Independent People
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Independent People
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Narrated by:
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John Telfer
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By:
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Halldór Laxness
About this listen
Independent People by the Icelandic Nobel prizewinning author Halldór Laxness is a jewel among mid-20th century European novels. It doesn’t bear the intellectual stature of a Thomas Mann or a Robert Musil, for it is closer in feeling and sentiment to one of the great Thomas Hardys. Except that it is set in the harsh, tough agricultural environment of early 20th-century rural Iceland and charts the life and family of one Bjartur, a sheep farmer with aspirations.
Growing up in extreme poverty as a shepherd, Bjartur has a deeply felt ambition to become a farmer in his own right, however hard the road, however challenging the decisions he has to make along the way. Fate throws storms of all kinds in his path, from natural upheavals which, however, terrible, he can take in his stride to political changes which he is less able to understand and confront. We are with him every step of the way, understanding his choices, sympathising with what he has to face; and with his young wife Rósa and her baby girl, Ásta Sóllilja whom he accepts as family.
There is the background of folk legends, of spirits that inhabit this wild land. There is heightened personal emotion, subsumed by tragedy, encompassed by commercial demands of a growing business and the pressures of everyday life. Once experienced, Independent People is never forgotten. John Telfer’s compassionate reading brings it to life.
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 116
The Doones are a clan of murdering thieves, and among their victims is John Ridd's father. The strong, noble Ridd determines to avenge his father's death; but his plans are complicated when he falls in love with one of the hated family - the beautiful Lorna. Lorna is promised against her will to another; and that other will not let her go lightly. Set amid the political turmoils of the late 17th century, Lorna Doone brings West Country history and legends alive with wonderfully imaginative fiction.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I fell in love with this book
- By Linda on 11-20-12
By: R. D. Blackmore
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Sunset Song
- By: Lewis Gibbon
- Narrated by: Eileen McCallum
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 81
The most acclaimed Scottish novel of all time, Sunset Song is a powerful portrait of a land and people in turmoil, seen through the life and struggles of its heroine, Chris Guthrie. In the years up to and beyond the First World War, Chris' resilience, like the land itself, endures despite everything and is portrayed with a lyrical intensity that echoes through the years and still resonates today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Absolute masterpiece!
- By Jeff Koeppen on 03-03-18
By: Lewis Gibbon
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The Town House
- By: Norah Lofts
- Narrated by: Juliet Prague, Martyn Read
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 65
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
"It was in the first week of October in the year 1391 that I first came face to face with the man who owned me… the man whose lightest word was to us, his villeins, weightier than the King’s law or the edicts of our Holy Father…” So began the story of Martin Reed - a serf whose resentment of the automatic rule of his feudal lord finally flared into open defiance.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Another winner by Norah Lofts
- By Bird Lady 147 on 10-03-17
By: Norah Lofts
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Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 10,159
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 7,267
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Story4 out of 5 stars 7,306
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
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5 out of 5 stars
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It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
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Zorba the Greek
- By: Nikos Kazantzakis
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,059
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 938
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 936
A wonderful tale of a young man’s coming of age, Zorba the Greek has been a classic of world literature since it was first translated into English in 1952 and made into an unforgettable movie with Anthony Quinn. Zorba, an irrepressible, earthy hedonist, sweeps his young disciple along as he wines, dines, and loves his way through a life dedicated to fulfilling his copious appetites. Zorba is irresistible in this charming audio production by veteran narrator George Guidall.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Drink life to the lees
- By Scot Potts on 04-25-13
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The Mark of the Beast
- By: Rudyard Kipling
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 284
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 254
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Story4 out of 5 stars 253
When a carousing Englishman disgraces the consecrated effigy of Hanuman, a leprous "Silver Man" marks him with a hideous curse. The ensuing night brings new terrors to the house of the doomed man.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Must listen again
- By uffdasuzanne on 10-06-17
By: Rudyard Kipling
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Doctor Zhivago
- By: Boris Pasternak, Larissa Volokhonsky - translator, Richard Pevear - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 751
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 643
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Story4 out of 5 stars 639
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of its original publication, here is a new translation of the classic story of the life and loves of a poet/physician during the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. Taking his family from Moscow to what he hopes will be shelter in the Ural Mountains, Zhivago finds himself instead embroiled in the battle between the Whites and the Reds. Set against this backdrop of cruelty and strife is Zhivago’s love for the tender and beautiful Lara.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Russian Philosophical Feast
- By Syd Young on 02-16-13
By: Boris Pasternak, and others
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Molloy
- By: Samuel Beckett
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett, Dermot Crowley
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 271
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 198
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 196
Written initially in French, later translated by the author into English, Molloy is the first book in Dublin-born Samuel Beckett's trilogy. It was published shortly after WWII and marked a new, mature writing style, which was to dominate the remainder of his working life. Molloy is less a novel than a set of two monologues narrated by Molloy and his pursuer, Moran.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Nauseating, boring, hilarious, and magnificent
- By Gene on 02-21-05
By: Samuel Beckett
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South Riding
- By: Winifred Holtby
- Narrated by: Carole Boyd
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
In this rich and memorable evocation of the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire are the lives, loves and sorrows of the central characters. There is Sarah Burton, fiery young headmistress; Robert Carne of Maythorpe Hall, a councillor tormented by his own disastrous marriage; Jo Astell, a socialist fighting poverty and his own illness; and Mrs Beddows, the first woman Alderman of the district (like Winifred's own mother).
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4 out of 5 stars
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Worth Revisiting
- By Ilana on 11-04-12
By: Winifred Holtby
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Good Poems
- Selected and Introduced by Garrison Keillor
- By: Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and others
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 203
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 164
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendence. It features the work of classic poets, such as Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost, as well as the work of contemporary greats such as Howard Nemerov, Charles Bukowski, Donald Hall, Billy Collins, Robert Bly, and Sharon Olds Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very good, but. . .
- By KSmith on 01-27-11
By: Emily Dickinson, and others
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Birds Without Wings
- By: Louis de Bernieres
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 501
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 317
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 315
Birds Without Wings is the story of a small town in Anatolia in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire told in the richly varied voices of the men and women (Armenians, Christians, and Muslims) whose lives are intertwined and rooted there: Iskander, the potter and local fount of wisdom; Philotei, the Christian girl of legendary beauty, courted almost from infancy by Ibrahim the goatherd, a great love that culminates in tragedy and madness; and many more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Not for the faint of heart
- By a on 01-03-05
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The Unreal and the Real
- Selected Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin, Volume One: Where on Earth
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrated by: Tandy Cronyn
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4 out of 5 stars 84
The Unreal and the Real is a major event not to be missed. In this two-volume selection of Ursula K. Le Guin's best short stories--as selected by the National Book Award winning author herself--the reader will be delighted, provoked, amused, and faced with the sharp, satirical voice of one of the best short story writers of the present day. Where on Earth explores Le Guin's earthbound stories which range around the world, from small town Oregon to middle Europe in the middle of revolution to summer camp.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Shame on you, Audible
- By Audrey McCombs on 07-03-20
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Look Homeward, Angel
- By: Thomas Wolfe
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 26 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 524
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 421
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Story4 out of 5 stars 425
The works of Thomas Wolfe cemented his legacy as one of the very best of the American Southern writers. Wolfe's largely autobiographical novel features Eugene Gant, who pines for a more expansive life after being born to a father whose bouts of maniacal raving are fueled by a prodigious appetite for drink.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One Of The Gret Novels Of The 20th Century
- By Eric on 02-22-09
By: Thomas Wolfe
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Mirror Mirror
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough, Kate Forbes, Barbara Rosenblat, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 297
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 197
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Story4 out of 5 stars 199
It is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives at Montefiore, the farm of her father, Don Vicente. But one day a noble entourage makes its way up to the farm. In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia, no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a quest, he leaves Bianca under the care of Lucrezia. She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but salvation can be found in the dark forest as well.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting re-telling of the fairy tale.
- By Patricia on 03-04-10
By: Gregory Maguire
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The Passion
- By: Jeanette Winterson
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues, Daniel Pirrie
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 84
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
Set during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, The Passion intertwines the destinies of two remarkable people: Henri, a simple French soldier, who follows Napoleon from glory to Russian ruin; and Villanelle, the red-haired, web-footed daughter of a Venetian boatman, whose husband has gambled away her heart. In Venice’s compound of carnival, chance, and darkness, the pair meets their singular destiny.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellence.
- By Scottie V. on 10-07-19
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Ramona
- The Heart and Conscience of Early California
- By: Helent Hunt Jackson
- Narrated by: Boots Martin
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 110
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4 out of 5 stars 89
Termed the Uncle Tom's Cabin of the southwestern Indians and the first protest novel of California, Ramona is the story of 3 cultures - Indian, Mexican, and Anglo - locked in combat. The upheaval and injustice are humanized through the romance of a beautiful half-Indian orphan who grow up as the ward of Señora Moreno in privileged surroundings, then falls in love with an Indian and joins him in a life of poverty and tragedy. The Ramona Pageant in Hemet, California, based on this romance, has played each year since 1923, reenacting the transition period between Mexican traditions and the new U.S. and state governments.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not The Full Book
- By Kimberley on 03-23-16
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Shadows on the Rock
- By: Willa Cather
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4 out of 5 stars 75
In 1697, Quebec is an island of French civilization perched on a bare gray rock amid a wilderness of trackless forests. For many of its settlers, Quebec is a place of exile, so remote that an entire winter passes without a word from home. But to 12-year-old Cécile Auclair, the rock is home, where even the formidable Governor Frontenac entertains children in his palace and beavers lie beside the lambs in a Christmas créche.
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5 out of 5 stars
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wonderful
- By carol perez on 05-18-21
By: Willa Cather