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The Four Winds by Kristen Hannah, read by Julia WhelanTexas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage was a woman's only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruins, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. By 1934, the world has changed: Millions are out of work, and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa's tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa--like so many of her neighbors--must make an agonizing choice: Fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.
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The Kaiser's Web by Steve Berry, read by Scott BrickA secret dossier from a World War II-era Soviet spy comes to light. The document contains information that, if proven true, would not only rewrite history--it could impact Germany's upcoming national elections and forever alter the political landscape of Europe. Two candidates are vying to become chancellor of Germany. One is a patriot, having served for the past sixteen years; the other a usurper, stoking the flames of nationalistic hate. Both harbor secrets but only one knows the truth about the other. They are on a collision course, all turning on the events of one fateful day--April 30, 1945--and what happened deep beneath Berlin in the Fuhrerbunker. Did Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun die there? Did Martin Bormann, Hitler's close confidant, manage to escape? And, even more important, where did billions in Nazi wealth disappear to in the waning days of World War II? The answers to these questions will determine who becomes Germany's next chancellor. From the mysterious Chilean lake district, to the dangerous mesas of South Africa, and finally into the secret vaults of Switzerland, former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone discovers the truth about the fates of Hitler, Braun, and Bormann: revelations that could not only transform Europe, but finally expose a mystery known as the Kaiser's web.
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The Lost Manuscript by Cathy Bonidan, read by Elodie Yung, Rupert Degas, Cecile Delepiere, and Jean BrassardWhen Anne-Lise Briard books a room at the Beau Rivage Hotel for her vacation on the Brittany coast, she has no idea this trip will start her on the path to unearthing a mystery. In search of something to read, she opens up her bedside table drawer in her hotel room, and inside she finds an abandoned manuscript. Halfway through the pages, an address is written. She sends pages to the address, in hopes of potentially hearing a response from the unknown author. But not before she reads the story and falls in love with it. The response, which she receives a few days later, astonishes her ... Not only does the author write back, but he confesses that he lost the manuscript thirty years prior on a flight to Montreal. And then he reveals something even more shocking--that he was not the author of the second half of the book. Anne-Lise can't rest until she discovers who this second mystery author is, and in doing so tracks down every person who has held this manuscript in their hands. Through the letters exchanged by the people whose lives the manuscript has touched, she discovers long-lost love stories and intimate secrets. Romances blossom and new friends are made. Everyone's lives are made better by this book--and isn't that the point of reading? And finally, with a plot twist you don't see coming, she uncovers the astonishing identity of the author who finished the story.
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The Scorpion's Tail by Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child, read by Cynthia FarrellA mummified corpse, over half a century old, is found in the cellar of an abandoned building in a remote New Mexico ghost town. Junior FBI Agent Corrie Swanson is assigned what seems to her a throwaway case: to ID the body and determine cause of death. She brings in archaeologist Nora Kelly to excavate the body and lend her expertise to the investigation, and together they uncover something unexpected and shocking: the deceased apparently died in agony, in a fetal position, skin coming off in sheets, a rictus of horror frozen on his face. Hidden on the corpse lies a sixteenth century Spanish gold cross of immense value. When they at last identify the body--and the bizarre cause of death-Corrie and Nora open a door into a terrifying, secret world of ancient treasure and modern obsession: a world centered on one of the most defining, frightening, and transformative moments in American history.
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The Unwilling by John Hart, read by Kevin StillwellAfter three tours in Vietnam, Jason French returns home decorated and disgraced, a hardened soldier whose appetite for violence and heroin lands him in North Carolina's most notorious prison. Released after twenty-seven months, he seeks out his brother Gibby for an afternoon of fresh air, women, and whiskey--a final effort to break from his demons and reconnect with the only family he has left. The day begins well, but turns ugly when they encounter a prison bus on a stretch of empty road and a woman in their car taunts the inmates. A bloody riot ensues, and days later, the same woman is found dead. Stained by his history of violence, Jason becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Gibby is desperate to prove his brother's innocence, but his efforts are complicated when a second woman disappears, and he too becomes a suspect. Now, to save them both, Gibby must avoid the police, root out the secrets of his brother's past, and discover why the most dangerous man alive wants Jason back in prison.
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The Wife Upstairs
by Rachel Hawkins, read by Emily Shaffer, Lauran Fortgang, and Kirby Heybourne
Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates--a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is even her real name. Meet Eddie. Recently widowed, he has become Thornfield Estates' most mysterious resident--ever since his wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can't help but see an opportunity in Eddie--not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, but he could also offer her the kind of protection she craves. Yet as the two fall for each other, Jane is haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty and successful entrepreneur with a rags-to-riches origin story. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can Jane win Eddie's heart before her past--or his--catches up with her?
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