The Women category has 1,032 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 29,856 ratings. The most-rated is Becoming.
On My Way Up
Summary
Follow a young woman as she struggles to survive a near fatal injury at the top of Rosalie Peak. A blizzard makes the rescue extremely hazardous, and she is quickly running out of time. The accident and the long wait to be rescued from the mountain allow her to assess her short life, and it forever changes her path. It is the true story of a woman who miraculously survived a harrowing tragic ordeal, and used her second chance at life to overcome the problems of her youth, to break free of the burdens that tortured her.
©2018 Alyson D. Kirk (P)2021 Alyson D. Kirk
Do Not Go Gentle
Summary
The day my father was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, I decided to go and find him a miracle. Do Not Go Gentle is a transporting memoir about Ann Hood’s quest to find a cure, if not an outright miracle, that would cure her father’s cancer. Her “spiritual Odyssey, with a secret history all its own” would take her from Rhode Island to El Santuario de Chimayo, New Mexico, in search of dirt reputed to contain astonishing healing powers. Along the way, Hood tells the story of her family, their immigration to America, and the author’s reconnection with her Italian heritage. Most of all, this touching memoir is a valentine to the man who was, in Hood’s own words, “the love of my life”.
©2000 Ann Hood (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
What Stars Are Made Of
Summary
It was not easy being a woman of ambition in early 20th-century England, much less one who wished to be a scientist. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin overcame prodigious obstacles to become a woman of many firsts: the first to receive a PhD in astronomy from Radcliffe College, the first promoted to full professor at Harvard, the first to head a department there. And, in what has been called "the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy", she was the first to describe what stars are made of. Payne-Gaposchkin lived in a society that did not know what to make of a determined schoolgirl who wanted to know everything. She was derided in college and refused a degree. As a graduate student, she faced formidable skepticism. Revolutionary ideas rarely enjoy instantaneous acceptance, but the learned men of the astronomical community found hers especially hard to take seriously. Though welcomed at the Harvard College Observatory, she worked for years without recognition or status. Still, she accomplished what every scientist yearns for: discovery. She revealed the atomic composition of stars - only to be told that her conclusions were wrong by the very man who would later show her to be correct.
©2020 Donovan Moore (P)2020 Tantor
Bad Girls
Summary
A history of a century of women, punishment and crime in HM Prison Holloway. Society has never known what to do with its rebellious women. Those who defied expectations about feminine behaviour have long been considered dangerous and unnatural, and ever since the Victorian era they have been removed from public view, locked up and often forgotten about. Many of these women ended up at HM Prison Holloway, the self-proclaimed 'terror to evil-doers' which, until its closure in 2016, was Western Europe's largest women's prison. Holloway was first built in 1852 as a house of correction, and its women have come from all corners of the UK - whether a patriot from Scotland, a suffragette from Huddersfield, or a spy from the Isle of Wight - and from all walks of life - socialites and prostitutes, sporting stars and nightclub queens, refugees and freedom fighters. They were imprisoned for treason and murder, for begging, performing abortions and stealing clothing coupons, for masquerading as men, running brothels and attempting suicide. In Bad Girls, Caitlin Davies tells their stories and shows how women have been treated in our justice system over more than a century, what crimes - real or imagined - they committed, who found them guilty and why. It is a story of victimisation and resistance, of oppression and bravery. From the women who escaped the hangman's noose - and those who didn't - to those who escaped Holloway altogether, Bad Girls is a fascinating look at how disobedient and defiant women changed not only the prison service but the course of history.
©2018 Caitlin Davies (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Gone Feral
Summary
Gone Feral is Novella Carpenter's search for her father. Back-to-the-land homesteader, gifted classical guitarist, Korean War vet, hermit, curmudgeon, George Carpenter has been absent for most of his daughter's life. But when he officially goes missing - only to be found in a fleabag Arizona motel, escaping the brutal Idaho winter - his daughter is forced to confront the truth: Her time with her dad, now seventy-three years old, is limited, and the moment to restore their relationship is now. Thus begins a journey of discovery that carries Carpenter from her Oakland urban farm to her father's ramshackle cabin on a quest for connection that reveals who she is and where she came from. In Gone Feral, Carpenter, now a grown woman contemplating a family of her own, returns to Orofino to answer why her father chose a life of solitude. She quickly finds that George is not living the principled, romantic life she imagined, and the truth is more complicated than anything she might have imagined. As she comes to know the real George, Carpenter looks to her own life and comes to recognize her father's legacy in their shared love of animals, of nature, and of the written word; their dangerous stubbornness and isolating independence. In reckoning with her past, Carpenter clears the road to her future. Gone Feral sees the birth of Carpenter's own daughter, an experience that teaches that a parent's love is itself a wild thing: Unknowable, fierce, and ever changing. Raw, funny, unsentimental, alive with unforgettable characters and pitch-perfect dialogue, Gone Feral marks Carpenter's transformative passage from daughter to mother.
©2014 Novella Carpenter (P)2014 Recorded Books
Broken (in the Best Possible Way)
Summary
Please note: This program includes an audio-exclusive bonus chapter. From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of Furiously Happy and Let’s Pretend This Never Happened comes a deeply relatable audiobook filled with humor and honesty about depression and anxiety. As Jenny Lawson’s hundreds of thousands of fans know, she suffers from depression. In Broken, Jenny brings listeners along on her mental and physical health journey, offering heartbreaking and hilarious anecdotes along the way. With people experiencing anxiety and depression now more than ever, Jenny humanizes what we all face in an all-too-real way, reassuring us that we’re not alone and making us laugh while doing it. From the business ideas that she wants to pitch to Shark Tank to the reason why Jenny can never go back to the post office, Broken leaves nothing to the imagination in the most satisfying way. And of course, Jenny’s long-suffering husband Victor - the Ricky to Jenny’s Lucille Ball - is present throughout. A treat for Jenny Lawson’s already existing fans, and destined to convert new ones, Broken is a beacon of hope and a wellspring of laughter when we all need it most. A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Jenny Lawson (P)2021 Macmillan Audio
Virginia Woolf
Summary
Discover the remarkable life of Virginia Woolf.... Virginia Woolf ranks among the most influential writers of the 20th century. Embracing the Post-Impressionist times in which she lived, her novels reflect the artistic shift from romanticism to abstract. Plot mattered very little to Woolf. Her writing was a stream of consciousness outside of time and place. Her novels, including her best-known work, Mrs. Dalloway, invariably dwell on gender roles and the concept of reality. Woolf suffered from mental illness throughout her life. Her inner torment formed the basis of much of her writing. Virginia made multiple suicide attempts and was institutionalized several times throughout her life as she feared a loss of control due to her increasing depression and manic episodes. Her husband, Leonard Woolf, with whom she had mainly a platonic relationship, remained supportive of her until her death. On March 28, 1941, Virginia Woolf walked into the River Ouse wearing a heavy coat with pockets filled with rocks. Her body was found three weeks later. Discover a plethora of topics such as: A dysfunctional home Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group The making of a modern woman Mrs.Dalloway Virginia and Vita’s love affair Woolf’s Suicide and beyond And much more! So if you want a concise and informative book on Virginia Woolf, simply buy now!
©2020 Hourly History (P)2020 Hourly History
The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames
Summary
A riveting family drama evocative of Angela’s Ashes and The Glass Castle, about a woman who discovers the shocking secret at the center of her mother’s life. Justine had always been told that her mother came from royal blood. The proof could be found in her mother’s elegance, her upper-crust London accent - and in a cryptic letter hinting at her claim to a country estate. But beneath the polished veneer lay a fearsome, unpredictable temper that drove Justine from home the moment she was old enough to escape. Years later, when her mother sent her an envelope filled with secrets from the past, Justine buried it in the back of an old filing cabinet. Overcome with grief after her mother’s death, Justine found herself drawn back to that envelope. Its contents revealed a mystery that stretched back to the early years of World War II and beyond, into the dark corridors of the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children. Established in the 18th century to raise “bastard” children to clean chamber pots for England’s ruling class, the institution was tied to some of history’s most influential figures and events. From its role in the development of solitary confinement and human medical experimentation to the creation of the British Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts, its impact on Western culture continues to reverberate. It was also the environment that shaped a young girl known as Dorothy Soames, who bravely withstood years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a sadistic headmistress - a resilient child who dreamed of escape as German bombers rained death from the skies. Heartbreaking, surprising, and unforgettable, The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames is the true story of one woman’s quest to understand the secrets that had poisoned her mother’s mind, and her startling discovery that her family’s fate had been sealed centuries before. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Justine Thompson Cowan (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers
No Man's Land
Summary
The "absorbing and powerful" (Wall Street Journal) story of two pioneering suffragette doctors who shattered social expectations and transformed modern medicine during World War I A month after war broke out in 1914, doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson set out for Paris, where they opened a hospital in a luxury hotel and treated hundreds of casualties plucked from France's battlefields. Although, prior to the war and the Spanish flu, female doctors were restricted to treating women and children, Flora and Louisa's work was so successful that the British Army asked them to set up a hospital in the heart of London. Nicknamed the Suffragettes' Hospital, Endell Street soon became known for its lifesaving treatments. In No Man's Land, Wendy Moore illuminates this turbulent moment of global war and pandemic when women were, for the first time, allowed to operate on men. Their fortitude and brilliance serve as powerful reminders of what women can achieve against all odds.
©2020 Wendy Moore (P)2020 Hachette Audio
Danger Close
Summary
Amber Smith flew into enemy fire in some of the most dangerous combat zones in the world. One of only a few women to fly the Kiowa Warrior helicopter, Smith rose to pilot in command and air mission commander in the premier Kiowa unit in the army, repeatedly flying into harm's way during her 2005 and 2008 deployments with the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles. Smith takes you into the heat of battle, enabling listeners to feel, hear, and smell the experience of serving as a combat pilot in high-intensity warfare. She learned to perform under pressure and persevere under extreme duress - both in action against an implacable enemy and within the elite boys' club of army aviation.
©2016 Amber Smith (P)2016 Dreamscape Media, LLC
When the World Kicks You in the Teeth
Summary
Life can be painfully challenging, sometimes. During our darkest moments, we have all desperately looked for help to ease the distress. I became one of those seekers. If you feel like the world is continually kicking you in the teeth and just feel like giving up, this audiobook gives you some new tools to fight back with. Authored from a wealth of personal experience, this book covers a multitude of difficult topics that could prey on the weary traveler of life. I use a combination of my own real-life disasters and hard-won insights to explore some simple free mental and emotional techniques that anyone can try to weather the storm. Soon, you will be able to come out smiling, no matter what disasters life throws your way. I cover many common pitfalls and some not so common ones, including recovering from a broken heart, illness, homelessness, the loss of your business, financial difficulties, and subsequent bankruptcy. I talk through depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, fear, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. I discuss what self-love really looks like and why it is super-important to be your own best friend when you feel friends may be temporarily thin on the ground. I explain how to identify and deal with everyday toxic relationships, including your own inner relationship, before telling the story of how I survived an encounter with a convicted murderer that could have led to my own demise, had I not learnt how to identify a toxic person. This audiobook is a gritty, no-holds-barred piece of writing with some lighter moments that will guide anyone who is willing to just give it a try. If you have had enough of life's knocks or are feeling low, depressed, or just plain lost, then this is the book for you.
©2016 Anita Brown (P)2020 Anita Brown
Memoir of an Independent Woman
Summary
It takes a certain kind of woman to have the courage to defy societal conventions. In an era when her female counterparts were still expected to marry early and have children, Tania Grossinger set out on her own. This is her story. When you reach the age where there is more to look back at than forward to, what do you regret, if anything? One woman’s brave memoir about a life well lived. It takes a certain kind of woman to have the courage to defy societal conventions. In an era when her female counterparts were still expected to marry early and have children, Tania Grossinger set out on her own. This is her story. After spending her childhood at the famous Grossinger’s resort in the Catskills, Tania Grossinger was the publicist for the groundbreaking The Feminine Mystique (over four million copies sold), spent seven years as the Director of Broadcast Promotion for Playboy Magazine and the Playboy Club, did PR for The $64,000 Question, escaped her first marriage, and went to live in Mexico - and that’s only the beginning. Rubbing shoulders with some of America’s most famous figures, what Tania has to reveal about Ayn Rand (she has a sense of humor after all), Timothy Leary, Jackie Robinson, Hugh Hefner, and the unsolved disappearance of a fellow travel writer in Jamaica, will keep you up at night turning the pages of one of the most interesting women to put pen to paper in recent memory.
©2013 Tania Grossinger (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Baba Vanga
Summary
People’s timeless captivation with those supposedly endowed with supernatural powers - these gifted individuals oftentimes regarded as gods walking among everyone else - is a fascinating phenomenon in itself. Soothsayers and clairvoyants were particularly revered in past centuries, even by royals, nobles, and other influential figures, who placed oracles, mediums, and mystics in their retinues and sought counsel from them on a regular basis. Queen Elizabeth I, for example, famously appointed controversial polymath and occultist John Dee as her personal adviser. Various American presidents, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, are also known to have worked with psychics and spiritualists on at least one occasion. Needless to say, prophetic predictions regarding large-scale, epoch-making events that reportedly came to pass have only further cemented the convictions of believers, and in some cases, these stunning revelations have even caused skeptics to review their positions. Nostradamus, a 16th century physician, astrologer, sage, and seer, is perhaps the most renowned clairvoyant in history, as he apparently forecasted numerous transformative affairs centuries ahead of his time. In one such prophesy, he referenced “a young child born of poor people from the depths of the West of Europe, who would go on to “seduce a great troop by his tongue”, which many now believe alluded to the rise of Adolf Hitler. While Nostradamus remains the most famous, a legendary prophet grew up further east during the 20th century. Known by millions of followers as the beloved Baba Vanga, she was a blind mystic often called the “Balkan Nostradamus”. Despite her extremely humble beginnings, minimal education, and the seemingly endless string of hardships she suffered in her early life, the resilient, insightful, and peerlessly intuitive Vanga achieved global fame and recognition with her otherworldly visions and frighteningly accurate prophecies, attracting scores of domestic and international visitors from all walks of life, ranging from fellow villagers to celebrities and foreign dignitaries who clung on to her every word. The loyalty of her fan base, many of whom continue to spread forth her predictions and invaluable pearls of wisdom over 20 years after her death, is a testament to her prowess, especially in the present, when skepticism and cynicism have become the norm. Baba Vanga: The Controversial Life and Legacy of the Influential Bulgarian Mystic examines her life, her prophecies, and arguments over her legacy.
©2021 Charles River Editors (P)2021 Charles River Editors
A Chance in the World
Summary
"Pemberton's beautifully told story is a rags to riches journey - beginning in a place and with a jarring set of experiences that could have destroyed his life. But Steve's refusal to give in to those forces, and his resolve to create a better life, shows a courage and resilience that is an example for many of us to follow." (Stedman Graham, author, educator) Home is the place where our life stories begin. A Chance in the World is the astonishing true story of a boy destined to become a man of resilience, determination, and vision. Down in the dank basement, amid my moldy, hoarded food and beloved worm-eaten books, I dreamed that my real home, the place where my story had begun, was out there somewhere, and one day I was going to find it. Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence. Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, Steve finds his only refuge in a box of books given to him by a kind stranger. In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and begins to hope that one day he might have a different life, that one day he will find his true home. A fair-complexioned boy with blue eyes, a curly Afro, and a Polish last name, he is determined to unravel the mystery of his origins and find his birth family. Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to find that nothing is as it appears. Through it all, Steve's story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, no matter how great our misfortunes, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a place where love awaits.
©2012 Steve Pemberton (P)2019 Thomas Nelson
Beyond the Call
Summary
A riveting account of three women who fought shoulder-to-shoulder with men and worked with local women to restore their lives and push back the Taliban. They marched under the heat with 40-pound rucksacks on their backs. They fired weapons out of the windows of military vehicles, defending their units in deadly battles. And they did things their male counterparts could never do - gather intelligence on the Taliban from the women of Afghanistan. As females, they could circumvent Muslim traditions and cultivate relationships with Afghan women who were bound by tradition not to speak with American military men. Their work in local villages helped empower Afghan women, providing them with the education and financial tools necessary to rebuild their nation - and the courage to push back against the insurgency that wanted to destroy it. For the women warriors of the military's Female Engagement Teams (FET), it was dangerous, courageous, and sometimes heartbreaking work. Beyond the Call follows the groundbreaking journeys of three women as they first fight military brass and culture and then enemy fire and tradition. And like the men with whom they served, their battles were not over when they returned home. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2018 Eileen Rivers (P)2018 Hachette Audio
Marilyn
Summary
Like her art, Marilyn Monroe was rooted in paradox: She was a powerful star and a childlike waif; a joyful, irreverent party girl with a deeply spiritual side; a superb friend and a narcissist; a dumb blonde and an intellectual. No previous biographer has recognized - much less attempted to analyze - most of these aspects of her personality. Lois Banner has. Since Marilyn's death in August of 1962, the appetite for information about her has been insatiable. Biographies of Marilyn abound, and whether these books are sensational or flawed, Marilyn's fans have always come out in best-selling numbers. This time, with Lois Banner's revelations, the fans won't be disappointed. This is no retread of recycled material. As one of the founders of the field of women's history, Banner will reveal Marilyn Monroe in the way that only a top-notch historian and biographer could. While researching, Banner's credentials opened doors. She gained access to Marilyn intimates who hadn't spoken to other biographers, and to private material unseen, ignored, or misinterpreted by her predecessors. With new details about Marilyn's childhood foster homes, her sexual abuse, her multiple marriages, her affairs, and her untimely death at the age of 36, this is, at last, the nuanced biography Marilyn fans have been waiting for.
©2012 Lois Banner (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Love Is an Ex-Country
Summary
Queer. Muslim. Arab American. A proudly Fat woman. Randa Jarrar is all of these things. In this provocative memoir of a cross-country road trip, she explores how to claim joy in an unraveling and hostile America. Randa Jarrar is a fearless voice of dissent who has been called "politically incorrect" (Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times). As an American raised for a time in Egypt, and finding herself captivated by the story of a celebrated Egyptian belly dancer's journey across the United States in the 1940s, she sets off from her home in California to her parents' in Connecticut. Coloring this road trip are journeys abroad and recollections of a life lived with daring. Reclaiming her autonomy after a life of survival - domestic assault as a child, and later, as a wife; threats and doxxing after her viral tweet about Barbara Bush - Jarrar offers a bold look at domestic violence, single motherhood, and sexuality through the lens of the punished-yet-triumphant body. On the way, she schools a rest-stop racist, destroys Confederate flags in the desert, and visits the Chicago neighborhood where her immigrant parents first lived. Hailed as "one of the finest writers of her generation" (Laila Lalami), Jarrar delivers a euphoric and critical, funny and profound memoir that will speak to anyone who has felt erased, asserting: I am here. I am joyful.
©2021 Randa Jarrar (P)2021 Random House Audio
Marilyn
Summary
No one looked like her. No one walked like her. No one talked like her. Sexy, yet vulnerable, and unexpectedly talented, she was no ordinary screen goddess. Few really knew her. What others wrote, she called, "Lies! Lies! Lies!" Here, at last, is Marilyn Monroe's account. On June 1, 1962, Marilyn's 36th birthday, famed photographer and reporter George Barris visited Marilyn on the set of what would be her final, unfinished, film. They had met eight years earlier, became friends, and planned to do a picture book and autobiography. Now the time was right. For the next six weeks, Barris photographed and interviewed the actress. "Don't believe anything you read about me except this...." she told Barris. And so she began to confide the truth about herself.
©1995 George Barris (P)1995, 2016 Dove Audio, Phoenix Books
Composed
Summary
A candid and moving memoir from the critically acclaimed singer and songwriter. For 30 years as a musician, Rosanne Cash has enjoyed both critical and commercial success, releasing a series of albums that are as notable for their lyrical intelligence as for their musical excellence. Now, in her memoir, Cash writes compellingly about her upbringing in Southern California as the child of country legend Johnny Cash, and of her relationship with her mother and her famous stepmother, June Carter Cash. In her account of her development as an artist, she shares memories of a hilarious stint as a 20-year-old working for Columbia Records in London; recording her own first album on a German label; working her way to success; her marriage to Rodney Crowell, a union that made them Nashville's premier couple; her relationship with the country music establishment; and taking a new direction in her music and leaving Nashville to move to New York. She also discusses motherhood; dealing with the deaths of her parents, in part through music; the process of songwriting; and the fulfillment she has found with her current husband and musical collaborator, John Leventhal. Cash has written an unconventional and compelling memoir that, in the tradition of M. F. K. Fisher's The Gastronomical Me and Frank Conroy's Stop-Time, is a series of linked pieces that combine to form a luminous and brilliant whole.
©2010 Rosanne Cash (P)2010 Penguin
The Leper Spy
Summary
The GIs called her Joey. Hundreds owed their lives to the tiny Filipina who stashed explosives in spare tires, tracked Japanese troop movements, and smuggled maps of fortifications across enemy lines. As the Battle of Manila raged, Josefina Guerrero walked through gunfire to bandage wounds and close the eyes of the dead. Her valor earned her the Medal of Freedom, but what made her a good spy was also destroying her: leprosy, which so horrified the Japanese they refused to search her. After the war, army chaplains found her in a nightmarish leper colony and fought for the US government to do something it had never done: welcome a foreigner with leprosy. This brought her celebrity, which she used to publicly speak for other sufferers. However, the notoriety haunted her and she sought a way to disappear. Ben Montgomery now brings Guerrero's heroic accomplishments to light.
©2016 Ben Montgomery (P)2016 Tantor