-
The Most Precious of Cargoes
- A Fable of the Holocaust
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 1 hr and 45 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
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Most Precious of Cargoes
Buy for $10.88
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Told in the gentle tone of a fable, Jean-Claude Grumberg's The Most Precious of Cargoes tells the moving story of a woman who wanted a child, and a child who needed a home. It is a tale that teaches us that even in the darkest, most violent times, there is reason to believe in people's capacity for kindness.
Once upon a time in an enormous forest lived a woodcutter and his wife. The woodcutter is very poor and a war rages around them, making it difficult for them to put food on the table. Yet every night, his wife prays for a child.
A Jewish father rides on a train holding twin babies. His wife no longer has enough milk to feed both children. In hopes of saving them both, he wraps his daughter in a shawl and throws her into the forest.
While foraging for food, the woodcutter’s wife finds a bundle, a baby girl wrapped in a shawl. Although she knows harbouring this baby could lead to her death, she takes the child home.
Set against the horrors of the Holocaust and told with a fairy tale-like lyricism, The Most Precious of Cargoes is a fable about family and redemption which reminds us that humanity can be found in the most inhumane of places.
Critic reviews
"A magnificent small book to read urgently." (Libération)
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
Fragments of Isabella
- A Memoir of Auschwitz
- By: Isabella Leitner
- Narrated by: Lesa Lockford
- Length: 2 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
On the morning of Isabella's birthday in 1944, she and her family were deported to Auschwitz, the Nazi extermination camp. There she and her siblings fought the greatest evil in human history with the only weapon they had: love. Isabella's Pulitzer-nominated memoir will take you into a world of darkness where she will reveal humanity described in the voice of a poet.
By: Isabella Leitner
-
The Witch's Heart
- By: Genevieve Gornichec
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,775
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,472
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,462
When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology. Angrboda’s story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Masterful Exploration of Norse Myth
- By Catherine A Rector on 02-19-21
-
The Glass Woman
- A Novel
- By: Caroline Lea
- Narrated by: Heiða Reed, Smari Gunn
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 127
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 110
In the tradition of Jane Eyre and Rebecca - The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea in which a young woman follows her new husband to his remote home on the Icelandic coast in the 1680s, where she faces dark secrets surrounding the death of his first wife amidst a foreboding landscape and the superstitions of the local villagers.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Grim but ultimately worth it
- By Ellie on 08-29-20
By: Caroline Lea
-
Zorba the Greek
- By: Nikos Kazantzakis
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,042
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 923
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 921
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Drink life to the lees
- By Scot Potts on 04-25-13
-
Independent People
- By: Halldór Laxness
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 392
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 353
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 353
This magnificent novel - which secured for its author the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature - is now available to contemporary American audiences. Although it is set in the early 20th century, it recalls both Iceland's medieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. And if Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to achieve independence is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
I am so confused about this introduction
- By George M on 09-10-18
By: Halldór Laxness
-
The Child Thief
- A Novel
- By: Dan Smith
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 756
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 701
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 694
A troubled World War I veteran races across the frozen steppe of 1930's Ukraine to save a child from a shadowy killer with unthinkable plans. Luka is a war veteran who now wants nothing more than to have a quiet life with his family. His village has, so far, remained hidden from the advancing Soviet brutality. But everything changes the day a stranger arrives, pulling a sled bearing a terrible cargo. In the chaos, a little girl has vanished, and Luka is the only man with the skills to find the stolen child and her kidnapper.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant--both the writing and the narration
- By David on 09-28-13
By: Dan Smith
-
Fragments of Isabella
- A Memoir of Auschwitz
- By: Isabella Leitner
- Narrated by: Lesa Lockford
- Length: 2 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
On the morning of Isabella's birthday in 1944, she and her family were deported to Auschwitz, the Nazi extermination camp. There she and her siblings fought the greatest evil in human history with the only weapon they had: love. Isabella's Pulitzer-nominated memoir will take you into a world of darkness where she will reveal humanity described in the voice of a poet.
By: Isabella Leitner
-
The Witch's Heart
- By: Genevieve Gornichec
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,775
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,472
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,462
When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology. Angrboda’s story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Masterful Exploration of Norse Myth
- By Catherine A Rector on 02-19-21
-
The Glass Woman
- A Novel
- By: Caroline Lea
- Narrated by: Heiða Reed, Smari Gunn
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 127
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 110
In the tradition of Jane Eyre and Rebecca - The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea in which a young woman follows her new husband to his remote home on the Icelandic coast in the 1680s, where she faces dark secrets surrounding the death of his first wife amidst a foreboding landscape and the superstitions of the local villagers.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Grim but ultimately worth it
- By Ellie on 08-29-20
By: Caroline Lea
-
Zorba the Greek
- By: Nikos Kazantzakis
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,042
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 923
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 921
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Drink life to the lees
- By Scot Potts on 04-25-13
-
Independent People
- By: Halldór Laxness
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 392
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 353
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 353
This magnificent novel - which secured for its author the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature - is now available to contemporary American audiences. Although it is set in the early 20th century, it recalls both Iceland's medieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. And if Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to achieve independence is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
I am so confused about this introduction
- By George M on 09-10-18
By: Halldór Laxness
-
The Child Thief
- A Novel
- By: Dan Smith
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 756
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 701
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 694
A troubled World War I veteran races across the frozen steppe of 1930's Ukraine to save a child from a shadowy killer with unthinkable plans. Luka is a war veteran who now wants nothing more than to have a quiet life with his family. His village has, so far, remained hidden from the advancing Soviet brutality. But everything changes the day a stranger arrives, pulling a sled bearing a terrible cargo. In the chaos, a little girl has vanished, and Luka is the only man with the skills to find the stolen child and her kidnapper.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant--both the writing and the narration
- By David on 09-28-13
By: Dan Smith
-
A Grain of Wheat
- By: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
Set in the wake of the Mau Mau rebellion and on the cusp of Kenya's independence from Britain, A Grain of Wheat follows a group of villagers whose lives have been transformed by the 1952-1960 Emergency. At the center of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village's chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret. As we learn of the villagers' tangled histories in a narrative interwoven with myth and peppered with allusions to real-life leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, a masterly story unfolds in which compromises are forced, friendships are betrayed, and loves are tested.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of Kenya's Great
- By Afro History fan on 07-31-19
-
The Women in the Castle
- By: Jessica Shattuck
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,097
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,693
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,687
Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined - an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times notable book The Hazards of Good Breeding.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Skating On The Thin Ice Of Life
- By Sara on 04-29-17
By: Jessica Shattuck
-
Annie Dunne
- By: Sebastian Barry
- Narrated by: Caroline Lennon
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
It is 1959 in Wicklow, Ireland, and Annie and her cousin Sarah are living and working together to keep Sarah’s small farm running. Suddenly, Annie’s young niece and nephew are left in their care. Unprepared for the chaos that two children inevitably bring, but nervously excited nonetheless, Annie finds the interruption of her normal life and her last chance at happiness complicated further by the attention being paid to Sarah by a local man with his eye on the farm.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Splendid
- By Shady on 06-21-23
By: Sebastian Barry
-
American Indian Stories
- By: Zitkala-Sa
- Narrated by: Nancy Lee
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Based on the life of the author and members of her tribe, these stories provide a revealing glimpse into the world of the Dakota-Sioux at the turn of the last century. Part One is based on the experiences of the author, and describes a young girl growing up in a changing environment. Part Two consists of revealing stories about other members of her tribe.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The best audio version of this book available!
- By James K on 03-24-21
By: Zitkala-Sa
-
At Night All Blood Is Black
- A Novel
- By: David Diop, Anna Moschovakis - translator
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 305
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 257
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 254
Alfa Ndiaye is a Senegalese man who, never before having left his village, finds himself fighting as a so-called “Chocolat” soldier with the French army during World War I. When his friend Mademba Diop, in the same regiment, is seriously injured in battle, Diop begs Alfa to kill him and spare him the pain of a long and agonizing death in No Man’s Land. Unable to commit this mercy killing, madness creeps into Alfa’s mind as he comes to see this refusal as a cruel moment of cowardice.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Compelling story, poor narration
- By Shauna on 07-10-21
By: David Diop, and others
-
Narcissus and Goldmund
- By: Hermann Hesse
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,064
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 901
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 902
Narcissus and Goldmund is the story of a passionate yet uneasy friendship between two men of opposite character. Narcissus, an ascetic instructor at a cloister school, has devoted himself solely to scholarly and spiritual pursuits. One of his students is the sensual, restless Goldmund, who is immediately drawn to his teacher's fierce intellect and sense of discipline.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
My favorite of Hesse's novels, wonderfully read.
- By David on 10-21-11
By: Hermann Hesse
-
Guest
- A Changeling Tale
- By: Mary Downing Hahn
- Narrated by: Shelley Atkinson
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
When her adorable baby brother is replaced by an ugly, ill-tempered changeling, Mollie is determined to find the so-called Kinde Folke who took baby Thomas, return the changeling she calls Guest, and make them give Thomas back. Natural and magical obstacles and her own reckless temperament make her journey arduous and full of dangers, and a plot rich in surprises and twists makes this book a must-listen for Mary Downing Hahn’s fans.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
My kids loved it!
- By TaniaP on 10-14-19
-
The Gods of Tango
- A Novel
- By: Carolina De Robertis
- Narrated by: Carolina De Robertis
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
February 1913: seventeen-year-old Leda, carrying only a small trunk and her father's cherished violin, leaves her Italian village for a new home, and a new husband, in Argentina. Arriving in Buenos Aires, she discovers that he has been killed, but she remains: living in a tenement, without friends or family, on the brink of destitution. Still, she is seduced by the music that underscores life in the city: tango, born from lower-class immigrant voices, now the illicit, scandalous dance of brothels and cabarets.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A rousing tale
- By Jean on 07-24-15
-
The Accusation
- Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea
- By: Bandi
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 63
The Accusation is a deeply moving and eye-opening work of fiction that paints a powerful portrait of life under the North Korean regime. Set during the period of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il's leadership, the seven stories that make up The Accusation give voice to people living under this most bizarre and horrifying of dictatorships. The characters of these compelling stories come from a wide variety of backgrounds.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredibly powerful
- By Margaret on 09-30-19
By: Bandi
-
Leaves of Grass
- By: Walt Whitman
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 209
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 148
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 151
One of the great innovators in American letters, Walt Whitman created a daringly new kind of poetry that became a major force in world literature. Leaves of Grass is his masterpiece, written in a pure, uninhibited style, combining sensual and mystical sensibilities. Its bold, joyous voice, its expansive optimism, and its transcendental vision made it uniquely American.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
No chapters! Can't skip to a particular poem :(
- By April Antoniou on 02-08-13
By: Walt Whitman
-
Doctor Zhivago
- By: Boris Pasternak, Larissa Volokhonsky - translator, Richard Pevear - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 741
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 636
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 632
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Russian Philosophical Feast
- By Syd Young on 02-16-13
By: Boris Pasternak, and others
-
Look Homeward, Angel
- By: Thomas Wolfe
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 26 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 516
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 414
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 418
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One Of The Gret Novels Of The 20th Century
- By Eric on 02-22-09
By: Thomas Wolfe