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A Golden Age
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Madhur Jaffrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
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Publisher's summary
But none of the guests at Rehana's party can foresee what will happen in the days and months ahead. For this is 1971 in East Pakistan, a country on the brink of war. And this family's life is about to change forever.
Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence, A Golden Age is a story of passion and revolution, of hope, faith, and unexpected heroism. In the chaos of this era, everyone, from student protesters to the country's leaders, from rickshaw'wallahs to the army's soldiers, must make choices. And as she struggles to keep her family safe, Rehana will be forced to face a heartbreaking dilemma.
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The experience of Rehana Haque, mother of two, is set against the backdrop of the 1971 Bangladesh war for independence. As a young widowed mother, Rehana loses custody of her children. After she gets them back, she vows never to lose them again. But Rehana cannot insulate her family from the war's impact - her children become involved in the rebellion. The talented Madhur Jaffrey narrates this story evenly and compassionately, drawing listeners into Rehana's life and the complexities of civil war. Creating memorable characters through subtle shifts in tone and accent, Jaffrey gives life to imperious Indian women, humble servants, and fervent college students. Her portrait of Rehana - devoted mother, unlikely heroine - is particularly nuanced and compelling.
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By: Sunjeev Sahota
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A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
- By: Brigid Pasulka
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years.
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The Old & New Worlds Converge & Transcend Time
- By Sara on 11-22-16
By: Brigid Pasulka
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Secrets of Nanreath Hall
- A Novel
- By: Alix Rickloff
- Narrated by: Lauren Irwin, Laura Waddell
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Cornwall, 1940. Back in England after the harrowing evacuation at Dunkirk, WWII Red Cross nurse Anna Trenowyth is shocked to learn her adoptive parents, Graham and Prue Handley, have been killed in an air raid. She desperately needs their advice, as she's been assigned to the military hospital that has set up camp inside her biological mother's childhood home - Nanreath Hall. Anna was just six years old when her mother, Lady Katherine Trenowyth, died. All she has left are vague memories that tease her with clues she can't unravel.
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Well done both narrators and Author !
- By Andover Meadow on 09-17-16
By: Alix Rickloff
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Honor
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Piter Marik
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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An honor killing shatters and transforms the lives of Turkish immigrants in 1970s London. Internationally best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak’s new novel is a dramatic tale of families, love, and misunderstandings that follows the destinies of twin sisters born in a Kurdish village. While Jamila stays to become a midwife, Pembe follows her Turkish husband, Adem, to London, where they hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. In London, they face a choice: stay loyal to the old traditions or try their best to fit in.
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Complex but Compelling
- By Cariola on 04-14-13
By: Elif Shafak
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Hum If You Don't Know the Words
- By: Bianca Marais
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a 10-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred...until the Soweto Uprising.
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Completely wrong accents
- By Debbie on 02-12-22
By: Bianca Marais
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The Vine of Desire
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Anju and Sudha formed an astounding, almost psychic connection during their childhood in India. When Anju invites Sudha, a single mother in Calcutta, to come live with her and her husband, Sunil, in California, Sudha foolishly accepts, knowing full well that Sunil has long desired her. As Sunil's attraction rises to the surface, the trio must struggle to make sense of the freedoms of America - and of the ties that bind them to India and to one another.
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Vine of desire
- By Mz Shantay on 03-27-21
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When the Moon Is Low
- A Novel
- By: Nadia Hashimi
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan, Neil Shah
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
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Mahmoud’s passion for his wife, Fereiba, a schoolteacher, is greater than any love she’s ever known. But their happy, middle-class world implodes when their country is engulfed in war and the Taliban rises to power. Mahmoud, a civil engineer, becomes a target of the new fundamentalist regime and is murdered. Forced to flee Kabul with her three children, Fereiba must find a way to cross Europe and reach her sister’s family in England. With forged papers and help from kind strangers they meet along the way, Fereiba make a dangerous crossing into Iran under cover of darkness.
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Good story. Poor ending
- By Janine on 01-14-22
By: Nadia Hashimi
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The Unseen
- A Novel
- By: Katherine Webb
- Narrated by: Clare Wille
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
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A vicar with a passion for nature, the Reverend Albert Canning leads a happy existence with his naive wife, Hester, in their sleepy Berkshire village in the year 1911. But as the English summer dawns, the Cannings' lives are forever changed by two new arrivals: Cat, their new maid, a disaffected, free-spirited young woman sent down from London after entanglements with the law; and Robin Durrant, a leading expert in the occult, enticed by tales of elemental beings in the water meadows nearby.
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Great book!
- By Dana on 09-03-12
By: Katherine Webb
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Wild Lavender
- By: Belinda Alexandra
- Narrated by: Kate Hood
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Simone Fleurier is wrenched from her home on a Provencal lavender farm at the age of 14 after the accidental death of her father. Forced to become a maid at the boarding house of her Aunt Augustine in Marseilles, Simone's life is hard and impoverished. But one of her aunt's boarders, the beautiful Camille Casal, a star at the local music hall, gives Simone a dream: that one day she too will be a famous singer and dancer.
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An Extrodinary Story
- By Wade on 08-16-08
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Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
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A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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In the Country
- Stories
- By: Mia Alvar
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Don Castro
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
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These nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles, emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines to begin new lives in the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere - and sometimes turning back again.
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My introduction to Filipino literature and culture
- By Amazon Customer on 03-28-16
By: Mia Alvar
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Orphan Number Eight
- A Novel
- By: Kim van Alkemade
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Ginny Auer
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
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In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz is a vivacious four-year-old living with her family in a crowded tenement on New York City's Lower East Side. When tragedy strikes, Rachel is separated from her brother, Sam, and sent to a Jewish orphanage where Dr. Mildred Solomon is conducting medical research. Subjected to X-ray treatments that leave her disfigured, Rachel suffers years of cruel harassment from the other orphans.
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Stopped after a few hours
- By Tamara on 01-03-20
By: Kim van Alkemade
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Diamond Head
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- By: Cecily Wong
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- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
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Told through the eyes of the Leongs' secret-keeping daughters and wives and spanning the Boxer Rebellion to Pearl Harbor to 1960s Hawaii, Diamond Head is a breathtakingly powerful tale of tragic love, shocking lies, poignant compromise, aching loss, heroic acts of sacrifice, and miraculous hope.
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.
- By Gina on 09-06-15
By: Cecily Wong
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What listeners say about A Golden Age
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-09-24
The narrator was spell binding. I loved the reading of this book !
I loved the story. Not filled with lame cliches and expected scenarios. I loved being gently introduced to Bangladesh through the eyes of an average woman. Loved the ending so much!
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- A. Vernon
- 03-30-15
History and family drama
Where does A Golden Age rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
It was my first, so I can't compare it to anything else.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Tough choice. Mrs. Chowdhury? She seemed the most colourful.
What about Madhur Jaffrey’s performance did you like?
Terrific narration without exaggeration. She's the reason I signed up for Audible. I really hope she narrates The Good Muslim as well.
Any additional comments?
I was surprised how much I enjoyed the story. I knew very little about the war in Bangladesh before listening to this audiobook.
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Overall
- Rio Delta Wild
- 06-04-08
sad, poignant, thought-provoking, beautiful
Excellent narration! Difficult situations occur throughout this story, but the descriptions are not overly drawn out or exhausting. Throughout the tale one hears understanding, compassion and faith. This is a compelling peak into the turmoil Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have endured in recent times. Wonderful character development.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- connie
- 12-17-08
five star, with reservations
Like "A Thousand Splendid Suns," this is a GOOD novel made more important by the story it tells. From a literary point of view, it's probably a better novel than "Suns", but one point concerns me: I don't think there's a sympathetic portrait of even one minor Pakistani character. In a novel depicting war, no matter how aggressive the opponent nation, I think a detail like that is important to help stop the cycle of dehumanization that allows war.
The novel relates a struggle that was too soon forgotten by the West, even after the flood of publicity that followed George Harrison's "Concert for Bangladesh" (the first big "charity/consciousness raising concert) in the aftermath of the environmental and famine crisis that followed the civil war.
We know that the newly independent Bangladesh had victories in terms of human rights and just government, but also setbacks. It remains a story that we ought to know more about, and the author has provided an excellent starting point in an accessible but absorbing novel that manages to communicate the horrors of war without leaving a listener in psychic numbness. She also hints indirectly in the story at some of the causes of the eventual rise of Islamist fundamentalism among some of the population. Outside of the historical context, the novel paints a picture of how "ordinary" folks can rise to heroic action in crisis.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Nobody
- 08-30-21
A Beautiful Heart Wrenching Story
A beautiful moving novel by Tahmima Anam. Every mother reading this novel will feel a tug at her heartstrings.
Madhur Jaffery couldn't be more perfect as the narrator. Bravo for taking the time to find someone as elegant and believable as this narrator.
This is a trilogy, which I discovered through the interview at the end of the novel. I look forward to reading about Rehana's father.
I love Pakistan most of all, but it is always important to feel both sides. Especially when it deals with children, family, and the human touch.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-09-22
A Golden Age
I was listening to the BBC Bookclub and Harriet Gilbert was interviewing Tahmina Anam. I enjoyed the show and ordered A Golden Age on Audible. It takes place before and during the War of Independence of East Pakistan, the current day Bangladesh. I loved the character of the mother, wise beyond her years. I found her struggles and how she overcame them, inspiring. I learned a lot about a culture, that I was unfamiliar with. She is an excellent writer and story teller. The book did not disappoint. I would strongly recommend it. At the end, of the book, the publisher, conducted a short interview with the author, which I found fascinating. 👍 RJS
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- Anonymous User
- 10-17-21
Biased & distorted history & culture
Being a Bangladeshi, I read the award winning book with a tower high hope & enthusiasm, which ended up being smashed with disheartens.
First of all, which infuriates me, that the Writers write up refuted and suppressed cold blooded the great role of Sector Commander Khalid Mosharraf, who was the all in all of masterminding , uniting , giving training and plotting the entire operations of Dhaka ! She even mentioned martyr Major Khalid Musharraf’s famous quote avoiding mentioning his name any single time !! Instead depicted in a way which lead the reader assumed Major Zia was that one!! How insane! Why so? So To get published during BNP reign ?
No one denies Major Zia’s role as the announcer of Independence in the name of Bongobondhu or his role over war time. But Major Zia had to relation with Dhaka operation, why on earth the boys would be chasing him!
I was bruised to realized how poor knowledge she holds of our culture , values , Family affairs , domestic aids and thought of sex during that time ( Mayas Comment on everybody had premarital sex beside Sharmin!! During early 70”s ! That’s insane!) was nakedly surfaced!
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2 people found this helpful