-
The Testament of Mary
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
Failed to add items
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 $10.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
You Don't Look Your Age
- And Other Fairy Tales
- By: Sheila Nevins
- Narrated by: Lena Dunham, Meryl Streep, Katie Couric, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sheila Nevins is the best friend you never knew you had. She is your discreet confidante you can tell any secret to, your sage mentor at work who helps you navigate the often uneven playing field, your wise sister who has “been there, done that,” your hysterical girlfriend whose stories about men will make you laugh until you cry. Sheila Nevins is the one person who always tells it like it is.
-
-
Not what I was hoping for at all.
- By Lili on 06-19-17
By: Sheila Nevins
-
House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
-
-
Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The Master
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of Henry James, a man born into one of America’s first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late 19th century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. With stunningly resonant prose, “The Master is unquestionably the work of a first-rate novelist: artful, moving, and very beautiful” (The New York Times Book Review). The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
-
-
What a Terrible Disappointment!
- By Sherry M. Rogers on 08-20-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
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
-
Brooklyn
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the hard years following World War Two. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America, she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind. Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street and, when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family, slowly wins her over with patient charm.
-
-
Loved every word
- By J. P. Fitzpatrick on 02-24-17
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Magician
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice.
-
-
Terrific listening experience
- By M. Mead on 09-17-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
You Don't Look Your Age
- And Other Fairy Tales
- By: Sheila Nevins
- Narrated by: Lena Dunham, Meryl Streep, Katie Couric, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sheila Nevins is the best friend you never knew you had. She is your discreet confidante you can tell any secret to, your sage mentor at work who helps you navigate the often uneven playing field, your wise sister who has “been there, done that,” your hysterical girlfriend whose stories about men will make you laugh until you cry. Sheila Nevins is the one person who always tells it like it is.
-
-
Not what I was hoping for at all.
- By Lili on 06-19-17
By: Sheila Nevins
-
House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
-
-
Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The Master
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of Henry James, a man born into one of America’s first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late 19th century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. With stunningly resonant prose, “The Master is unquestionably the work of a first-rate novelist: artful, moving, and very beautiful” (The New York Times Book Review). The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
-
-
What a Terrible Disappointment!
- By Sherry M. Rogers on 08-20-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
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
-
Brooklyn
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the hard years following World War Two. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America, she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind. Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street and, when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family, slowly wins her over with patient charm.
-
-
Loved every word
- By J. P. Fitzpatrick on 02-24-17
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Magician
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice.
-
-
Terrific listening experience
- By M. Mead on 09-17-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
Heartburn
- By: Nora Ephron
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes. For in this inspired confection of adultery, revenge, group therapy, and pot roast, the creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that comedy depends on anguish as surely as a proper gravy depends on flour and butter.
-
-
Be the Heroine , Not the Victim
- By Cynthia on 07-12-13
By: Nora Ephron
-
The Bee Sting
- A Novel
- By: Paul Murray
- Narrated by: Heather O’Sullivan, Barry Fitzgerald, Beau Holland, and others
- Length: 26 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under—but Dickie is spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife, Imelda, is selling off her jewelry on eBay and half-heartedly dodging the attention of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike, while their teenage daughter, Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge drink her way through her final exams. As for twelve-year-old PJ, he’s on the brink of running away.
-
-
Bone Clocks meets Jonathan Franzen
- By Cranson on 10-26-23
By: Paul Murray
-
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 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 Shortest Day
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the winter solstice, on the shortest day and longest night of the year, the ancient burial chamber at Newgrange is empowered. Its mystifying source is a haunting tale told by locals. Professor O’Kelly believes an archaeologist’s job is to make known only what can be proved. He is undeterred by ghost stories, idle speculation, and caution. Much to the chagrin of the living souls in County Meath. As well as those entombed in the sacred darkness of Newgrange itself. They’re determined to protect the secret of the light, guarded for more than 5,000 years.
-
-
interesting short!
- By Barbara S on 02-05-24
By: Colm Tóibín
-
A Guest at the Feast
- Essays
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“IT ALL STARTED WITH MY BALLS.” So begins Colm Tóibín’s fabulously compelling essay, laced with humor, about his diagnosis and treatment for cancer. Tóibín survives, but he has entered, as he says, “the age of one ball.” Tóibín describes his education by priests, several of whom were condemned years later for abuse. He writes about Irish history and literature, and about the long, tragic journey toward legal and social acceptance of homosexuality. A Guest at the Feast is both an intimate encounter with a creative artist and a glorious celebration of writing.
-
-
Excellent writing and interesting insights.
- By Tom on 02-11-24
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Heather Blazing
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eamon Redmond is a judge in Ireland’s high court, a completely legal creature who is just beginning to discover how painfully unconnected he is from other human beings. With effortless fluency, Colm Tóibín reconstructs the history of Eamon’s relationships - with his father, his first "girl", his wife, and the children who barely know him - and he writes about Eamon’s affection for the Irish coast with such painterly skill that the land itself becomes a character. The result is a novel of stunning power.
-
-
A Quiet but Lovely Story
- By Cariola on 03-29-13
By: Colm Toibin
-
Nora Webster: A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be drawn back into it. Wounded, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father.
-
-
Contrived & Overreaching
- By Sara on 12-13-15
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Book of Longings
- A Novel
- By: Sue Monk Kidd
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò, Sue Monk Kidd
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with 18-year-old Jesus changes everything.
-
-
Made me cringe
- By Joan on 05-08-20
By: Sue Monk Kidd
-
Hamnet
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Ell Potter
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family’s land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people. Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever.
-
-
A masterpiece
- By Molly-o on 08-03-20
By: Maggie O'Farrell
-
East of Eden
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This sprawling and often brutal novel, set in the rich farmlands of California's Salinas Valley, follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
-
-
Why have I avoided this Beautiful Book???
- By Kelly on 03-25-17
By: John Steinbeck
-
Angels and Demons
- By: Dan Brown
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization, the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra.
-
-
A must for fans of The Da Vinci Code
- By Geoffrey on 04-14-04
By: Dan Brown
Publisher's summary
Audie Award Finalist, Solo Narration - Female, 2014
Audie Award Finalist, Literary Fiction, 2014
Meryl Streep’s performance of Colm Tóibín's acclaimed portrait of Mary is hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “an ideal audiobook,” presenting the three-time Academy Award-winner in “yet another great role.” Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary presents Mary as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity. In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son's crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel. They are her keepers, providing her with food and shelter and visiting her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was "worth it"; nor that the "group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye," were holy disciples. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone, in a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.
Now Meryl Streep brings Tóibín's tour de force of imagination and language to unforgettable life with “simplicity, honesty, [and] a clarity that draws us into the emotional landscape of the book through the beauty of the writing,” writes Charles Isherwood in the New York Times Book Review. “Streep has an impressive ability to crest the structurally intricate sentences Tóibín has fashioned, which sometimes have the flowing, rhythmic cadences of certain passages in the Bible itself,” Isherwood writes of her performance. “Streep’s voice is familiar to generations of moviegoers, but its beauty as an instrument can be appreciated in this context as it often cannot be in films. … Tóibín's exquisite book [is] rendered by Streep with all its detached, quiet, consoling humanity intact.”
Critic reviews
Featured Article: Standout Contemporary Irish Authors You Should Give a Listen
Ireland may be a small country, but it's brimming with talent. Just listen to some of these popular contemporary Irish authors and see if you're not impressed with what this North Atlantic island has to offer to the literary community. Winning prestigious awards and topping best seller lists, today’s Ireland-born-and-bred authors are making a big impression on the literary world. Here are some contemporary Irish authors you should listen to now.
More from the same
Narrator
Related to this topic
-
House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
-
-
Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The Journey
- By: Isobelle Carmody
- Narrated by: Isobelle Carmody
- Length: 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bonus never-before-released short story by best-selling author Isobelle Carmody. Before the apocolyptic Great White - and the regressive theology that ruled the decimated population in its wake - the city of Uropa is a gleaming metropolis devoted wholly to materialistic consumption.
-
-
The Journey
- By Kiba Snowpaw on 09-27-23
By: Isobelle Carmody
-
Great & Secret Show
- By: Clive Barker
- Narrated by: Chet Williamson
- Length: 22 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the little town of Palomo Grove, two great armies are amassing; forces shaped from the hearts and souls of America. In this New York Times best-seller, Barker unveils one of the most ambitious imaginative landscapes in modern fiction, creating a new vocabulary for the age-old battle between good and evil. Carrying its readers from the first stirring of consciousness to a vision of the end of the world, The Great and Secret Show is a breathtaking journey in the company of a master storyteller.
-
-
Horrific Dark Fantasy
- By Michael on 09-05-16
By: Clive Barker
-
Galilee
- By: Clive Barker
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 23 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Barbarossa family’s roots are far more ancient and ethereal, but they are bound to the Gearys by a shared history of murder, insanity, and adultery. When Rachel Geary and Galilee, the seductive prince of the Barbarossa clan, fall in love, they unleash powerful enmities that could destroy both dynasties. Shorter and more conventional than some of Barker’s other work, this novel is especially rich with complex, passionate, three-dimensional characters, lush settings, and elegant language.
-
-
An Audiophile's Dream
- By Joseph on 09-01-11
By: Clive Barker
-
The Memory of Earth
- Homecoming, Volume 1
- By: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. Its task, programmed so many millennia ago, is to guard the human settlement on this planet, to protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats...to protect them, most of all, from themselves.
-
-
I keep hoping, but, alas, ...
- By Old Hippy on 02-22-10
By: Orson Scott Card
-
Muhammad: A Story of the Last Prophet
- By: Deepak Chopra MD
- Narrated by: Deepak Chopra
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born into the factious world of war-torn Arabia, Muhammad's life is a gripping and inspiring story of one man's tireless fight for unity and peace. In a world where greed and injustice ruled, Muhammad created change by affecting hearts and minds. Just as the story of Jesus embodies the message of Christianity, Muhammad's life reveals the core of Islam. Deepak Chopra shares the life of Muhammad as never before, putting his teachings in a new light.
-
-
Poorly written and poorly narrated
- By Shahrad Milanfar on 10-21-10
By: Deepak Chopra MD
-
House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
-
-
Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The Journey
- By: Isobelle Carmody
- Narrated by: Isobelle Carmody
- Length: 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bonus never-before-released short story by best-selling author Isobelle Carmody. Before the apocolyptic Great White - and the regressive theology that ruled the decimated population in its wake - the city of Uropa is a gleaming metropolis devoted wholly to materialistic consumption.
-
-
The Journey
- By Kiba Snowpaw on 09-27-23
By: Isobelle Carmody
-
Great & Secret Show
- By: Clive Barker
- Narrated by: Chet Williamson
- Length: 22 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the little town of Palomo Grove, two great armies are amassing; forces shaped from the hearts and souls of America. In this New York Times best-seller, Barker unveils one of the most ambitious imaginative landscapes in modern fiction, creating a new vocabulary for the age-old battle between good and evil. Carrying its readers from the first stirring of consciousness to a vision of the end of the world, The Great and Secret Show is a breathtaking journey in the company of a master storyteller.
-
-
Horrific Dark Fantasy
- By Michael on 09-05-16
By: Clive Barker
-
Galilee
- By: Clive Barker
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 23 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Barbarossa family’s roots are far more ancient and ethereal, but they are bound to the Gearys by a shared history of murder, insanity, and adultery. When Rachel Geary and Galilee, the seductive prince of the Barbarossa clan, fall in love, they unleash powerful enmities that could destroy both dynasties. Shorter and more conventional than some of Barker’s other work, this novel is especially rich with complex, passionate, three-dimensional characters, lush settings, and elegant language.
-
-
An Audiophile's Dream
- By Joseph on 09-01-11
By: Clive Barker
-
The Memory of Earth
- Homecoming, Volume 1
- By: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. Its task, programmed so many millennia ago, is to guard the human settlement on this planet, to protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats...to protect them, most of all, from themselves.
-
-
I keep hoping, but, alas, ...
- By Old Hippy on 02-22-10
By: Orson Scott Card
-
Muhammad: A Story of the Last Prophet
- By: Deepak Chopra MD
- Narrated by: Deepak Chopra
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born into the factious world of war-torn Arabia, Muhammad's life is a gripping and inspiring story of one man's tireless fight for unity and peace. In a world where greed and injustice ruled, Muhammad created change by affecting hearts and minds. Just as the story of Jesus embodies the message of Christianity, Muhammad's life reveals the core of Islam. Deepak Chopra shares the life of Muhammad as never before, putting his teachings in a new light.
-
-
Poorly written and poorly narrated
- By Shahrad Milanfar on 10-21-10
By: Deepak Chopra MD
-
Buddha
- A Story of Enlightenment
- By: Deepak Chopra
- Narrated by: Deepak Chopra
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Deepak Chopra brings the Buddha back to life in this gripping account of the young prince who abandoned his inheritance to discover his true calling. This iconic journey changed the world forever, and the truths revealed continue to influence every corner of the globe today.
-
-
Excellent +++++
- By Daniel on 04-17-09
By: Deepak Chopra
-
The Voice
- An Ephemera Novella
- By: Anne Bishop
- Narrated by: Cassandra Morris
- Length: 1 hr and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a small village outside the city of Vision, the people know no sorrow or grief. But this seemingly idyllic community is hiding a terrible secret. As a young child, Nalah did not know why she was told to bring a cake to the mute girl known as the Voice whenever she was upset, only that doing so made her feel better. Now grown, Nalah understands the dark truth, and yearns to escape from the oppressive village that has been her life-long home.
-
-
Doesn't hold up
- By Linda on 05-22-13
By: Anne Bishop
-
The Gods of Tango
- A Novel
- By: Carolina De Robertis
- Narrated by: Carolina De Robertis
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
February 1913: seventeen-year-old Leda, carrying only a small trunk and her father's cherished violin, leaves her Italian village for a new home, and a new husband, in Argentina. Arriving in Buenos Aires, she discovers that he has been killed, but she remains: living in a tenement, without friends or family, on the brink of destitution. Still, she is seduced by the music that underscores life in the city: tango, born from lower-class immigrant voices, now the illicit, scandalous dance of brothels and cabarets.
-
-
A rousing tale
- By Jean on 07-24-15
-
Narcissus and Goldmund
- By: Hermann Hesse
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Narcissus and Goldmund is the story of a passionate yet uneasy friendship between two men of opposite character. Narcissus, an ascetic instructor at a cloister school, has devoted himself solely to scholarly and spiritual pursuits. One of his students is the sensual, restless Goldmund, who is immediately drawn to his teacher's fierce intellect and sense of discipline.
-
-
My favorite of Hesse's novels, wonderfully read.
- By David on 10-21-11
By: Hermann Hesse
-
Women of the Silk
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama takes listeners back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amid the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own.
-
-
Sisterhood Many Forms
- By Rose Fonseca on 10-14-23
By: Gail Tsukiyama
-
Interview with the Vampire
- By: Anne Rice
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are in a small room with the vampire, face to face, as he speaks--as he pours out the hypnotic, shocking, moving, and erotically charged confessions of his first two hundred years as one of the living dead. . . He speaks quietly, plainly, even gently . . . carrying us back to the night when he departed human existence as heir--young, romantic, cultivated--to a great Louisiana plantation, and was inducted by the radiant and sinister Lestat into the other, the "endless," life....
-
-
New Editions!
- By A. Sentoni on 06-04-11
By: Anne Rice
-
Daughter of the Forest
- Sevenwaters, Book 1
- By: Juliet Marillier
- Narrated by: Terry Donnelly
- Length: 26 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives and they are determined that she know only contentment. But Sorcha's joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift - by staying silent.
-
-
Compelling story--but only at 1.5x
- By barefoot rabbit on 09-09-13
By: Juliet Marillier
-
Dracula the Undead
- By: Freda Warrington
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The legend returns... It is seven years since a stake was driven through the heart of the infamous Count Dracula. Seven years which have not eradicated the terrible memories for Jonathan and Mina Harker, who now have a young son. To lay their memories to rest they return to Transylvania, and can find no trace of the horrific events. But, beneath the earth, Dracula's soul lies in limbo, waiting for the Lifeblood that will revive him....
-
-
Very good Sequel to the Bram Stoker Original
- By David Melton on 01-08-21
By: Freda Warrington
-
Heart’s Blood
- By: Juliet Marillier
- Narrated by: Ruth Urquhart
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whistling Tor is a place of secrets: a mysterious, wooded hill housing the crumbling fortress belonging to Anluan - a chieftain whose name is spoken throughout the region in tones of revulsion and bitterness. A curse lies over Anluan's family and his people, and the woods themselves hold a perilous force whose every whisper threatens doom. Then the young scribe Caitrin appears in Anluan's garden, admiring the rare plant known as heart's blood. Retained to sort through entangled family documents, Caitrin brings about unexpected changes.
-
-
Very engrossing
- By Amazon Customer on 01-22-19
By: Juliet Marillier
-
The Songs of the Kings
- By: Barry Unsworth
- Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thoroughly modern tale of politics, spin-doctoring, and media manipulation. As the harsh wind holds the Greek fleet trapped in the straits at Aulis, frustration and political impotence turn into a desire for the blood of a young and innocent woman - blood that will appease the gods and allow the troops to set sail. And when Iphigeneia, Agamemnon's beloved daughter, is brought to the coast under false pretences, it looks as if the ships will soon be on their way.
-
-
The politics of power haven't changed.
- By susan on 12-06-12
By: Barry Unsworth
-
A Shadow in Summer
- Long Price Quartet, Book 1
- By: Daniel Abraham
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The powerful city-state of Saraykeht is a bastion of peace and culture, a major center of commerce and trade. Its economy depends on the power of the captive spirit Seedless, an and at bound to the poet-sorcerer Heshai for life. Enter the Galts, an empire committed to laying waste to all lands with their ferocious army. Saraykeht has always been too strong for the Galts to attack, but now they see an opportunity.
-
-
REALLY Hard to Rate!
- By Trip Williams on 04-27-15
By: Daniel Abraham
-
The Seven Wonders
- A Novel of the Ancient World
- By: Steven Saylor
- Narrated by: Stephen Plunkett
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
USA Today hails Steven Saylor as a “modern master of historical fiction.” Rich in intrigue and period detail, his novels set in ancient Rome have garnered acclaim the world over. A prequel to his epic Roma Sub Rosa series, The Seven Wonders follows series star Gordianus the Finder as an 18-year-old traveling the Mediterranean to witness the wonders of that fabled age. At each stop, the young investigator finds a beguiling mystery that pushes his powers of deduction to the limit.
-
-
Interesting History, Not much of a story
- By Mark on 08-10-12
By: Steven Saylor
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Master
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of Henry James, a man born into one of America’s first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late 19th century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. With stunningly resonant prose, “The Master is unquestionably the work of a first-rate novelist: artful, moving, and very beautiful” (The New York Times Book Review). The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
-
-
What a Terrible Disappointment!
- By Sherry M. Rogers on 08-20-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
Nora Webster: A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be drawn back into it. Wounded, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father.
-
-
Contrived & Overreaching
- By Sara on 12-13-15
By: Colm Toibin
-
House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
-
-
Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The South
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Terry Donnelly
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1950, Katherine Proctor leaves Ireland for Barcelona, determined to escape her family and become a painter. There she meets Miguel, an anarchist veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and begins to build a life with him. But Katherine cannot escape her past, as Michael Graves, a fellow Irish émigré in Spain, forces her to reexamine all her relationships: to her lover, her art, and the homeland she only thought she knew. The South is a novel of classic themes - of art and exile, and of the seemingly irreconcilable yearnings for love and freedom - to which Colm Tóibín brings a new, passionate sensitivity.
-
-
Waste of time
- By K on 10-11-19
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Magician
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice.
-
-
Terrific listening experience
- By M. Mead on 09-17-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elegant, profound, and riveting, Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language and their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways these men surface in their work. Through these stories of fathers and sons, Tóibín recounts the resistance to English cultural domination, the birth of modern Irish cultural identity, and the extraordinary contributions of these complex and masterful authors.
-
-
Eminently re-readable
- By Ellen-A on 01-02-19
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Master
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of Henry James, a man born into one of America’s first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late 19th century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. With stunningly resonant prose, “The Master is unquestionably the work of a first-rate novelist: artful, moving, and very beautiful” (The New York Times Book Review). The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
-
-
What a Terrible Disappointment!
- By Sherry M. Rogers on 08-20-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
Nora Webster: A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be drawn back into it. Wounded, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father.
-
-
Contrived & Overreaching
- By Sara on 12-13-15
By: Colm Toibin
-
House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
-
-
Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The South
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Terry Donnelly
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1950, Katherine Proctor leaves Ireland for Barcelona, determined to escape her family and become a painter. There she meets Miguel, an anarchist veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and begins to build a life with him. But Katherine cannot escape her past, as Michael Graves, a fellow Irish émigré in Spain, forces her to reexamine all her relationships: to her lover, her art, and the homeland she only thought she knew. The South is a novel of classic themes - of art and exile, and of the seemingly irreconcilable yearnings for love and freedom - to which Colm Tóibín brings a new, passionate sensitivity.
-
-
Waste of time
- By K on 10-11-19
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Magician
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice.
-
-
Terrific listening experience
- By M. Mead on 09-17-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elegant, profound, and riveting, Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language and their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways these men surface in their work. Through these stories of fathers and sons, Tóibín recounts the resistance to English cultural domination, the birth of modern Irish cultural identity, and the extraordinary contributions of these complex and masterful authors.
-
-
Eminently re-readable
- By Ellen-A on 01-02-19
By: Colm Toibin
-
Brooklyn
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the hard years following World War Two. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America, she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind. Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street and, when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family, slowly wins her over with patient charm.
-
-
Loved every word
- By J. P. Fitzpatrick on 02-24-17
By: Colm Toibin
-
You Don't Look Your Age
- And Other Fairy Tales
- By: Sheila Nevins
- Narrated by: Lena Dunham, Meryl Streep, Katie Couric, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sheila Nevins is the best friend you never knew you had. She is your discreet confidante you can tell any secret to, your sage mentor at work who helps you navigate the often uneven playing field, your wise sister who has “been there, done that,” your hysterical girlfriend whose stories about men will make you laugh until you cry. Sheila Nevins is the one person who always tells it like it is.
-
-
Not what I was hoping for at all.
- By Lili on 06-19-17
By: Sheila Nevins
-
The Heather Blazing
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eamon Redmond is a judge in Ireland’s high court, a completely legal creature who is just beginning to discover how painfully unconnected he is from other human beings. With effortless fluency, Colm Tóibín reconstructs the history of Eamon’s relationships - with his father, his first "girl", his wife, and the children who barely know him - and he writes about Eamon’s affection for the Irish coast with such painterly skill that the land itself becomes a character. The result is a novel of stunning power.
-
-
A Quiet but Lovely Story
- By Cariola on 03-29-13
By: Colm Toibin
-
A Guest at the Feast
- Essays
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“IT ALL STARTED WITH MY BALLS.” So begins Colm Tóibín’s fabulously compelling essay, laced with humor, about his diagnosis and treatment for cancer. Tóibín survives, but he has entered, as he says, “the age of one ball.” Tóibín describes his education by priests, several of whom were condemned years later for abuse. He writes about Irish history and literature, and about the long, tragic journey toward legal and social acceptance of homosexuality. A Guest at the Feast is both an intimate encounter with a creative artist and a glorious celebration of writing.
-
-
Excellent writing and interesting insights.
- By Tom on 02-11-24
By: Colm Toibin
-
Heartburn
- By: Nora Ephron
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes. For in this inspired confection of adultery, revenge, group therapy, and pot roast, the creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that comedy depends on anguish as surely as a proper gravy depends on flour and butter.
-
-
Be the Heroine , Not the Victim
- By Cynthia on 07-12-13
By: Nora Ephron
-
The Empty Family
- Stories
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin, Jeff Woodman, Alma Cuervo, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the captivating stories that make up The Empty Family, Colm Tibn delineates with a tender and unique sensibility, lives of unspoken or unconscious longing, of individuals often willingly cast adrift from their history. From the young Pakistani immigrant who seeks some kind of permanence in a strange town, to the Irish woman reluctantly returning to Dublin and discovering a city that refuses to acknowledge her long absence, each of Tibn's stories manage to contain whole worlds.
-
-
Love, Loss, and Longing
- By Cariola on 01-02-12
By: Colm Toibin
-
Long Island
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Jessie Buckley
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family that lives and works, eats and plays together. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis, now in her forties with two teenage children, has no one to rely on in this still-new country. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.
By: Colm Toibin
-
Robert Altman
- The Oral Biography
- By: Mitchell Zuckoff
- Narrated by: Robert Altman, Warren Beatty, Cher, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert Altman - visionary director, hard-partying hedonist, eccentric family man, Hollywood legend - comes roaring to life in this rollicking cinematic biography, told in a chorus of voices that can only be called Altmanesque.
-
-
Enthralling!
- By Wise & Careful Shopper on 10-17-10
By: Mitchell Zuckoff
-
New Ways to Kill Your Mother
- Writers and Their Families
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a brilliant, nuanced, and wholly original collection of essays, the best-selling and award-winning author of Brooklyn and The Empty Family offers a fascinating exploration of famous writers’ relationships to their families and their work.From Jane Austen’s aunts to Tennessee Williams’s mentally ill sister, the impact of intimate family dynamics can be seen in many of literature’s greatest works. In New Ways to Kill Your Mother, Colm Tóibín traces and interprets those family ties.
-
-
A Literary Box of Chocolates
- By Cariola on 11-02-13
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Shortest Day
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the winter solstice, on the shortest day and longest night of the year, the ancient burial chamber at Newgrange is empowered. Its mystifying source is a haunting tale told by locals. Professor O’Kelly believes an archaeologist’s job is to make known only what can be proved. He is undeterred by ghost stories, idle speculation, and caution. Much to the chagrin of the living souls in County Meath. As well as those entombed in the sacred darkness of Newgrange itself. They’re determined to protect the secret of the light, guarded for more than 5,000 years.
-
-
interesting short!
- By Barbara S on 02-05-24
By: Colm Tóibín
-
Her Again
- Becoming Meryl Streep
- By: Michael Schulman
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A portrait of a woman, an era, and a profession: the first thoroughly researched biography of Meryl Streep - the "Iron Lady" of acting, nominated for 19 Oscars and winner of three - that explores her beginnings as a young woman of the 1970s grappling with love, feminism, and her astonishing talent.
-
-
A fascinating biography of someone we thought we knew
- By Willie on 07-04-20
By: Michael Schulman
-
Mothers and Sons
- Stories
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This beautifully written, intensely intimate collection explores a subject of nearly universal experience: the psychological push and pull between a mother and a son.
-
-
Good Reader, Odd Endings
- By Deborah on 06-11-08
By: Colm Toibin
What listeners say about The Testament of Mary
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- bibliophile
- 06-14-14
hated it
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
The book and voice portrays Mary as a bitter, angry, hateful old woman. It is historically and biblically inaccurate, in the events, timeline, and even details. Mary speaks of her son with disdain, she hates the disciples and even pulls a knife on one of them, and her only "comfort" was a visit to the temple of Athena. Even the timeline is backwards; the resurrection of Lazarus occurs before the wedding of Cana in this horrible "retelling."
Has The Testament of Mary turned you off from other books in this genre?
It really does not belong in the "inspirational" category. It seems like it was written by an adolescent atheist who didn't feel the need to research even small historical details, let alone the bible that is supposed to be based upon. It is ridiculous!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
138 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Taormina60
- 09-27-13
from a non believer...
A very touching, human account of an event that has no contemporary writers.
Mary is a mother, above all. Her son is taken away from her, she has no power over him.
His actions and companions get him in trouble with the law.
Divine ?...Human ?...it doesn't matter. Her pain, regret and guilt are real.
I'll listen to it again. It's so powerful.
Meryl Streep deserves ten stars and more. She makes Mary talk directly to you as if sharing a cup of coffee.
It didn't change my beliefs, but just the same, it gave me goose bumps.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
135 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jessica
- 03-08-16
A painful listen
While Meryl Streep does an amazing job performing this audiobook, it's content diverges so completely from every account of Mary's personality, interaction with Jesus, and place during the passion and resurrection that it is hard to listen to such a tale.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
87 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carole T.
- 03-05-14
A living, breathing woman
There have been a lot of literary interpretations of other women from the Bible; Mary Magdalene, for example, has been reexamined and interpreted in many ways. But rarely has an author taken on the prospect of transforming the Holy Mother herself into a flesh and blood woman and mother. Our religious images are too imposing: the serene, sorrowful, and eternally loving and patient virgin and Saint.
This is an exceptional performance of an impressive monologue. Meryl Streep's expressive, clear and powerful voice conveys what actually might be the thoughts and feelings of a mother in the circumstances in which Mary finds herself. She's an old woman now, weary and heartbroken still, sometimes questioning and untrusting, even angry. All that, and yet the qualities of her strength and honesty shine through.
Some will of course be offended to see Mother Mary presented in this way, without the trappings of 2000+ years of religious teachings. I was very moved by Toibin's writing and Meryl Streep's interpretation. The "Testament" is brief, thought-provoking, and just about perfect in every way. This Mary is truly full of grace.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
80 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AudioAddict
- 08-14-14
Meryl Streep reads a totally different perspective
STORY (historical fiction) - I've listened to a couple of religion-oriented books lately. I'm not really sure why since that's not a genre I usually enjoy, but the fact that Meryl Streep is the narrator definitely had something to do with my decision. This story presents the Mother Mary in a totally different light than usual and it may be offensive to some, but I found it interesting and refreshing. Mary is a mother, just like you or me. She doesn't really like her son's friends (the disciples) and she doesn't believe he is the Son of God. You will feel her pain as she observes the crucifixion, and you will experience her deep regret that she didn't stay with her son till the very end, fearing for her own safety. Yeah, you guessed it, this book is very emotionally raw. The details of the crucifixion are difficult to hear. I rated the book a little low because of the "cringe factor" and also because it was a bit slow at times.
PERFORMANCE - Meryl Streep delivers, as always. She was the perfect choice to read this book. The emotion she injects into every sentence is palpable. I rated her performance a four, however, because it often sounds like she gets lost reading a sentence and then just tacks the rest of it on as an afterthought.
OVERALL - I would recommend this book for mature men and women who are in the mood for an emotional experience with some very difficult scenes. You must also be okay with hearing the Mother Mary presented as a flesh-and-blood woman with fears, faults, and who does not believe her son is our Savior.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
42 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bill Wad
- 01-30-14
A negative Mary is a big turn off and inaccurate
In my study of the Bible, I see no evidence Mary was nearly this negative. She have a few human moments, but I have always believed she was kind and loving.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
33 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- alice
- 10-21-13
Just Mom
Compelling and provocative,The Testament of Mary is a must read. Very emotional. Mary is full of the pain of doubt, regret, guilt and longing for the happy times of the past.
Resentful of the men writing their version of her story, she tells us her truths.
As I have always thought that because the Bible was written by man it couldn't be accurate, I loved this spin on man's interference.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
31 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Roger
- 06-09-14
Not Mary
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
A more insightful representation of Mary with the wisdom, insight and love that we know she personified.
Has The Testament of Mary turned you off from other books in this genre?
Probably. I can't believe the positive reviews this book has received. It makes me very skeptical.
What three words best describe Meryl Streep’s voice?
Good enough.
What character would you cut from The Testament of Mary?
Mary
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
28 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Darcy
- 02-21-14
Stunning Consideration of Historical Mythology
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This story and its brilliant narration is the raison d'etre for audible books. I have been listening to books, good, better, and worse for 6 months. Some have been enjoyable and thoughtful experiences: an informative historical fiction, a lyrical work of classic literature, or a moving biography that unveils a wounded soul . Others selections have been quite engaging -- a story that slings a wicked twist or a history that opens my mind to previously unknown event. But this story brings the very best of all these qualities to our ears. Colm Toibin's imaginal exploration of the memories of Mary, mother of Jesus, is nothing short of amazing. We experience the doubts and fears of the mother of a young man who is individuating into a new and dangerous future. Mary's confusion amid the chaos of the political upheaval and her disgust and rage against her "keepers" who are the shapers of history is palpable. Meryl Streep amazes as she delivers ordinary observations contained within extraordinary situations and hard and brutal truths perceived as any human soul might attempt to make meaning of circumstances out of her control. I highly recommend this audio book to one and all.
Who was your favorite character and why?
This story is Mary's and she is the lens through which we view (and hear) the story of Jesus.
Which scene was your favorite?
The wedding at Cano brings the naïve Mary into the fray where she witnesses the dynamic change in her son and the societal response to his new spiritual movement all the while beginning to glimpse the deadly danger it evokes.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
For me this occurred when Mary is witness to the crucifixion of her son, Jesus. Although she is in agony for his pain and hopes for some kind of magical intervention that will save him, she honestly admits fear about her own safety. Earlier she told us of the trauma of having seen a crucifixion and now we share her worst nightmare without vain glory or heroics. Only that damned caged eagle being fed live rabbits, people selling wares and grilling food, her son on the cross, and the primal instinct for personal survival.
Any additional comments?
Buy this book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
22 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ana
- 09-05-17
Interesting underlying idea
I'm a huge fan of Meryl Streep, but I thought this was a very melodramatic performance that didn't add (and maybe detracted) from the story.
The fact volume goes up and down all the time makes it difficult to hear everything.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful