Nancy Linari has narrated 28 audiobooks on Listento.it by 47 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 78 ratings. The most-rated is Wishtree.
Wishtree
Summary
Trees can't tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories.... Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood "wishtree" - people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red's branches. Along with her crow friend, Bongo, and other animals who seek refuge in Red's hollows, this "wishtree" watches over the neighborhood. You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red's experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever. Funny, deep, warm, and nuanced, Wishtree is Newbery Medalist and New York Times best-selling author Katherine Applegate at her very best - writing from the heart and from a completely unexpected point of view.
©2017 Katherine Applegate (P)2017 Listening Library
The Topeka School
Summary
A New York Times, Time, GQ, Vulture, and Washington Post Top 10 Book of the Year
One of Barack Obama's Favourite Books of the Year
Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award
Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize
Winner of the Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award
From the award-winning author of 10:04 and Leaving the Atocha Station, a tender and expansive family drama set in the American Midwest at the turn of the century, hailed by Maggie Nelson as Ben Lerner's "most discerning, ambitious, innovative, and timely novel to date."
Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of 97. His mother, Jane, is a famous feminist author; his father, Jonathan, is an expert at getting "lost boys" to open up. They both work at a psychiatric clinic that has attracted staff and patients from around the world. Adam is a renowned debater, expected to win a national championship before he heads to college. He is one of the cool kids, ready to fight or, better, freestyle about fighting if it keeps his peers from thinking of him as weak. Adam is also one of the seniors who bring the loner Darren Eberheart - who is, unbeknownst to Adam, his father's patient - into the social scene, to disastrous effect.
Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, The Topeka School is the story of a family, its struggles and its strengths: Jane's reckoning with the legacy of an abusive father, Jonathan's marital transgressions, the challenge of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a riveting prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the trolls and tyrants of the New Right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men.
©2019 Ben Lerner (P)2019 McClelland & Stewart
Women & Money (Revised and Updated)
Summary
Why is it that women, who are so competent in all other areas of their lives, cannot find the same competence when it comes to matters of money? Suze Orman investigates the complicated, dysfunctional relationship women have with money in this groundbreaking audiobook. With her signature mix of insight, compassion, and soul-deep recognition, she equips women with the financial knowledge and emotional awareness to overcome the blocks that have kept them from making more out of the money they make. At the center of the audiobook is the Save Yourself Plan - a streamlined, five-month program that delivers genuine long-term financial security. But what’s at stake is far bigger than money itself: It’s about every woman’s sense of who she is, what she deserves, and why it all begins with the decision to save yourself.
©2018 Suze Orman (P)2018 Random House Audio
A Girl's Guide to Moving On
Summary
In this powerful and uplifting novel, a mother and her daughter-in-law bravely leave their troubled marriages and face the challenge of starting over. When Nichole discovers that her husband, Jake, has been unfaithful, the illusion of her perfect life is indelibly shattered. While juggling her young son, a new job, and volunteer work, Nichole meets Rocco, who is the opposite of Jake in nearly every way. Though blunt-spoken and rough around the edges, Rocco proves to be a dedicated father and thoughtful friend. But just as their relationship begins to blossom, Jake wagers everything on winning Nichole back - including their son Owen's happiness. Somehow, Nichole must find the courage to defy her fears and follow her heart, with far-reaching consequences for them all. Leanne has quietly ignored her husband's cheating for decades but is jolted into action by the echo of Nichole's all-too-familiar crisis. While volunteering as a teacher of English as a second language, Leanne meets Nikolai, a charming, talented baker from Ukraine. Resolved to avoid the heartache and complications of romantic entanglements, Leanne nonetheless finds it difficult to resist Nikolai's effusive overtures - until an unexpected tragedy tests the very fabric of her commitments. An inspiring novel of friendship, reinvention, and hope, A Girl's Guide to Moving On affirms the ability of every woman to forge a new path, believe in love, and fearlessly find happiness. Praise for A Girl’s Guide to Moving On “Macomber is a master at pulling heartstrings, and readers will delight in this heartwarming story of friendship, love, and second chances. Leanne, Nichole, Rocco, and Nikolai will renew your faith in love and hope. The perfect read curled up in front of the fire or on a beach, it’s as satisfying as a slice of freshly baked bread - wholesome, pleasantly filling, and delicious.” (Karen White, New York Times best-selling author of Flight Patterns) “Beloved author Debbie Macomber reaches new heights in this wise and beautiful novel. It’s the kind of reading experience that comes along only rarely, bearing the hallmarks of a classic. With characters as warm and relatable as your best friends, it’s a novel of connection, exploring life’s unexpected twists and turns - friendship, betrayal, passion, heartbreak, and healing. The timeless wisdom in these pages will stay with you long after the book is closed.” (Susan Wiggs, number-one New York Times best-selling author of Starlight on Willow Lake)
©2015 Debbie Macomber (P)2015 Random House Audio
Asperger's and Adulthood
Summary
From the best-selling author of Asperger's Rules! and Asperger's Teens comes Asperger's and Adulthood. Blythe Grossberg brings more than 15 years experience working with Asperger's patients to deliver this definitive guide for adults living with Asperger's syndrome. Thinking about moving out on your own? Ready to land your first job? Unsure how to navigate social scenes when you have Asperger's? Designed for the newly launched Aspie adult, Asperger's and Adulthood provides supportive solutions-based strategies for navigating the ins and outs of balancing Asperger's syndrome with career goals, dating, social settings, and more. Adulthood is complicated for anyone, though it can be especially overwhelming for someone living with Asperger's. Thankfully, Asperger's and Adulthood presents targeted strategies from learning specialist Blythe Grossberg to help young adults with Asperger's kick-start careers, cultivate healthy relationships, and create independent paths as maturing adults. Grossberg lends her expertise by providing an Asperger's road map - pointing out potential obstacles and offering valuable how-tos for thriving in the world. This book also helps loved ones gain a deeper understanding of what it means to live with Asperger's syndrome. Whether you're listening for yourself or someone you know, Asperger's and Adulthood helps you develop deeper insight for tackling life challenges, with: Step-by-step strategies for entering the workforce and tips to translate your talents into a career Helpful scripts for managing small talk, job interviews, and first dates Practical tips and budgeting checklists for establishing your independence Real-life Asperger's stories on finding friends and landing jobs Handy how-tos about stimming, and how to adopt more discreet comforting behaviors The truth is, even with Asperger's, you can do whatever you put your mind to - and Asperger's and Adulthood outlines the tools and strategies to help you achieve a full and rewarding adult life.
©2015 Althea Press, Berkeley, California (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories
Summary
An unabridged audio collection spotlighting the "best of the best" hard science fiction stories published in 2016 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster, as narrated by top voice talents. In "Vortex", by Gregory Benford, astronauts find a once thriving microbial lifeform that carpets the caves of Mars dying off. A code monkey tracks down the vain creator of a pernicious software virus that people jack cerebrally in "RedKing", by Craig DeLancey. In "Number Nine Moon", by Alex Irvine, illicit scavengers on Mars are on a rescue mission to save themselves after one of their team members dies. A young girl's thirst for vengeance becomes a struggle for survival when she is swallowed by a gigantic sea creature on an alien planet in "Of the Beast in the Belly", by C.W. Johnson. In "The Seventh Gamer", by Gwyneth Jones, a writer immerses herself into a MMORPG community to search for characters being played by real aliens from other worlds. A woman armed with a rifle stalks a herd of cloned wooly mammoths in British Columbia in "Chasing Ivory", by Ted Kosmatka. In "Fieldwork", by Shariann Lewitt, a volcanologist struggles with her research on Europa where both her mother and grandmother suffered dire consequences. A daughter pays homage to her mother with mega-engineering projects to deal with climate change over eons in "Seven Birthdays", by Ken Liu. In "The Visitor from Taured", by Ian R. MacLeod, a cosmologist in the near future is obsessed with proving his theory of multiverses. The citizens of a small town on a "Jackaroo" planet object to a corporation placing a radio telescope near local alien artifacts in "Something Happened Here, But We're Not Quite Sure What It Was", by Paul McAuley. And, finally, in "16 Questions for Kamala Chatterjee", by Alastair Reynolds, a graduate student defends her dissertation on a solar anomaly that threatens humanity.
©2016 Gregory Benford, Gwyneth Jones, Shariann Lewitt, Ken Liu, Ian R. MacLeod, Paul McAuley, Alastair Reynolds, Craig DeLancey, Alex Irvine, C.W. Johnson, Ted Kosmatka (P)2017 AudioText
The Future Workplace Experience
Summary
Bestselling author's blueprint for attracting and engaging top talent to beat the competition in today's ever-evolving business environment. Bestselling author of The 2020 Workplace Jeanne Meister returns with a powerful guide to mastering a new set of workplace disruptions, detailing the skills you need to thrive in today's hyper-competitive and rapidly changing business environment. Along with co-author Kevin Mulcahy, Meister presents step-by-step advice to recruiters on how to prepare for a more transparent world of work, develop a new set of leadership skills, and anticipate future trends and changes across industries. The Future Workplace Experience redefines most of the conventional wisdom about work, employees, human resources practices, the very nature of a job itself, and so much more. Meister & Mulcahy describe how the workplace is changing and profile the new practices organizations are implementing. The authors organize these practices into three areas; what workers expect from work, how technology impacts the workplace, and the changing composition of the workforce. Most importantly, they synthesize these practices into ten rules your organization can use to re-think and re-imagine the future workplace. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2016 Jeanne C. Meister and Kevin J. Mulcahy. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
An American Sickness
Summary
Award-winning New York Times reporter Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal reveals the dangerous, expensive, and dysfunctional American health-care system and tells us exactly what we can do to solve its myriad of problems. It is well documented that our health-care system has grave problems, but how, in only a matter of decades, did things get this bad? Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms; she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. Rosenthal spells out in clear and practical terms exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship, explaining step by step the workings of a profession sorely lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate a byzantine system and also to demand far-reaching reform. Breaking down the monolithic business into its individual industries - the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, drug manufacturers - that together constitute our health-care system, Rosenthal tells the story of the history of American medicine as never before. The situation is far worse than we think, and it has become like that much more recently than we realize. Hospitals, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes. Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people. Americans are dying from routine medical conditions when affordable and straightforward solutions exist. Dr. Rosenthal explains for the first time how various social and financial incentives have encouraged a disastrous and immoral system to spring up organically in a shockingly short span of time. The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a health-care system that no longer has our well-being at heart.
©2017 Elisabeth Rosenthal (P)2017 Penguin Audio
The Menopause Diet Plan
Summary
Minimize the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause naturally through a sustainable, enjoyable eating plan, physical activity, and other beneficial lifestyle habits. “My friends and well-respected colleagues have written The Menopause Diet Plan to help you feel healthier, happier, and more confident during this change in your life.” (Maye Musk, MS, RDN, and author of A Woman Makes a Plan) Menopause is uncharted territory for women, and it can be difficult to know how to ease the effects of hormonal changes that can often start in your 40s. With honesty and optimism, The Menopause Diet Plan encourages a positive, fad-free approach to managing your physical and emotional health during perimenopause and menopause. It highlights current scientific knowledge about the best diet and lifestyle choices to manage your weight; keep your heart, brain, and bones healthy; and decrease the risk for cancer and other chronic conditions. It also offers natural strategies to help diminish hot flashes, manage sleep difficulties and mood swings, improve energy, and more. The Menopause Diet Plan takes a unique approach to eating before, during, and after menopause. Registered dietitians Hillary Wright and Elizabeth Ward provide a customizable, plant-based eating plan that is rich in protein, fiber, and other beneficial nutrients, moderate in carbohydrates, and low in saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars. Balancing evidence-based advice with real-life circumstances and personal experience, it combines the best of the world's healthiest diets with the latest nutrition research for women in the menopause transition. Recipes such as Peanut Butter Smoothie, Chicken Italiano, and Chocolate Oatmeal Energy Balls make it easier to eat delicious, satisfying foods that nourish your body. With a comprehensive approach to better health, The Menopause Diet Plan helps women take charge of their well-being and live life to the fullest. This audiobook includes a PDF of recipes and menus. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Hillary Wright and Elizabeth M. Ward (P)2020 Random House Audio
Girls Who Run the World
Summary
Part biography, part business how-to, and fully empowering, this audiobook is the perfect gift for future entrepreneurs...because you're never too young to dream big! With colorful portraits, fun interviews, and DIY tips, Girls Who Run the World features the success stories of 31 leading ladies today of companies like Rent the Runway, PopSugar, and SoulCycle. Girls run biotech companies. Girls run online fashion sites. Girls run environmental enterprises. They are creative. They are inventive. They mean business. Girls run the world. This collection gives girls of all ages the tools they need to follow their passions, turn ideas into reality, and break barriers in the business world. Jenn Hyman, Rent the Runway Sara Blakely, Spanx Emma Mcilroy, Wildfang Katrina Lake, Stitch Fix Natasha Case, Coolhaus Diane Campbell, The Candy Store Kara Goldin, Hint Water Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe Rachel Haurwitz, Caribou Bioscience Nina Tandon, EpiBone Jessica Matthews, Uncharted Power Jane Chen, Embrace Emily Núñez Cavness, Sword & Plough Hannah Lavon, Pals Leslie Blodgett, Bare Escentuals/Bare Minerals Katia Beauchamp, Birchbox Emily Weiss, Glossier Christina Stembel, Farmgirl Flowers Mariam Naficy, Minted Maci Peterson, On Second Thought Stephanie Lampkin, Blendoor Sarah Leary, Nextdoor Amber Venz, RewardStyle Lisa Sugar, PopSugar Beatriz Acevedo, MiTu network Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler, SoulCycle Suzy Batiz, Poo-Pourri Tina Sharkey, Brandless Jesse Genet, Lumi Tracy Young, Plan Grid This audiobook edition includes a PDF of glossary terms, a business plan template, and examples of cash-flow statements. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Diana Kapp (P)2019 Listening Library
The Money Class
Summary
What does it take to create your New American Dream? Suze Orman, the woman millions of Americans have turned to for financial advice, says it’s time for a serious reconsideration of the American Dream - what promise it still holds, what aspects are in need of revision, and how it must be refashioned to fit our lives so that we can once again have faith that our hard work will pay off and that a secure and hopeful future is within our reach. In nine electrifying chapters, Orman delivers a master class on personal finance for this pivotal moment in time. She addresses every aspect of the American Dream - home, family, career, retirement. She teaches us that in order to create lasting security we must learn to stand in our truth. We must recognize, embrace, and be honest about what is real for us today and allow that understanding to inform the choices we make. The New American Dream is not the things we accumulate, says Orman, but the confidence that comes from knowing that which we’ve worked so hard for cannot be taken away from us. In The Money Class, Orman teaches us how to take control over our present - right here, right now - in order to build the future of our dreams. Whether navigating the complicated mix of money and family, offering the most comprehensive retirement resource available today, or delivering a bracing dose of reality when it comes to recalibrating our expectations and our goals, Orman educates us with her signature no-nonsense approach and laser-like clarity. She empowers us to live a life of integrity and honesty that will create an enduring legacy for future generations - a New American Dream that lies in truth, security, financial freedom, and peace of mind.
©2011 Suze Orman (P)2011 Random House
The Amalfitano's Bold Abduction
Summary
Dana Marsden's first mistake is stopping on the fog-shrouded Amalfi Coast road to help clear a traffic jam. Her second is rescuing the valuable cat that appears out of the mist. And the third? Trusting the handsome Italian who comes to her aid when her rental car plunges over a cliff in what may not have been an accident. Since the American police officer refuses to believe she's in danger, Andrea Tonello sees only one option: spirit her away to the safety of his private island. But who's going to protect him from one mad, independent lady when Dana discovers what he's done?
©2013 Patricia Maxwell (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
The Vaccine Race
Summary
"A real jewel of science history...brims with suspense and now-forgotten catastrophe and intrigue.... Wadman’s smooth prose calmly spins a surpassingly complicated story into a real tour de force." (The New York Times) “Riveting...[The Vaccine Race] invites comparison with Rebecca Skloot's 2007 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” (Nature) The epic and controversial story of a major breakthrough in cell biology that led to the conquest of rubella and other devastating diseases. Until the late 1960s, tens of thousands of American children suffered crippling birth defects if their mothers had been exposed to rubella, popularly known as German measles, while pregnant; there was no vaccine and little understanding of how the disease devastated fetuses. In June 1962, a young biologist in Philadelphia, using tissue extracted from an aborted fetus from Sweden, produced safe, clean cells that allowed the creation of vaccines against rubella and other common childhood diseases. Two years later, in the midst of a devastating German measles epidemic, his colleague developed the vaccine that would one day wipe out homegrown rubella. The rubella vaccine and others made with those fetal cells have protected more than 150 million people in the United States, the vast majority of them preschoolers. The new cells and the method of making them also led to vaccines that have protected billions of people around the world from polio, rabies, chicken pox, measles, hepatitis A, shingles and adenovirus. Meredith Wadman's masterful account recovers not only the science of this urgent race, but also the political roadblocks that nearly stopped the scientists. She describes the terrible dilemmas of pregnant women exposed to German measles and recounts testing on infants, prisoners, orphans, and the intellectually disabled, which was common in the era. These events take place at the dawn of the battle over using human fetal tissue in research, during the arrival of big commerce in campus labs, and as huge changes take place in the laws and practices governing who "owns" research cells and the profits made from biological inventions. It is also the story of yet one more unrecognized woman whose cells have been used to save countless lives. With another frightening virus - measles - on the rise today, no medical story could have more human drama, impact, or urgency than The Vaccine Race.
©2017 Meredith Wadman (P)2017 Penguin Audio
The Early Stories of Truman Capote
Summary
The early fiction of one of the nation's most celebrated writers, Truman Capote, as he takes his first bold steps into the canon of American literature. Recently rediscovered in the archives of the New York Public Library, these short stories provide an unparalleled look at Truman Capote writing in his teens and early 20s, before he penned such classics as Other Voices, Other Rooms, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and In Cold Blood. This collection of more than a dozen pieces showcases the young Capote developing the unique voice and sensibility that would make him one of the 20th century's most original writers. Spare yet heartfelt, these stories summon our compassion and feeling at every turn. Capote was always drawn to outsiders - women, children, African Americans, the poor - because he felt like one himself from a very early age. Here we see Capote's powers of empathy developing as he depicts his characters struggling at the margins of their known worlds. A boy experiences the violence of adulthood when he pursues an escaped convict into the woods. Petty jealousies lead to a life-altering event for a popular girl at Miss Burke's Academy for Young Ladies. In a time of extraordinary loss, a woman fights to save the life of a child who has her lover's eyes. In these stories, we see early signs of Capote's genius for creating unforgettable characters built of complexity and yearning. Young women experience the joys and pains of new love. Urbane sophisticates are worn down by cynicism. Children and adults alike seek understanding in a treacherous world. There are tales of crime and violence, of racism and injustice, of poverty and despair. And there are tales of generosity and tenderness, compassion and connection, wit and wonder. Above all there is the developing voice of a writer born in the Deep South who will use and eventually break from that tradition to become a literary figure like no other.
©2015 Truman Capote (P)2015 Random House Audio
The Price of Admission
Summary
National Best Seller “A fire-breathing, righteous attack on the culture of superprivilege.” (Michael Wolff, author of the number one New York Times best seller Fire and Fury, in the New York Times Book Review) Now with New Reporting on Operation Varsity Blues In this explosive and prescient book, based on three years of investigative reporting, Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Golden shatters the myth of an American meritocracy. Naming names, along with grades and test scores, Golden lays bare a corrupt system in which middle-class and working-class whites and Asian Americans are routinely passed over in favor of wealthy white students with lesser credentials - children of alumni, big donors, and celebrities. He reveals how a family donation got Jared Kushner into Harvard, and how colleges comply with Title IX by giving scholarships to rich women in “patrician sports” like horseback riding and crew. With a riveting new chapter on Operation Varsity Blues, based on original reporting, The Price of Admission is a must-listen - not only for parents and students with a personal stake in college admissions but also for those disturbed by the growing divide between ordinary and privileged Americans. Praise for The Price of Admission “A disturbing exposé of the influence that wealth and power still exert on admission to the nation’s most prestigious universities.” (The Washington Post) “Deserves to become a classic.” (The Economist)
©2006, 2009 Daniel Golden (P)2019 Random House Audio
The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 2
Summary
An unabridged audio collection spotlighting the “best of the best” hard science-fiction stories published in 2017 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster, as narrated by Tom Dheere and Nancy Linari. In “Shadows of Eternity” by Gregory Benford, a student investigates enigmatic SETI recordings from probes sent to nearby stars despite her teachers’ admonishments to stick to the curriculum. As war and pollution ravage the last survivors on Earth, an alien robot descends to help save the planet in “The Chatter of Monkeys” by Bond Elam. In “Acadie” by Dave Hutchinson, the first humans still, even after 500 years, hunt across the stars for their augmented children who have left Earth in search of paradise. The crew of an exploratory starship finds an icy moon that might harbor life in “Canoe” by Nancy Kress. In “The Use of Things” by Ramez Naam, an astronaut struggles to survive after being jolted free from an asteroid while on a solitary prospecting mission. A problem with the local birds threatens the rebuilding of Bikini Island as sea-levels rise due to global warming in “The Proving Ground” by Alec Nevala-Lee. In “Holdfast” by Alastair Reynolds, a genmod human soldier faces off with an alien warrior in the inhospitable terrain of a superjovian planet. A Russian astronaut, gathering debris in near-Earth space, must make tough moral choices when asked to carry out a special mission in “Vanguard 2.0” by Carter Scholz. And finally, after a terrorist attack, a technically dead fish farmer gets a new body and second chance at life as an experimental super soldier, in “ZeroS” by Peter Watts.
©2018 AudioText (P)2018 AudioText
The Tuscan's Revenge Wedding
Summary
Revenge can indeed be sweet.... When her brother's car plunges off a cliff with him and his fiancée in it, Amanda Davies gets the news personally from the fiancée's brother. The devastatingly handsome Italian businessman appears in Atlanta and whisks Amanda off to Italy to be with the hospitalized couple. But could his motive be more? Nicholas de Frenza never approved of his sister's choice in husband to begin with, and now that Carita is in a coma due to her fiancé's reckless driving, it seems the perfect time to resurrect an ancient Italian custom of revenge: the seduction calls for a similar seduction in return, a sister for a sister. But Nico is too civilized for such vengeance - or is he? Even as Amanda falls for the Tuscan's charms, she knows his code, and his family would never approve of her as more than a simple dalliance. But then the secret about the car wreck comes out - and that's when everything changes....
©2012 Patricia Maxwell (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
Fragile
Summary
A thrilling novel from New York Times best-selling author Lisa Unger about the hunt for a missing girl and one community’s intricate yet fragile bonds. “[A] nail-biting nuanced whodunit.” (People) Everybody knows everybody in The Hollows, a quaint, charming town outside of New York City. It’s a place where neighbors keep an eye on one another’s kids, where people say hello in the grocery store, and where high-school cliques and antics are never quite forgotten. As a child, Maggie found living under the microscope of small-town life stifling. But as a wife and mother, she has happily returned to The Hollows’s insular embrace. As a psychologist, her knowledge of family histories provides powerful insights into her patients’ lives. So when the girlfriend of her teenage son, Rick, disappears, Maggie’s intuitive gift proves useful to the case - and also dangerous. Eerie parallels soon emerge between Charlene’s disappearance and the abduction of another local girl that shook the community years ago when Maggie was a teenager. The investigation has her husband, Jones, the lead detective on the case, acting strangely. Rick, already a brooding teenager, becomes even more withdrawn. In a town where the past is always present, nobody is above suspicion, not even a son in the eyes of his father. As she tries to reassure him that Rick embodies his father in all of the important ways, Maggie realizes this might be exactly what Jones fears most. Determined to uncover the truth, Maggie pursues her own leads into Charlene’s disappearance and exposes a long-buried town secret - one that could destroy everything she holds dear.
©2010 Lisa Unger (P)2010 Random House
Friendship Bread
Summary
An anonymous gift sends a woman on a journey she never could have anticipated. One afternoon, Julia Evarts and her five-year-old daughter, Gracie, arrive home to find an unexpected gift on the front porch: a homemade loaf of Amish Friendship Bread and a simple note: "I hope you enjoy it." Also included are a bag of starter, instructions on how to make the bread herself, and a request to share it with others. Still reeling from a personal tragedy that left her estranged from the sister who was once her best friend, Julia remains at a loss as to how to move on with her life. She’d just as soon toss the anonymous gift, but to make Gracie happy, she agrees to bake the bread. When Julia meets two newcomers to the small town of Avalon, Illinois, she sparks a connection by offering them her extra bread starter. Widow Madeline Davis is laboring to keep her tea salon afloat while Hannah Wang de Brisay, a famed concert cellist, is at a crossroads, her career and marriage having come to an abrupt end. In the warm kitchen of Madeline’s tea salon, the three women forge a friendship that will change their lives forever. In no time, everyone in Avalon is baking Amish Friendship Bread. But even as the town unites for a benevolent cause and Julia becomes ever closer to her new friends, she realizes the profound necessity of confronting the painful past she shares with her sister. About life and loss, friendship and community, food and family, Friendship Bread tells the uplifting story of what endures when even the unthinkable happens. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2011 Darien Gee (P)2011 Random House Audio
Steampunk Specs
Summary
This collection of unabridged, spectacular steampunk speculations includes several classics of the genre. These tales will sweep you away with their amazing automata, daring dirigibles, grinding gears, and scintillating steam as days gone by are infused with tech. In "Smoke City," by Christopher Barzak, a woman comes to terms with the loss of her family to the child labor mills of the city. A doctor tries to cope with a strange plague terrorizing the citizens of London in Jeffrey Ford's "Dr. Lash Remembers." In "Machine Maid," by Margo Lanagan, a sexually repressed wife gets revenge on her husband through a robot maid. Friedrich Engels strives to spread class revolution as a labor organizer for factory cyborg matchstick girls in "Arbeitskraft," by Nick Mamatas. In "Ninety Thousand Horses," by Sean McMullen, an acclaimed mathematician, with a murky past, is forced to spy for an industrialist prior to becoming Britain's foremost rocket expert during World War II. An orphan boy builds an automaton, in an aging scientist's laboratory, that becomes more than an idle companion in Cherie Priest's "Tanglefoot (A Clockwork Century Story)." In "Clockwork Fairies," by Cat Rambo, an English aristocrat courts a woman who would rather spend time in a laboratory than at high society balls. At Chicago's Columbian Exposition, in 1893, an Algerian bodyguard crosses paths with a disoriented naked man in Chris Roberson's "Edison's Frankenstein." In "A Serpent in the Gears," by Margaret Ronald, a dirigble journeys to an isolated land and discovers people and animals merged with machine parts. Radio Jones finds a way to listen in on the Naked Brains, who rule the world, while Rudy the Red fights against the oppressors in "Zeppelin City" by Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn.
©2013 AudioText (P)2013 AudioText