Nan McNamara has narrated 91 audiobooks on Listento.it by 90 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 2,237 ratings. The most-rated is Breath.
There Was an Old Woman
Summary
There Was an Old Woman, by Hallie Ephron, is a compelling novel of psychological suspense in which a young woman becomes entangled in a terrifying web of deception and madness involving an elderly neighbor. When Evie Ferrante learns that her mother has been hospitalized, she finds her mother's house in chaos. Sorting through her mother's belongings, Evie discovers objects that don't quite belong there, and begins to raise questions. Evie renews a friendship with Mina, an elderly neighbor who might know more about her mother's recent activities, but Mina is having her own set of problems: Her nephew Brian is trying to persuade her to move to a senior care community. As Evie investigates her mother's actions, a darker story of deception and madness involving Mina emerges. In There Was an Old Woman, award-winning mystery author Hallie Ephron delivers another work of domestic noir with truly unforgettable characters that will keep you riveted.
©2013 Hallie Ephron (P)2014 HarperCollinsPublishers
Glittering Vices
Summary
Contemporary culture trivializes the "seven deadly sins," or vices, as if they have no serious moral or spiritual implications. Glittering Vices clears this misconception by exploring the traditional meanings of gluttony, sloth, lust, and others. It offers a brief history of how the vices were compiled and an eye-opening explication of how each sin manifests itself in various destructive behaviors. Listeners gain practical understanding of how the vices shape our culture today and how to correctly identify and eliminate the deeply rooted patterns of sin that are work in their own lives. This accessible book is essential for any listener interested in spiritual disciplines and character formation.
©2009 Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung (P)2019 Tantor
Growing in God's Love
Summary
Help nurture the faith of the children in your life with Growing in God's Love: A Story Bible. This engaging resource features 150 popular Bible stories that are organized by 13 themes, including "Strong Women and Men"; "Listening for God"; "Parables"; "Healings and Miracles"; and more. Each story is built on the latest in biblical scholarship and learning theory and helps children begin to understand the Bible and apply its teachings to the world around them. Growing in God s Love: A Story Bible is ideal for children ages four to eight, and it is perfect for Sunday school classrooms, children's sermons, vacation Bible school, and gift-giving at baptism or other milestones.
©2018 eChristian (P)2018 eChristian
Good White Racist?
Summary
When it comes to race, most White Americans are obsessed with two things: defending our own inherent goodness and maintaining our own comfort levels. Too often, this means white people assume that to be racist, one has to be openly hateful and willfully discriminatory - you know, a bad person. And we know we're good, Christian people, right? But you don't have to be wearing a white hood or shouting racial epithets to be complicit in America's racist history and its ongoing systemic inequality. In Good White Racist, Kerry Connelly exposes the ways white people participate in, benefit from, and unknowingly perpetuate racism - despite their best "good person" intentions. Good White Racist unpacks the systems that maintain the status quo, keep white people comfortable and complicit, and perpetuate racism in the United States and elsewhere. Combining scholarly research with her trademark New Jersey snark, Connelly shows us that even though it may not be our fault or choice to participate in a racist system, we all do, and it's our responsibility to do something about it.
©2020 Kerry Connelly (P)2020 Tantor
A Tale of Two Hearts
Summary
London, 1953: Mina Scott will do anything to escape the drudgery of her life. She saves every penny to attend a finishing school, dreaming of the day she'll become a real lady - and catch the eye of William Barlow, a frequent guest at the inn where Mina works and lives. William is a gentleman's son, a charming, but penniless, rogue. However, his bachelor uncle will soon name an heir - either him or his puritanical cousin. In an effort to secure the inheritance, William gives his uncle the impression he's married, which works until he's invited to bring his wife for a visit. William asks Mina to be his pretend bride, only until his uncle names an heir on Christmas Day. Mina is flattered and frustrated by the offer, for she wants a true relationship with William. Yet, she agrees...then wishes she hadn't. So does William. Deceiving the old man breaks both their hearts. When the truth is finally discovered, more than just money is lost. Can two hearts survive such deception?
©2018 Michelle Griep (P)2018 Oasis Audio
Queen Meryl
Summary
A captivating and inspiring portrait of legendary actress Meryl Streep and her work, Queen Meryl explores the fearless icon's trailblazing roles in film, her feminist activism, and the indelible mark she's left on pop culture. Meryl Streep is the most celebrated actress of our time. She's a chameleon who disappears fully into each character she plays. She never tackles the same role twice. Instead, she leverages her rarified platform to channel a range of dynamic, complicated women - Joanna Kramer, Karen Silkwood, Julia Child, Margaret Thatcher, Katharine Graham - rather than limit herself to marginal roles for which other actresses must settle: Supportive Wife. Supportive Mother. Supportive Yet Utterly Disposable Love Interest. Streep will have none of that. The once-awkward, frizzy-haired suburban teen blossomed into a rising ingénue on the stage at Vassar College and the Yale School of Drama. She came of age during the women's movement of the '60s and '70s, and has worn her activism on her sleeve even when it was unfashionable. When she reached 40, the age when many leading ladies fade away, Streep plunged forward, taking her pick of parts that interested her and winning a pile of awards along the way. Meanwhile, she remained an unlikely box-office draw, her clout even managing to grow with age: The Devil Wears Prada, starring Streep as the Anna Wintour avatar Miranda Priestly, scored $326 million worldwide. Journalist and author Erin Carlson documents all of Streep's Oscars, accents, causes, memes, friendships, and feuds; also exploring the "off-brand" forays into action-adventure (The River Wild) and musicals (Mamma Mia!), and how Streep managed to sneak her feminism into each character.
©2019 Erin Carlson (P)2019 Hachette Audio
A Weary World
Summary
During the holidays, so many of us can suffer for all kinds of reasons. The magnitude of our weary world weighs on our hearts and minds. We wrestle with chronic pain, broken relationships, shattered dreams, fragile faith, and unexpected losses. Our grief and sorrow feel particularly acute when compared to the festivity and joy everyone else seems to be feeling. More and more churches are acknowledging this fact with "Blue Christmas" services (also called "Longest Night" services) and offering resources to give particular support and comfort to those struggling during the "most wonderful time of the year". Kathy Escobar has been leading Blue Christmas experiences at her church for nearly a decade and just experienced her bluest season of all following the sudden death of her son. In A Weary World, Escobar provides 28 daily reflections paired with prayers and practices to honor our struggles during the holidays. Weekly resources make this Advent devotional suitable for group study as well.
©2020 Kathy Escobar (P)2020 Mission Audio
On the Threshold of Hope
Summary
On the Threshold of Hope offers hope and healing to men and women who have been traumatized by sexual abuse. Dr. Langberg's insights and the quotations from many survivors assure listeners that they are not alone and that Christ, the redeemer, can heal their deep wounds. Through stories, Scripture, questions, and encouragement, Dr. Langberg walks with survivors on the road to healing through Christ's love and power. Contains mature themes.
©1999 Diane Mandt Langberg (P)2021 Tantor
The Evening Spider
Summary
A gripping blend of psychological suspense and historical true crime, this riveting novel - inspired by a sensational real-life murder from the 1800s - by critically acclaimed author Emily Arsenault delivers a heart-stopping mystery linking two young mothers from different centuries. Frances Barnett and Abby Bernacki are two haunted young mothers living in the same house in two different centuries. In 1885, Frances Barnett is in the Northampton Lunatic Hospital, telling her story to a visitor. She has come to distrust her own memories and believes that her pregnancy, birth, and early days of motherhood may have impaired her sanity. During the earliest months of her baby's life, Frances eagerly followed the famous murder trial of Mary Stannard that captivated New Englanders with its salacious details and expert forensic testimony. Following - and even attending - this trial, Frances found an escape from the monotony of new motherhood. But as her story unfolds, Frances must admit that her obsession with the details of the murder were not entirely innocent. Present day: Abby has been adjusting to motherhood smoothly - until recently, when odd sensations and dreams have begun to unsettle her while home alone with her baby. When she starts to question the house's history, she is given the diary of Frances Barnett, who lived in the house 125 years earlier. Abby finds the diary disturbing and researches the Barnett family's history. The more Abby learns, the more she wonders about a negative - possibly supernatural - influence in her house. She becomes convinced that when she sleeps, she leaves her daughter vulnerable - and then vows not to sleep until she can determine the cause of her eerie experiences. Frances Barnett might not be the only new mother to lose her mind in this house. And like Frances, Abby discovers that by trying to uncover another's secrets, she risks awakening some of her own.
©2016 Emily Arsenault (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
Dangerous Prayer
Summary
Dangerous prayers happen when you turn your all over to God and offer yourself as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). They don't take you to a comfortable, easy place. They test you, stretch you, and take you where you wouldn't have chosen. They change not only your life, but the lives of other people. Join gifted speaker and award-winning author Cheri Fuller as she illustrates - from Bible times to today - what happens when God's people pray dangerous prayers. Each of the 21 chapters is rooted in scripture and weaves together a beautiful tapestry of lives and kingdoms impacted through the power of prayer.
©2019 Leacheal, Inc. (P)2020 eChristian
Doing Busy Better
Summary
So many women are living overcommitted lives and buckling under the nagging guilt. When they are busy, they feel guilty for not playing with their kids or having a quiet time of prayer and Bible study. When they try to rest, they feel guilty because there's so much left to do. It's an endless cycle of overwork and exhaustion. Yet inside every woman's heart is a longing for true rest. It's there because God designed us that way - but it seems out of reach. Enough is enough. Our lives probably aren't going to get less busy, especially if we're in a demanding season of life, but we can do busy better. In this burden-lifting book, Glynnis Whitwer helps women examine their hearts and their schedules in order to seek a healthy and holy balance between - and enjoyment of - both work and rest. She shows listeners how to prioritize their goals and their time, how to be present in the moment as Jesus was, and how to find the freedom of true soul rest. Most importantly, she shows women that their worth is found not in their accomplishments but in the love of the one who made them for work and for rest.
©2017 eChristian (P)2017 eChristian
Spiritual Conversations with Children
Summary
We are born into this world with a natural longing to connect to God and other human beings. When children have a listening companion who hears, acknowledges, and encourages their early experiences with God, it creates a spiritual footprint that shapes their lives. How can we increase our capacity to engage children in spiritual conversations? In this audiobook, Lacy Finn Borgo draws on her own experience of practicing spiritual direction with children. She offers an overview of childhood spiritual formation and introduces key skills for engaging conversation-posture, power, and patterns - from a Christ-centered perspective. "When we are fully present and open to another, we will be changed," Borgo writes. "Indeed, as you listen to God with a child, the child will lead you into a fuller experience of God's love and acceptance." In this audiobook, you'll find: Sample interactive dialogues with children Ideas for engaging children with play, art, and movement Prayers to use together Whether you are a parent or grandparent, pastor or spiritual director, you will find this to be a friendly guide into deeper ways of listening.
©2020 Lacy Finn Borgo (P)2020 eChristian
Regrets Only
Summary
From the author of Bond Girl and Lost Along the Way comes a fiercely funny, insightful story of marriage, family, and the crooked path to figuring out who we really are. Claire thought she had everything a woman was supposed to want - a loving husband, a newborn son, a beautiful home in the suburbs. Then she walks in on her husband canoodling with their realtor in their newly renovated kitchen, and in an instant her perfect life comes crashing down. With her marriage heading for divorce, Claire knows it’s time to stop feeling sorry for herself. But how can she move on when she’s still stuck in the orbit of her husband’s world? For starters, she can get rid of her soon-to-be ex’s possessions - including his prized gigantic foosball table - by dumping them onto the curb ... until complaints from the neighbors get the police involved. Now Claire is busy dodging the mean mommies at story hour and hiding from her ex-husband’s girlfriend in the grocery store. Desperate for a positive outlet to channel her frustrations, she turns to girlfriends Lissy and Antonia for help. Together they join forces to rebrand Lissy’s local stationery store and turn it into a thriving business. But, as Claire soon learns, suburbia still has a few surprises in store for her - surprises that will make her question her choices from the past, send her down an unexpected road to self-discovery, and maybe even lead to new love. Featuring a second coming-of-age story, Regrets Only deftly explores the subtle nuances of marriage, family, friendship, and what it means to be a woman today while delighting readers as its unforgettable heroine acts on impulses we’ve all been guilty of having.
©2018 Erin Duffy (P)2018 HarperAudio
The Gift of Wonder
Summary
I choose to breathe in the wonder of God's eternal love and dance to the rhythm of eternal breath, listening to the whispers calling me to slow down and take notice. I choose to absorb the beauty of the divine presence, to delight in the creator of all things and relish the delight God takes in me. Can you imagine a God who dances with shouts of joy, laughs when you laugh, loves to play, enjoys life, and invites us to join the fun? Like many of us, Christine Sine had spent many years with an image of God who was "a very serious, workaholic type of God". And even when her theology told her this was not true, she struggled to live into this new way of thinking. What she needed was a childlike spirituality. In this audiobook, Christine Sine, online host of the Godspace community, invites us to pay attention to childlike characteristics that have the power to reshape us. Each chapter addresses a childlike characteristic to embrace, including delight, playfulness, imagination, awe and wonder, love of nature, the ability to live in the present, and much more. Fresh spiritual practices that engage all our senses help us live a new spiritual life that embraces the wonder and joy that God intends for us.
©2019 eChristian (P)2019 eChristian
Who Is Hillary Clinton?
Summary
Who is Hillary Clinton? Listeners of our New York Times best-selling series can find out now! At age 14, Hillary Clinton thought it would be thrilling to become an astronaut, so she sent an application to NASA. The reply was a flat-out rejection: The space program didn't take women. It was a critical moment for the young girl, one that made her realize the world she lived in needed changing and that she had better try to make those changes happen. Clinton's life has been a thrilling series of firsts - First Lady of the US, then first First Lady to become a US Senator, Secretary of State, and the first woman to run as the Democratic candidate for President. This accessible biography gives listeners a firm grounding not only in Clinton's life history but the history of the times in which she's lived. It comes out as she makes her historic run for the White House.
©2016 Heather Alexander (P)2016 Listening Library
Only Skein Deep
Summary
The Lambspun Knitters are eagerly awaiting a bundle of joy but find themselves heaped with trouble instead! Kelly Flynn and her boyfriend, Steve, are expecting and couldn't be happier. Kelly's got the knitting group working away on blankets and booties, and the story of Giselle Callahan is a popular topic of conversation. Giselle is the young wife of Henry Callahan, a Fort Connor banking scion who traded in his previous wife of 40 years for a newer model. When Giselle is found dead on the greens at the golf club, Kelly and her Lambspun crew worry that a vicious killer is in their midst. They must work fast to bring an unhinged murderer to justice on the back nine before Kelly's very special delivery.
©2017 Maggie Sefton (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Save Me
Summary
Daphne Mitchell has always believed in cause and effect, right and wrong, good and bad. The good: her dream job as a doctor; Owen, her childhood sweetheart and now husband; the beautiful farmhouse they're restoring together. In fact most of her life has been good - until the day Owen comes home early from work to tell her he's fallen head over heels for someone else. Unable to hate him, but equally incapable of moving forward, Daphne's life hangs in limbo until the day Owen's new girlfriend sustains near-fatal injuries in a car accident. As Daphne becomes a pillar of support for the devastated Owen and realizes that reconciliation may lie within her grasp, she has to find out whether forgiveness is possible and decide which path is the right one for her.
©2014 Kristyn Kusek Lewis (P)2015 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Hope Prevails
Summary
Neuropsychologist offers hope to those struggling with depression. As a board-certified neuropsychologist, Dr. Michelle Bengtson sees the devastation of depression. Early on, she practiced the most effective treatments and prescribed them for her clients. But when she experienced depression herself, she found that the treatments she had recommended were lacking. Her experience showed her the missing component in treating depression. In Hope Prevails, Dr. Bengtson writes with deep compassion, blending her training and faith, to offer listeners a hope grounded in God's love and grace. She helps listeners understand what depression is, how it affects them spiritually, and what, by God's grace, it cannot do. The result is an approach that offers the hope of release, not just the management of symptoms. For those who struggle with depression and those who want to help them, Hope Prevails offers hope for the future.
©2016 eChristian (P)2016 eChristian
Mister Monkey
Summary
The acclaimed New York Times best-selling author weaves an ingenious, darkly humorous, and brilliantly observant story that follows the exploits and intrigue of a constellation of characters affiliated with an off-off-off-off-Broadway children's musical. Mister Monkey - a screwball children's musical about a playfully larcenous pet chimpanzee - is the kind of family favorite that survives far past its prime. Margot, who plays the chimp's lawyer, knows the production is dreadful and bemoans the failure of her acting career. She's settled into the drudgery of playing a humiliating part - until the day she receives a mysterious letter from an anonymous admirer and later, in the middle of a performance, has a shocking encounter with Adam, the 12-year-old who plays the title role. Francine Prose's effervescent comedy is told from the viewpoints of wildly unreliable, seemingly disparate characters whose lives become deeply connected as the madcap narrative unfolds. There is Adam, whose looming adolescence informs his interpretation of his role; Edward, a young audience member who is candidly unimpressed with the play; Ray, the author of the novel on which the musical is based, who witnesses one of the most awkward first dates in literature; and even the eponymous Mister Monkey, the Monkey God himself. With her trademark wit and verve, Prose delves into humanity's most profound mysteries: art, ambition, childhood, aging, and love. Startling and captivating, Mister Monkey is a breathtaking novel from a writer at the height of her craft.
©2016 Francine Prose (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
Rebellion
Summary
Reminiscent of Elizabeth Strout and Jane Smiley, Rebellion is a powerful debut novel by Molly Patterson, weaving together the stories of four women unafraid to challenge the boundaries of their lives, spanning generations and taking listeners across the globe. In 1890, a young missionary, Addie, has traveled to the town of Lu-cho Fu with her husband, dreaming of making her mark on the world. But Addie's desires change after meeting a brash and thoroughly modern woman, Poppy, who offers to transform Addie's destiny. All the while, letters from Addie reach her sister, Louisa, recently married and struggling with the quiet isolation of being a farmer's wife. When violence erupts overseas between the Chinese and their unwelcome Christian intruders, Addie's life takes a mysterious and haunting turn strongly felt by Louisa back home. By 1958 Louisa's daughter, Hazel, is fighting to maintain control of her land and family in the aftermath of her husband's untimely death. Reeling from the tragedy, she finds herself drawing closer to the neighboring Hughes family and in the process learns that grief takes on many forms. One hundred years after Addie's disappearance, Juanlan returns to her hometown with no job and no options. She finds her father ailing and her pregnant sister-in-law restless and angry. While her family and town are rapidly changing, Juanlan feels frozen in place. In search of an outlet for the live wire she feels buried inside, she starts up a love affair with a married man. Interconnected by action and consequence, each woman's tale brilliantly displays the fleeting intensity of youth, the obligation of family, and the dramatic consequence of charting your own destiny. A vibrant story of compassion and discovery set against a century of complicated relations between China and America, Rebellion celebrates those who fight against expectation in pursuit of their own thrilling fate and introduces a rising literary star.
©2017 Molly Patterson (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers