Kirsten Potter has narrated 196 audiobooks on Listento.it by 134 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 3,728 ratings. The most-rated is Station Eleven.
Swim Back to Me
Summary
From Ann Packer, author of the New York Times best-selling novels The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Songs Without Words, a collection of burnished, emotionally searing stories, framed by two unforgettable linked narratives that express the transformation of a single family over the course of a lifetime. A wife struggles to make sense of her husband’s sudden disappearance. A mother mourns her teenage son through the music collection he left behind. A woman shepherds her estranged parents through her brother’s wedding and reflects on the year her family collapsed. A young man comes to grips with the joy - and vulnerability - of fatherhood. And, in the masterly opening novella, two teenagers from very different families forge a sustaining friendship, only to discover the disruptive and unsettling power of sex. Ann Packer is one of our most talented archivists of family life, with its hidden crevasses and unforeseeable perils, and in these stories she explores the moral predicaments that define our social and emotional lives, the frailty of ordinary grace, and the ways in which we are shattered and remade by loss. With Swim Back to Me, she delivers shimmering psychological precision, unfailing intelligence, and captivating drama: her most enticing work yet.
©2011 Ann Packer (P)2011 Random House Audio
The Mapmaker's Daughter
Summary
A novel of the Venetian girl who became the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire - perfect for fans of Netflix's Magnificent Century. The Ottoman Empire was at the height of its power during the 16th century when Cecilia Baffo Veniero was kidnapped from her Venetian homeland and chosen to be the wife of Selim II, successor to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She would be known as Nurbanu. The Mapmaker's Daughter vividly imagines the confession of Nurbanu as she lies on her sickbed narrating the spectacular story of her rise to the pinnacle of imperial power, determined to understand how her extraordinary destiny was shaped. With unflinching candor, Nurbanu reviews the desires and motives that have both propelled and harmed her, as she considers her role as a devoted yet manipulative mother, helping to orchestrate her son's succession to the throne. Serving as the appointed enforcer of one of the empire's most crucial and shocking laws, Nurbanu confronts the consequences of her loves and her choices - right up to one last shattering revelation.
©2017 Katherine Nouri Hughes (P)2020 Tantor
One Hundred Victories
Summary
Based on unique inside access, the author of the New York Times best seller Masters of Chaos explains how special operations forces are reshaping the U.S. military In One Hundred Victories, acclaimed military expert Linda Robinson shows how the special operations forces are - after a decade of intensive combat operations - evolving to become the go-to force for operations worldwide. Robinson has spent much of the last two years in Afghanistan studying the evolution of special ops in their largest and longest deployment since Vietnam. She has lived in mud-walled compounds in the mountains and deserts of insurgent-dominated regions, and obtained exclusive, sustained access to special ops missions, troops, and commanders. She shows the gritty reality of the challenges they undertake, and the constant danger in which they operate. In Afghanistan, SOF have not only faced a determined foe, but also had run-ins with the CIA, found themselves unsupported by conventional forces, and been under constant shellfire from Pakistanis across the border. Incorporating on-the-ground reporting and interviews with key players inside the national defense community, Robinson shows how the special operations are becoming the future of U.S. military strategy.
©2013 Linda Robinson (P)2013 Random House Audio
The Sheriffs of Savage Wells
Summary
He's the most fearsome sheriff in the West - a force to be reckoned with, the stuff of legend. But so is she. May the best sheriff win. Paisley Bell knows the eccentric people of Savage Wells. From the absentminded shopkeeper who always thinks she's been robbed to the young man who has returned shell-shocked from the war, Paisley has compassion for them all. When the sheriff up and leaves town, Paisley steps up and assumes the responsibility, partly because she loves the work but also because she needs the income to take care of her sick father. So when the town council decides that the position of sheriff should really go to a man, Paisley finds herself fighting to prove that she's the perfect candidate for the job, even though she wears a skirt. Cade O'Brien is heartily sick of shooting people. In his many years as a lawman, Cade has seen his share of blood and violence. So when he answers an advertisement for a sheriff job in the sleepy town of Savage Wells, he believes he's found the peace and quiet he's always desired. But when he discovers that his biggest competition for the job is a woman, he begins to question his decisions. Tension between the two begins to sizzle as both Cade and Paisley realize the attraction they have for each other, but when Paisley's former beau shows up in town along with a band of bank robbers, the blossoming relationship between the two sheriffs is tested. They will have to work together to thwart the bank robbers and keep the town safe.
©2016 Sarah M. Eden (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This
Summary
Heralding the arrival of a stunning new voice in American fiction, Robin Black's If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This takes readers into the minds and hearts of people navigating the unsettling transitions that life presents to us all. Written with maturity and insight, and in beautiful, clear-eyed prose, these stories plumb the depths of love, loss, and hope. A father struggles to forge an independent identity as his blind daughter prepares for college. A mother comes to terms with her adult daughter's infidelity, even as she keeps a disturbing secret of her own. An artist mourns the end of a romance while painting a dying man's portrait. An accident on a trip to Italy and an unexpected connection with a stranger cause a woman to question her lifelong assumptions about herself. Brilliant, hopeful, and fearlessly honest, If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This illuminates the truths of human relationships, truths we come to recognize in these characters and in ourselves.
©2010 Robin Black (P)2010 Random House
The Girl Explorers
Summary
Never tell a woman where she doesn't belong. In 1932, Roy Chapman Andrews, president of the men-only Explorers Club, boldly stated to hundreds of female students at Barnard College that "women are not adapted to exploration", and that women and exploration do not mix. He obviously didn't know a thing about either.... The Girl Explorers is the inspirational and untold story of the founding of the Society of Women Geographers - an organization of adventurous female world explorers - and how key members served as early advocates for human rights and paved the way for today's women scientists by scaling mountains, exploring the high seas, flying across the Atlantic, and recording the world through film, sculpture, and literature. Follow in the footsteps of these rebellious women as they travel the globe in search of new species, widen the understanding of hidden cultures, and break records in spades. For these women dared to go where no woman - or man - had gone before, achieving the unthinkable and breaking through barriers to allow future generations to carry on their important and inspiring work.
©2021 Jayne Zanglein (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Top Girls (Dramatized)
Summary
It's the middle of the high-flying, go-getting 80s in Maggie Thatcher's England, and Marlene has something to celebrate: she has just been made managing director of the Top Girls Employment Agency. But with no friends to speak of, and a past she'd just as soon forget, the guests at Marlene's party are a collection of famous women from history. Soon Marlene discovers that life above the glass ceiling is not all it's cracked up to be. This is a bold, searing comedy from an Olivier Award-winning playwright.
©2006 L.A. Theatre Works (P)2006 L.A. Theatre Works
Landslide
Summary
The explosive tale of the unraveling of an American president. For six years, Ronald Reagan seemed invincible. But behind the glowing image of success was an administration courting disaster. In this spellbinding book, two top Washington reporters trace the origins of the Iran-Contra affair and the unraveling of the Reagan presidency, taking us deep inside a white house that cared more for stagecraft than statecraft and that mistook a landslide reelection for an unlimited mandate. Here is the startling illumination of power and personality, an explosive tale of a president’s unmaking - and a landmark book about the current state of the American presidency.
©2018 Jane Mayer, Doyle McManus (P)2020 Graymalkin Media LLC
Call Me Elizabeth Lark
Summary
Twenty years ago off the Oregon coast, Myra Barkley's daughter disappeared from the rocky beach across from the family inn. Ever since, Myra has waited at the front desk for her child to come home. One rainy afternoon, the miracle happens - her missing daughter, now 28 years old with a child of her own, walks in the door. Elizabeth Lark is on the run with her son. She's just killed her abusive husband and needs a place to hide. Against her better judgment, she heads to her hometown and stops at the Barkley Inn. When the innkeeper insists that Elizabeth is her long-lost daughter, the opportunity for a new life and, more importantly, the safety of her child, is too much for Elizabeth to pass up. But she knows that she isn't the Barkleys' daughter, and the more deeply intertwined she becomes with the family, the harder it becomes to confess the truth. And as the news spreads that the Barkley girl has returned, Elizabeth suddenly comes into the limelight in a dangerous way, attracting the culprit behind that disappearance back to finish the job.
©2021 Melissa Colasanti (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Good Man Friday
Summary
New Orleans, 1838. When Benjamin January suddenly finds that his services playing piano at extravagant balls held by the city's wealthy are no longer required, he ends up agreeing to accompany sugar planter Henri Viellard and his young wife, Chloe, on a mission to Washington to find a missing friend. Plunged into a murky world, it soon becomes clear that while it is very possible the Viellards' friend is dead, his enemies are very much alive - and ready to kill anyone who gets in their way.
©2013 Barbara Hambly (P)2013 Dreamscape Media, LLC
We Own the Future
Summary
It's a strange day when a New York Times conservative columnist is forced to admit that the left is winning, but as David Brooks wrote recently, "the American left is on the cusp of a great victory." Among Americans under 30, 43 percent had a favorable view of socialism, while only 32 percent had a favorable view of capitalism. Not since the Great Depression have so many Americans questioned the fundamental tenets of capitalism and expressed openness to a socialist alternative. We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism-American Style offers a road map to making this alternative a reality, giving listeners a practical vision of a future that is more democratic, egalitarian, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. The book includes a crash course in the history and practice of democratic socialism, a vivid picture of what democratic socialism in America might look like in practice, and compelling proposals for how to get there from the age of Trump and beyond. With contributions from some of the nation's leading political activists and analysts, We Own the Future articulates a clear and uncompromising view from the left - a perfectly timed book that will appeal to a wide audience hungry for change.
©2020 Kate Aronoff, Peter Dreier, and Michael Kazin (Compilation and introduction); Copyright 2020 by each author (individual essays) (P)2021 Tantor
Fortune Favors the Dead
Summary
“[Fortune Favors the Dead has] razor-sharp style, tons of flair, a snappy sense of humor, and all the most satisfying elements of a really good noir novel, plus plenty of original twists of its own.” (Tana French) A wildly charming and fast-paced mystery written with all the panache of the hardboiled classics, Fortune Favors the Dead introduces Pentecost and Parker, an audacious new detective duo for the ages. It's 1942, and Willowjean "Will" Parker is a scrappy circus runaway whose knife-throwing skills have just saved the life of New York's best, and most unorthodox, private investigator, Lillian Pentecost. When the dapper detective summons Will a few days later, she doesn't expect to be offered a life-changing proposition: Lillian's multiple sclerosis means she can't keep up with her old case load alone, so she wants to hire Will to be her right-hand woman. In return, Will is to receive a salary, room and board, and training in Lillian's very particular art of investigation. Three years later, Will and Lillian are on the Collins case: Abigail Collins was found bludgeoned to death with a crystal ball following a big, boozy Halloween party at her home - her body slumped in the same chair where her steel magnate husband shot himself the year before. With rumors flying that Abigail was bumped off by the vengeful spirit of her husband (who else could have gotten inside the locked room?), the family has tasked the detectives with finding answers where the police have failed. But that's easier said than done in a case that involves messages from the dead, a seductive spiritualist, and Becca Collins - the beautiful daughter of the deceased, who Will quickly starts falling for. When Will and Becca's relationship dances beyond the professional, Will finds herself in dangerous territory and discovers she may have become the murderer's next target.
©2020 Stephen Spotswood (P)2020 Random House Audio
Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone
Summary
There is no shortage of democracy, at least in name, and yet it is in crisis everywhere we look. From a cabal of plutocrats in the White House to gerrymandering and dark-money campaign contributions, it is clear that the principle of government by and for the people is not living up to its promise. The problems lie deeper than any one election cycle. As Astra Taylor demonstrates, real democracy - fully inclusive and completely egalitarian - has in fact never existed. In a tone that is both philosophical and anecdotal, weaving together history, theory, the stories of individuals, and interviews with such leading thinkers as Cornel West and Wendy Brown, Taylor invites us to reexamine the term. Is democracy a means or an end, a process or a set of desired outcomes? What if those outcomes, whatever they may be - peace, prosperity, equality, liberty, an engaged citizenry - can be achieved by non-democratic means? In what areas of life should democratic principles apply? If democracy means rule by the people, what does it mean to rule and who counts as the people? Democracy's inherent paradoxes often go unnamed and unrecognized. Exploring such questions, Democracy May Not Exist offers a better understanding of what is possible, what we want, why democracy is so hard to realize, and why it is worth striving for.
©2019 Astra Taylor (P)2020 Tantor
Never Coming Home
Summary
When Kaz Elmore is told her five-year-old daughter, Jamie, has died in a car crash; she struggles to accept that she'll never see her little girl again. Devlin, a security consultant and witness to the terrible accident scene, inadvertently reveals that Kaz's daughter might not have been the girl in the car. What if Jamie is still alive? With no evidence, the police aren't interested, so Devlin and Kaz have little choice but to investigate themselves. Devlin never gets involved with a client, but the more time he spends with Kaz, the more he desires her....
©2012 Evonne Wareham (P)2012 W F Howes Ltd
Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight
Summary
A magisterial portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, and a major reevaluation of the profound yet underappreciated impact the First Lady's political instincts had on LBJ’s presidency. “An inviting, challenging, well-told tale of the thoroughly modern partner and strategist Lady Bird Johnson, whose skill and complexity emerge fully in this rich tale of history and humanity.” (John Dickerson, author of The Hardest Job in the World) “This riveting portrait gives us an important revision of a long-neglected First Lady.” (Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of Eleanor Roosevelt, vol. 1-3) In the spring of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson had a decision to make. Just months after moving into the White House under the worst of circumstances - following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy - he had to decide whether to run to win the presidency in his own right. He turned to his most reliable, trusted political strategist: his wife, Lady Bird Johnson. The strategy memo she produced for him, emblematic of her own political acumen and largely overlooked by biographers, is just one revealing example of how their marriage was truly a decades-long political partnership. Perhaps the most underestimated First Lady of the 20th century, Lady Bird Johnson was also one of the most accomplished and often her husband's secret weapon. Managing the White House in years of national upheaval, through the civil rights movement and the escalation of the Vietnam War, Lady Bird projected a sense of calm and, following the glamorous and modern Jackie Kennedy, an old-fashioned image of a First Lady. In truth, she was anything but. As the first First Lady to run the East Wing like a professional office, she took on her own policy initiatives, including the most ambitious national environmental effort since Teddy Roosevelt. Occupying the White House during the beginning of the women's liberation movement, she hosted professional women from all walks of life in the White House, including urban planning and environmental pioneers like Jane Jacobs and Barbara Ward, encouraging women everywhere to pursue their own careers, even if her own style of leadership and official role was to lead by supporting others. Where no presidential biographer has understood the full impact of Lady Bird Johnson’s work in the White House, Julia Sweig is the first to draw substantially on Lady Bird’s own voice in her White House diaries to place Claudia Alta "Lady Bird” Johnson center stage and to reveal a woman ahead of her time - and an accomplished politician in her own right. This program includes an actual recording of Lady Bird’s audio diary, dated October 12, 1965.
©2020 Julia Sweig (P)2020 Random House Audio
The Secret of the Mansion
Summary
Trixie first appeared more than 50 years ago in The Secret of the Mansion, which was followed by 38 other adventures as generation after generation of readers grew up with mystery-loving Trixie and her friends. Now, after 15 years, Trixie is back to make fans of a new generation! Trixie can't believe she's stuck in Sleepside all summer while her lucky brothers are away at camp. Then a millionaire's daughter moves in next door, a runaway kid hides out nearby, and rumors heat up that the old mansion on the hill is filled with a fortune. Maybe the summer won't be so boring after all!
©1948, renewed 1976 by Random House, Inc. (P)2004 Random House, Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group