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Orla's Canvas
- Narrated by: Billie Bryant
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
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Orla's Canvas
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Publisher's summary
Narrated by 11-year-old Orla Gwen Gleason, Orla’s Canvas opens on Easter Sunday, in St. Suplice, Louisiana, a “misspelled town” north of New Orleans, and traces Orla's dawning realization that all is not as it seems in her personal life or in the life of her community. The death of St. Suplice’s doyenne, Mrs. Bellefleur Dubois Castleberry, for whom Orla’s mother keeps house, reveals Orla’s true paternity, shatters her trust in her beloved mother, and exposes her to the harsh realities of class and race in the Civil Rights-era South.
When the Klan learns of Mrs. Castleberry’s collaboration with the local Negro minister and Archbishop Rummel to integrate the parochial school, violence fractures St. Suplice's vulnerable stability. The brutality Orla witnesses at summer’s end awakens her to life’s tenuous fragility. Like the South in which she lives, she suffers the turbulence of changing times.
Smart, resilient, and fiercely determined to make sense of her pain, Orla paints chaos into beauty, documenting both horror and grace, discovering herself at last through her art.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great 2/3 of a book.
- By Tracy on 07-09-12
By: Todd Johnson
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Agatha of Little Neon
- By: Claire Luchette
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Story4 out of 5 stars 84
Agatha has lived every day of the last seven years with her sisters: They work together, laugh together, pray together. Their world is contained within the little house they share. The four of them are devoted to Mother Roberta and to their quiet, purposeful life. But when the parish goes broke, the sisters are forced to move. They land in Woonsocket, a former mill town now dotted with wind turbines.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Xceptional!
- By Bebe Guill on 08-11-21
By: Claire Luchette
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The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove
- A Novel
- By: Susan Gregg Gilmore
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4 out of 5 stars 44
Bezellia Grove was born into the most prominent of Nashville families, but that didn’t stop her from having an alcoholic mother and a distant, adulterous father. Her nanny, Maizelle, and Nathaniel, the handyman, are the people who have taken care of her since she can remember. She considers them family, but her parents just consider them servants because they are Black. When Bezellia has a clandestine romance with Nathaniel's son, Whites and Blacks unite in fury at the young couple.
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4 out of 5 stars
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light southern fiction
- By suzanne on 02-08-13
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I Couldn't Love You More
- A Novel
- By: Esther Freud
- Narrated by: Niamh Cusack
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4 out of 5 stars 29
A sweeping story of three generations of women, crossing from London to Ireland and back again, and the enduring effort to retrieve the secrets of the past.
By: Esther Freud
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Where I'm Calling From
- Selected Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had established himself as one of the great practitioners of the American short story. Where I'm Calling From, his last collection, encompasses classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier Carver volumes, along with seven new works previously unpublished in book form.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Love Carver, But Dietz Ruins It With Reading
- By Noirbat on 05-10-18
By: Raymond Carver
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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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Overall4 out of 5 stars 83
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4 out of 5 stars 68
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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1 out of 5 stars
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Boring, boring, boring
- By Marie J. on 08-20-21
By: Laura Ruby
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Nothing with Strings
- NPR's Beloved Holiday Stories
- By: Bailey White
- Narrated by: Lorna Raver
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
The mundane and the miraculous stand side by side in these sketches and stories of Southern small-time life by the author of Quite a Year for Plums.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A real jewel.
- By Mary on 12-31-08
By: Bailey White
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Mermaids
- By: Patty Dann
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4 out of 5 stars 62
So begins this extraordinary first novel about one wild year in the life of 14-year-old Charlotte Flax, when she and her sister Kate move with Mrs. Flax into a sleepy 1960's Massachusetts town. Mrs. Flax is a woman who wears polka-dot dresses and serves hors d'oeuvres for dinner every night, and Kate is a child who basically wants to be a fish. And then there's Charlotte, who in Patty Dann's hands, is transformed into a young woman of infinite whim and variety.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Finally!
- By Daryl on 05-07-13
By: Patty Dann
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Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
- By: Rebecca Wells
- Narrated by: Judith Ivey
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,118
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 981
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 974
When Vivi and Siddalee Walker, an unforgettable mother-daughter team, get into a savage fight over a New York Times article that refers to Vivi as a "tap-dancing child abuser", the fallout is felt from Louisiana to New York to Seattle. Siddalee, a successful theater director with a huge hit on her hands, panics and postpones her upcoming wedding to her lover and friend, Connor McGill. Vivi's intrepid gang of lifelong girlfriends, the Ya-Yas, sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together.
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5 out of 5 stars
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As usual the book is better than the movie
- By Denzil and Judy's Account on 03-25-10
By: Rebecca Wells
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The Paper Palace
- A Novel
- By: Miranda Cowley Heller
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 7,949
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,930
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Story4 out of 5 stars 6,919
It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a 50-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” - the family summer place she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: Last night, Elle and her oldest friend, Jonas, crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The story has too much child abuse discription
- By DTurek on 07-14-21
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The Pull of the Moon
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Berg
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 89
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 90
In the middle of her life, Nan decides to leave her husband at home and begin an impromptu trek across the country, carrying with her a turquoise leather journal she intends to fill. The Pull of the Moon is a novel about a woman coming to terms with issues of importance to all women. In her journal, Nan addresses the thorniness - and the allure - of marriage, the sweet ties to children, and the gifts and lessons that come from random encounters.
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4 out of 5 stars
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For women over 50
- By Laura on 07-07-15
By: Elizabeth Berg
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Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
- Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 52
With this, his first collection of stories, Raymond Carver breathed new life into the American short story and instantly became both the recognized master of the form and one of our best-loved fiction writers. Carver shows us the humor and tragedy that dwell in the hearts of ordinary people; his stories are the classics of our time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Humanity at the Breaking Point
- By Darwin8u on 03-31-19
By: Raymond Carver
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The Story of Arthur Truluv
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Berg
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,347
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,174
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,168
Three people find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of belonging in this deeply moving novel. Arthur, an old widower struggling to overcome his grief, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who avoids school by hiding out where Arthur goes every day for lunch. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Sickly Sweet
- By Amazon Customer on 01-19-18
By: Elizabeth Berg
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The Third Wish
- By: Carolyn Brown
- Narrated by: Andrea Emmes
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4 out of 5 stars 42
When she was eight years old, Jessica Graham made three wishes: that she wouldn't always be the tallest kid in the class, that she would find a big conch shell on the beach, and that she would finally meet her father someday. Jessica's wishes never came true, but twenty years later, when she finds her mother's old love letters, she has a chance to make the third wish a reality. Jessica travels to Florida to find her father, but their reunion is interrupted by his arrogant junior business partner, Rocky Rycroft.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not My Favorite
- By RosieDisla on 02-14-23
By: Carolyn Brown
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Sweet Caroline
- Lowcountry, Book 1
- By: Rachel Hauck
- Narrated by: Cici Dee
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 84
Caroline serves others with little time to enjoy the sweeter parts of life. Until her old boyfriend returns to town - and she's given a second chance at first love. Life hasn't always been so sweet for Caroline Sweeny. She sacrifices her desires for others - unlike her mother who abandoned their family years ago. But when a friend challenges her to accept an exciting job adventure in Spain, Caroline says "yes" to a new destiny. But before she can pack her bags, Caroline suddenly finds herself the new owner of the run-down Frogmore Cafe - and forced to choose: Her friends or her future?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Multileveled Christian Story
- By Dr. Elaine L. Wilmore on 01-09-23
By: Rachel Hauck
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Doesn't She Look Natural
- By: Angela Elwell Hunt
- Narrated by: Carol Monda
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
Now divorced and unemployed, a senator's no-nonsense chief of staff learns she has inherited a funeral home in Florida. Soon she'll learn some profound lessons - from people dying to give her their business.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable, clean series.
- By betty on 03-30-12