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| Orphans of the Carnival: A Novel by Carol Birch; narrated by Heather WildsAdult Fiction. Dreaming of fame, Julia Pastrana leaves her home in Mexico's Sinaloa state at the encouragement of an American carnival promoter. Despite her talents as a singer and dancer, Julia is mostly dismissed as a sideshow spectacle due to the hair that covers her face and body, the result of a hereditary condition. Throughout her eventful life, Julia seeks recognition for her abilities, while longing for love and acceptance. Orphans of the Carnival is based on the life and career of a 19th-century indigenous Mexican entertainer. Narrator Heather Wilds displays an "elegance and a gentleness that make Julia especially sympathetic to the listener," says AudioFile. |
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| Moral Defense by Marcia Clark; narrated by Angela DaweAdult Fiction. In this 2nd fast-paced tale to star Los Angeles attorney Samantha Brinkman, she's been hired as the juvenile advocate for 15-year-old Cassie Sonnenberg. With her mother in a coma and her father and brother dead, Cassie's the only one who knows what happened. But Cassie's story keeps changing, and soon her case is not the only morally and legally ambiguous problem Samantha is juggling. This riveting thriller provides plenty of gray areas to create confusion. In her narration, Angela Dawe "naturally and effortlessly" (Publishers Weekly) delivers author Marcia Clark's witty, colloquial dialogue. |
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| The Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves; narrated by Janine BirkettAdult Fiction. Intrepid DI Vera Stanhope and good-hearted DS Joe Ashworth go to the tiny Northumberland community of Valley Farm to investigate a death...and then discover another corpse at the nearby country home where the dead man had been house sitting. The only connection between the deceased is a mutual affection for moths. As they investigate, the cops discover that many of the residents of Valley Farm have secrets, especially the three middle-aged couples who make up "the retired hedonists' club." This is the 7th book in the Vera Stanhope series (which inspired Vera, the popular TV show starring Brenda Blethyn). |
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| The Whole Town's Talking: A Novel by Fannie Flagg; narrated by Kimberly FarrAdult Fiction. Author Fannie Flagg traces the saga of Elmwood Springs, Missouri from its founding in 1889 by Swedish immigrant Lordor Nordstrom to its end in 2022. Filled with generations of interesting characters, the novel seems to portray ordinary doings in a farming community -- until it's revealed that the residents buried in the town's cemetery wake up and resume their interactions with each other, making death a continuation of life. In addition to cameo appearances by Bonnie and Clyde and by Harry Truman, the plot includes a murder mystery. Kimberly Farr narrates the story with distinct character voicing while highlighting Flagg's humor and sympathetically relating sad events. |
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| The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of... by Dava Sobel; narrated by Cassandra CampbellAdult Nonfiction. Beginning in the 1880s, the Harvard College Observatory hired women as "computers," paying them a fraction of what their male counterparts earned to analyze astronomical data and perform complex calculations. The result of their efforts? The Henry Draper Star Catalog, a compendium of spectroscopic classifications for some 225,300 stars. With its focus on the unsung heroines of science, this engaging collective biography by the author of Longitude may appeal to fans of Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures and Nathalia Holt's Rise of the Rocket Girls. |
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| Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner; narrated by Cassandra CampbellAdult Nonfiction. Author Nina Willner, the first female U.S. Army intelligence officer to work in East Germany, had almost her whole family living behind the Iron Curtain. While her mother Hanna had escaped from East Berlin in 1948, marrying an American and raising her children there, all of Hanna's relatives remained behind. In Forty Autumns, Willner relates their story, including the family's loving solidarity in the face of Communist oppression. The Berlin Wall's destruction in 1989 allowed Hanna's first reunion with her relatives in 40 years. This combined history and family memoir relates the history of the Cold War in personal terms, and Cassandra Campbell's narration depicts a "deep understanding of self-preservation and love of family" (AudioFile). |
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Contact your librarian for more great audiobooks!
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