-
Miss Benson's Beetle
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.25
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Jim Broadbent
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.
-
-
Wonderful Walkabout
- By FanB14 on 07-01-13
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
Perfect
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Paul Rhys
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A spellbinding novel that will resonate with readers of Mark Haddon, Louise Erdrich, and John Irving, Perfect tells the story of a young boy who is thrown into the murky, difficult realities of the adult world with far-reaching consequences.
-
-
Touching and Fragile - Once Untangled.
- By Amanda on 01-19-14
By: Rachel Joyce
-
West with Giraffes
- A Novel
- By: Lynda Rutledge
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to become Southern California’s first giraffes. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow.
-
-
Gritty, sweet, amazing, sad, uplifting
- By FL Bird Woman on 02-19-21
By: Lynda Rutledge
-
Remarkably Bright Creatures
- A Novel
- By: Shelby Van Pelt
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Michael Urie
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a luminous debut novel about a widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance 30 years ago.
-
-
Hidden gem, incredible narration!
- By Christine T on 05-17-22
By: Shelby Van Pelt
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Jim Broadbent
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.
-
-
Wonderful Walkabout
- By FanB14 on 07-01-13
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
Perfect
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Paul Rhys
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A spellbinding novel that will resonate with readers of Mark Haddon, Louise Erdrich, and John Irving, Perfect tells the story of a young boy who is thrown into the murky, difficult realities of the adult world with far-reaching consequences.
-
-
Touching and Fragile - Once Untangled.
- By Amanda on 01-19-14
By: Rachel Joyce
-
West with Giraffes
- A Novel
- By: Lynda Rutledge
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to become Southern California’s first giraffes. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow.
-
-
Gritty, sweet, amazing, sad, uplifting
- By FL Bird Woman on 02-19-21
By: Lynda Rutledge
-
Remarkably Bright Creatures
- A Novel
- By: Shelby Van Pelt
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Michael Urie
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a luminous debut novel about a widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance 30 years ago.
-
-
Hidden gem, incredible narration!
- By Christine T on 05-17-22
By: Shelby Van Pelt
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
The Big Finish
- By: Brooke Fossey
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Duffy Sinclair, life boils down to one simple thing: maintaining his residence at the idyllic Centennial Assisted Living. Without it, he’s destined for the roach-infested nursing home down the road. So, he keeps his shenanigans to the bare minimum with the help of his straight-laced best friend and roommate, Carl Upton. But when Carl’s granddaughter Josie climbs through their bedroom window with booze on her breath and a black eye, Duffy’s faced with trouble that’s sticking around and hard to hide.
-
-
SO GOOD!
- By Berit☀️✨ on 04-17-20
By: Brooke Fossey
-
The Music Shop
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Steven Hartley
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1988. On a dead-end street in a run-down suburb there is a music shop that stands small and brightly lit, jam-packed with records of every kind. Like a beacon, the shop attracts the lonely, the sleepless, and the adrift; Frank, the shop's owner, has a way of connecting his customers with just the piece of music they need. Then, one day, into his shop comes a beautiful young woman, Ilse Brauchmann, who asks Frank to teach her about music.
-
-
Hallelujah . . Hallelujah!!
- By Janice on 01-05-18
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Britt-Marie Was Here
- A Novel
- By: Fredrik Backman
- Narrated by: Joan Walker
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Britt-Marie can't stand mess. She eats dinner at precisely the right time and starts her day at six in the morning because only lunatics wake up later than that. And she is not passive-aggressive. Not in the least. It's just that sometimes people interpret her helpful suggestions as criticisms, which is certainly not her intention. But at 63, Britt-Marie has had enough. She finally walks out on her loveless 40-year marriage and finds a job in the only place she can: Borg, a small, derelict town devastated by the financial crisis.
-
-
A Gem
- By Sara on 05-12-16
By: Fredrik Backman
-
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows.
-
-
Multiple Stories Obfuscate Narrative
- By Stephnsea on 08-12-23
By: James McBride
-
The Measure
- A Novel
- By: Nikki Erlick
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Would you choose to know how long you’ll live? It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live. From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?
-
-
heavy content
- By Cherece on 09-12-22
By: Nikki Erlick
-
Horse
- A Novel
- By: Geraldine Brooks
- Narrated by: James Fouhey, Lisa Flanagan, Graham Halstead, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance. Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse.
-
-
Love Geraldine Brooks
- By Regina on 06-25-22
By: Geraldine Brooks
-
The Giver of Stars
- A Novel
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So, when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything.
-
-
About time!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-19
By: Jojo Moyes
-
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim, Justin Chien
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
-
-
Another Beautiful Novel from Lisa See!
- By TuxedoedCorgi95 on 06-06-23
By: Lisa See
-
Mother-Daughter Murder Night
- A Novel
- By: Nina Simon
- Narrated by: Jane Oppenheimer
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of: her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage—and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does.
-
-
Don’t waste your money
- By Audrey Russell on 09-14-23
By: Nina Simon
-
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett
- A Novel
- By: Annie Lyons
- Narrated by: Nicolette McKenzie
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eudora Honeysett is done with this noisy, moronic world - all of it. She has witnessed the indignities and suffering of old age and has lived a full life. At 85, she isn’t going to leave things to chance. Her end will be on her terms. With one call to a clinic in Switzerland, a plan is set in motion. Then she meets 10-year-old Rose Trewidney, a whirling, pint-sized rainbow of sparkling cheer. All Eudora wants is to be left alone to set her affairs in order.
-
-
Just what I Needed
- By Angela Adams on 02-04-21
By: Annie Lyons
-
Someone Else's Shoes
- A Novel
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Daisy Ridley
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope--she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in. That’s because Sam Kemp—in the bleakest point of her life—has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag—she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat.
-
-
Bad language
- By Kerbear on 02-25-23
By: Jojo Moyes
-
The Heart's Invisible Furies
- A Novel
- By: John Boyne
- Narrated by: Stephen Hogan
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery - or at least that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.
-
-
Outstanding. A Must listen.
- By Keith G on 09-04-17
By: John Boyne
Publisher's summary
National best seller
“A beautifully written, extraordinary quest in which two ordinary, overlooked women embark on an unlikely scientific expedition to the South Seas.” (Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand)
From the best-selling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry comes an uplifting, irresistible novel about two women on a life-changing adventure where they must risk everything, break all the rules, and discover their best selves - together.
She’s going too far to go it alone.
It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist - the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind. Fun-loving Enid Pretty in her tight-fitting pink suit and pom-pom sandals seems to attract trouble wherever she goes. But together, these two British women find themselves drawn into a cross-ocean adventure that exceeds all expectations and delivers something neither of them expected to find: the transformative power of friendship.
Praise for Miss Benson's Beetle:
“A hilarious jaunt into the wilderness of women’s friendship and the triumph of outrageous dreams.” (Kirkus Reviews)
Critic reviews
“[Miss Benson’s Beetle] feels larger than Joyce’s other books—more expansive, swashbuckling, a wild adventure. It is the best so far of her novels, and the most inspiring. . . . At the heart of the story is the slow, unlikely friendship that builds between the two women and how that friendship enables them both to grow stronger, more capable and more self-reliant. . . . There is resilience, there is redemption, and there is beauty—great beauty.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“I fell in love with the unlikely friendship between two wildly different women—their devotion to each other as they trek up and down mountains in someplace called New Caledonia is a hysterical delight. This novel made me realize how hungry I am for stories about women loving each other into being their best selves.”—Ann Napolitano, author of Dear Edward
“Miss Benson’s Beetle is a pure joyride. Sweet, witty, poignant, filled with intrigue and unlikely friendship, it’s a perfect escape. I loved it.”—Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours and The Book of Lost Friends
More from the same
What listeners say about Miss Benson's Beetle
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Film Fan
- 07-03-21
A well-written panorama of human tragedy
The listing quoted a Kirkus review describing this book as an “hilarious” adventure of two women. The book is rarely amusing and is generally a tale of human suffering. One wonders if the reviewer failed to read the book or if the premise of the review is that women’s denigration by our culture, suffering and abuse is “hilarious.” The book is well written, inventive, violent and poignant. It displays the courage of women in the face of dead dreams and personal tragedy. My rating is based on my dashed expectations, not the writer’s work. If you’re looking for hilarious, this is not the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
59 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sue T.
- 02-05-21
Delightful and totally engaging
What a lovely book. I was entranced from beginning to end. There were the occasional moments where I thought:"I am *so* worried about what might happen to these people I love!" While that was true, never did I consider leaving them.
I found the book when looking for something else narrated by Juliet Stevenson. I had just finished "Once Upon a River" and could not imagine another voice I wanted to hear at that moment. Fortunately, Ms Stevenson is such and excellent narrator that every performance is unique to the particular book.
There is no way of knowing which book will grab which reader, I encourage you to give this a try.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
30 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joy
- 11-11-20
Beautiful!
A wonderful story of friendship, commitment, adventure, bravery and love! I felt as though I knew the two leading characters personally and I was sad to see the story end, I will miss them!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Buffy Martin Tarbox
- 04-26-21
Not as uplifting as Joyce’s other books
I’ve listened to now three of Rachel Joyce’s audio books and have throughly loved them and recommend them to others. However, I was deeply disappointed by Miss Benson’s Beetle. The narration was good, but the story was not only tedious, but unbearably sad.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Barbarino
- 11-11-20
Loved This
Rachel Joyce has a way of making her characters unique but also relatable. This novel was a wonky bit of adventure but also a story of perseverance, love, acceptance and family; with a small bit of sorrow and denial and a healthy dose of girl power thrown in. I loved Miss Benson's passion for beetles, I would have liked to hear more about them. The audiobook has the added charm of Juliet Stevenson's narration, which was thoroughly enjoyable. There wasn't anything I didn't like. Excellent pandemic read/listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carmen R Merrill
- 03-25-21
Miss Benson’s Beetle
A charming story, not overly complicated or astonishing, simply an enjoyable read of female friendship. Juliet Stevenson is one of the best narrators on this planet, in my humble opinion. I enjoy everything she reads.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tom
- 12-19-20
Great book
Rachel Joyce does it again. With Juliet Stevenson narrating, the author gives the reader two odd travelers, one prepared, one not at all, going to the obscure island of New Caledonia searching for a golden beetle. The two women, as unalike as two people can be, hit snags at every turn. There is humor, at least at the beginning, but the two women endure extreme hardships that test them to their limits. One expects they will grow close, but it is hard to imagine how.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kimboslice
- 01-08-21
Humorous, disliked ending
Juliet Stevenson is fantastic!! I loved the characters in this novel, but could’ve done without the darker bits. It feels like such a fun escape that’s somewhat ruined by malice.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mal
- 11-13-20
Excellent! A must read!
This story starts off as a little girl is drawn in when zshe and her father are looking at an old book of Incredible creatures and the little girl is fascinated with a golden beetle, the golden beetle of
This story is how that little girl follows her dream and searches for this golden beetle. Does she find it? Please do read this book, it will not disappoint!
The narrator is wonderful, perfect for this story!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susan Rogers
- 02-19-21
Adventureous
Fun. Great narration. Involved characters.
Caused reflection of my life goals and adventures. Moved rapidly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Jim Broadbent
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.
-
-
Wonderful Walkabout
- By FanB14 on 07-01-13
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Perfect
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Paul Rhys
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A spellbinding novel that will resonate with readers of Mark Haddon, Louise Erdrich, and John Irving, Perfect tells the story of a young boy who is thrown into the murky, difficult realities of the adult world with far-reaching consequences.
-
-
Touching and Fragile - Once Untangled.
- By Amanda on 01-19-14
By: Rachel Joyce
-
The Music Shop
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Steven Hartley
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1988. On a dead-end street in a run-down suburb there is a music shop that stands small and brightly lit, jam-packed with records of every kind. Like a beacon, the shop attracts the lonely, the sleepless, and the adrift; Frank, the shop's owner, has a way of connecting his customers with just the piece of music they need. Then, one day, into his shop comes a beautiful young woman, Ilse Brauchmann, who asks Frank to teach her about music.
-
-
Hallelujah . . Hallelujah!!
- By Janice on 01-05-18
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Miss Bensons Reise
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Gabriele Blum
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margery Benson hat einen großen Traum: den goldenen Käfer in Neukaledonien zu finden, den ihr Vater ihr einst in einem Naturkundebuch gezeigt hat. Doch dieser Traum ist über die Jahre hinweg verblasst wie Margery selbst. Bis an einem Londoner Morgen mit einem Schlag alles anders wird. Kurz darauf findet sich Margery auf einem Dampfer nach Australien wieder, an ihrer Seite die junge Enid Pretty. Die plapperhafte Sexbombe ist nicht gerade das, was Margery sich als seriöse Begleitung auf ihrer Expedition vorgestellt hat. Doch auch Enid hat ein Geheimnis und hegt einen Traum.
By: Rachel Joyce
-
A Room With a View
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucy Honeychurch, accompanied by her vigilant guardian, Charlotte Bartlett, makes her first foray into the world, touring Italy and discovering a country very different to the English countryside she was brought up in.
-
-
bought abridged by mistake
- By Carl Smith on 07-12-08
By: E. M. Forster
-
The Sweet Taste of Muscadines
- A Novel
- By: Pamela Terry
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lila Bruce Breedlove never quite felt at home in Wesleyan, Georgia, especially after her father’s untimely demise when she was a child. Both Lila and her brother, Henry, fled north after high school, establishing fulfilling lives of their own. In contrast, their younger sister, Abigail, opted to remain behind to dote on their domineering, larger-than-life mother, Geneva. When their elderly mother dies suddenly and suspiciously in the muscadine arbor behind the family estate, Lila and Henry return to the town that essentially raised them.
-
-
Absolutely LOVED it!
- By Kenny Cook on 07-07-21
By: Pamela Terry
-
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Jim Broadbent
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.
-
-
Wonderful Walkabout
- By FanB14 on 07-01-13
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Perfect
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Paul Rhys
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A spellbinding novel that will resonate with readers of Mark Haddon, Louise Erdrich, and John Irving, Perfect tells the story of a young boy who is thrown into the murky, difficult realities of the adult world with far-reaching consequences.
-
-
Touching and Fragile - Once Untangled.
- By Amanda on 01-19-14
By: Rachel Joyce
-
The Music Shop
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Steven Hartley
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1988. On a dead-end street in a run-down suburb there is a music shop that stands small and brightly lit, jam-packed with records of every kind. Like a beacon, the shop attracts the lonely, the sleepless, and the adrift; Frank, the shop's owner, has a way of connecting his customers with just the piece of music they need. Then, one day, into his shop comes a beautiful young woman, Ilse Brauchmann, who asks Frank to teach her about music.
-
-
Hallelujah . . Hallelujah!!
- By Janice on 01-05-18
By: Rachel Joyce
-
Miss Bensons Reise
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Gabriele Blum
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margery Benson hat einen großen Traum: den goldenen Käfer in Neukaledonien zu finden, den ihr Vater ihr einst in einem Naturkundebuch gezeigt hat. Doch dieser Traum ist über die Jahre hinweg verblasst wie Margery selbst. Bis an einem Londoner Morgen mit einem Schlag alles anders wird. Kurz darauf findet sich Margery auf einem Dampfer nach Australien wieder, an ihrer Seite die junge Enid Pretty. Die plapperhafte Sexbombe ist nicht gerade das, was Margery sich als seriöse Begleitung auf ihrer Expedition vorgestellt hat. Doch auch Enid hat ein Geheimnis und hegt einen Traum.
By: Rachel Joyce
-
A Room With a View
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucy Honeychurch, accompanied by her vigilant guardian, Charlotte Bartlett, makes her first foray into the world, touring Italy and discovering a country very different to the English countryside she was brought up in.
-
-
bought abridged by mistake
- By Carl Smith on 07-12-08
By: E. M. Forster
-
The Sweet Taste of Muscadines
- A Novel
- By: Pamela Terry
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lila Bruce Breedlove never quite felt at home in Wesleyan, Georgia, especially after her father’s untimely demise when she was a child. Both Lila and her brother, Henry, fled north after high school, establishing fulfilling lives of their own. In contrast, their younger sister, Abigail, opted to remain behind to dote on their domineering, larger-than-life mother, Geneva. When their elderly mother dies suddenly and suspiciously in the muscadine arbor behind the family estate, Lila and Henry return to the town that essentially raised them.
-
-
Absolutely LOVED it!
- By Kenny Cook on 07-07-21
By: Pamela Terry
-
The Big Finish
- By: Brooke Fossey
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Duffy Sinclair, life boils down to one simple thing: maintaining his residence at the idyllic Centennial Assisted Living. Without it, he’s destined for the roach-infested nursing home down the road. So, he keeps his shenanigans to the bare minimum with the help of his straight-laced best friend and roommate, Carl Upton. But when Carl’s granddaughter Josie climbs through their bedroom window with booze on her breath and a black eye, Duffy’s faced with trouble that’s sticking around and hard to hide.
-
-
SO GOOD!
- By Berit☀️✨ on 04-17-20
By: Brooke Fossey
-
How to Stop Time
- By: Matt Haig
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history - performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life. So Tom moves back his to London, his old home, to become a high school history teacher - the perfect job for someone who has witnessed the city's history first hand. Better yet, a captivating French teacher at his school seems fascinated by him.
-
-
Immortality is a bummer
- By Em on 02-09-18
By: Matt Haig
-
Once Upon a River
- By: Diane Setterfield
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A body always tells a story - but this child’s was a blank page. Rita reached for the lantern. She trained its light on the child’s face. "Who are you?" she murmured, but the face said as little as the rest of her. It was impossible to tell whether, in life, these blunt and unfinished features had borne the imprint of prettiness, timid watchfulness, or sly mischief. If there had once been curiosity or placidity or impatience here, life had not had time to etch it into permanence. Only a very short time ago, the body and soul of this little girl had still been securely attached.
-
-
Enjoyed thoroughly... one minor glitch
- By Jen817 on 12-27-18
-
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
- A Novel
- By: Christy Lefteri
- Narrated by: Art Malik
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nuri is a beekeeper and Afra, his wife, is an artist. Mornings, Nuri rises early to hear the call to prayer before driving to his hives in the countryside. On weekends, Afra sells her colorful landscape paintings at the open-air market. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the hills of the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they love is destroyed by war, Nuri knows they have no choice except to leave their home. But escaping Syria will be no easy task: Afra has lost her sight.
-
-
Just TOO AWFULLY DEPRESSING WITHOUT ending with any hope
- By Abby Mamacos on 07-28-20
By: Christy Lefteri
-
The Odd Women
- By: George Gissing
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The young Monica Madden cries for two days before her marriage to Edmund Widdowson; the ensuing claustrophobia, which opens the door for the more desirable Bevis, contrasts with Rhoda's independence - yet Rhoda's own principles are tested when she falls in love rather by accident.... The Odd Women is a remarkable book, ultimately optimistic in its hope for a societal shift that will benefit both men and women alike.