Washington Black
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Dion Graham
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By:
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Esi Edugyan
About this listen
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • “A gripping historical narrative exploring both the bounds of slavery and what it means to be truly free.” —Vanity Fair
Eleven-year-old George Washington Black—or Wash—a field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is initially terrified when he is chosen as the manservant of his master’s brother. To his surprise, however, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning, and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human.
But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash’s head, they must abandon everything and flee together. Over the course of their travels, what brings Wash and Christopher together will tear them apart, propelling Wash ever farther across the globe in search of his true self. Spanning the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, London to Morocco, Washington Black is a story of self-invention and betrayal, of love and redemption, and of a world destroyed and made whole again.
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Critic reviews
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February, 1906. As the personal secretary of the recently departed duke of Olympia - and a woman of scrupulous character - Miss Emmeline Rose Truelove never expected her duties to involve steaming through the Mediterranean on a private yacht, under the prodigal eye of one Lord Silverton, the most charmingly corrupt bachelor in London. But here they are, improperly bound on a quest to find the duke's enigmatic heir, current whereabouts unknown. Maximilian Haywood was last seen at an archaeological dig on the island of Crete.
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This Book Would Have Been A Hot Mess...
- By Alexis on 10-06-16
By: Juliana Gray
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Lamentation
- The Psalms of Isaak, Book 1
- By: Ken Scholes
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Scott Brick, William Dufris, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Lamentation, the first entry in the Psalm of Isaak series, an ancient weapon has completely destroyed the city of Windwir. From many miles away, Rudolfo, Lord of the Nine Forest Houses, sees the horrifying column of smoke rising. He knows that war is coming to the Named Lands. Nearer to the Devastation, a young apprentice is the only survivor of the city—he sat waiting for his father outside the walls, and was transformed as he watched everyone he knew die in an instant. Soon all the Kingdoms of the Named Lands will be at each others' throats.
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Highly Enjoyable
- By RB on 05-15-09
By: Ken Scholes
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Instruments of Darkness
- A Novel
- By: Imogen Robertson
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the year 1780, Harriet Westerman, the willful mistress of a country manor in Sussex, finds a dead man on her grounds with a ring bearing the crest of Thornleigh Hall in his pocket. Not one to be bound by convention or to shy away from adventure, she recruits a reclusive local anatomist named Gabriel Crowther to help her find the murderer, and historical suspense's newest investigative duo is born.
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Not The Best, But Not Too Bad...
- By MJ on 01-13-13
By: Imogen Robertson
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The Essex Serpent
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Perry
- Narrated by: Juanita McMahon
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Cora Seaborne's brilliant, domineering husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was not a happy one. Wed at 19, this woman of exceptional intelligence and curiosity was ill-suited for the role of society wife. Seeking refuge in fresh air and open space in the wake of the funeral, Cora leaves London for a visit to coastal Essex, accompanied by her inquisitive and obsessive 11-year old son, Francis, and the boy's nanny, Martha.
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Unbearable Narrator
- By ACB on 06-08-17
By: Sarah Perry
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The Autumn Castle
- By: Kim Wilkins
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 19 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Berlin in autumn: Christine Starlight lives in an artists' colony with her lover Jude, whose patience and beauty have eased her battle with chronic pain. But Christine begins to be haunted by childhood recollections of a little girl's disappearance and the flapping of a blackbird's wings. Then her world is rocked by the return of a childhood friend... Mayfridh rules over a land where a wolf is the queen's counsellor, fate turns on the fall of an autumn leaf and mortals feel no pain.
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Great Story, Horrible Narration
- By KathyDB on 03-24-15
By: Kim Wilkins
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The Pale Blue Eye
- By: Louis Bayard
- Narrated by: Charles Leggett
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When the body of a suicide victim disappears at West Point Military Academy in 1831, only to be discovered hours later missing its heart, the Academy calls on retired detective Gus Landor to investigate. Landor is something of a legend among his peers, noted for an uncanny, Holmesian ability to read people. When Edgar Allan Poe, a new cadet, comes forth with his own cryptic conclusion—that the man Landor is looking for is a poet—Landor is intrigued and enlists Poe as his assistant.
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Could not get through it
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-15
By: Louis Bayard
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Stations of the Tide
- By: Michael Swanwick
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Jubilee Tides will drown the continents of the planet Miranda beneath the weight of her own oceans. But as the once-in-two-centuries cataclysm approaches, an even greater catastrophe threatens this dark and dangerous planet of tale-spinners, conjurers, and shapechangers. From author Michael Swanwick—one of the most brilliantly assured and darkly inventive writers of contemporary fiction—comes a masterwork of radically altered realities and world-shattering seductions.
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Hard to categorize, hard to put down
- By Robert L. on 03-25-12
By: Michael Swanwick
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The Incorruptibles
- By: John Hornor Jacobs
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the contested and unexplored territories at the edge of the Empire, a boat is making its laborious way up stream. Riding along the banks are the mercenaries hired to protect it - from raiders, bandits and, most of all, the stretchers, elf-like natives who kill any intruders into their territory. The mercenaries know this is dangerous, deadly work. But it is what they do. In the boat the drunk governor of the territories and his sons and daughters make merry. They believe that their status makes them untouchable.
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Great world, competent prose, messy story
- By Melanie on 03-31-16
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Cold Magic
- By: Kate Elliott
- Narrated by: Charlotte Parry
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Industrial Revolution has begun, factories are springing up across the country, and new technologies are transforming the cities. But the old ways do not die easy. Cat and Bee are part of this revolution. Young women at college, learning of the science that will shape their future and ignorant of the magics that rule their families. But all of that will change when the Cold Mages come for Cat. New dangers lurk around every corner and hidden threats menace her every move. If blood can't be trusted, who can you trust?
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Absolutely Brilliant Fantasy!
- By bluestatereader on 08-14-13
By: Kate Elliott
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Legacy
- A Prequel to Eon
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this prequel to Eon, Greg Bear continues to explore the possibilities presented by the asteroid Thistledown, a remnant of a lost human civilization. The Way is a tunnel through space and time that leads to other worlds, some more like planet Earth than Earth itself. It is perhaps the most formidable discovery in Thistledown and with it come disputes as to the nature of the Way and how it should be used. The Way can be reached only through Axis City, the only space station of Thistledown.
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Barely related to Eon and Eternity
- By David A. Kingston on 02-21-15
By: Greg Bear
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The Blue Guitar
- A Novel
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea and Ancient Light, a new novel - at once trenchant, witty, and shattering - about the intricacies of artistic creation and theft, and about the ways in which we learn to possess one another and to hold on to ourselves. Equally self-aggrandizing and self-deprecating, our narrator, Oliver Otway Orme, is a painter of some renown and a petty thief who does not steal for profit and has never before been caught.
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Masterful
- By Amazon customer on 11-25-15
By: John Banville
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The Bell Messenger
- By: Robert Cornuke
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Adventurer and author Robert Cornuke delivers an archaeological thriller that crosses the globe and spans two centuries. With these hopeful words, a dying Confederate lad bequeaths his Bible to the Union soldier who just shot him: "Be God's messenger as I have been." And so begins the journey of Elijah Bell's cherished Bible as it travels the world, transforming hearts wherever it goes.
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Nice Historical Fiction
- By Michael & Cora on 09-16-24
By: Robert Cornuke
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A Shadow in Summer
- Long Price Quartet, Book 1
- By: Daniel Abraham
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The powerful city-state of Saraykeht is a bastion of peace and culture, a major center of commerce and trade. Its economy depends on the power of the captive spirit Seedless, an and at bound to the poet-sorcerer Heshai for life. Enter the Galts, an empire committed to laying waste to all lands with their ferocious army. Saraykeht has always been too strong for the Galts to attack, but now they see an opportunity.
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REALLY Hard to Rate!
- By Trip Williams on 04-27-15
By: Daniel Abraham
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Beautiful and poetic
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Esther Ann Hicks - Essie - is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She's grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family's fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. When Essie's mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show's producers: Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia's? Or do they try to arrange a marriage - and a ratings-blockbuster wedding?
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excellent read and performance
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When God Was a Rabbit
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Ordinary, Magical Adventures
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Barkskins
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In the late 17th century, two young Frenchmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, arrive in New France. Bound to a feudal lord for three years in exchange for land, they become wood-cutters — barkskins. René suffers extraordinary hardship, oppressed by the forest he is charged with clearing. He is forced to marry a native woman and their descendants live trapped between two cultures. But Duquet runs away, becomes a fur trader, then sets up a timber business. Annie Proulx tells the stories of the descendants of Sel and Duquet over 300 years.
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Awe-Inspiring, Far-Reaching Epic
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More than I Love My Life
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More Than I Love My Life is the story of three strong women: Vera, age ninety; her daughter, Nina; and her granddaughter, Gili, who at thirty-nine is a filmmaker and a wary consumer of affection. A bitter secret divides each mother and daughter pair, though Gili—abandoned by Nina when she was just three—has always been close to her grandmother.
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Disappointing
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Circling the Sun
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This powerful novel transports listeners to the breathtaking world of Out of Africa—1920s Kenya—and reveals the extraordinary adventures of Beryl Markham, a woman before her time. Brought to Kenya from England by pioneering parents dreaming of a new life on an African farm, Beryl is raised unconventionally, developing a fierce will and a love of all things wild.
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Pro: It made me want to read "West With the Night"
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River Sing Me Home
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The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.
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Good debut.. with a few quarrels in my opinion
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What listeners say about Washington Black
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Kelly
- 06-14-19
A deep book set in an adventure story.
This is a book for which I had high hopes of a five star rating. I was thinking it would compare well to Whitehead's Underground Railroad. Perhaps unfairly, I thought the books would be quite similar -- both were fantastical journeys out of slavery, both were included on the Manbooker longlist for the years of their qualification. But really, the books are not the same story. I did like Whitehead's book more, but this one is deeper than many reviewers are noticing.
In Washington Black, Esi Edugyan gave us a young protagonist who is born into slavery, and whom we meet at about the age of 10. In the first part of the story we focus on meeting the characters. George Washington Black ("Wash") is a slave on a plantation in Barbados. He has no family, and is cared for primarily by a female field slave. Erasmus Wilde is the new manager/owner/master of the plantation, and his brother Christopher Wilde ("Titch") is a scientist and adventurer. Titch seems to be a free-thinker and a dreamer, who has followed in the footsteps of their father. Titch has built a hot air balloon and convinces Erasmus that Wash is the perfect manservant, due to his small size.
This is where our story changes. That focus on Wash's life in slavery and his relationships with other slaves changes to a story of adventure. Titch and his balloon take Wash to Africa with many stops along the way. Wash becomes an artist and illustrates Titch's work. Wash's life changes dramatically along the way, and when I chose to think beyond the YA feel of the adventure story I recognized the deeper meaning of this part had to do with the story of how a young man finds his own identity when he is held back by the world. Wash was never given the tools or the hope that he would ever have freedom to create his own place in the world. But Titch's balloon takes him out of slavery, and now Wash is finding his way despite the fact that the vengeful Erasmus placed a bond on his capture.
Ultimately the book is about more than slavery or even the abolitionist movement. It is about how we unite with people of color, how we can be allies. So when I reflect upon its similarities to, and differences from, The Underground Railroad it occurs to me that the author intended a different outcome. Whitehead used the structure of his novel to show all the varying horrors of slavery. Edugyan is using hers to tell the story of what happens to a man who is free for the first time and trying to recover from slavery.
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14 people found this helpful
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- LadyG
- 01-06-19
Good Read
Wasn’t what I expected. Dion Graham did a phenomenal job and I would listen to him again. Story kept me engaged that being said not sure if I would listen again. Once was enough.
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1 person found this helpful
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- mario m mcarn sr
- 12-30-18
Captivating
Hook from the start; connected with the story. The reading was outstanding. Consumes my desire to complete the first listening so I could listen to it again to deeply absorbs it second time.
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- Martha Tottenham
- 12-21-18
great prose
Best book I have listened to this year. Very well written . An adventure/ survival story for adults.
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- laurie dunn
- 06-15-19
Amazing odyssey
Began listening with trepidation as I have difficulty listening to accounts of cruelty which must be a part of any tale of slavery. The cruelty is there but also the wonderful Washington and his travels and experiences and the beauty of his character and mind. A great story I couldn't wait to return to. Beautifully narrated as well. Highly recommended!
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- RiverGirl
- 09-15-19
Beautifully written; beautifully narrated
At first, I thought I wouldn't be able to listen to this book -- it certainly begins in a sobering and brutal way with the description of Wash's life of slavery. But that's not all this story is about. It is a beautifully-written book, full of adventure, wonderful and complex characters, love and courage and so much more. I wanted one more chapter at the end. Highly recommend.
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- lbruce
- 12-15-20
Great story for long drives
Loved this story, but in my car it was hard to hear the narrator's voice. At times he uses a whispering voice.
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- dcat
- 01-11-20
Must Listen
I am grateful for the community for the honest reviews or I may never have found this book. Gorgeous writing. Passionate reading. a new classic.
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- Susan
- 01-25-20
A must read/listen
Beautifully written and narrated. The author is exceptionally talented. I will make it a point to read all her books now.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-29-20
So interesting
I absolutely loved this story and the narration was exquisite. I was sad the book came to an end.
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