The Secrets We Kept
Summary
A HELLO SUNSHINE x REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK "This month for Reeseâs Book Club, we are listening to The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott! Set during the Cold War, it tells the story of secretaries turned spies who are tasked with smuggling Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR and into the hands of Russian citizens. Youâll get to know Sally and Irina, two spies who risk it all for love and adventure." (Reese Witherspoon) A thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice - inspired by the true story of the CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia, not with propaganda, but with the greatest love story of the 20th century: Doctor Zhivago. At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dares publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world - using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally's tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops, and invisibly ferry classified documents. The Secrets We Kept combines a legendary literary love story - the decades-long affair between Pasternak and his mistress and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who was sent to the Gulag and inspired Zhivago's heroine, Lara - with a narrative about two women empowered to lead lives of extraordinary intrigue and risk. From Pasternak's country estate outside Moscow to the brutalities of the Gulag, from Washington, DC to Paris and Milan, The Secrets We Kept captures a watershed moment in the history of literature - told with soaring emotional intensity and captivating historical detail. And at the center of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world. This audiobook features performances by Mozhan Marno as Olga, Carlotta Brentan as Irina, Cynthia Farrell as Sally, Saskia Maarleveld as The Typists, Jonathan Davis as Boris, David Pittu as Sergio, and James Fouhey as Teddy.
©2019 Lara Prescott (P)2019 Random House Audio
Conquering Shame and Codependency
Summary
Shame and doubting one's worth can be debilitating. Unemployment and isolation as a result of the pandemic can fuel these negative feelings. Learn how to heal from the destructive hold of shame and codependency by implementing eight steps that will empower the real you and lead to healthier relationships. Shame: the torment you feel when you're exposed, humiliated, or rejected; the feeling of not being good enough. It's a deeply painful and universal emotion yet is not frequently discussed. For some, shame lurks in the unconscious, undermining self-esteem, destroying confidence, and leading to codependency. These codependent relationships - where we overlook our own needs and desires as we try to care for, protect, or please another - often cover up abuse, addiction, or other harmful behaviors. Shame and codependency feed off one another, making us feel stuck, never able to let go, move on, and become the true self we were meant to be. In Conquering Shame and Codependency, Darlene Lancer sheds new light on shame: how codependents' feelings and beliefs about shame affect their identity, their behavior, and how shame can corrode relationships, destroying trust and love. She then provides eight steps to heal from shame, learn to love yourself, and develop healthy relationships. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2014 Darlene Lancer (P)2021 Tantor
The Memory Thief
Summary
Perfect for fans of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, this fantastical and heartfelt first book in a new trilogy from New York Times best-selling author Jodi Lynn Anderson follows a girl who must defeat 13 evil witches. Twelve-year-old Rosie Singerâs mom is missing whatever it is that makes mothers love their daughters. All her life, Rosie has known this...and turned to stories for comfort. Then, on the night Rosie decides to throw her stories away forever, an invisible ally helps her discover the Witch Hunterâs Guide to the Universe, a book that claims that all of the evil in the world stems from 13 witches who are unseen...but also unstoppable. One of these witches - the Memory Thief - holds an insidious power to steal our most precious treasures: our memories. And it is this witch who has cursed Rosieâs mother. In her quest to save her mom - and with her wild, loyal friend âGermâ by her side - Rosie will find the layers hidden under the reality she only thought she knew: where ghosts linger as shades of the past, where clouds witness the world, and a ladder dangles from the moon leading to something bigger and more. Here, words are weapons against the darkness, and witch hunters are those brave enough to wield their imaginations in the face of the unthinkable. At the core of this stunning novel - the first of the Thirteen Witches trilogy from critically acclaimed author Jodi Lynn Anderson - is a passionate argument that stories have the power to create meaningful change...and a reason to hope even when the world feels crushing.
©2021 Jodi Lynn Anderson. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
All Girls
Summary
"A striking debut." (Good Housekeeping) "Sharp, engrossing." (Town & Country) "For fans of Gossip Girl and readers of Curtis Sittenfeld and Emma Straub." (Booklist) "Incisive, astute." (Publishers Weekly) "An exciting, innovative debut from a fresh new voice." (Taylor Jenkins Reid) A keenly perceptive coming of age novel for fans of Sally Rooney, Curtis Sittenfeld, and J. Courtney Sullivan, All Girls follows nine young women as they navigate their ambitions and fears at a prestigious New England prep school, all pitched against the backdrop of a scandal the administration wants silenced. But as the months unfold, and the school's efforts to control the ensuing crisis fall short, these extraordinary girls are forced to discover their voices, and their power. A tender and unflinching portrait of modern adolescence told through the shifting perspectives of an unforgettable cast of female students, All Girls explores what it means to grow up in a place that promises you the world- when the world still isn't yours for the taking. You grow to love a place... and then you grow up. This program is read by: Ali Ahn, Caitlin Davies, Carlotta Brentan, Cheryl Smith Franco, Chloe Cannon, Dylan Moore, Emily Shaffer, Imani Jade Powers, Jesse Vilinsky, Kristen DiMercurio, and Natalie Naudus A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press âDiving into the unprocessed underworld of adolescence, Layden creates space for a conversation about feminism and the unsung difficulties of surviving in a male-dominated world. Intelligent, evocative, and empathetic.â (Kirkus) "[The] girls are complex, compelling and written with incredible tenderness. Layden excels at rendering the everyday details of boarding school life.â (New York Times)
©2021 Emily Layden (P)2021 Macmillan Audio
The Brilliant Death
Summary
Teodora di Sangro is used to hiding her magical ability to transform enemies into music boxes and mirrors. Nobody knows sheâs a strega - and she aims to keep it that way. The she meets Cielo - and everything changes. A strega who can switch outward form as effortlessly as turning a page in a book, Cielo shows Teodora what her life could be like if she masters the power sheâs been keeping secret. And not a moment too soon: The ruler of Vinalia has poisoned the patriarchs of the countryâs five controlling families, including Teodoraâs father, and demands that each family send a son to the palace. If she wants to save her family, Teodora must travel to the capital - not disguised as a boy, but transformed into one. But the road to the capital, and to bridling her powers, is full of enemies and complications, including the one she least expects: falling in love.
©2018 Amy Rose Capetta (P)2018 Listening Library
The Rebel's Apothecary
Summary
Learn how to improve mental health and general wellness with the medicinal magic of cannabis and mushrooms - from CBD oil to elixirs and gummies to THC dosing. When health coach and wellness blogger Jenny Sansouci learned that her father was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, her extensive knowledge of the latest alternative therapies was put to the test. Jenny dove into the world of cannabis and mushrooms and their medicinal properties - and she and her dad are now outspoken champions of the healing power of these plants and fungi - not only to tame the side effects of chemotherapy, but to address everyday wellness concerns. The Rebelâs Apothecary is the result of her heartfelt and rigorous quest - a science-based and supportive guide that will enhance the lives of anyone living with pain, anxiety, depression, a weakened immune system, insomnia, and more. Complete with background information, dosing instructions, and everyday recipes, this is the essential handbook for harnessing the ancient healing powers of cannabis and mushrooms - safely, without confusion, fear, or an unwanted high. In addition to debunking myths and destigmatizing these powerful healing plants and fungi, The Rebelâs Apothecary presents: Specific protocols and dosage guides for wellness uses (mood, sleep, immunity, focus, energy) and managing common chemotherapy side effects Everyday wellness routines Recipes for delicious, easy, health-enhancing cannabis and mushroom infused smoothies, coffee drinks, teas, elixirs, gummies, broths, and more The latest research on CBD, THC, medicinal mushrooms and psilocybin Tips for creating a cutting-edge home apothecary of your own PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Jenny Sansouci (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
Summary
An international best seller! A Library Reads pick and Indie Next Pick! A trio of second-born daughters sets out on a whirlwind journey through the lush Italian countryside to break the family curse that says theyâll never find love, by New York Times best seller Lori Nelson Spielman, author of The Life List. Since the day Filomena Fontana cast a curse upon her sister more than 200 years ago, not one second-born Fontana daughter has found lasting love. Some, like second-born Emilia, the happily single baker at her grandfatherâs Brooklyn deli, claim itâs an odd coincidence. Others, like her sexy, desperate-for-love cousin Lucy, insist itâs a true hex. But both are bewildered when their great-aunt calls with an astounding proposition: If they accompany her to her homeland of Italy, Aunt Poppy vows sheâll meet the love of her life on the steps of the Ravello Cathedral on her 80th birthday and break the Fontana Second-Daughter Curse once and for all. Against the backdrop of wandering Venetian canals, rolling Tuscan fields, and enchanting Amalfi Coast villages, romance blooms, destinies are found, and family secrets are unearthed - secrets that could threaten the family far more than a centuries-old curse.
©2020 Lori Nelson Spielman (P)2020 Penguin Audio
The Game
Summary
If you loved American Horror Story 1984, you'll die for this new thriller mashup of Agatha Christie's The A.B.C. Murders and Riverdale in which a game turns deadly with a killer who picks his victims one by one, letter by letter. Every year, the senior class at Lincoln High plays assassin. Lia Prince has been planning her strategy for years, and she's psyched that not only does she finally get to play, she's on a team with Devon Diaz. But this year, the game isn't any fun - it's real. Abby Ascher, Ben Barnard, and Cassidy Clarke have all turned up...dead. Can Lia stop the ABC killer before he reaches D?
©2020 Linsey Miller (P)2020 Listening Library
The Bright & the Pale
Summary
Debut author Jessica Rubinkowski delivers the thrilling first book in an epic Russian folklore-inspired fantasy duology filled with pause-resisting romance, tragedy, magic, and monsters. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Sara Raasch! Seventeen-year-old Valeria is one of the only survivors of the freeze, a dark magical hold Knnot Mountain unleashed on her village. Everyone, including her family, is trapped in an unbreakable sheet of ice. Ever since, sheâs been on the run from the czar, who has set out to imprison anyone who managed to escape. Valeria finds refuge with the Thieves Guild, doing odd jobs with her best friend, Alik, the only piece of home she has left. That is, until he is brutally murdered. A year later, she discovers Alik is alive and being held captive. To buy his freedom, she must lead a group of cutthroats and thieves on a perilous expedition to the very mountain that claimed her family. Only something sinister slumbers in the heart of Knnot. And it has waited years for release.
©2021 Jessica Rubinkowski (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers
The Longest Echo
Summary
Against the backdrop of WWII-ravaged Italy comes a powerful and emotional novel of love, survival, justice, and second chances by the bestselling author of White Rose, Black Forest. Occupied Italy, 1944. In the mountain regions south of Bologna, Liliana Nicolettiâs family finds escaped POW James Foley behind German lines. Committed to the anti-Fascist cause, they deliver him to a powerful band of local partisans. But when the SS launches a brutal attack against the Resistance, Lilianaâs peaceful community is destroyed. Alone and thrown together by tragedy, James and Liliana fight together as Monte Sole burns. Forging an unbreakable bond, they know their only hope of survival is to make it to the Allied lines. Twelve years later, fate reunites Liliana, newly widowed, and James, now a journalist for a New York magazine. Liliana reveals to him the obsession that has haunted her since the massacre at Monte Sole: finding and bringing to justice the SS officer who ordered her family killed. James has a revelation too. He might know how to hunt the man down. Joining forces once more, and increasingly drawn to each other, Liliana and James discover new levels of conspiracy on a journey that leads them to Argentina - and to a choice that will change their lives forever.
©2021 Eoin Dempsey (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Who Was Catherine the Great?
Summary
Learn how a Prussian princess grew up to be Russia's longest-ruling female leader! Born in 1729, Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbs was never supposed to come to power. But at age 16, she married the heir to the Russian throne. By 1762, Sophie, known now as Catherine, overthrew her immature and incompetent husband, Peter III, to lead the nation. Catherine became the sole ruler of Russia. This exciting Who Was? title explores how Catherine was able to turn Russia into one of the great powers of Europe by expanding its borders, helping improve its educational system, and advocating for the arts. Her three-decade reign is considered the Golden Age of Russia, and she is called Catherine the Great.
©2021 Pam Pollack, Meg Belviso, and Who HQ (P)2021 Listening Library
Firebreak
Summary
One young woman faces down an all-powerful corporation in this all-too-near future science-fiction debut, a refreshing take on Ready Player One, with a heavy dose of Black Mirror. Ready Player One meets Cyberpunk 2077 in this eerily familiar future. âTwenty minutes to power curfew, and my kill counterâs stalled at 867 while Iâve been standing here like an idiot. My health bar is flashing ominously, but Iâm down to four heal patches, and I have to be smart.â New Liberty City, 2134. Two corporations have replaced the US, splitting the countryâs remaining 45 states (five have been submerged under the ocean) between them: Stellaxis Innovations and Greenleaf. There are nine supercities within the continental US, and New Liberty City is the only amalgamated city split between the two megacorps, and thus at a perpetual state of civil war as the feeds broadcast the atrocities committed by each side. Here, Mallory streams Stellaxisâ wargame SecOps on BestLife, spending more time jacked in than in the world just to eke out a hardscrabble living from tips. When a chance encounter with one of the gameâs rare super-soldiers leads to a side job for Mal - looking to link an actual missing girl to one of the SecOps characters. Malâs sudden burst in online fame rivals her deepening fear of what she is uncovering about BestLifeâs developer, and puts her in the kind of danger sheâs only experienced through her avatar. Author Kornher-Staceâs adult science-fiction debut - Firebreak - is loaded with ambitious challenges and a city to save.
©2021 Nicole Kornher-Stace (P)2021 Simon & Schuster Audio
The Storm of Life
Summary
The sumptuous and powerful conclusion to the gender-fluid duet begun by The Brilliant Death, hailed in a starred review by Kirkus as "a delicious and magical intrigue too tempting not to devour." By turns thrilling, witty, and heartbreaking, this dramatic conclusion to the Brilliant Death duet transports us to a Vinalia on the verge of transformation and radiates with the electric power of love. With her power over magic finally in hand, and her love for Cielo at last confessed, Teodora di Sangro should be on top of the world. But the country of Vinalia is in chaos as the dictator like Capo threatens to plunge them all into war and capture every strega in the land - including Teo and Cielo. Teo knows she can't take down the Capo alone. She must convince a small band of streghe who have been hiding in plain sight to join her in the cause. But as she struggles to bring them together, she discovers a far deadlier enemy than the Capo has been hunting her all along. Now everyone - especially Cielo - is in danger. What lengths will Teo go to in order to unite her country and save the one she loves?
©2020 Amy Rose Capetta (P)2020 Listening Library
Her Daughter's Mother
Summary
She befriended the one woman she was never supposed to meet. Now she's the key suspect in her disappearance. For fans of The Perfect Mother and The Wife Between Us comes a gripping psychological suspense debut about two strangers, one incredible connection, and the steep price of obsession. Lana Stone has never considered herself a stalker - until the night she impulsively follows a familiar face through the streets of New York's Upper West Side. Her target? The "anonymous" egg donor she'd selected through an agency, the one who's making motherhood possible for her. Hungry to learn more about her, Lana plans only to watch her from a distance. But when circumstances bring them face-to-face, an unexpected friendship is born. Katya, a student at Columbia, is the yin to Lana's yang, an impulsive free spirit who lives life at the edge. And for pragmatic Lana, she's a breath of fresh air and a welcome distraction from her painful breakup with her baby's father. Then, just as suddenly as Katya entered Lana's life, she disappears--and Lana might have been the last person to see her before she went missing. Determined to find out what became of the woman to whom she owes so much, Lana digs into Katya's past, even as the police grow suspicious of her motives. But she's unprepared for the secrets she unearths, and their power to change everything she thought she knew about those she loves best....
©2019 Daniela Petrova (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Viola in Reel Life
Summary
I'm marooned. Abandoned. Left to rot in boarding school.... Viola doesn't want to go to boarding school, but somehow she ends up at an all-girls school in South Bend, Indiana, far, far away from her home in Brooklyn, New York. Now, Viola is stuck for a whole year in the sherbet-colored sweater capital of the world. Ick. There's no way Viola's going to survive the year - especially since she has to replace her best friend, Andrew, with three new roommates who, disturbingly, actually seem to like it there. She resorts to viewing the world (and hiding) behind the lens of her video camera. Boarding school, though, and her roommates and even the Midwest are nothing like she thought they would be, and soon Viola realizes she may be in for the most incredible year of her life. But first she has to put the camera down and let the world in.
©2009 Adriana Trigiani (P)2020 Random House Audio
A Ceiling Made of Eggshells
Summary
In A Ceiling Made of Eggshells, Newbery Honor-winning author Gail Carson Levine tells a moving and ambitious story set during the expulsion of Jews from Spain, about a young Jewish girl full of heart who must play her own role in her people's epic history - no matter the sacrifice. Surrounded by her large family, Loma is happy living in the juderÃa of Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and wants nothing more than to someday have a family of her own. Still, when her intimidating grandfather, her Belo, decides to bring her along on his travels, she's excited to join him. Belo has the ear of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and Loma relishes her adventures with him, adventures that are beyond the scope of most girls of the time. She soon learns just how dangerous the world is for the Jews of Spain, and how her grandfather's influence keeps their people safe. But the older Loma gets, the more she longs to realize her own dreams - if Belo will ever allow her to leave his side.
©2020 Gail Carson Levine (P)2020 HarperAudio