Alison Fraser has narrated 13 audiobooks on Listento.it by 14 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 15 ratings. The most-rated is Dreyer's English.
Dreyer's English
Summary
New York Times best seller • A sharp, funny grammar guide they’ll actually want to read, from Random House’s longtime copy chief and one of Twitter’s leading language gurus Named one of the Best Books of the Year by O: The Oprah Magazine • Paste • Shelf Awareness "Essential (and delightful!)" (People) We all write, all the time: books, blogs, emails. Lots and lots of emails. And we all want to write better. Benjamin Dreyer is here to help. As Random House’s copy chief, Dreyer has upheld the standards of the legendary publisher for more than two decades. He is beloved by authors and editors alike - not to mention his followers on social media - for deconstructing the English language with playful erudition. Now, he distills everything he has learned from the myriad books he has copyedited and overseen into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best prose foot forward. As authoritative as it is amusing, Dreyer’s English offers lessons on punctuation, from the underloved semicolon to the enigmatic en dash; the rules and nonrules of grammar, including why it’s okay to begin a sentence with "And" or "But" and to confidently split an infinitive; and why it’s best to avoid the doldrums of the Wan Intensifiers and Throat Clearers, including "very," "rather," "of course," and the dreaded "actually." Dreyer will let you know whether "alright" is all right (sometimes) and even help you brush up on your spelling - though, as he notes, "The problem with mnemonic devices is that I can never remember them." And yes: "Only godless savages eschew the series comma." Chockful of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts, this audiobook will prove to be invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people’s prose, and - perhaps best of all - an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language. Praise for Dreyer’s English "Playful, smart, self-conscious, and personal... One encounters wisdom and good sense on nearly every page of Dreyer’s English." (The Wall Street Journal) "Destined to become a classic." (The Millions) "Dreyer can help you...with tips on punctuation and spelling.... Even better: He’ll entertain you while he’s at it." (Newsday)
©2019 Benjamin Dreyer (P)2019 Random House Audio
The Sandcastle Girls
Summary
Over the course of his career, New York Times best-selling novelist Chris Bohjalian has taken readers on a spectacular array of journeys. Midwives brought us to an isolated Vermont farmhouse on an icy winter's night and a home birth gone tragically wrong. The Double Bind perfectly conjured the Roaring 20s on Long Island - and a young social worker's descent into madness. And Skeletons at the Feast chronicled the last six months of World War Two in Poland and Germany with nail-biting authenticity. As The Washington Post Book World has noted, Bohjalian writes "the sorts of books people stay awake all night to finish." In his 15th book, The Sandcastle Girls, he brings us on a very different kind of journey. This spellbinding tale travels between Aleppo, Syria, in 1915 and Bronxville, New York, in 2012 - a sweeping historical love story steeped in the author's Armenian heritage, making it his most personal novel to date. When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke College, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The First World War is spreading across Europe, and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide. There, Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo to join the British Army in Egypt, he begins to write Elizabeth letters, and comes to realize that he has fallen in love with the wealthy, young American woman who is so different from the wife he lost. Flash forward to the present, where we meet Laura Petrosian, a novelist living in suburban New York. Although her grandparents' ornate Pelham home was affectionately nicknamed the "Ottoman Annex", Laura has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought. But when an old friend calls, claiming to have seen a newspaper photo of Laura's grandmother promoting an exhibit at a Boston museum, Laura embarks on a journey back through her family's history that reveals love, loss - and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.
©2012 Chris Bohjalian (P)2012 Random House Audio
Escape
Summary
When she was 18 years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man 32 years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn's heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church. Over the next 15 years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband's psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives, who were locked in a constant battle for supremacy. Carolyn was miserable for years and wanted out, but she knew that if she tried to leave and got caught, her children would be taken away from her. But in 2003, Carolyn chose freedom over fear and fled her home with her eight children. Escape exposes a world tantamount to a prison camp, created by religious fanatics. Against this background, Carolyn Jessop's flight takes on an extraordinary, inspiring power. She became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS, and in 2006, her reports to the Utah attorney general on church abuses formed a crucial part of the case that led to the arrest of its notorious leader, Warren Jeffs.
©2007 Visionary Classics, LLC (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.
The Buffalo Soldier
Summary
In northern Vermont, a raging river overflows its banks and sweeps the nine-year-old twin daughters of Terry and Laura Sheldon to their deaths. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the highway patrolman and his wife, unable to have more children, take in a foster child: a 10-year-old African-American boy who has been shuttled for years between foster families and group homes. Young Alfred cautiously enters the Sheldon family circle, barely willing to hope that he might find a permanent home among these kind people still distracted by grief. Across the street from the Sheldons live an older couple who take Alfred under their wing, and it is they who introduce him to the history of the buffalo soldiers - African-American cavalry troopers whose reputation for integrity, honor, and personal responsibility inspires the child. Before life has a chance to settle down, however, Terry, who has never been unfaithful to Laura, finds himself attracted to the solace offered by another woman. Their encounter, brief as it is, leaves her pregnant with his baby - a child Terry suddenly realizes he urgently wants. From these fitful lives emerges a lyrical and richly textured story, one that explores the meaning of marriage, the bonds between parents and children, and the relationships that cause a community to become a family. But The Buffalo Soldier is also a tale of breathtaking power and profound moral complexity - and exactly the sort of novel readers have come to expect from Chris Bohjalian.
©2002 Chris Bohjalian (P)2002 Random House Inc., Random House Audio, a Division of Random House Inc.
Raising Trump
Summary
In Raising Trump, Ivana Trump reflects on her extraordinary life and the raising of her three children - Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka - and recounts the lessons she taught her children as they were growing up. As her former husband takes his place as the 45th president of the United States, his children have also been thrust into the media spotlight - but it is Ivana who raised them and proudly instilled in them what she believes to be the most important life lessons: loyalty, honesty, integrity, and drive. Raising Trump is a nonpartisan, nonpolitical book about motherhood, strength, and resilience. Though Ivana writes about her childhood in communist Czechoslovakia, her escape from the regime and relocation to New York, her whirlwind romance, and her great success as a businesswoman, the focus of the book is devoted to Ivana's raising of her children. Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump will all contribute their own memories to the book. "Every day, people ask me how I raised such great kids. They are truly amazed when I tell them that there was no magic to their upbringing. I was a tough and loving mother who taught them the value of a dollar, not to lie, cheat, or steal, respect for others, and other life lessons that I'll share now in Raising Trump, along with unfiltered personal stories about Don, Eric, and Ivanka from their early childhood to becoming the first sons and daughter." (Ivana Trump)
©2017 Ivana Trump (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio
Fierce Poise
Summary
A dazzling biography of one of the 20th century's most respected painters, Helen Frankenthaler, as she came of age as an artist in postwar New York "The magic of Alexander Nemerov's portrait of Helen Frankenthaler in Fierce Poise is that it reads like one of Helen's paintings. His poetic descriptions of her work and his rich insights into the years when Helen made her first artistic breakthroughs are both light and lush, seemingly easy and yet profound. His book is an ode to a truly great artist who, some seventy years after this story begins, we are only now beginning to understand." (Mary Gabriel, author of Ninth Street Women) At the dawn of the 1950s, a promising and dedicated young painter named Helen Frankenthaler, fresh out of college, moved back home to New York City to make her name. By the decade's end, she had succeeded in establishing herself as an important American artist of the postwar period. In the years in between, she made some of the most daring, head-turning paintings of her day and also came into her own as a woman: traveling the world, falling in and out of love, and engaging in an ongoing artistic education. She also experienced anew - and left her mark on - the city in which she had been raised in privilege as the daughter of a judge, even as she left the security of that world to pursue her artistic ambitions. Brought to vivid life by acclaimed art historian Alexander Nemerov, these defining moments - from her first awed encounter with Jackson Pollock's drip paintings to her first solo gallery show to her tumultuous breakup with eminent art critic Clement Greenberg - comprise a portrait as bold and distinctive as the painter herself. Inspired by Pollock and the other male titans of abstract expressionism but committed to charting her own course, Frankenthaler was an artist whose talent was matched only by her unapologetic determination to distinguish herself in a man's world. Fierce Poise is an exhilarating ride through New York's 1950s art scene and a brilliant portrait of a young artist through the moments that shaped her.
©2021 Alexander Nemerov (P)2021 Penguin Audio
Live Strong
Summary
Since the now ubiquitous LiveStrong wristbands became available in May 2004, the Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised more than $50 million for cancer survivorship programs, and the signature phrase has become a battle cry for those who fight the disease every day. Now, the Lance Armstrong Foundation has compiled, from hours of videotaped interviews, poignant and dramatic personal accounts from cancer survivors. Covering a wide range of subjects, from grief to spousal relationships, employment discrimination to coping with medical bills, infertility to fear of recurrence, survivors share their experiences and speak candidly about how cancer has impacted their lives. For 24-year-old Amy, it's how her illness changed her relationship with her parents. Mike, a male survivor of breast cancer, talks about gender stereotypes and genetic testing. And Eric, the father of a 5-year-old survivor of a brain tumor, recalls how friends and strangers helped his family with financial issues and how the experience brought him and his wife closer together. While heartbreaking at times, these powerfully honest stories are ultimately uplifting and extremely reassuring to patients and their families. They offer the wisdom and hope that only survivors can give. Live Strong is a remarkable testament to the resilience of the human spirit. From the introduction by Lance Armstrong: "My work with the LAF shows me daily that sharing our stories and learning from one another’s experiences helps us cancer survivors continue to survive. Some people think the cancer experience is only about the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as if after the disease goes into remission, it no longer exists. But survivorship goes beyond remission. Survivorship is an evolution."
©2005 Lance Armstrong Foundation (P)2005 Books on Tape, Inc.
The Divine Sister
Summary
A crumbling convent school is on the verge of insolvency, when a young postulant begins to display strange heavenly powers. And when a dashing film executive arrives to buy the rights to her story, the Reverend Mother refuses to put profits over prayer. Playwright Charles Busch made his name with genre-skewering hits like Psycho Beach Party, Die Mommie Die, and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, which L.A. Theatre Works recorded in 2007. This time around, we present Busch's high-voltage spoof of religious melodramas, starring three of the principal players from its original 2010 Off-Broadway run. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Emily Bergl as Agnes, Charles Busch as Mother Superior, Maxwell Caulfield as Jeremy/Brother Venerius, Alison Fraser as Sister Walburga/Mrs. MacDuffie,Julie Halston as Sister Acacius/Juliet Mills/ Mrs. Levinson/Timothy Directed by Carl Andress. Recorded by L.A. Theatre Works before a live audience.
©2011 Charles Busch (P)2013 L.A. Theatre Works
Live Strong
Summary
Since the now ubiquitous LiveStrong wristbands became available in May 2004, the Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised more than $50 million for cancer survivorship programs, and the signature phrase has become a battle cry for those who fight the disease every day. Now, the Lance Armstrong Foundation has compiled, from hours of videotaped interviews, poignant and dramatic personal accounts from cancer survivors. Covering a wide range of subjects, from grief to spousal relationships, employment discrimination to coping with medical bills, infertility to fear of recurrence, survivors share their experiences and speak candidly about how cancer has impacted their lives. For 24-year-old Amy, it's how her illness changed her relationship with her parents. Mike, a male survivor of breast cancer, talks about gender stereotypes and genetic testing. And Eric, the father of a five-year-old survivor of a brain tumor, recalls how friends and strangers helped his family with financial issues and how the experience brought him and his wife closer together. While heartbreaking at times, these powerfully honest stories are ultimately uplifting and extremely reassuring to patients and their families. They offer the wisdom and hope that only survivors can give. Live Strong is a remarkable testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
©2005 Lance Armstrong Foundation (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.
The Night Strangers
Summary
From the bestselling author of The Double Bind, Skeletons at the Feast, and Secrets of Eden, comes a riveting and dramatic ghost story. In a dusty corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire, a door has long been sealed shut with 39 six-inch-long carriage bolts. The home's new owners are Chip and Emily Linton and their twin ten-year-old daughters. Together they hope to rebuild their lives there after Chip, an airline pilot, has to ditch his 70-seat regional jet in Lake Champlain after double engine failure. Unlike the Miracle on the Hudson, however, most of the passengers aboard Flight 1611 die on impact or drown. The body count? Thirty-nine – a coincidence not lost on Chip when he discovers the number of bolts in that basement door. Meanwhile, Emily finds herself wondering about the women in this sparsely populated White Mountain village – self-proclaimed herbalists – and their interest in her fifth-grade daughters. Are the women mad? Or is it her husband, in the wake of the tragedy, whose grip on sanity has become desperately tenuous? The result is a poignant and powerful ghost story with all the hallmarks readers have come to expect from bestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian: a palpable sense of place, an unerring sense of the demons that drive us, and characters we care about deeply. The difference this time? Some of those characters are dead. From the Hardcover edition.
©2011 Chris Bohjalian (P)2011 Random House Audio
Do Some Damage!
Summary
What would happen if you accidentally cracked open a dinosaur egg - and the ancient, yellow yolk poured onto your skin? You wouldn't turn into a roaring beast - or would you? Produced and directed by Matt Stine.
©2008 R.L. Stine (P)2008 R.L. Stine
A Last Goodbye
Summary
New York Times best-selling author J.A. Jance brings her trademark breakneck pace to this fun and exciting novella, where fan favorite Ali Reynolds takes on double responsibilities as both sleuth and bride. Ali Reynolds is finally getting married to her longtime love B. Simpson. They wanted a simple Christmas Eve wedding, but nothing is ever simple with Ali. Even as a motley crew of her friends—Leland Brooks, Sister Anselm, and others—descend on Vegas, the bride-to-be finds herself juggling last-minute wedding plans and a mystery in the form of a stray miniature dachshund. Ali’s grandson rescues the little dog, but Ali’s not in the market for a new pet right before her honeymoon, and leaves no stone unturned in hunting for the dog’s owner. But what she finds is more than just a shaggy dog story…Bella’s elderly owner has vanished, and her son seems to be behind it. So it’s Ali and B. to the rescue—and still making it to the church on time!
©2014 J.A. Jance. All rights reserved. (P)2014 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hanukkah Haunting
Summary
Eight nights of horror! In this audio drama, a Brooklyn family is haunted by ghosts over Hanukkah. Starring Voice Arts Awards winner Sarah Natochenny, Tony Award nominee Alison Fraser, Mike Pollock, Emily Cramer, Gianmarco Soresi, Barrett Leddy, Terrence Clowe, Josh Davis, and Simona Berman. Direction by Audie Award winner Barrett Leddy. Originally written by Emmy Award winner Jacklyn Thrapp. Additional material by Barrett Leddy, Jackson Bell, and Jane Lednovich. Music by Jackson Bell. Hanukkah Haunting is presented by Thrappo Audio. © Jacklyn Thrapp LLC
©2020 Jacklyn Thrapp LLC (P)2020 Jacklyn Thrapp LLC