The Hard Parts
A Memoir of Courage and Triumph
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Narrated by:
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Emily Tremaine
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Oksana Masters
About this listen
A 2024 Christopher Award Winner
“A gut-wrenching, wildly inspiring story about overcoming the most daunting obstacles through steely tenacity, sheer will, and a great big dose of motherly love.” —Jeannette Walls, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle
An inspirational and powerful memoir from the United States’s most decorated winter Paralympic or Olympic athlete, The Hard Parts is Oksana Masters’s gripping account of overcoming extraordinary Chernobyl disaster–caused physical challenges to create a life that challenges everyone to push through what is holding them back.
Oksana Masters was born in Ukraine—in the shadow of Chernobyl—seemingly with the odds stacked against her. She came into the world with one kidney, a partial stomach, six toes on each foot, webbed fingers, no right bicep, and no thumbs. Her left leg was six inches shorter than her right, and she was missing both tibias.
Relinquished to the orphanage system by birth parents daunted by the staggering cost of what would be their child’s medical care, Oksana encountered numerous abuses, some horrifying. Salvation came at age seven when Gay Masters, an unmarried American professor who saw a photo of the little girl and became haunted by her eyes, waged a two-year war against stubborn adoption authorities to rescue Oksana from her circumstances.
In America, Oksana endured years of operations that included a double leg amputation. Still, how could she hope to fit in when there were so many things making her different?
As it turned out, she would do much more than fit in. Determined to prove herself and fueled by a drive to succeed that still smoldered from childhood, Oksana triumphed in not just one sport but four—winning against the world’s best in elite rowing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and road cycling competitions. Now considered one of the world’s top athletes, she is the recipient of seventeen Paralympic medals, the most of any US athlete of the Winter Games, Paralympic or Olympic.
Oksana’s astonishing story of journeying through a series of dark tunnels is “as true a tale of grit as I’ve ever heard, with a message filled with triumph and beauty—that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, if we are loved” (Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author of Grit).
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In Courage to Soar, the official autobiography from four-time Olympic gold-winning and record-setting American gymnast Simone Biles, Simone shares how her faith, family, passion, and perseverance against tremendous odds made her one of the top athletes and record-breaking gymnasts in the world - and how you too can overcome challenges in your life. In this audiobook, Simone shares the details of her inspiring personal story - one filled with the kinds of daily acts of courage that led her, and can lead you, to even the most unlikely of dreams.
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A little thin
- By Rachel2450 on 11-24-16
By: Simone Biles
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In the Water They Can't See You Cry
- A Memoir
- By: Amanda Beard, Rebecca Paley
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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At the tender age of 14, Amanda Beard walked onto the pool deck at the Atlanta Olympics carrying her teddy bear, Harold, and left with two silvers and a gold medal. She competed in three more Olympic games, winning a total of seven medals, and enjoyed a lucrative modeling career on the side. At one point, she was the most downloaded female athlete on the Internet. Yet despite her astonishing career and sex-symbol status, Amanda felt unworthy of all her success. Unaware that she was suffering from clinical depression, she hid the pain beneath a megawatt smile.
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I applaud Amanda - but her editor's were lame
- By Heather on 03-10-15
By: Amanda Beard, and others
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Picture Us in the Light
- By: Kelly Loy Gilbert
- Narrated by: James Chen
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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When Danny discovers a taped-up box in his father's closet filled with old letters and a file on a powerful Silicon Valley family, he realizes there's much more to his family's past than he ever imagined. Danny has been an artist for as long as he can remember, and it seems his path is set, with a scholarship to RISD and his family's blessing to pursue the career he's always dreamed of. Still, contemplating a future without his best friend, Harry Wong, by his side makes Danny feel a panic he can barely put into words.
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A poignant, touching novel for the Asian American millennial
- By Jenny on 06-30-23
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Everything You Ever Wanted
- A Memoir
- By: Jillian Lauren
- Narrated by: Jillian Lauren
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In her younger years, Jillian Lauren was a college dropout, a drug addict, and an international concubine in the Prince of Brunei's harem, an experience she immortalized in her best-selling memoir, Some Girls. In her 30s, Jillian's most radical act is learning the steadying power of love when she and her rock star husband adopt an Ethiopian child with special needs.
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Great for adoptive families
- By berry bomb on 07-06-22
By: Jillian Lauren
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The Last Post
- By: Renée Carlino
- Narrated by: Avery Caris, Stephen Dexter
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Laya Marston’s husband, Cameron, a daredevil enthusiast, was the complete opposite of her, ready and willing to dive off a cliff-face or parachute across a canyon - and Laya loved him for it. But she was different: pragmatic, regimented, devoted to her career and to supporting Cameron from the sidelines of his death-defying feats. Opposites attract, right? But when Cameron dies tragically, Laya becomes lost in denial, living in the delusion that Cameron will come back to her.
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I really wanted to like this
- By Amazon Customer on 12-21-21
By: Renée Carlino
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Missing Parts
- By: Lucinda Berry
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up abandoned by her father and raised by a single mother, Celeste was determined to create the perfect family - but even perfect families have secrets. Her days are filled with a rewarding career, a devoted husband, and her four-year-old daughter. Celeste is the only one who knows the precarious house of cards her family is built upon - until the day her daughter falls critically ill. Then her world quickly spirals out of control, her secret threatening to destroy her marriage, family, reputation, and sanity.
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SPOILER ALERT. Sigh...
- By Kelly on 10-08-20
By: Lucinda Berry
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Before I Had the Words
- On Being a Transgender Young Adult
- By: Skylar Kergil
- Narrated by: Skylar Kergil
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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At the beginning of his physical transition from female to male, then-17-year-old Skylar Kergil posted his first video on YouTube. In the months and years that followed, he recorded weekly update videos about the physical and emotional changes he experienced. Skylar’s openness and positivity attracted thousands of viewers, who followed along as his voice deepened and his body changed shape. Through surgeries and recovery, highs and lows, from high school to college to the real world, Skylar welcomed others on his journey.
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So grateful to help me as grandma
- By Lisa Bridges on 11-11-20
By: Skylar Kergil
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Heart Unseen
- By: Andrew Grey
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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As a stunningly attractive man and the owner of a successful chain of auto repair garages, Trevor is used to attention, adoration, and getting what he wants. What he wants tends to be passionate, no-strings-attached flings with men he meets in clubs. He doesn't expect anything different when he sets his sights on James. Imagine his surprise when the charm that normally brings men to their knees fails to impress. Trevor will need to drop the routine and connect with James on a meaningful level.
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Love is blind.
- By Tammy M on 08-15-17
By: Andrew Grey
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Wildflower
- By: Drew Barrymore
- Narrated by: Drew Barrymore
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Wildflower is a portrait of Drew's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences of her earlier years. It includes tales of living on her own at 14 (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck in a gas station overhang on a cross-country road trip, saying good-bye to her father in a way only he could have understood, and many more adventures and lessons that have led her to the successful, happy, and healthy place she is today.
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Hold the shrieking !
- By Dawne on 11-27-15
By: Drew Barrymore
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Don't Leave Me This Way
- Or When I Get Back on My Feet You'll Be Sorry
- By: Julia Fox Garrison
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Julia Fox Garrison refused to listen to the professionals she called Dr. Jerk and Dr. Panic, who - after she suffered a massive, debilitating stroke at age thirty-seven - told her she’d probably die, or to Nurse Doom, who ignored her emergency call button. Instead she heeded the advice of kind, gifted Dr. Neuro, who promised her he would “treat your mind as well as your body.” Julia figured if she could somehow manage to get herself into a wheelchair, at least she’d always find parking. But after many, many months of hospitalization and rehab, Julia not only got into a wheelchair, but she got back out.
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Heroic Story
- By Pamela Harvey on 02-29-12
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The Silver Linings Playbook
- A Novel
- By: Matthew Quick
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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During his years in a neural-health facility, Pat Peoples has formulated a theory about silver linings. He believes that his life is a movie produced by God, that his mission is to become physically fit and emotionally supportive, and that if he succeeds, his happy ending will be the return of his estranged wife, Nikki. When Pat goes to live with his parents, everything seems changed: no one will talk to him about Nikki, and his new therapist seems to be recommending adultery as a form of therapy.
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WARNING: FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL!
- By Jennifer on 03-06-15
By: Matthew Quick
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Double Take
- By: Kevin Michael Connolly
- Narrated by: Kevin Michael Connolly
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Double take: a rapid or surprised second look, either literal or figurative, at a person or situation whose significance has not been completely grasped at first. Kevin Michael Connolly is a 23-year-old man who has seen the world in a way most of us never will. Whether swarmed by Japanese tourists at Epcot Center as a child or holding court at the X Games on his mono-ski, Kevin Connolly has been an object of curiosity since the day he was born without legs.
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Love this story so much
- By R. MCRACKAN on 07-04-18
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Phantom Limb
- A Gripping Psychological Thriller
- By: Lucinda Berry
- Narrated by: Kate Marcin
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Emily and Elizabeth spent their childhood locked in a bedroom and terrorized by a mother who drank too much and disappeared for days. The identical twins were rescued by a family determined to be their saviors. But there are some horrors love can’t erase....
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Not a fan of the ending.....
- By Dr. loLafolana on 08-10-20
By: Lucinda Berry
What listeners say about The Hard Parts
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-04-24
Story of unfathomable courage!
It was a hard book to set down. It is a very inspirational story. Shows how important it is to not give up.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-31-23
A beautiful story!
Oksana’s story is so inspiring and courageous. Her words brought me to tears, but not in pity. Never in pity. She is a remarkable young woman.
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- Mango
- 09-10-24
A true achiever!
Amazing story! Almost unbelievable. Picked up a magazine at Chicago O’Hara airport. She was on the cover. As soon as I read the short but fascinating article I looked into getting and reading her book. An absolute MUST read!!!
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- Heather
- 07-29-24
Told her truth well
It was very well written. The story is told with just enough details to vision her truth alone side her.
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- Tracy R Hellerud
- 09-14-24
Loved this !
As an adoptive mom of an Eastern European girl, I bought the book for her after I listened to it and loved it myself !!!
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- Betty E.
- 05-22-23
Amazing story of strength and determination
Such an inspirational story that can give way to the true power that is held within each one of us if we are only willing to dig deep enough to bring it forth!
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- N
- 01-21-24
Amazing reminder of the power of determination and perseverance to succeed and not fall into Victim mode.
Powerful story of finding a path to manage challenges that create roadblocks. The story made me reevaluate my own journey to overcome demons in my life. Oksana was dealt a very poor hand but found a way to succeed. There is no reason all of us can’t find a path forward.
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- Sarah E. Halsted
- 02-26-23
For All
Oksana’s experience is helpful to everyone. Not just people interested in human development. Not just for people who are striving toward peak performance. Not just for Doctors, nurses, physical therapists, or psych therapists. Not simply for people struggling with disabilities, or being labeled “other” or incapable. Oksana’s experiences should be shared, tools to use in creating a truer world.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-18-23
Love this book
Oksana is the true meaning of strength courage bravery and overcoming. Here story is one that will inspire you
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- Justin & Lindsay
- 04-07-23
What a amazing human
The will to keep fighting is amazing what a example about living a full life
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