-
The Heartless Murder of Nettie Sachs: And the Survival of Her American Dream
- Narrated by: Lee Alan
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
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
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $29.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Born in Lithuania in 1885 under the rule of Russian Tsars, Nettie was ever aware of the injustice levied on her Jewish people. Rules limited their freedom, reducing their status to that of second-class citizens. Additionally, Nettie challenged her own religion's system of excluding girls from Talmud instruction, which the male-dominated Jewish society deemed to be the exclusive right of men.
Nettie fled to America with Russian Cossacks hot on her trail for a murder that occurred during a pogrom while she was defending her husband. In America, she found opportunity, but not without its perils. She took advantage of America's freedoms and became educated, continuing to navigate the male-dominated society with her resolve to live the American Dream. Nettie's natural sexuality and intelligence attracted five husbands, and produced six children, who in turn contributed 12 grandchildren. This was her legacy to America. Her life's story unfolded as her adopted country fought two wars, adjusted to an immigrant crisis, and saw the start of the union movement, the Ku Klux Klan, and segregation.
Tragically, Nettie - a twice widowed young wife and mother - lost her life at age 37 at the hands of the son of a man whose romantic interest she had rejected years before in the old country. Envious of her newfound wealth, her spurned suitor was determined to claim it as his own. He sent his son 13 years younger than Nettie, to court her, then marry her. Evil occult forces seemed to follow Nettie's every move after her third marriage, only ending with her death after the fifth. The sensational trial of her last husband for her violent murder was followed in newspapers across the country.
Her life in America played out against a backdrop of the Roaring Twenties, Prohibition, bootleg liquor, ragtime music, and speakeasies. Nettie became in her mind, and in reality, a true American. She did her best to raise her children and instill in them her passion for justice and freedom. Her strength and determination live on in three generations of successful Americans, her legacy.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Warmth of Other Suns
- The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
-
-
Superior non-fiction
- By Lila on 05-20-11
By: Isabel Wilkerson
-
Nigger
- An Autobiography
- By: Dick Gregory, Dr. Christian Gregory - introduction, Robert Lipsyte
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Dr. Christian Gregory
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifty-five years ago, in 1964, an incredibly honest and revealing memoir by one of the America's best-loved comedians and activists, Dick Gregory, was published. With a shocking title and breathtaking writing, Dick Gregory defined a genre and changed the way race was discussed in America.
-
-
PLEASE don't pass this book up!
- By D on 05-06-20
By: Dick Gregory, and others
-
The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop
- A Novel
- By: Fannie Flagg
- Narrated by: Fannie Flagg
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bud Threadgoode grew up in the bustling little railroad town of Whistle Stop with his mother, Ruth, church-going and proper, and his Aunt Idgie, the fun-loving hell-raiser. Together they ran the town's popular Whistle Stop Cafe, known far and wide for its fun and famous fried green tomatoes. And as Bud often said of his childhood to his daughter, Ruthie, "How lucky can you get?"
-
-
Truly lovely!!!
- By Emily M. on 11-03-20
By: Fannie Flagg
-
Oil!
- By: Upton Sinclair
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As he did so masterfully in The Jungle, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair interweaves social criticism with human tragedy to create an unforgettable portrait of Southern California's early oil industry. Enraged by the oil scandals of the Harding administration in the 1920s, Sinclair tells a gripping tale of avarice, corruption, and class warfare, featuring a cavalcade of characters, including senators, oil magnates, Hollywood film starlets, and a crusading evangelist.
-
-
an outstanding book
- By Gregory on 05-18-08
By: Upton Sinclair
-
Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano
- Religion, Theology and the Holocaust
- By: Alan Scott Haft
- Narrated by: Price Waldman
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Scott Haft provides the first-hand testimony of his father, Harry Haft, a holocaust victim with a singular story of endurance, desperation, and unrequited love. Harry Haft was a 16-year-old Polish Jew when he entered a concentration camp in 1944. Forced to fight other Jews in bare-knuckle bouts for the perverse entertainment of SS officers, Harry quickly learned that his own survival depended on his ability to fight and win. Haft details the inhumanity of the "sport" in which he must perform in brutal contests for the officers.
-
-
Human Cruelty and Love
- By Charles N. Erickson on 05-27-22
By: Alan Scott Haft
-
Wild Sweet Love
- By: Beverly Jenkins
- Narrated by: Kim Staunton
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Teresa July has led a hard life, but now she has a chance to put her train-robbing past behind her. Armed with a new job as a cook to one of Philadelphia's elite families, Teresa is determined to start her life anew, and nothing - not even her boss' stuck-up (and far too handsome) son - is going to stand in her way. Madison Nance is sick of his mother taking in women from the wrong side of the tracks, just to see them turn on her generosity. That's why it's up to him to keep a close eye on Teresa's every move.
-
-
Mild Sweet love
- By RICKI on 12-29-21
By: Beverly Jenkins
-
The Warmth of Other Suns
- The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
-
-
Superior non-fiction
- By Lila on 05-20-11
By: Isabel Wilkerson
-
Nigger
- An Autobiography
- By: Dick Gregory, Dr. Christian Gregory - introduction, Robert Lipsyte
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Dr. Christian Gregory
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifty-five years ago, in 1964, an incredibly honest and revealing memoir by one of the America's best-loved comedians and activists, Dick Gregory, was published. With a shocking title and breathtaking writing, Dick Gregory defined a genre and changed the way race was discussed in America.
-
-
PLEASE don't pass this book up!
- By D on 05-06-20
By: Dick Gregory, and others
-
The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop
- A Novel
- By: Fannie Flagg
- Narrated by: Fannie Flagg
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bud Threadgoode grew up in the bustling little railroad town of Whistle Stop with his mother, Ruth, church-going and proper, and his Aunt Idgie, the fun-loving hell-raiser. Together they ran the town's popular Whistle Stop Cafe, known far and wide for its fun and famous fried green tomatoes. And as Bud often said of his childhood to his daughter, Ruthie, "How lucky can you get?"
-
-
Truly lovely!!!
- By Emily M. on 11-03-20
By: Fannie Flagg
-
Oil!
- By: Upton Sinclair
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As he did so masterfully in The Jungle, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair interweaves social criticism with human tragedy to create an unforgettable portrait of Southern California's early oil industry. Enraged by the oil scandals of the Harding administration in the 1920s, Sinclair tells a gripping tale of avarice, corruption, and class warfare, featuring a cavalcade of characters, including senators, oil magnates, Hollywood film starlets, and a crusading evangelist.
-
-
an outstanding book
- By Gregory on 05-18-08
By: Upton Sinclair
-
Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano
- Religion, Theology and the Holocaust
- By: Alan Scott Haft
- Narrated by: Price Waldman
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Scott Haft provides the first-hand testimony of his father, Harry Haft, a holocaust victim with a singular story of endurance, desperation, and unrequited love. Harry Haft was a 16-year-old Polish Jew when he entered a concentration camp in 1944. Forced to fight other Jews in bare-knuckle bouts for the perverse entertainment of SS officers, Harry quickly learned that his own survival depended on his ability to fight and win. Haft details the inhumanity of the "sport" in which he must perform in brutal contests for the officers.
-
-
Human Cruelty and Love
- By Charles N. Erickson on 05-27-22
By: Alan Scott Haft
-
Wild Sweet Love
- By: Beverly Jenkins
- Narrated by: Kim Staunton
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Teresa July has led a hard life, but now she has a chance to put her train-robbing past behind her. Armed with a new job as a cook to one of Philadelphia's elite families, Teresa is determined to start her life anew, and nothing - not even her boss' stuck-up (and far too handsome) son - is going to stand in her way. Madison Nance is sick of his mother taking in women from the wrong side of the tracks, just to see them turn on her generosity. That's why it's up to him to keep a close eye on Teresa's every move.
-
-
Mild Sweet love
- By RICKI on 12-29-21
By: Beverly Jenkins
-
Bellagrand
- A Novel
- By: Paullina Simons
- Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 20 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sequel to Paullina Simons’ thrilling Children of Liberty, Bellagrand delves into Harry and Gina’s lives prior to the opening of Simons' The Bronze Horseman. As Children of Liberty concludes with a stunning ending - the story is just beginning. Bellagrand follows Harry and Gina after the happily ever after. After their whirlwind romance, Gina and Harry must learn what it really takes to mesh their families and their cultures. Listeners will be delighted to see exactly how these characters fit into the Bronze Horseman legacy.
By: Paullina Simons
-
Chasing Me to My Grave
- An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South
- By: Winfred Rembert, Erin I. Kelly, Bryan Stevenson - foreword
- Narrated by: Dion Graham, Karen Chilton
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winfred Rembert grew up in a family of Georgia field laborers and joined the civil rights movement as a teenager. He was arrested after fleeing a demonstration, later survived a near-lynching at the hands of law enforcement, and spent the next seven years on chain gangs. During that time he met the undaunted Patsy, who would become his wife. Years later, at the age of 51 and with Patsy’s encouragement, he started drawing and painting scenes from his youth using leather tooling skills he learned in prison.
-
-
Remarkable Memoir, Both Beautiful and Brutal
- By Peter Haas on 10-21-21
By: Winfred Rembert, and others
-
Standing in the Rainbow
- A Novel
- By: Fannie Flagg
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fannie Flagg gives us a story of richly human characters, the saving graces of the once-maligned middle classes and small-town life, and the daily contest between laughter and tears.
-
-
An old favorite
- By JuliMc on 03-19-19
By: Fannie Flagg
-
Spy
- A Novel
- By: Danielle Steel
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 18, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war, and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. By 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. From her home in idyllic Hampshire, Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. But she has skills that draw the attention of another branch of the service.
-
-
Great book
- By Rakel on 11-26-19
By: Danielle Steel
-
The Cold Millions
- A Novel
- By: Jess Walter
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Gary Farmer, Marin Ireland, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Dolan brothers live by their wits, jumping freight trains, and lining up for day work at crooked job agencies. While 16-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his dashing older brother Gig dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment. Enter Ursula the Great, a vaudeville singer who performs with a live cougar, and who introduces the brothers to a far more dangerous creature: A wealthy mining magnate who will stop at nothing to keep his wealth and his hold on Ursula.
-
-
Good Story ....Hard to follow on Audio
- By zman on 11-13-20
By: Jess Walter
-
The Beast I Loved
- A Battered Woman's Desperate Struggle to Survive
- By: Robert Davidson
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
June Briand shot four bullets into her husband's head and was sentenced to 15 years to life. This is the shocking, true story of survival - and the intense bond June shared with her pathologically violent husband, a monster who physically and sexually tortured, degraded, and dominated her so relentlessly she refused to believe he was dead even after she killed him.
-
-
Beyond Beast . . .
- By POLLY POIZENDEM on 07-14-18
By: Robert Davidson
-
Closing Time
- A True Story of Robbery and Double Murder
- By: Anita Paddock
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kenneth Staton was the well-respected owner of a jewelry store in Van Buren, Arkansas. Unknown to him, two men plotted to rob the jewelry store at closing time on September 10, 1980. This senseless, bloody crime rocked the town of Van Buren and set its lawmen, sworn to find the killers, on a fiercely determined hunt that led from Rogers, Arkansas, to Jacksonville, Florida, and all the way to Vancouver, Canada.
-
-
Was the author allowed to give approval first?
- By GH on 10-29-21
By: Anita Paddock
-
Say I'm Dead
- A Family Memoir of Race, Secrets, and Love
- By: E. Dolores Johnson
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fearful of prison time - or lynching - for violating Indiana’s anti-miscegenation laws in the 1940s, E. Dolores Johnson's Black father and White mother fled Indianapolis to secretly marry in Buffalo. Her mother simply vanished, evading an FBI and police search that ended with the declaration to her family that she was the victim of foul play, either dead or sold into white slavery.
-
-
Deeply meaningful important read
- By A.M.Rousseau on 12-21-21
-
The Godmothers
- A Novel
- By: Camille Aubray
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet the Godmothers: Filomena is a clever and resourceful war refugee with a childhood secret, who comes to America to wed Mario, the family's favored son. Amie, a beautiful and dreamy French girl from upstate New York, escapes an abusive husband after falling in love with Johnny, the oldest of the brothers. Lucy, a tough-as-nails Irish nurse, ran away from a strict girls' home and marries Frankie, the sensuous middle son. And the glamorous Petrina, the family's only daughter, graduates with honors from Barnard College despite a past trauma that nearly caused a family scandal.
-
-
Easy Enjoyable Read
- By Bunny on 06-23-21
By: Camille Aubray
-
Born a Colored Girl
- By: Michael Edwin Q
- Narrated by: Alan Scott, Nita McKeethen, John Kantor, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two slaves, a mother and daughter, separated during the Civil War never to see each other again. From her mother's diary, Etta Jean will learn to love the mother she never knew. And from the same diary, a mother will finally give of herself.
-
-
Best book ever
- By christine smith on 10-02-19
By: Michael Edwin Q
-
Deadly Anniversaries
- A Collection of Stories from Crime Fiction's Top Authors
- By: Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay, Emily Woo Zeller, Billie Fulford-Brown, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mystery Writers of America is proud to present Deadly Anniversaries, a collection of crime and mystery stories from some of the best contemporary authors, all of whom have been invited to put their own unique spin on what it means to recognize a certain day or event every year. An anniversary can take many forms, and by the time this group of best sellers and award winners is through, none of us will ever look at anniversaries the same way again. Edited by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini, this collection features original stories from 20 industry giants.
-
-
Thank you narrators for telling us these stories.
- By Jennifer Baratta She/Her on 09-13-23
By: Marcia Muller, and others
-
Eli's Promise
- A Novel
- By: Ronald H. Balson
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eli's Promise is a masterful work of historical fiction spanning three eras—Nazi-occupied Poland, the American Zone of post-war Germany, and Chicago at the height of the Vietnam War. Award-winning author Ronald H. Balson explores the human cost of war, the mixed blessings of survival, and the enduring strength of family bonds.
-
-
Balson saves us from the full horror
- By Trudy Owens on 10-28-20
By: Ronald H. Balson
Related to this topic
-
The Godmothers
- A Novel
- By: Camille Aubray
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet the Godmothers: Filomena is a clever and resourceful war refugee with a childhood secret, who comes to America to wed Mario, the family's favored son. Amie, a beautiful and dreamy French girl from upstate New York, escapes an abusive husband after falling in love with Johnny, the oldest of the brothers. Lucy, a tough-as-nails Irish nurse, ran away from a strict girls' home and marries Frankie, the sensuous middle son. And the glamorous Petrina, the family's only daughter, graduates with honors from Barnard College despite a past trauma that nearly caused a family scandal.
-
-
Easy Enjoyable Read
- By Bunny on 06-23-21
By: Camille Aubray
-
Maggie-Now
- A Novel
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Brooklyn's unforgiving urban jungle, Maggie Moore is torn between answering her own needs and catering to the desirous men who dominate her life. Confronted by her quarrelsome Irish immigrant father, the feckless lover who may become her husband, and others, Maggie must learn to navigate a cycle of loss, separation, and hope as she forges her own path toward happiness.
-
-
no unabridged
- By sally on 08-03-21
By: Betty Smith
-
Belle Cora
- A Novel
- By: Phillip Margulies
- Narrated by: Graham Rowat, Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the home where Arabella Godwin was raised it is forbidden to speak her name, and her picture is turned to the wall. But in the turbulent America of the 1850s, everyone knows her as "Belle Cora", madam of San Francisco's finest bordello. Judges and senators do her bidding; a vicious newspaper editor plots her downfall; a preacher looks at her from across his pulpit and tries to forget that once she was his wife. Merchant's daughter, farm girl, prostitute, mother - the only thing that never changes is her tireless pursuit of the one man who can see her for who she really is.
-
-
excellent
- By Patricia on 05-15-20
-
BUtterfield 8
- By: John O'Hara, Lorin Stein - introduction
- Narrated by: Gretchen Mol
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterpiece of American fiction and a best seller upon its publication in 1935, BUtterfield 8 lays bare with brash honesty the unspoken and often shocking truths that lurked beneath the surface of a society still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. One Sunday morning, Gloria wakes up in a stranger's apartment with nothing but a torn evening dress, stockings, and panties. When she steals a fur coat from the wardrobe to wear home, she unleashes a series of events that can only end in tragedy.
-
-
Wildly Uneven
- By David P on 08-27-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
Say I'm Dead
- A Family Memoir of Race, Secrets, and Love
- By: E. Dolores Johnson
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fearful of prison time - or lynching - for violating Indiana’s anti-miscegenation laws in the 1940s, E. Dolores Johnson's Black father and White mother fled Indianapolis to secretly marry in Buffalo. Her mother simply vanished, evading an FBI and police search that ended with the declaration to her family that she was the victim of foul play, either dead or sold into white slavery.
-
-
Deeply meaningful important read
- By A.M.Rousseau on 12-21-21
-
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna
- A Novel
- By: Juliet Grames
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Stella Fortuna, death has always been a part of life. Stella’s childhood is full of strange, life-threatening incidents - moments where ordinary situations like cooking eggplant or feeding the pigs inexplicably take lethal turns. Even Stella’s own mother is convinced that her daughter is cursed or haunted. When the Fortunas emigrate to America on the cusp of World War II, Stella and her sister, Tina, must come of age side by side in a hostile new world with strict expectations for each of them.
-
-
Misogyny at its worst
- By brenda on 01-15-20
By: Juliet Grames
-
The Godmothers
- A Novel
- By: Camille Aubray
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet the Godmothers: Filomena is a clever and resourceful war refugee with a childhood secret, who comes to America to wed Mario, the family's favored son. Amie, a beautiful and dreamy French girl from upstate New York, escapes an abusive husband after falling in love with Johnny, the oldest of the brothers. Lucy, a tough-as-nails Irish nurse, ran away from a strict girls' home and marries Frankie, the sensuous middle son. And the glamorous Petrina, the family's only daughter, graduates with honors from Barnard College despite a past trauma that nearly caused a family scandal.
-
-
Easy Enjoyable Read
- By Bunny on 06-23-21
By: Camille Aubray
-
Maggie-Now
- A Novel
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Brooklyn's unforgiving urban jungle, Maggie Moore is torn between answering her own needs and catering to the desirous men who dominate her life. Confronted by her quarrelsome Irish immigrant father, the feckless lover who may become her husband, and others, Maggie must learn to navigate a cycle of loss, separation, and hope as she forges her own path toward happiness.
-
-
no unabridged
- By sally on 08-03-21
By: Betty Smith
-
Belle Cora
- A Novel
- By: Phillip Margulies
- Narrated by: Graham Rowat, Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the home where Arabella Godwin was raised it is forbidden to speak her name, and her picture is turned to the wall. But in the turbulent America of the 1850s, everyone knows her as "Belle Cora", madam of San Francisco's finest bordello. Judges and senators do her bidding; a vicious newspaper editor plots her downfall; a preacher looks at her from across his pulpit and tries to forget that once she was his wife. Merchant's daughter, farm girl, prostitute, mother - the only thing that never changes is her tireless pursuit of the one man who can see her for who she really is.
-
-
excellent
- By Patricia on 05-15-20
-
BUtterfield 8
- By: John O'Hara, Lorin Stein - introduction
- Narrated by: Gretchen Mol
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterpiece of American fiction and a best seller upon its publication in 1935, BUtterfield 8 lays bare with brash honesty the unspoken and often shocking truths that lurked beneath the surface of a society still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. One Sunday morning, Gloria wakes up in a stranger's apartment with nothing but a torn evening dress, stockings, and panties. When she steals a fur coat from the wardrobe to wear home, she unleashes a series of events that can only end in tragedy.
-
-
Wildly Uneven
- By David P on 08-27-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
Say I'm Dead
- A Family Memoir of Race, Secrets, and Love
- By: E. Dolores Johnson
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fearful of prison time - or lynching - for violating Indiana’s anti-miscegenation laws in the 1940s, E. Dolores Johnson's Black father and White mother fled Indianapolis to secretly marry in Buffalo. Her mother simply vanished, evading an FBI and police search that ended with the declaration to her family that she was the victim of foul play, either dead or sold into white slavery.
-
-
Deeply meaningful important read
- By A.M.Rousseau on 12-21-21
-
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna
- A Novel
- By: Juliet Grames
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Stella Fortuna, death has always been a part of life. Stella’s childhood is full of strange, life-threatening incidents - moments where ordinary situations like cooking eggplant or feeding the pigs inexplicably take lethal turns. Even Stella’s own mother is convinced that her daughter is cursed or haunted. When the Fortunas emigrate to America on the cusp of World War II, Stella and her sister, Tina, must come of age side by side in a hostile new world with strict expectations for each of them.
-
-
Misogyny at its worst
- By brenda on 01-15-20
By: Juliet Grames
-
America's First Female Serial Killer
- Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster
- By: Mary Kay McBrayer
- Narrated by: Mary Kay McBrayer
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is for listeners of true crime podcasts and audiences of both fiction and true-crime nonfiction. It's the true story of first-generation Irish-American nurse Jane Toppan, born as Honora Kelley. Jane Toppan was absolutely a monster, but she did not start out that way. When Jane was a young child, her father abandoned her and her sister to the Boston Female Asylum. From there, Jane was indentured to a wealthy family who changed her name, never adopted her, and wrote her out of the will.
-
-
I couldn’t put it down
- By Jason Hejna on 05-09-20
-
Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano
- Religion, Theology and the Holocaust
- By: Alan Scott Haft
- Narrated by: Price Waldman
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Scott Haft provides the first-hand testimony of his father, Harry Haft, a holocaust victim with a singular story of endurance, desperation, and unrequited love. Harry Haft was a 16-year-old Polish Jew when he entered a concentration camp in 1944. Forced to fight other Jews in bare-knuckle bouts for the perverse entertainment of SS officers, Harry quickly learned that his own survival depended on his ability to fight and win. Haft details the inhumanity of the "sport" in which he must perform in brutal contests for the officers.
-
-
Human Cruelty and Love
- By Charles N. Erickson on 05-27-22
By: Alan Scott Haft
-
Oil!
- By: Upton Sinclair
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As he did so masterfully in The Jungle, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair interweaves social criticism with human tragedy to create an unforgettable portrait of Southern California's early oil industry. Enraged by the oil scandals of the Harding administration in the 1920s, Sinclair tells a gripping tale of avarice, corruption, and class warfare, featuring a cavalcade of characters, including senators, oil magnates, Hollywood film starlets, and a crusading evangelist.
-
-
an outstanding book
- By Gregory on 05-18-08
By: Upton Sinclair
-
Appointment in Samarra
- Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
- By: John O'Hara, Charles McGrath - introduction
- Narrated by: Christian Camargo
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.
-
-
Quite good, but not a classic
- By Michael on 04-25-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
Tomorrow Will Be Better
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tomorrow Will Be Better tells the story of Margy Shannon, a shy but joyfully optimistic young woman just out of school who lives with her parents and witnesses how a lifetime of hard work, poverty, and pain has worn them down. Her mother's resentment toward being a housewife and her father's inability to express his emotions result in a tense home life where Margy has no voice. Unable to speak up against her overbearing mother, Margy takes refuge in her dreams of a better life.
-
-
Heartfelt and Heart-wrenchingly Real!
- By M. Ryder on 02-16-22
By: Betty Smith
-
The Warmth of Other Suns
- The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
-
-
Superior non-fiction
- By Lila on 05-20-11
By: Isabel Wilkerson
-
Nigger
- An Autobiography
- By: Dick Gregory, Dr. Christian Gregory - introduction, Robert Lipsyte
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Dr. Christian Gregory
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifty-five years ago, in 1964, an incredibly honest and revealing memoir by one of the America's best-loved comedians and activists, Dick Gregory, was published. With a shocking title and breathtaking writing, Dick Gregory defined a genre and changed the way race was discussed in America.
-
-
PLEASE don't pass this book up!
- By D on 05-06-20
By: Dick Gregory, and others
-
Chasing Me to My Grave
- An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South
- By: Winfred Rembert, Erin I. Kelly, Bryan Stevenson - foreword
- Narrated by: Dion Graham, Karen Chilton
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winfred Rembert grew up in a family of Georgia field laborers and joined the civil rights movement as a teenager. He was arrested after fleeing a demonstration, later survived a near-lynching at the hands of law enforcement, and spent the next seven years on chain gangs. During that time he met the undaunted Patsy, who would become his wife. Years later, at the age of 51 and with Patsy’s encouragement, he started drawing and painting scenes from his youth using leather tooling skills he learned in prison.
-
-
Remarkable Memoir, Both Beautiful and Brutal
- By Peter Haas on 10-21-21
By: Winfred Rembert, and others
-
The Last Madam
- A Life in the New Orleans Underworld
- By: Christine Wiltz
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1916: Norma Wallace, age 15, arrived in New Orleans. Sexy and shrewd, she quickly went from streetwalker to madam and by 1920 had opened what became a legendary house of prostitution. There she entertained a steady stream of governors, gangsters, and movie stars until she was arrested at last in 1962. Shortly before she died in 1974, she tape-recorded her memories. With those tapes and original research, Christine Wiltz chronicles Norma's rise and fall with the social history of New Orleans.
-
-
pronunciations
- By lynda on 07-29-19
By: Christine Wiltz
-
My Name Is Selma
- The Remarkable Memoir of a Jewish Resistance Fighter and Ravensbrück Survivor
- By: Selma van de Perre
- Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Selma van de Perre was 17 when World War II began. Until then, being Jewish in the Netherlands had not been an issue. But by 1941 it had become a matter of life or death. On several occasions, Selma barely avoided being rounded up by the Nazis. While her father was summoned to a work camp and eventually hospitalized in a Dutch transition camp, her mother and sister went into hiding - until they were betrayed in June 1943 and sent to Auschwitz.
-
-
Remarkable
- By slp 4 me on 05-11-21
-
Miss Kopp Investigates
- A Kopp Sisters Novel, Book 7
- By: Amy Stewart
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winter 1919: Norma is summoned home from France, Constance is called back from Washington, and Fleurette puts her own plans on hold as the sisters rally around their recently widowed sister-in-law and her children. How are four women going to support themselves? A chance encounter offers Fleurette a solution: clandestine legal work for a former colleague of Constance's.
-
-
Great series
- By Mimi on 02-07-22
By: Amy Stewart
-
Where Love Has Gone
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In love and soon to be a father, Luke Carey has the life he's always wanted. That is until a mysterious, late-night phone call summons him to San Francisco. Luke's first daughter, whom he hasn't seen in six years, 14-year-old Danielle, needs him, and he's desperate to do anything he can to help. But coming back into Danielle's life means facing his ex-wife, Nora, and the explosive, violent drama of the life he left behind.
-
-
Will it ever end?
- By Amazon Customer on 04-23-22
By: Harold Robbins