The South
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 South
Buy for $17.96
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Terry Donnelly
-
By:
-
Colm Toibin
About this listen
In 1950, Katherine Proctor leaves Ireland for Barcelona, determined to escape her family and become a painter. There she meets Miguel, an anarchist veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and begins to build a life with him. But Katherine cannot escape her past, as Michael Graves, a fellow Irish émigré in Spain, forces her to reexamine all her relationships: to her lover, her art, and the homeland she only thought she knew.
The South is a novel of classic themes - of art and exile, and of the seemingly irreconcilable yearnings for love and freedom - to which Colm Tóibín brings a new, passionate sensitivity.
©2012 Colm Toibin (P)2012 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Heather Blazing
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 77
Eamon Redmond is a judge in Ireland’s high court, a completely legal creature who is just beginning to discover how painfully unconnected he is from other human beings. With effortless fluency, Colm Tóibín reconstructs the history of Eamon’s relationships - with his father, his first "girl", his wife, and the children who barely know him - and he writes about Eamon’s affection for the Irish coast with such painterly skill that the land itself becomes a character. The result is a novel of stunning power.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Quiet but Lovely Story
- By Cariola on 03-29-13
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Magician
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 963
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 835
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 829
The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Terrific listening experience
- By M. Mead on 09-17-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Testament of Mary
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,285
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,092
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,074
Meryl Streep’s performance of Colm Tóibín's acclaimed portrait of Mary is hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “an ideal audiobook,” presenting the three-time Academy Award-winner in “yet another great role.” Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary presents Mary as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity. In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son's crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel. They are her keepers, providing her with food and shelter and visiting her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was "worth it"; nor that the "group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye," were holy disciples. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone, in a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
hated it
- By bibliophile on 06-14-14
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Master
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of Henry James, a man born into one of America’s first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late 19th century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. With stunningly resonant prose, “The Master is unquestionably the work of a first-rate novelist: artful, moving, and very beautiful” (The New York Times Book Review). The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
What a Terrible Disappointment!
- By Sherry M. Rogers on 08-20-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
Nora Webster: A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 563
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 494
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 494
Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be drawn back into it. Wounded, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Contrived & Overreaching
- By Sara on 12-13-15
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Sun Also Rises
- By: Ernest Hemingway, Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: William Hurt
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 6,096
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,195
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 5,188
A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, The Sun Also Rises introduces two of Hemingway’s most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. In his first great literary masterpiece, Hemingway portrays an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Great actor, terrible reader, kills classic
- By Kerry on 09-14-14
By: Ernest Hemingway, and others
-
The Heather Blazing
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 77
Eamon Redmond is a judge in Ireland’s high court, a completely legal creature who is just beginning to discover how painfully unconnected he is from other human beings. With effortless fluency, Colm Tóibín reconstructs the history of Eamon’s relationships - with his father, his first "girl", his wife, and the children who barely know him - and he writes about Eamon’s affection for the Irish coast with such painterly skill that the land itself becomes a character. The result is a novel of stunning power.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Quiet but Lovely Story
- By Cariola on 03-29-13
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Magician
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 963
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 835
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 829
The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Terrific listening experience
- By M. Mead on 09-17-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Testament of Mary
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,285
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,092
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,074
Meryl Streep’s performance of Colm Tóibín's acclaimed portrait of Mary is hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “an ideal audiobook,” presenting the three-time Academy Award-winner in “yet another great role.” Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary presents Mary as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity. In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son's crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel. They are her keepers, providing her with food and shelter and visiting her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was "worth it"; nor that the "group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye," were holy disciples. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone, in a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
hated it
- By bibliophile on 06-14-14
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Master
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of Henry James, a man born into one of America’s first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late 19th century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. With stunningly resonant prose, “The Master is unquestionably the work of a first-rate novelist: artful, moving, and very beautiful” (The New York Times Book Review). The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
What a Terrible Disappointment!
- By Sherry M. Rogers on 08-20-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
Nora Webster: A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 563
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 494
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 494
Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be drawn back into it. Wounded, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Contrived & Overreaching
- By Sara on 12-13-15
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Sun Also Rises
- By: Ernest Hemingway, Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: William Hurt
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 6,096
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,195
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 5,188
A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, The Sun Also Rises introduces two of Hemingway’s most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. In his first great literary masterpiece, Hemingway portrays an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Great actor, terrible reader, kills classic
- By Kerry on 09-14-14
By: Ernest Hemingway, and others
-
On Elizabeth Bishop
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
In this book novelist Colm Tóibín offers a deeply personal introduction to the work and life of one of his most important literary influences - the American poet Elizabeth Bishop. Ranging across her poetry, prose, letters, and biography, Tóibín creates a vivid picture of Bishop while also revealing how her work has helped shape his sensibility as a novelist and how her experiences of loss and exile resonate with his own.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
ELIZABETH BISHOP
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 05-19-16
By: Colm Tóibín
-
A Guest at the Feast
- Essays
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 11
“IT ALL STARTED WITH MY BALLS.” So begins Colm Tóibín’s fabulously compelling essay, laced with humor, about his diagnosis and treatment for cancer. Tóibín survives, but he has entered, as he says, “the age of one ball.” Tóibín describes his education by priests, several of whom were condemned years later for abuse. He writes about Irish history and literature, and about the long, tragic journey toward legal and social acceptance of homosexuality. A Guest at the Feast is both an intimate encounter with a creative artist and a glorious celebration of writing.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent writing and interesting insights.
- By Tom on 02-11-24
By: Colm Toibin
-
Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 40
Elegant, profound, and riveting, Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language and their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways these men surface in their work. Through these stories of fathers and sons, Tóibín recounts the resistance to English cultural domination, the birth of modern Irish cultural identity, and the extraordinary contributions of these complex and masterful authors.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Eminently re-readable
- By Ellen-A on 01-02-19
By: Colm Toibin
-
House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 671
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 615
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 616
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The Magic Mountain
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 37 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,067
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 932
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 926
Hans Castorp is, on the face of it, an ordinary man in his early 20s, on course to start a career in ship engineering in his home town of Hamburg, when he decides to travel to the Berghof Santatorium in Davos. The year is 1912 and an oblivious world is on the brink of war. Castorp’s friend Joachim Ziemssen is taking the cure and a three-week visit seems a perfect break before work begins. But when Castorp arrives he is surprised to find an established community of patients, and little by little, he gets drawn into the closeted life and the individual personalities of the residents.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Magical Journey
- By Paul on 08-20-20
By: Thomas Mann
-
Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- By: Hernan Diaz
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,121
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,633
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,633
Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Before Purchasing
- By JLDLOfficial on 08-13-22
By: Hernan Diaz
-
Rules of Civility
- A Novel
- By: Amor Towles
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,917
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,556
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,523
On the last night of 1937, 25-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York society - where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Bright Young Things in a Dark World
- By Michele Kellett on 08-13-12
By: Amor Towles
-
Lessons
- By: Ian McEwan
- Narrated by: Simon McBurney
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 682
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 597
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 591
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator Simon McBurney gets my 100% rating
- By Peggy M on 09-26-22
By: Ian McEwan
-
The Shadow of the Wind
- By: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,914
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,446
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,460
Barcelona, 1945: Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his 11th birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face. To console his only child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona's guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Have the book handy
- By Rebecca on 07-17-05
-
Birnam Wood
- A Novel
- By: Eleanor Catton
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 788
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 660
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 659
A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand’s South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding thriller w/ exceptional character development
- By Bradley T. Collins on 04-21-23
By: Eleanor Catton
-
Small Mercies
- A Novel
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,470
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,314
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,314
In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessey is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to tradition and stands proudly apart. One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Sadly these streets are my home…
- By shipyardjay on 05-10-23
By: Dennis Lehane
-
The Tuscan Child
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble, Katy Sobey
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,695
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,986
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,957
In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal. Nearly 30 years later, Hugo's estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father's funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Knocked this one out of the park
- By Anne on 02-22-18
By: Rhys Bowen
Critic reviews
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Heather Blazing
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 77
Eamon Redmond is a judge in Ireland’s high court, a completely legal creature who is just beginning to discover how painfully unconnected he is from other human beings. With effortless fluency, Colm Tóibín reconstructs the history of Eamon’s relationships - with his father, his first "girl", his wife, and the children who barely know him - and he writes about Eamon’s affection for the Irish coast with such painterly skill that the land itself becomes a character. The result is a novel of stunning power.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Quiet but Lovely Story
- By Cariola on 03-29-13
By: Colm Toibin
-
Nora Webster: A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 563
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 494
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 494
Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be drawn back into it. Wounded, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Contrived & Overreaching
- By Sara on 12-13-15
By: Colm Toibin
-
House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 671
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 615
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 616
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The Testament of Mary
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,285
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,092
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,074
Meryl Streep’s performance of Colm Tóibín's acclaimed portrait of Mary is hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “an ideal audiobook,” presenting the three-time Academy Award-winner in “yet another great role.” Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary presents Mary as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity. In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son's crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel. They are her keepers, providing her with food and shelter and visiting her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was "worth it"; nor that the "group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye," were holy disciples. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone, in a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
hated it
- By bibliophile on 06-14-14
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Shortest Day
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 254
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 222
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 218
During the winter solstice, on the shortest day and longest night of the year, the ancient burial chamber at Newgrange is empowered. Its mystifying source is a haunting tale told by locals. Professor O’Kelly believes an archaeologist’s job is to make known only what can be proved. He is undeterred by ghost stories, idle speculation, and caution. Much to the chagrin of the living souls in County Meath. As well as those entombed in the sacred darkness of Newgrange itself. They’re determined to protect the secret of the light, guarded for more than 5,000 years.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible
- By Amazon Customer on 05-17-23
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The Magician
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 963
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 835
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 829
The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Terrific listening experience
- By M. Mead on 09-17-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Heather Blazing
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 77
Eamon Redmond is a judge in Ireland’s high court, a completely legal creature who is just beginning to discover how painfully unconnected he is from other human beings. With effortless fluency, Colm Tóibín reconstructs the history of Eamon’s relationships - with his father, his first "girl", his wife, and the children who barely know him - and he writes about Eamon’s affection for the Irish coast with such painterly skill that the land itself becomes a character. The result is a novel of stunning power.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Quiet but Lovely Story
- By Cariola on 03-29-13
By: Colm Toibin
-
Nora Webster: A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 563
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 494
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 494
Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be drawn back into it. Wounded, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Contrived & Overreaching
- By Sara on 12-13-15
By: Colm Toibin
-
House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 671
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 615
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 616
"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The Testament of Mary
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,285
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,092
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,074
Meryl Streep’s performance of Colm Tóibín's acclaimed portrait of Mary is hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “an ideal audiobook,” presenting the three-time Academy Award-winner in “yet another great role.” Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary presents Mary as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity. In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son's crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel. They are her keepers, providing her with food and shelter and visiting her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was "worth it"; nor that the "group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye," were holy disciples. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone, in a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
hated it
- By bibliophile on 06-14-14
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Shortest Day
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 254
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 222
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 218
During the winter solstice, on the shortest day and longest night of the year, the ancient burial chamber at Newgrange is empowered. Its mystifying source is a haunting tale told by locals. Professor O’Kelly believes an archaeologist’s job is to make known only what can be proved. He is undeterred by ghost stories, idle speculation, and caution. Much to the chagrin of the living souls in County Meath. As well as those entombed in the sacred darkness of Newgrange itself. They’re determined to protect the secret of the light, guarded for more than 5,000 years.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible
- By Amazon Customer on 05-17-23
By: Colm Tóibín
-
The Magician
- A Novel
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 963
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 835
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 829
The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the 20th century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Terrific listening experience
- By M. Mead on 09-17-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
The Master
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of Henry James, a man born into one of America’s first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late 19th century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. With stunningly resonant prose, “The Master is unquestionably the work of a first-rate novelist: artful, moving, and very beautiful” (The New York Times Book Review). The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
What a Terrible Disappointment!
- By Sherry M. Rogers on 08-20-21
By: Colm Toibin
-
Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 40
Elegant, profound, and riveting, Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language and their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways these men surface in their work. Through these stories of fathers and sons, Tóibín recounts the resistance to English cultural domination, the birth of modern Irish cultural identity, and the extraordinary contributions of these complex and masterful authors.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Eminently re-readable
- By Ellen-A on 01-02-19
By: Colm Toibin
-
A Guest at the Feast
- Essays
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 11
“IT ALL STARTED WITH MY BALLS.” So begins Colm Tóibín’s fabulously compelling essay, laced with humor, about his diagnosis and treatment for cancer. Tóibín survives, but he has entered, as he says, “the age of one ball.” Tóibín describes his education by priests, several of whom were condemned years later for abuse. He writes about Irish history and literature, and about the long, tragic journey toward legal and social acceptance of homosexuality. A Guest at the Feast is both an intimate encounter with a creative artist and a glorious celebration of writing.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent writing and interesting insights.
- By Tom on 02-11-24
By: Colm Toibin
-
Alice James
- A Biography
- By: Jean Strouse, Colm Toibin - foreword
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Alice James is perhaps best known as the sister of Henry James, the novelist, and William James, "the father of American psychology." Few were familiar with Alice's own life—until Jean Strouse's Alice James. This illuminating, insightful biography takes us into the hidden life of this extraordinary woman.
By: Jean Strouse, and others
-
The Empty Family
- Stories
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin, Jeff Woodman, Alma Cuervo, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 27
In the captivating stories that make up The Empty Family, Colm Tibn delineates with a tender and unique sensibility, lives of unspoken or unconscious longing, of individuals often willingly cast adrift from their history. From the young Pakistani immigrant who seeks some kind of permanence in a strange town, to the Irish woman reluctantly returning to Dublin and discovering a city that refuses to acknowledge her long absence, each of Tibn's stories manage to contain whole worlds.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Love, Loss, and Longing
- By Cariola on 01-02-12
By: Colm Toibin
-
Long Island
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Katja Danowski
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2
Erste Liebe, zweite Chancen: Ein Mann und eine Frau treffen sich nach fast zwanzig Jahren wieder - und stehen noch einmal vor der Entscheidung ihres Lebens. Eilis lebt in Long Island mit ihren Kindern und Tony, für den sie ihre Jugendliebe Jim in Irland zurückließ. Als sie erfährt, dass Tony sein uneheliches Kind in der gemeinsamen Familie aufziehen will, bricht sie in ihre Heimat auf.
By: Colm Tóibín
Waste of time
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I wanted to find at least one character interesting but could not.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.