Tyler, Jr., was beginning a relationship with Trent, a fraternity brother from his college days, while Nicole had found love with Jared, Raymond's buddy from Atlanta.

As Abide with Me opens, Raymond and Trent are settled in Seattle, where Trent's career as an architect has blossomed and Raymond's law practice is booming. All seems well. Then, late one night, Raymond gets a call from a United States Senator that threatens everything he's built.

Raymond, facing a crisis of faith, travels to New York hoping for the support of his best friend, Jared, who's moved North after five years in Atlanta. His wife, Nicole, is performing in a revival of Dreamgirls, her lifelong fantasy at last coming true. Nicole is thrilled to return to the stage, but when things start to go wrong, her young and beautiful understudy, Yancey Harrington Braxton, steps into the spotlight a little too smoothly. And Nicole, far from achieving her dream, is suddenly forced to reevaluate her life and her marriage.

Back, too, are the other beloved inhabitants of Harris's world: Raymond's family; the sexy and dangerous gray-eyed sportscaster and ex-football player, John Basil Henderson; and Peaches, the spirited owner of the Harlem shop Cuts 'n' Cobblers and the mother of Raymond's late friend Kyle.

In Abide with Me, Harris once again encourages his readers to live, love, and dream. His masterful storytelling, wit, and sensitivity permeate this enormously satisfying novel, which is both a tribute to his loyal following and an invitation to a new audience to enter his irresistible world.

His "unique spin on the ever-fascinating topics of identity, class, intimacy, sexuality, and friendship" (Vibe) will once more put E. Lynn Harris at the top of the bestseller lists.

Listen to more in the Invisible Life trilogy.

©1999 E. Lynn Harris (P)2011 Random House

Quite unforgettable

A cautionary tale for men and women
I would recommend the E LYN Harris books

Great things will happen

Great things are happening in this book, one thing I like is that they are keeping the spirit of Kyle alive and the story flows from the book before. In this book Raymond's career is still blossoming and he is now in a strong stable relationship with Trent his fraternity brother. Nicole is married to Jared and they have moved back to New York for her to continue with her career of acting. Some of the old characters are in this book such as Peaches and Basil who are now main characters, and there are a few new characters such as Yansie the young new understudy of Nicole's. Some characters are faced with decisions that will have them taking a hard look at their life and their past. Basil is one character that I like, his story is so crazy that it makes you emotional for him, but with the assistance of his therapist he is slowing making sense and figuring out how to deal with a horrible past experience that has damaged him internally and in the end he changes for the better and he finds love and family where he least expected it. When things start going down hill for Nicole, she is forced to also take a look at her life and make some decisions about her career and her marriage, as well as the people that she calls friends. Nicole is forced to evaluate not only her current situation and her future but also her past in the end her decisions make her feel better and she comes out of her depression a better woman. Raymond also goes through a little bit of the same thing with his career and love life, but he also faces issues that he has been running from since he decided to tell his parents of his alternative lifestyle, in the end he decides to stand up for himself, fight for what he love, have the tough conversations that he has been dreading having and start living his life for himself and not for others. I like this book it has a different twist from the other two books, but in the end it is still good and each character comes out learning and being better.

ANOTHER FINE JOB

Mirron Willis is absolutely & wonderfully talented! I can't get enough of him. The book is also wonderful, and I look forward to more to come. For me, if the narrator isn't likeable, no matter how good the book, I just can't listen through it. Thank you, Mr. Willis! Stella

True joy to finish the trilogy

I wish they would make a movie of the series! E. Lynn Harris was so bold for his time and his voice is still one of the few out there.

Finally finished the trilogy!

Awesome book!!!!! Definitely recommend the series. The narrator is good and I really enjoy the voices that he makes lol

Excellent final ending

This was such an amazing end for this trilogy.
Mr. Harris was a phenomenal author.

Before Coming Out

I initially read this when I was in college. That was in the 90s. This was my very first foray into audiobooks. Wonderful book and even better when read in succession.

great read!

l loved it! Can't wait to read the next installment. The characters are so real.

Like the book

Every several years I get the urge to reread his books as I like them that much. This time I thought I use unused credits to listen. My only knock, I really didn't like the vocal tones as he shifted from character to character. I would have preferred he not shift tone.

OMG…

I LOVE these characters! ALL OF THEM! If you think that reading E. Lynn Harris’ books is an experience, try LISTENING!

It has been over 20 years since I first read these books as a young adult. I had FORGOTTEN how engaging and dramatic these characters were! And now, being an older adult with more life experience under my belt, I appreciate them even more.

What writer Mr. Harris was. He has really left us too soon.