Madeleine Maby has narrated 98 audiobooks on Listento.it by 57 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 914 ratings. The most-rated is The Winemaker's Wife.
The Sisters of Summit Avenue
Summary
From the best-selling author of Mrs. Poe and Twain's End comes a "poignant, beautifully rendered story of two sisters who find the courage to reclaim their bond after years of misunderstandings and heartbreak" (Melanie Benjamin, New York Times best-selling author) during the Great Depression. 1934. Ruth has been single-handedly raising four young daughters and running her family's Indiana farm for eight long years, ever since her husband, John, was infected by the infamous "sleeping sickness" devastating families across the country. If only she could trade places with her older sister, June: blonde and beautiful, married to a wealthy doctor, living in a mansion in St. Paul. And June has a coveted job, too, as one of "the Bettys", the perky recipe developers who populate the famous Betty Crocker test kitchen. But these gilded trappings hide sorrows: She has borne no children. And the man she loves more than anything belongs to Ruth. When the two sisters reluctantly reunite after a long estrangement, June's bitterness about her sister's betrayal sets into motion a confrontation that's been years in the making. And their mother, Dorothy, who's brought the two of them together, has her own dark secrets, which might blow up the fragile peace she hopes to restore between her daughters. An emotional journey of redemption, inner strength, and the ties that bind families together, for better or worse, The Sisters of Summit Avenue is a moving and heartfelt tribute to mothers, daughters, and sisters everywhere.
©2019 Lynn Cullen (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio
Death in Rough Water
Summary
Fresh from her first murder case, Nantucket detective Merry Folger is unwillingly sucked into her second. When Joe Duarte, a fishing boat captain with decades of experience on the wild seas off Nantucket, is swept overboard during a spring storm, his death is pronounced accidental. But his estranged daughter, Del, is convinced it's murder. She moves back to Nantucket to get closer to the truth and enlists her old friend, Detective Merry Folger, to help. But Del is also hiding secrets of her own, and the police are not inclined to help her with what they see as a wild goose chase. Merry has to defy her boss - her father - in order to investigate.
©1996 Francine Mathews (P)2016 Recorded Books
Animal Madness
Summary
For the first time, a historian of science draws evidence from across the world to show how humans and other animals are astonishingly similar when it comes to their feelings and the ways in which they lose their minds. Charles Darwin developed his evolutionary theories by looking at physical differences in Galapagos finches and fancy pigeons. Alfred Russell Wallace investigated a range of creatures in the Malay Archipelago. Laurel Braitman got her lessons closer to home - by watching her dog. Oliver snapped at flies that only he could see, ate Ziploc bags, towels, and cartons of eggs. He suffered debilitating separation anxiety, was prone to aggression, and may even have attempted suicide. Her experience with Oliver forced Laurel to acknowledge a form of continuity between humans and other animals that, first as a biology major and later as a PhD student at MIT, she'd never been taught in school. Nonhuman animals can lose their minds. And when they do, it often looks a lot like human mental illness Thankfully, all of us can heal. As Laurel spent three years traveling the world in search of emotionally disturbed animals and the people who care for them, she discovered numerous stories of recovery: parrots that learn how to stop plucking their feathers, dogs that cease licking their tails raw, polar bears that stop swimming in compulsive circles, and great apes that benefit from the help of human psychiatrists. How do these animals recover? The same way we do: with love, with medicine, and above all, with the knowledge that someone understands why we suffer and what can make us feel better. After all of the digging in the archives of museums and zoos, the years synthesizing scientific literature, and the hours observing dog parks, wildlife encounters, and amusement parks, Laurel found that understanding the emotional distress of animals can help us better understand ourselves.
©2014 Laurel Braitman (P)2014 Simon & Schuster Audio
The Traitor's Wife
Summary
A riveting historical novel about Peggy Shippen Arnold, the cunning wife of Benedict Arnold and mastermind behind America’s most infamous act of treason.… Everyone knows Benedict Arnold - the Revolutionary War general who betrayed America and fled to the British - as history’s most notorious turncoat. Many know Arnold’s co-conspirator, Major John André, who was apprehended with Arnold’s documents in his boots and hanged at the orders of General George Washington. But few know of the integral third character in the plot: A charming young woman who not only contributed to the betrayal but orchestrated it. Socialite Peggy Shippen is half Benedict Arnold’s age when she seduces the war hero during his stint as military commander of Philadelphia. Blinded by his young bride’s beauty and wit, Arnold does not realize that she harbors a secret: Loyalty to the British. Nor does he know that she hides a past romance with the handsome British spy John André. Peggy watches as her husband, crippled from battle wounds and in debt from years of service to the colonies, grows ever more disillusioned with his hero, Washington, and the American cause. Together with her former love and her disaffected husband, Peggy hatches the plot to deliver West Point to the British and, in exchange, win fame and fortune for herself and Arnold. Told from the perspective of Peggy’s maid, whose faith in the new nation inspires her to intervene in her mistress’s affairs even when it could cost her everything, The Traitor’s Wife brings these infamous figures to life, illuminating the sordid details and the love triangle that nearly destroyed the American fight for freedom.
©2014 Allison Pataki (P)2014 Simon & Schuster
Death on Tuckernuck
Summary
In the Category 3 winds of a late-season hurricane, Nantucket police detective Merry Folger and her team attempt a rescue off the secluded island of Tuckernuck - only to discover a deadly secret. As a Category 3 hurricane bears down on Nantucket, Dionis Mather and her father have their work cut out for them. Their family business is to ferry goods and people back and forth from Tuckernuck, the private island off Nantucket’s western tip, a place so remote and exclusive that it is off the electric grid. As caretakers of the small plot of sand in the middle of the Atlantic, the Mathers are responsible for evacuating Tuckernuck’s residents, who range from a stubborn elderly native who refuses to leave her family home to the abandoned summer house pets of an absentee NFL quarterback. But as the storm surge rises and the surf warnings mount, Dionis has to make a choice: abandon whatever - or whoever - was left behind, or risk her own life by plunging back into the maelstrom. Even she has no idea what evil the hurricane is sheltering. When the coast guard notifies the Nantucket police of a luxury yacht grounded in the shoals off Tuckernuck’s northern edge - with two shooting victims lying in the main cabin - detective Meredith Folger throws herself into an investigation before the hurricane sweeps all crime-scene evidence out to sea. Merry is supposed to be on leave this weekend, dancing at her own wedding, but the Cat 3 has thrown her blissful plans into chaos. As her battered house fills with stranded wedding guests and flood waters rise all over Nantucket Island, Merry has her own choice to make: How much should she risk in order to bring a criminal to justice?
©2020 Francine Mathews (P)2020 Recorded Books
The Little Book of Self-Care for Virgo
Summary
Everything you need to know about self-care - especially for Virgo!
©2019 Constance Stellas (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio
Death in a Mood Indigo
Summary
The third book in the recently revamped Nantucket mystery series. When two children make a grisly discovery on Sconset beach, Detective Meredith Folger finds herself with a perplexing case on her hands. The crime lab can tell her only that the newly unearthed skeletal remains belonged to a woman who was strangled to death somewhere between two and 10 years ago - a conclusion that sends Merry sifting through old missing-persons files. But then a shocking piece of news changes everything. The Massachusetts police have arrested a man they believe to be a serial killer. His five known victims were all women - all strangled. Is Merry's Nantucket skeleton the killer's final victim? And do the state cops have the right man? When the murderer strikes again, he'll draw Merry into a deadly cat-and-mouse game in which she's the final target. Francine Mathews worked for four years as an intelligence analyst at the CIA. She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the agency a year later. Fifteen books have followed, along with sundry children, dogs, and houses. When she's not writing, she likes to ski, garden, needlepoint, and buy art.
©2016 Francine Mathews (P)2017 Recorded Books
Multiple Listings
Summary
What would you do if your ex-con father suddenly came to visit...indefinitely? Family drama ensues when Nicki's dad unexpectedly moves in with her, her son, and her boyfriend in this comedic novel from successful TV writer Tracy McMillan. Nicki Daniels owns a home appraisal business, but real estate is her true passion: She lives for open houses and really knows her way around a floor plan. And especially at this juncture of her life, real estate has come to signify the stability she is trying to build with her teenage son, Cody, and her much younger boyfriend, Jake. She's finally ready to find the perfect house for the three of them and work on a new business venture with Jake that she thinks will jump-start their lives together. Meanwhile, Ronnie, a longtime inmate at a nearby correctional facility, is getting some good news for once - there was a mistake in his sentencing, and he's eligible to get out of prison. After a 60-day stay in a halfway house, Ronnie decides his best option to avoid homelessness is to move in with his estranged daughter: Nicki. Even though they haven't spoken in years, her door is always open to him, right? Inspired by the author's life and imbued with wit and profound insight into relationships, Multiple Listings speaks poignantly - and often hilariously - about the ties that bind families of all types together.
©2016 Eleven Thousand Lakes, Inc. (P)2016 Simon & Schuster
212: A Novel
Summary
"The plot of an Alafair Burke thriller doesn’t just rip from the headlines. She’s one step ahead of them. 212 scares you and keeps you turning the pages into the wee hours." (Harlan Coben) "Burke has created a strong female protagonist in the tradition of Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski and Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone.... Utterly authentic." (Boston Globe) 212 is acclaimed author - and former deputy district attorney - Alafair Burke’s gripping thriller featuring hip, Manhattan-based detective Ellie Hatcher. Fans of Lisa Gardner, Sandra Brown, Karin Slaughter, Harlan Coben, Sue Grafton, and PJ Tracy will find it hard to stop listening to 212 until the very last moment.
©2010 Alafair Burke (P)2019 HarperAudio
The Little Book of Self-Care for Sagittarius
Summary
Everything you need to know about self-care - especially for Sagittarius!
©2019 Constance Stellas (P)2019 Simon & Schuster
Death in a Cold Hard Light
Summary
The fourth book in the recently reissued Nantucket mystery series. Merry Folger is more than ready for a romantic vacation with her fiancé, Peter, when fate - and her police chief father - intervenes. Twenty-one-year-old Jay Santorski never should have drowned in the frigid waters off the Nantucket shore. What was the athlete, Harvard scholar, and part-time scalloper doing out alone in the storm-churned bay? At her father's insistence - and over Peter's objections - Merry returns to the island to investigate, only to be confronted at every turn by false leads and dead ends. And Police Chief John Folger is behind too many of these roadblocks. For the first time, Merry begins to feel she cannot trust her lifelong role model - her own father.
©2017 Francine Mathews (P)2017 Recorded Books
Other People's Children
Summary
A riveting debut novel about a couple whose dream of adopting a baby is shattered when the teenage mother reclaims her child. What makes a family? Gail and Jon Durbin moved to the Chicago suburbs to set up house as soon as Gail got pregnant. But then she miscarried - once, twice, three times. Determined to expand their family, the Durbins turn to adoption. When several adoptions fall through, Gail’s desire for a child overwhelms her. Carli is a pregnant teenager from a blue-collar town nearby, with dreams of going to college and getting out of her mother’s home. When she makes the gut-wrenching decision to give her baby up for adoption, she chooses the Durbins. But Carli’s mother, Marla, has other plans for her grandbaby. In Other People’s Children, three mothers make excruciating choices to protect their families and their dreams - choices that put them at decided odds against one another. You will root for each one of them and wonder just how far you’d go in the same situation. This riveting debut is a thoughtful exploration of love and family, and a heart-pounding pause-resister you’ll find impossible to put down.
©2021 Hoffmann Ventures LLC. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Three Good Things
Summary
Sisterhood, motherhood, marriage, baking, and books - these are a few of the things that make this delightful novel a recipe for getting through the tough stuff of life. Filled with love, humor, and the scent of delectable puff pastry, Three Good Things tells the tale of two sisters who find their bond invaluable as they navigate marriage, heartache, poor grammar, and the surprising challenges that ultimately become the most fulfilling blessings. Ellen McClarety, a recent divorcée, has opened a new bake shop in her small Midwestern town, hoping to turn her life around, but the past still haunts her - sometimes by showing up on her doorstep. Her younger sister, Lanie, is a successful divorce attorney with a baby at home. But Lanie is beginning to feel that her perfect life is not as perfect as it seems. Both women long for the guidance of their mother, who died years ago, but left them with a wonderful piece of advice: “At the end of every day, you can always think of three good things that happened.” Wearing her big Midwestern heart proudly on her sleeve, Wendy Francis tells a story destined to be shared.
©2013 Wendy Francis (P)2013 Simon & Schuster Audio
The Little Book of Self-Care for Gemini
Summary
Everything you need to know about self-care - especially for Gemini!
©2019 Constance Stellas (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio
Death on Nantucket
Summary
Spencer Murphy is a national treasure. A famous correspondent during the Vietnam War who escaped captivity in Southeast Asia, he made a fortune off of his books and television appearances. But Spence is growing forgetful with age; he's started to wander and even fails to come home one night. When a body is discovered at Step Above, the sprawling Murphy house near Steps Beach, Nantucket police detective Meredith Folger is called in to investigate. The timing couldn't be worse: It's the Fourth of July, Merry's planning her wedding to cranberry farmer Peter Mason, and her new police chief is gunning for her job. Merry is inclined to call the death at Step Above a tragic accident until another member of the Murphy clan comes to a brutal end. As Merry grapples with a family of unreliable storytellers - some incapable of recalling the past and others determined that it never be known - she suspects that the truth may be forever out of reach, trapped in the failing brain of a man whose whole life may be a lie.
©2017 Francine Mathews (P)2017 Recorded Books
Searching for Always
Summary
New York Times and USA TODAY best-selling author Jennifer Probst sparks a blissful mind-body connection as her "sexy, satisfying" (Kirkus Reviews) new series continues! She's an expert in helping others de-stress, but Arilyn Meadows is running on fumes. Along with her job counseling singles seeking soul mates at the Kinnections agency in Verily, New York, she's a yoga teacher, animal shelter volunteer, anger management therapist, and helping hand to her beloved grandfather. No time to find Mr. Right - but after discovering her yogi boyfriend in a compromising asana, Arilyn would rather dog-sit for her honeymooning friend Kate than risk her heart on another downward dog. And when police officer Stone Petty - radiating masculinity and bad-boy attitude - is sent to her for mandatory lessons in cooling off when the job gets too hot, Arilyn vows to ignore his seductive glances and sexy grin. But there's no halting their sizzling flirtation - a red-hot, high-speed chase that's breaking all the limits.
©2015 Jennifer Probst. All rights reserved. (P)2015 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved
Searching for Mine
Summary
The ultimate anti-hero meets his match.... Connor Dunkle knows what he wants in a woman, and it's the three B's. Beauty. Body. Boobs. Other women need not apply. With his good looks and easygoing charm, he's used to getting what he wants - and who. Until he comes face to face with the one woman who's slowly making his life hell...and enjoying every moment. Ella Blake is a single mom and a professor at Verily College who's climbed up the ranks the hard way. Her 10-year-old son is a constant challenge, and her students are driving her crazy - namely Connor Dunkle, who's failing her class and trying to charm his way into a better grade. Fuming at his chauvinistic tendencies, Ella teaches him the ultimate lesson by giving him a special project to help his grade. When sparks fly, neither of them are ready to face their true feelings, but will love teach them the ultimate lesson of all?
©2016 Triple J Publishing Inc (P)2017 Audible, Inc.
The Only Woman in the Photo
Summary
Most people know about President FDR, but do you know the woman who created his groundbreaking New Deal? As a young girl, Frances Perkins was very shy and quiet. But her grandmother encouraged Frances to always challenge herself. When somebody opens a door to you, go forward. And so she did. Frances realized she had to make her voice heard, even when speaking made her uncomfortable, in order to fight injustice and build programs to protect people across the nation. So when newly-elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt finally asked Frances to be the first female Secretary of Labor and help pull the nation out of the Great Depression, she knew she had to walk through that open door and forward into history. In this empowering, inspirational biography, discover how the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet led the charge to create the safety net that protects American workers and their families to this day.
©2020 Kathleen Krull (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Death in the Off-Season
Summary
When Rusty Mason, scion of one of Nantucket's oldest and wealthiest families, is found dead in a flooded cranberry bog one foggy fall night, 32-year-old detective Meredith Folger is faced with her first murder case. Merry is the daughter of the local police chief and granddaughter of his predecessor; her father is a strict boss and Merry feels pressure to go the extra mile to prove her promotion to detective isn't just nepotism. But the Mason murder is a demanding first test. Merry's investigation brings to light all the tensions that plague the tiny community of Nantucket: the decades-old grudges; the skyrocketing real estate that only wealthy weekenders can afford; the resentments of the old Nantucket families who are barely keeping their homes and heritage fishing businesses alive. But Merry knows the island and its politics in a way only a local can.
©1994, 2016 Francine Matthews (P)2016 Recorded Books
Somehow, Some Way
Summary
Bolivar Randy Heart (a.k.a. Brady) knows exactly what he wants next in life: the perfect wife. Raised in a strict traditional family household, he seeks a woman who is sweet, conservative, and eager to settle down. With his well-known protective and dominant streak, he needs a woman to offer him balance in a world where he relishes control. Too bad the newly hired, gorgeous, rehab addict is blasting through all his preconceptions and wrecking his ideals...one nail at a time.... Charlotte Grayson knows who she is and refuses to apologize. Growing up poor made her appreciate the simple things in life, and her new job at Pierce Brothers Construction is perfect to help her carve out a career in renovating houses. When an opportunity to transform a dilapidated house in a dangerous neighborhood pops up, she goes in full throttle. Unfortunately, she's forced to work with the firm's sexy architect who's driving her crazy with his archaic views on women. Too bad he's beginning to tempt her to take a chance on more than just work...one stroke at a time.... Somehow, some way, they need to work together to renovate a house without killing each other...or surrendering to the white-hot chemistry knocking at the front door.
©2017 Triple J Publishing Inc (P)2017 Audible, Inc.