Hope and Other Luxuries
A Mother’s Journey Through a Daughter’s Anorexia
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Hope and Other Luxuries
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Narrated by:
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Abby Craden
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By:
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Clare B. Dunkle
About this listen
Clare Dunkle seemed to have an ideal life - two beautiful, high-achieving teenage daughters, a loving husband, and a satisfying and successful career as a children's book novelist. But it's when you let down your guard that the ax falls. Just after one daughter successfully conquered her depression, another daughter developed a life-threatening eating disorder.
Copublished with Elena Vanishing, the memoir of her daughter, this is the story - told in brave, beautifully written, and unflinchingly honest prose - of one family's fight against a deadly disease from an often ignored but important perspective: the mother of the anorexic.
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True Life Fairy Tale
- By Desarae on 11-27-13
By: Martha Beck
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The Woman Who Stole My Life
- By: Marian Keyes
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 587
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 527
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Story4 out of 5 stars 526
In her own words, Stella Sweeney is just "an ordinary woman living an ordinary life with her husband and two teenage kids", working for her sister in their neighborhood beauty salon. Then one day she is struck by a serious illness that lands her in the hospital for months.
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3 out of 5 stars
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First Part? Good. Second Part? Ugh!
- By Gillian on 08-31-17
By: Marian Keyes
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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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Overall5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story5 out of 5 stars 61
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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5 out of 5 stars
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It takes a village
- By Derek Jackson on 12-30-24
By: Jillian Lauren
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Suddenly
- By: Barbara Delinsky
- Narrated by: Carol Monda
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4 out of 5 stars 44
In the idyllic small town of Tucker, Vermont, life flows at a rhythmic pace for pediatrician Paige Pfeiffer. But when Mara O'Neill, her best friend and medical partner, inexplicably kills herself, Paige's comfortable world is suddenly shattered. Temporarily caring for Mara's newly adopted baby daughter while she comes to grips with her grief, Paige clings to the hope that, in time, her orderly life will return.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Parent guide! (not romance)
- By christine on 10-10-11
By: Barbara Delinsky
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Nearly Normal
- Surviving the Wilderness, My Family and Myself
- By: Cea Sunrise Person
- Narrated by: Cea Sunrise Person
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 150
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 126
In her best-selling memoir North of Normal, Cea wrote with grace about her unconventional childhood - her early years living in a tipi in Alberta with her pot-smoking, free-loving counterculture family. But her struggles do not end when she leaves her family at the age of 13 to become a model. Honest and daring, Nearly Normal reveals the many ways that Cea's unconventional childhood continues to reverberate through the years.
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2 out of 5 stars
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This one is just not for me
- By Pamela Plimpton on 03-15-19
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Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive
- 101 Inspirational Stories about Counting Your Blessings and Having a Positive Attitude
- By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark, and others
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby, Jim Bond
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 176
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Story4 out of 5 stars 149
101 True Stories about how Positive Thinking can change your life! Everyone needs a little attitude adjustment once in a while, and these amazing true life stories reveal how real people used positive thinking to improve their lives and overcome challenges. You’ll read stories about how you can make every day a special day, incorporate gratitude and joy into your daily life, count your blessings and change your outlook, use a few well-chosen words to reorient your life, manage cancer and other health challenges through a positive attitude, simplify and have a more meaningful life and more!
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good overall.
- By Sergey Makeev on 02-21-24
By: Jack Canfield, and others
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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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Overall4 out of 5 stars 99
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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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5 out of 5 stars
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Heroic Story
- By Pamela Harvey on 02-29-12
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Ask Me Why I Hurt
- The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them
- By: Randy Christensen M.D., Rene Denfeld
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
The unforgettable inspiring memoir of one extraordinary doctor who is saving lives in a most unconventional way, Ask Me Why I Hurt is the touching and revealing first-person account of the remarkable work of Dr. Randy Christensen. Trained as a pediatrician, he works not in a typical hospital setting but, rather, in a 38-foot Winnebago that has been refitted as a doctor's office on wheels. His patients are the city's homeless adolescents and children.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The reality of our streets
- By SusanInTheMidwest on 08-26-17
By: Randy Christensen M.D., and others
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Get Lucky
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Morgan Hallett
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 185
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 175
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 173
Filled with wit and heart, Get Lucky by Katherine Center explores the deep bonds of sisterhood. Sarah Harper’s whole world revolved around her job at a New York advertising agency before an email snafu got her fired. Now she’s seeking refuge at her sister Mackie’s home in Houston. But Mackie, who’s unable to get pregnant, is also down-and-out these days. So Sarah decides to do something good and becomes a surrogate mother.
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4 out of 5 stars
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So Funny & Heartfelt - Loved the Characters
- By dbs on 01-03-25
By: Katherine Center
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Murphy's Boy
- By: Torey Hayden
- Narrated by: Loretta Rawlins
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
His name was Kevin but his keepers called him Zoo Boy. He didn't talk. He hid under tables and surrounded himself with a cage of chairs. He hadn't been out of the building in the four years since he'd come in. He was afraid of water and wouldn't take a shower. He was afraid to be naked, to change his clothes. He was nearly 16. Desperate to see change in the boy, the staff of Kevin's adolescent treatment center hired Hayden. As Hayden read to him and encouraged him to read, crawling down into his cage of chairs with him, Kevin talked.
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5 out of 5 stars
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want to meet Kevin
- By Cherish on 10-14-15
By: Torey Hayden
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The Other Mother
- A Novel
- By: Carol Goodman
- Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 93
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
When Daphne Marist and her infant daughter, Chloe, pull up the gravel drive to the home of Daphne's new employer, it feels like they've entered a whole new world. Tucked in the Catskills, the stone mansion looks like something out of a fairy tale, its lush landscaping hiding the view of the mental asylum just beyond its border. Daphne secured the live-in position using an assumed name and fake credentials, telling no one that she's on the run from a controlling husband who has threatened to take her daughter away.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Hard to follow
- By cindy on 04-11-18
By: Carol Goodman
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January First
- A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her
- By: Michael Schofield
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 199
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 174
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 180
January First is a brilliant and harrowingly honest memoir. The story of Michael Schofield's daughter January's descent into scizophrenia, and her family's struggle to save her, will fascinate and move listeners. January First is the extraordinary story of a father's fight to save his child from an extremely severe case of mental illness in the face of overwhelming adversity.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Unusual
- By D. Jacobsen on 06-01-15
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The Shape of Desire
- A Shifting Circle Novel, Book 1
- By: Sharon Shinn
- Narrated by: Erin Moon
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 61
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 60
For 15 years Maria Devane has been desperately, passionately in love with Dante Romano. But every month, Dante shifts shape, becoming a wild animal. During those times, he wanders far and wide, leaving Maria alone. Since the beginning, she has kept his secret, knowing that their love is worth the danger. But when a string of brutal attacks occur in local parks during the times when Dante is in animal form, Maria is forced to consider whether the lies she's been telling about her life have turned into lies she's telling herself.
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4 out of 5 stars
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More mature content than her previous works
- By R. O'Hare on 05-23-12
By: Sharon Shinn
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Dear Cary
- My Life with Cary Grant
- By: Dyan Cannon
- Narrated by: Dyan Cannon
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 215
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 183
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Story4 out of 5 stars 181
With unparalleled honesty, Dyan Cannon shares the heartwarming and heartbreaking story of her magical romance and stormy marriage to screen legend Cary Grant.He was the ultimate star, defining Hollywood glamour as well as cinematic achievement. She was a bright new actress, beautiful and funny, who would one day prove her talent by being the first woman to receive Academy Award nominations for her work on-screen and behind the camera. When he asked to meet Dyan, she assumed it was for an acting part, but he had a different role in mind for her....
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2 out of 5 stars
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A Wasted 10 Hours
- By NANCAN on 10-19-12
By: Dyan Cannon
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The Girls of Mischief Bay
- Mischief Bay, Book 1
- By: Susan Mallery
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,148
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,011
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,004
Nicole Lord wants to be a good wife, but there's a difference between being supportive and supporting her husband, who quit his job to write a screenplay she's never seen. He won't even help take care of their son, leaving Nicole to run the house and work full-time at her Mischief Bay Pilates studio. Can she say enough is enough without losing the man she loves?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great
- By sandy_lowe on 02-27-15
By: Susan Mallery
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Not Fade Away
- A Memoir of Senses Lost and Found
- By: Rebecca Alexander, Sascha Alper
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
Thirty-four-year-old Rebecca Alexander is a psychotherapist, a spin instructor, a volunteer, and an athlete. She is also almost completely blind, with significantly deteriorated hearing. Not Fade Away is a deeply moving exploration of the obstacles we all face-physical, psychological, and philosophical. Rebecca's story is an exquisite reminder to live each day to its fullest.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Loved this!
- By Daryl on 11-24-14
By: Rebecca Alexander, and others
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The Good Sister
- By: Wendy Corsi Staub
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4 out of 5 stars 56
In New York Times best-selling author Wendy Corsi Staub's electrifying new thriller, a mother races to save her daughter before her darkest nightmare comes true. Sacred Sisters Catholic girls' school has hardly changed since Jen Archer was a student. Jen hoped her older daughter would thrive here. Instead, shy and studious Carley becomes the target of vicious bullies. But the real danger at Sacred Sisters goes much deeper.
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3 out of 5 stars
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This was an okay book
- By Erica on 05-09-15