Bells for Eli
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Bells for Eli
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Susan Beckham Zurenda
About this listen
Bells for Eli is Adeline (Delia) Green’s first person narrative of her relationship with her first cousin Ellison (Eli) Winfield throughout their childhood into their young adult lives. The novel opens in 1978 in Green Branch, SC, with Delia appearing inert from an unknown sorrow. The story then flashes back to 1959 when Eli drinks Red Devil Lye, the chemical his father used to blow up balloons for Eli’s third birthday celebration and negligently left in a Coca-Cola bottle. Eli’s accident changes the trajectory of both his and Delia’s lives as he emerges, physically and psychologically, a severely damaged boy.
In part because of Eli’s accident, the cousins grow unusually close during the 1960s and '70s, against the backdrop of small-town South Carolina. An only child influenced by a doting mother and alcoholic father, Eli struggles mightily toward adolescence. He encounters bullying and shunning by schoolmates who don’t understand and mock his disfigurement and frailty. Achieving acceptance is torturous not only for Eli, but also for Delia who is her cousin’s protector.
Later - his tubes and trach gone - Eli appears normal as he bolts into adolescence, a heartbreaker with a double standard, guarding Delia’s vulnerability when she ventures into a destructive romantic relationship. Determined as Eli is to rescue his beloved cousin from her boyfriend’s ulterior motives, Delia is equally committed to saving Eli when he falls into the wrong crowd enamored with drugs.
Eli’s accident changes the typical relationship he and Delia might have had. Instead, it grows into an incomparable love, blossoming into an intimacy that cannot be, for they know to love one’s cousin in that way is taboo. The novel concludes with Delia’s discovery of a shocking secret that reveals truths about Eli she has never known.
Cover art of Bells for Eli, Mercer University Press, ©2020 used with permission.
©2020 Susan Beckham Zurenda (P)2021 Susan Beckham ZurendaListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Push
- A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)
- By: Ashley Audrain
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,145
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11,549
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11,497
Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter - she doesn't behave like most children do. Or is it all in Blythe's head? Her husband, Fox, says she's imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Disturbing, Jaw Dropping, Unforgettable
- By Wendi on 01-16-21
By: Ashley Audrain
-
The Personal Librarian
- By: Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,988
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,932
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,882
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Treat For This Academic Librarian!
- By AlTonya on 07-14-21
By: Marie Benedict, and others
-
Big Trouble on Sullivan's Island
- A Carolina Tale, Book 1
- By: Susan M. Boyer
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 336
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 302
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 302
Eugenia Ladson’s husband—retired judge Everette Ladson—is engaging in marital misbehavior—she’s certain of it. But to activate the clause in her prenup, she needs proof, and is willing to pay for as many hours of surveillance as it takes. When Eugenia turns up dead, Hadley is in Greenville, South Carolina—three and a half hours away—where she’s followed Everette. Every instinct tells Hadley Everette is responsible for Eugenia’s death, but she is regrettably his alibi.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Boyer’s Best Yet!
- By Deb Branwell on 04-14-23
By: Susan M. Boyer
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15,102
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 13,993
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13,979
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Outside Boy
- By: Jeanine Cummins
- Narrated by: Alan Devally
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,369
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,250
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,248
Ireland, 1959: Young Christopher Hurley is a tinker, a Pavee gypsy, who roams with his father and extended family from town to town, carrying all their worldly possessions in their wagons. Christy carries with him a burden of guilt as well, haunted by the story of his mother’s death in childbirth. The wandering life is the only one Christy has ever known, but when his grandfather dies, everything changes. His father decides to settle briefly, in a town, where Christy and his cousin can receive proper schooling and prepare for their first communions.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Pure Torture
- By Nena on 01-27-21
By: Jeanine Cummins
-
Love in the Afternoon
- A Dove Pond Novella
- By: Karen Hawkins
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Tavia Gilbert, Danny Campbell
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 197
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 177
A woman with a legendary green thumb, a man living in an emotional desert, and a small boy unable to connect with others. Can the three of them, with a little help from the charmed town of Dove Pond (and a pesky ghost), turn a nightmare into a fairytale and forge their own happily ever after?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Don’t pass this up
- By N.Sum on 08-10-19
By: Karen Hawkins
-
The Push
- A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)
- By: Ashley Audrain
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,145
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11,549
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11,497
Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter - she doesn't behave like most children do. Or is it all in Blythe's head? Her husband, Fox, says she's imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Disturbing, Jaw Dropping, Unforgettable
- By Wendi on 01-16-21
By: Ashley Audrain
-
The Personal Librarian
- By: Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,988
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,932
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,882
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Treat For This Academic Librarian!
- By AlTonya on 07-14-21
By: Marie Benedict, and others
-
Big Trouble on Sullivan's Island
- A Carolina Tale, Book 1
- By: Susan M. Boyer
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 336
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 302
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 302
Eugenia Ladson’s husband—retired judge Everette Ladson—is engaging in marital misbehavior—she’s certain of it. But to activate the clause in her prenup, she needs proof, and is willing to pay for as many hours of surveillance as it takes. When Eugenia turns up dead, Hadley is in Greenville, South Carolina—three and a half hours away—where she’s followed Everette. Every instinct tells Hadley Everette is responsible for Eugenia’s death, but she is regrettably his alibi.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Boyer’s Best Yet!
- By Deb Branwell on 04-14-23
By: Susan M. Boyer
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15,102
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 13,993
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13,979
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Outside Boy
- By: Jeanine Cummins
- Narrated by: Alan Devally
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,369
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,250
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,248
Ireland, 1959: Young Christopher Hurley is a tinker, a Pavee gypsy, who roams with his father and extended family from town to town, carrying all their worldly possessions in their wagons. Christy carries with him a burden of guilt as well, haunted by the story of his mother’s death in childbirth. The wandering life is the only one Christy has ever known, but when his grandfather dies, everything changes. His father decides to settle briefly, in a town, where Christy and his cousin can receive proper schooling and prepare for their first communions.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Pure Torture
- By Nena on 01-27-21
By: Jeanine Cummins
-
Love in the Afternoon
- A Dove Pond Novella
- By: Karen Hawkins
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Tavia Gilbert, Danny Campbell
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 197
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 177
A woman with a legendary green thumb, a man living in an emotional desert, and a small boy unable to connect with others. Can the three of them, with a little help from the charmed town of Dove Pond (and a pesky ghost), turn a nightmare into a fairytale and forge their own happily ever after?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Don’t pass this up
- By N.Sum on 08-10-19
By: Karen Hawkins
-
City People
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Topp
- Narrated by: Caroline McLaughlin, Shakira Shute, Inger Tudor, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 15
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 15
When beautiful and successful Susan Harris jumps from the roof of her apartment building, she sets a tremor through her New York City mothers’ group that forces them all to look at one another with new cynicism: How could this have happened right under their noses? To one of them? Between her death and the harrowing private school admission season on the horizon, these women are forced to explore the hard truths about themselves.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Boring
- By Lisbeth on 06-26-24
By: Elizabeth Topp
-
Lady in Waiting
- My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown
- By: Anne Glenconner
- Narrated by: Anne Glenconner
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,013
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,737
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,713
Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the fifth Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed "the greatest disappointment" and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive court life with her sense of humor intact.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Horrible Reading
- By Teddy hall on 03-27-20
By: Anne Glenconner
-
Ruthless River
- Love and Survival by Raft on the Amazon's Relentless Madre de Dios
- By: Holly FitzGerald
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 219
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 194
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 192
Holly FitzGerald and her husband, Fitz - married less than two years - set out on a yearlong honeymoon adventure of a lifetime, backpacking around the world. Five months into the trip, their plane crash-lands in Peru at a penal colony walled in by jungle, and their blissfully romantic journey turns into a terrifying nonstop labyrinth of escape and survival.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointed!
- By Teachermary on 08-20-17
By: Holly FitzGerald
-
The Means That Make Us Strangers
- By: Christine Kindberg
- Narrated by: Sarah Brands
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Adelaide has lived her whole life in rural Ethiopia as the white American daughter of an anthropologist. Then, her family moves to South Carolina in 1964. Adelaide vows to find her way back to Ethiopia, marry Maicaah, and become part of the village for real. But until she turns 18, Adelaide must adjust to this strange, white place that everyone tells her is home. Then, Adelaide becomes friends with the five African American students who sued for admission into the white high school.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Means
- By Deedra on 09-01-21
-
The Tobacco Wives
- A Novel
- By: Adele Myers
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus, Janet Metzger
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,141
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,018
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,007
Maddie Sykes is a burgeoning seamstress who’s just arrived in Bright Leaf, North Carolina—the tobacco capital of the South—where her aunt has a thriving sewing business. After years of war rations and shortages, Bright Leaf is a prosperous wonderland in full technicolor bloom, and Maddie is dazzled by the bustle of the crisply uniformed female factory workers, the palatial homes, and, most of all, her aunt’s glossiest clientele: the wives of the powerful tobacco executives.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Historical fiction at its best!
- By Amy on 04-07-22
By: Adele Myers
-
The Block Party
- A Novel
- By: Jamie Day
- Narrated by: Megan Tusing, Suzy Jackson
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 119
The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other. On the night of the annual summer block party, there has been a murder. But, who did it, and why, takes listeners back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold. The real danger lies within their own block and nothing—and no one—is ever as it seems.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
When will rape stop being author’s “go to” for a plot point?!
- By Dee on 07-21-23
By: Jamie Day
-
The Last Garden in England
- By: Julia Kelly
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Marisa Calin, Danielle Cohen, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,490
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,303
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,295
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Lovely and slow but warning 1 narrator is horrible
- By E. Read on 06-30-21
By: Julia Kelly
-
Summer of '69
- By: Elin Hilderbrand
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,537
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,353
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,323
Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the 20th century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year, the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
great story
- By Amazon Customer on 07-09-19
By: Elin Hilderbrand
-
Refuge
- A Novel
- By: Dot Jackson
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,024
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 906
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 901
Early one morning in 1929, Mary Seneca Steele spontaneously packs a suitcase, gathers up her son and daughter, and drives away in her abusive and dissolute husband’s brand-new Auburn Phaeton automobile, leaving her privileged life in Charleston behind. It is the beginning of a journey of enlightenment that leads Mary “Sen” to the mountains and mysteries of Appalachia, where she will learn unexpected family secrets, create a new life for herself and her children, and finally experience love and happiness before tragedy will once again test her.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Great Southern Tale
- By B. Newman on 01-09-20
By: Dot Jackson
-
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
- An Oprah’s Book Club Novel
- By: Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton, Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 29 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,781
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,478
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2,464
The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the problem of race in America, and what he called “Double Consciousness,” a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois’s words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans—the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers—Ailey carries Du Bois’s problem on her shoulders.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Great American Novel is finally inclusive.
- By Margaret on 12-28-21
-
The House of Eve
- By: Sadeqa Johnson
- Narrated by: Ariel Blake, Nicole Lewis, Sadeqa Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,469
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,215
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 4,216
1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright. Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his parents don’t let just anyone into their fold.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
This could've been good...
- By Speedreader on 10-13-23
By: Sadeqa Johnson
-
Mrs. Everything
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Weiner
- Narrated by: Ari Graynor, Beth Malone
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,771
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,164
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,141
Growing up in 1950s Detroit, they live in a perfect “Dick and Jane” house, where their roles in the family are clearly defined. Jo is the tomboy, the bookish rebel with a passion to make the world more fair; Bethie is the pretty, feminine good girl, a would-be star who enjoys the power her beauty confers and dreams of a traditional life. But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. Jo and Bethie survive traumas and tragedies.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Absolutely beautiful
- By Courtney Engle on 06-13-19
By: Jennifer Weiner
Related to this topic
-
The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove
- A Novel
- By: Susan Gregg Gilmore
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
Bezellia Grove was born into the most prominent of Nashville families, but that didn’t stop her from having an alcoholic mother and a distant, adulterous father. Her nanny, Maizelle, and Nathaniel, the handyman, are the people who have taken care of her since she can remember. She considers them family, but her parents just consider them servants because they are Black. When Bezellia has a clandestine romance with Nathaniel's son, Whites and Blacks unite in fury at the young couple.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
light southern fiction
- By suzanne on 02-08-13
-
All Manner of Things
- By: Susie Finkbeiner
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 55
When Annie Jacobson's brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know. In Mike's absence, their father returns to face tragedy at home, adding an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mike's safety overseas, letter by letter the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Real fiction
- By Katijanae on 01-19-23
By: Susie Finkbeiner
-
One True Thing
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 579
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 464
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 464
A young woman sits in jail, accused of the mercy killing of her dying mother. She didn't do it, but she thinks she knows who did. In the last months of her life, Ellen Gulden's mother revealed startling secrets that challenged everything Ellen believed about her family. Now, in jail, Ellen believes those secrets will tell her who had the courage to end her mother's suffering.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Quindlen's writing skills shine in One True Thing.
- By Bonny on 08-26-13
By: Anna Quindlen
-
She Got Up Off the Couch
- By: Haven Kimmel
- Narrated by: Haven Kimmel
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 274
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 186
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 187
When we last saw Zippy, she was oblivious to the storm that was brewing in her home. Her mother, Delonda, had literally just gotten up off the couch and ridden her rickety bicycle down the road. Her dad was off somewhere, gambling or "working." And Zippy was lost in her own fabulous world of exploring the fringes of Moorland, Indiana.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great fun !!
- By Kim on 04-20-11
By: Haven Kimmel
-
The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 82
Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
-
The Last Carolina Girl
- By: Meagan Church
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 191
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 178
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 178
For fourteen-year-old Leah Payne, life in her beloved coastal Carolina town is worlds away from the harsh realities of the day. Loyal to her lumberjack father, she knows only of the familiarity of her small community, the magic of the natural world, and the creative intuition that prompts her to march to the beat of her own drum. But when an accident takes her father's life, leaving her an orphan, Leah finds herself cast into a family of strangers whose welcoming façade hides a terrible secret.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
WOW
- By Savannah Brown on 06-10-23
By: Meagan Church
-
The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove
- A Novel
- By: Susan Gregg Gilmore
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
Bezellia Grove was born into the most prominent of Nashville families, but that didn’t stop her from having an alcoholic mother and a distant, adulterous father. Her nanny, Maizelle, and Nathaniel, the handyman, are the people who have taken care of her since she can remember. She considers them family, but her parents just consider them servants because they are Black. When Bezellia has a clandestine romance with Nathaniel's son, Whites and Blacks unite in fury at the young couple.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
light southern fiction
- By suzanne on 02-08-13
-
All Manner of Things
- By: Susie Finkbeiner
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 55
When Annie Jacobson's brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know. In Mike's absence, their father returns to face tragedy at home, adding an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mike's safety overseas, letter by letter the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Real fiction
- By Katijanae on 01-19-23
By: Susie Finkbeiner
-
One True Thing
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 579
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 464
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 464
A young woman sits in jail, accused of the mercy killing of her dying mother. She didn't do it, but she thinks she knows who did. In the last months of her life, Ellen Gulden's mother revealed startling secrets that challenged everything Ellen believed about her family. Now, in jail, Ellen believes those secrets will tell her who had the courage to end her mother's suffering.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Quindlen's writing skills shine in One True Thing.
- By Bonny on 08-26-13
By: Anna Quindlen
-
She Got Up Off the Couch
- By: Haven Kimmel
- Narrated by: Haven Kimmel
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 274
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 186
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 187
When we last saw Zippy, she was oblivious to the storm that was brewing in her home. Her mother, Delonda, had literally just gotten up off the couch and ridden her rickety bicycle down the road. Her dad was off somewhere, gambling or "working." And Zippy was lost in her own fabulous world of exploring the fringes of Moorland, Indiana.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great fun !!
- By Kim on 04-20-11
By: Haven Kimmel
-
The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 82
Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
-
The Last Carolina Girl
- By: Meagan Church
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 191
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 178
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 178
For fourteen-year-old Leah Payne, life in her beloved coastal Carolina town is worlds away from the harsh realities of the day. Loyal to her lumberjack father, she knows only of the familiarity of her small community, the magic of the natural world, and the creative intuition that prompts her to march to the beat of her own drum. But when an accident takes her father's life, leaving her an orphan, Leah finds herself cast into a family of strangers whose welcoming façade hides a terrible secret.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
WOW
- By Savannah Brown on 06-10-23
By: Meagan Church
-
An Ordinary Wonder
- By: Buki Papillon
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 18
Oto leaves for boarding school with one plan: Excel and escape his cruel home. Falling in love with his roommate was certainly not on the agenda, but fear and shame force him to hide his love and true self. Back home, weighed down by the expectations of their wealthy and powerful family, the love of Oto's twin sister wavers, and, as their world begins to crumble around them, Oto must make drastic choices that will alter the family's lives for ever.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Intriguing
- By Mary P Browne on 09-20-21
By: Buki Papillon
-
The Dark Side of Innocence
- Growing Up Bipolar
- By: Terri Cheney
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 31
The New York Times best-selling author blends a pitch-perfect childlike voice with keen adult observation as she shares her heartrending, groundbreaking insider's look into the fascinating and frightening world of childhood bipolar disorder.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Eye opening
- By Anonymous User on 03-13-23
By: Terri Cheney
-
The Folded Leaf
- By: William Maxwell
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 61
Here is a classic novel from one of our most honored writers - the author of such acclaimed works as So Long, See You Tomorrow and All the Days and Nights. The Folded Leaf is the serenely observed yet deeply moving story of two boys finding one another in the Midwest of the 1920s, when childhood lasted longer than it does today and even adults were more innocent of what life could bring.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Midwestern Misfits
- By David on 03-17-15
By: William Maxwell
-
The Time Traveler's Wife
- By: Audrey Niffenegger
- Narrated by: Fred Berman, Phoebe Strole
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,752
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,215
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,234
Clare and Henry have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was 36. They were married when Clare was 23 and Henry was 31. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of my favorite books
- By Joey on 01-13-08
-
Saints for All Occasions
- A Novel
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 733
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 643
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 646
Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
-
Surrender Bay
- A Nantucket Love Story, Book 1
- By: Denise Hunter
- Narrated by: Kathryn Lynhurst
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 93
Samantha Owens' estranged stepfather has died, leaving her his cottage in Nantucket - a place she fled years ago, never planning to return. As a single mom, Samantha can't afford to pass up a financial windfall like oceanfront property. So she travels home to fix up the house and sell it...never suspecting that Landon Reed still lives two doors down. As their long-dormant romance begins to bud again, Samantha must face a past that separated her from the God of her childhood. And she must tell Landon why she fled the island in the first place - a secret that could tear them apart.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointing
- By Cody Wheeler on 04-28-20
By: Denise Hunter
What listeners say about Bells for Eli
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Margaret Townsend
- 10-23-23
Tender Story about a more carefree time.
Really enjoyed the innocence of the characters! The small town details and and main characters were endearing. Different times..Bullying has always existed but having grown up in the 70’s , it was not as prevalent. There always seemed to be someone with a tender heart who protected rather than joined the crowd. Social Media is the scourge of our current society!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!