Beth MacDonald has narrated 4 audiobooks on Listento.it by 4 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 5 ratings. The most-rated is Summer People.
Summer People
Summary
Every summer the Newton family retreats to their beloved home on Nantucket for three months of sunshine, cookouts, and bonfires on the beach. But this summer will not be like any other. When Arch Newton, a prominent New York attorney, dies in a plane crash on his way home from a business trip, his beautiful widow, Beth, can barely keep things together. Above all, though, she decides that she must continue the family tradition of going to Nantucket, and at the same time fulfill a promise that Arch made before he died. Beth invites Marcus, the son of Arch’s final and most challenging client, to spend the summer with her and her teenage twins, Winnie and Garrett, who have mixed reactions to sharing their special summer place with this stranger. Always a place of peace before, Nantucket becomes the scene of roiling emotions and turbulent passions as Marcus, Winnie, and Garrett learn about loss, first love, and betrayal. And when they stumble upon a shocking secret from Beth’s past, they must keep it from destroying the family they’ve been trying so hard to heal.
©2003 Elin Hilderbrand (P)2012 Macmillan Audio
The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn
Summary
A failed prodigy and child of divorce, Francesca Dunn is also an adolescent like any other, trying to find her identity and figure out her place in the world. One night, Chester, a visionary homeless man (or an insane one, depending on your point of view) "sees" Francesca hovering over the river, bathed in celestial light. Days later, as Francesca serves meals to the needy in a local cafi, Chester falls to his knees before her in adoration. Word spreads, hordes of followers converge, and the result is a catastrophic storm of fervent belief and doubt, the relentless and perpetual desire for salvation, possible miracles, and an adolescent trapped by events far beyond her control. The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn is a beautifully crafted tale about people who pin their hopes for spiritual salvation on a young girl; and how, slowly, surely, and tragically, she comes to believe that she is the divine being they want her to be. At stake for each is nothing less than the fundamental belief in the structure of the world, and the balance between the miraculous and the mundane. Narrating by turns are four disparate characters who tell the story as they see it: Chester, who smells fear, disease, and holiness and appoints himself Francesca's protector and follower; Anne Dunn, Francesca's paleobotanist mother, who places her faith in Darwin and natural selection; Sid, the schoolmate, who wants to use Francesca's new circumstances for her own profit; and Francesca herself, who becomes increasingly deluded by the adoration bestowed upon her. At once powerful, tender, and humorous, The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn is an astonishing and resonant work from an exciting new talent. With each of its gentle revelations, the novel brings an unforgettable cast of characters to vibrant life as it brilliantly explores the seductive and destructive power of belief.
©2004 Janis Hallowell (P)2004 HighBridge Company
Magic Terror
Summary
With Magic Terror Peter Straub, best selling author of Ghost Story and The Talisman (with Stephen King), has written one of the most imaginatively unsettling collections in years. The terrain of these extraordinary stories is marked by brutality, heartbreak, despair, wonder, and an unexpected humor that allows empathy to blossom within the most unlikely contexts."Bunny is Good Bread" takes you into the mind of a small boy trapped in grotesque circumstances to portray the creation of a serial killer in a manner that compels pity, sorrow, comprehension, and grief - as well as judgment. "Hunger and Introduction," narrated by the ghost of a pompous, self-pitying murderer, evokes a profoundly beautiful vision of earthly life, one appreciated far more by the dead than the living. The Award-winning novella "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff," a masterpiece of black comedy, draws upon Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" to create a revenge tale in which torture is a moral art and the revenger undergoes a transforming, albeit painful, education.In the words of Mrs. Asch, the visionary narrator of "Ashputtle," "The Main feature of adventure is that it goes forward into unknown country." Straub's devotees will be entranced by what their fearless guide has in store for them. Those as yet uninitiated are in for a harrowing literary journey. Enjoy the ride.
©2000 Peter Straub (P)2000 Random House, Inc. Random House AudioBooks A Division of Random House, Inc.
The Puppy Diaries
Summary
An instructive and marvelously entertaining chronicle of a puppy's first year, by the executive editor of The New York Times One sparkling summer day, Jill Abramson brought home a nine-week-old golden retriever named Scout. Over the following year, as she and her husband raised their adorable new puppy, Abramson wrote a hugely popular column for The New York Times' website about the joys and challenges of training this rambunctious addition to their family. Dog-lovers from across the country inundated her with emails and letters, and the photos they sent in of their own dogs became the most visited photo album on the Times' site in 2009. Now Abramson has gone far beyond the material in her column and written a detailed and deeply personal account of Scout's first year. Part memoir, part manual, part investigative report, The Puppy Diaries continues Abramson's intrepid reporting on all things canine. Along the way, she weighs in on such issues as breeders or shelters, adoption or rescue, raw diet or vegan, pack-leader gurus like Cesar Millan or positive-reinforcement advocates like Karen Pryor. What should you expect when a new puppy enters your life? With utterly winning stories and a wealth of practical information, The Puppy Diaries provides an essential road map for navigating the first year of your dog's life.
©2011 Jill Abramson (P)2011 Macmillan Audio