-
A Hundred Suns
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe, Emily Ellet
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 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 $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
"A haunting, evocative tale that left me both richly satisfied and deeply unsettled - yet another Tanabe triumph. Captivating, suspenseful, and full of surprises." (Fiona Davis, national best-selling author of The Masterpiece)
A faraway land.
A family’s dynasty.
A trail of secrets that could shatter their glamorous lifestyle.
On a humid afternoon in 1933, American Jessie Lesage steps off a boat from Paris and onto the shores of Vietnam. Accompanying her French husband Victor, an heir to the Michelin rubber fortune, she’s certain that their new life is full of promise, for while the rest of the world is sinking into economic depression, Indochine is gold for the Michelins. Jessie knows that the vast plantations near Saigon are the key to the family’s prosperity, and though they have recently been marred in scandal, she needs them to succeed for her husband’s sake - and to ensure that the life she left behind in America stays buried in the past.
Jessie dives into the glamorous colonial world, where money is king and morals are brushed aside, and meets Marcelle de Fabry, a spellbinding expat with a wealthy Indochinese lover, the silk tycoon Khoi Nguyen. Descending on Jessie’s world like a hurricane, Marcelle proves to be an exuberant guide to colonial life. But hidden beneath her vivacious exterior is a fierce desire to put the colony back in the hands of its people - starting with the Michelin plantations.
It doesn’t take long for the sun-drenched days and champagne-soaked nights to catch up with Jessie. With an increasingly fractured mind, her affection for Indochine falters. And as a fiery political struggle builds around her, Jessie begins to wonder what’s real in a friendship that she suspects may be nothing but a house of cards.
Motivated by love, driven by ambition, and seeking self-preservation at all costs, Jessie and Marcelle each toe the line between friend and foe, ethics and excess. Cast against the stylish backdrop of 1920s Paris and 1930s Indochine, in a time and place defined by contrasts and convictions, Karin Tanabe's A Hundred Suns is historical fiction at its lush, suspenseful best.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press
"[A] stirring, elegant romance, richly drawn and complete with multidimensional characters." (Publishers Weekly)
“A Hundred Suns has a cinematic quality.... This view of French occupation in Indochina is replete with love affairs, revenge and secrets, not to mention a history lesson about the evils of colonialism.” (Washington Post)
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Romanov Empress
- A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna
- By: C. W. Gortner
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Narrated by the mother of Russia’s last tsar, this vivid, historically authentic novel brings to life the courageous story of Maria Feodorovna, one of Imperial Russia’s most compelling women, who witnessed the splendor and tragic downfall of the Romanovs as she fought to save her dynasty in its final years.
-
-
Pure Excellence!
- By Bunny on 09-09-18
By: C. W. Gortner
-
The Diplomat's Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Karin Tanabe
- Narrated by: Joy Osmanski, Corey Brill, Jacques Roy
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the turbulent months following the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, 21-year-old Emi Kato, the daughter of a Japanese diplomat, is locked behind barbed wire in a Texas internment camp. She feels hopeless until she meets handsome young Christian Lange, whose German-born parents were wrongfully arrested for un-American activities. Together they live as prisoners with thousands of other German and Japanese families but discover that love can bloom in even the bleakest circumstances.
-
-
Wartime Love Story
- By Mona-Alisa on 01-12-18
By: Karin Tanabe
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
What Rose Forgot
- A Novel
- By: Nevada Barr
- Narrated by: Kate Burton
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown, her brain in a fog, only to discover that she's been committed to an Alzheimer's unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she's "not making it through the week", Rose is convinced that if she's to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape. But how does she convince anyone that she's not actually demented?
-
-
WONDERFUL
- By Selene Rackley on 09-23-19
By: Nevada Barr
-
The Gilded Years
- A Novel
- By: Karin Tanabe
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Passing meets The House of Mirth in this "utterly captivating" (Kathleen Grissom, New York Times best-selling author of The Kitchen House) historical novel based on the true story of Anita Hemmings, the first black student to attend Vassar, who successfully passed as white - until she let herself grow too attached to the wrong person.
-
-
Intriguing Story
- By Leanna Range Norwood on 07-15-16
By: Karin Tanabe
-
The Widows
- By: Jess Montgomery
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kinship, Ohio, 1924: When Lily Ross learns that her husband, Daniel Ross, the town’s respected sheriff, is killed while transporting a prisoner, she is devastated and vows to avenge his death. Hours after his funeral, a stranger appears at her door. Marvena Whitcomb, a coal miner’s widow, is unaware Daniel has died and begs to speak with him about her missing daughter. From miles away but worlds apart, Lily and Marvena’s lives collide as they realize Daniel was not the man that either of them believed him to be - and that his murder is far more complex than they imagined.
-
-
Terrific story and a terrific performance
- By Barbara on 02-17-19
By: Jess Montgomery
-
The Romanov Empress
- A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna
- By: C. W. Gortner
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Narrated by the mother of Russia’s last tsar, this vivid, historically authentic novel brings to life the courageous story of Maria Feodorovna, one of Imperial Russia’s most compelling women, who witnessed the splendor and tragic downfall of the Romanovs as she fought to save her dynasty in its final years.
-
-
Pure Excellence!
- By Bunny on 09-09-18
By: C. W. Gortner
-
The Diplomat's Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Karin Tanabe
- Narrated by: Joy Osmanski, Corey Brill, Jacques Roy
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the turbulent months following the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, 21-year-old Emi Kato, the daughter of a Japanese diplomat, is locked behind barbed wire in a Texas internment camp. She feels hopeless until she meets handsome young Christian Lange, whose German-born parents were wrongfully arrested for un-American activities. Together they live as prisoners with thousands of other German and Japanese families but discover that love can bloom in even the bleakest circumstances.
-
-
Wartime Love Story
- By Mona-Alisa on 01-12-18
By: Karin Tanabe
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
What Rose Forgot
- A Novel
- By: Nevada Barr
- Narrated by: Kate Burton
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown, her brain in a fog, only to discover that she's been committed to an Alzheimer's unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she's "not making it through the week", Rose is convinced that if she's to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape. But how does she convince anyone that she's not actually demented?
-
-
WONDERFUL
- By Selene Rackley on 09-23-19
By: Nevada Barr
-
The Gilded Years
- A Novel
- By: Karin Tanabe
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Passing meets The House of Mirth in this "utterly captivating" (Kathleen Grissom, New York Times best-selling author of The Kitchen House) historical novel based on the true story of Anita Hemmings, the first black student to attend Vassar, who successfully passed as white - until she let herself grow too attached to the wrong person.
-
-
Intriguing Story
- By Leanna Range Norwood on 07-15-16
By: Karin Tanabe
-
The Widows
- By: Jess Montgomery
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kinship, Ohio, 1924: When Lily Ross learns that her husband, Daniel Ross, the town’s respected sheriff, is killed while transporting a prisoner, she is devastated and vows to avenge his death. Hours after his funeral, a stranger appears at her door. Marvena Whitcomb, a coal miner’s widow, is unaware Daniel has died and begs to speak with him about her missing daughter. From miles away but worlds apart, Lily and Marvena’s lives collide as they realize Daniel was not the man that either of them believed him to be - and that his murder is far more complex than they imagined.
-
-
Terrific story and a terrific performance
- By Barbara on 02-17-19
By: Jess Montgomery
-
Murder in Old Bombay
- A Mystery
- By: Nev March
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1892, Bombay is the center of British India. Nearby, Captain Jim Agnihotri lays in Poona military hospital recovering from a skirmish on the wild Northern frontier, with little to read but newspapers. The case that catches Jim's attention is being called the crime of the century: Two women fell from the busy university’s clock tower in broad daylight. Moved by the widower of one of the victims - his certainty that his wife and sister did not commit suicide - Jim approaches the Framjis and is hired by the Parsee family to investigate what happened that terrible afternoon.
-
-
Would make a great Indian Downton Abbey serial
- By puplhunt on 11-25-20
By: Nev March
-
The Riviera House
- By: Natasha Lester
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can't understand German. They’re wrong. They think she’s merely cataloging art in a Louvre museum and unaware they’re stealing national treasures for their private collections. They have no idea she’s carefully decoding their notes and smuggling information to the Resistance. But Éliane is playing a dangerous game. Does she dare trust the man she once loved with her secrets, or will he only betray her once again?
-
-
Intriguing story
- By Kristen on 10-11-21
By: Natasha Lester
-
The Show Girl
- A Novel
- By: Nicola Harrison
- Narrated by: Imani Jade Powers
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more - even worth all the sacrifices she has had to make along the way.
-
-
Great Story…for the Most Part
- By HistoryNerd on 08-22-21
By: Nicola Harrison
-
The Feast of the Goat
- A Novel
- By: Mario Vargas Llosa, Edith Grossman - translator
- Narrated by: Alejandro Vargas-Lugo, Coral Peña, Ian Guerra
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Haunted all her life by feelings of terror and emptiness, 49-year-old Urania Cabral returns to her native Dominican Republic - and finds herself reliving the events of 1961, when the capital was still called Trujillo City and one old man terrorized a nation of three million. Rafael Trujillo, the depraved ailing dictator whom Dominicans call the Goat, controls his inner circle with a combination of violence and blackmail. There is a conspiracy against him, and a Machiavellian revolution already underway.
-
-
Enlightening But Challenging
- By Sassafras on 03-03-22
By: Mario Vargas Llosa, and others
-
The Women of Chateau Lafayette
- By: Stephanie Dray
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert, Emma Bering, Rachel L. Jacobs
- Length: 23 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic saga from New York Times best-selling author Stephanie Dray based on the true story of an extraordinary castle in the heart of France and the remarkable women bound by its legacy.
-
-
An absolute masterpiece of a book!
- By Kindle Customer on 05-15-21
By: Stephanie Dray
-
The Book Woman's Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Kim Michele Richardson
- Narrated by: Katie Schorr
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good.
-
-
Good read!
- By Oh Sugar on 09-12-22
-
Montauk
- A Novel
- By: Nicola Harrison
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Montauk captures the glamour and extravagance of a summer by the sea with the story of a woman torn between the life she chose and the life she desires.
-
-
Mindless
- By Diane Mixson on 04-30-20
By: Nicola Harrison
-
Truly Like Lightning
- A Novel
- By: David Duchovny
- Narrated by: David Duchovny
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past 20 years, Bronson Powers, former Hollywood stuntman and converted Mormon, has been homesteading deep in the uninhabited desert outside Joshua Tree with his three wives and 10 children. Bronson and his wives, Yalulah, Mary, and Jackie, have been raising their family away from the corruption and evil of the modern world. Their insular existence - controversial, difficult, but Edenic - is upended when the ambitious young developer Maya Abbadessa stumbles upon their land. Hoping to make a profit, she crafts a wager with the family that sets in motion a deadly chain of events.
-
-
BOOM!
- By Annya E. on 06-12-21
By: David Duchovny
-
Refuge
- A Novel
- By: Dot Jackson
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Early one morning in 1929, Mary Seneca Steele spontaneously packs a suitcase, gathers up her son and daughter, and drives away in her abusive and dissolute husband’s brand-new Auburn Phaeton automobile, leaving her privileged life in Charleston behind. It is the beginning of a journey of enlightenment that leads Mary “Sen” to the mountains and mysteries of Appalachia, where she will learn unexpected family secrets, create a new life for herself and her children, and finally experience love and happiness before tragedy will once again test her.
-
-
A Great Southern Tale
- By B. Newman on 01-09-20
By: Dot Jackson
-
My Dear Hamilton
- A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton
- By: Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times best-selling authors of America's First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton - a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. In this haunting, moving, and beautifully written book, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza's story as it's never been told before - not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Ally-O on 07-10-18
By: Stephanie Dray, and others
-
Once We Were Brothers
- By: Ronald H. Balson
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and philanthropist, is attending a fundraiser when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek, the Butcher of Zamosc. Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser is convinced he is right and engages attorney Catherine Lockhart to bring Rosenzweig to justice.
-
-
5-Star Thriller with History and Heart
- By Ella on 11-22-14
By: Ronald H. Balson
-
Our Woman in Moscow
- A Novel
- By: Beatriz Williams
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the autumn of 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. The world is shocked by the family’s sensational disappearance. Were they eliminated by the Soviet intelligence service? Or have the Digbys defected to Moscow with a trove of the West’s most vital secrets?
-
-
Wonderful Listen
- By Terry on 09-29-21
By: Beatriz Williams
Related to this topic
-
Tender Is the Night
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, Tender Is the Night is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick's harrowing demise. A profound study of the romantic concept of character - lyrical, expansive, and hauntingly evocative.
-
-
Subtle yet grand
- By jb on 10-12-15
-
The Lindbergh Nanny
- By: Mariah Fredericks
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the most famous toddler in America, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., is kidnapped from his family home in 1932, the case makes international headlines. Already celebrated for his flight across the Atlantic, his father, Charles, Sr., is the country’s golden boy, with his wealthy, lovely wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, by his side. But there’s someone else in their household—Betty Gow, a formerly obscure young woman, now known around the world by another name: the Lindbergh Nanny. Betty must find the truth in order to clear her own name—and to find justice for the child she loves.
-
-
Excellent book and narration
- By Nancy on 01-16-23
-
Two Crosses
- Secrets of the Cross, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth Musser
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The glimmering Huguenot cross she so innocently wears leads her deep into the shadows. When Gabriella Madison arrives in the French village of Castelnau in 1961 to continue her university studies, she doesn’t anticipate being drawn into the secretive world behind the Algerian war for independence from France. And the further she delves into the war efforts, the more her faith is challenged. The people who surround her bring a whirlwind of transforming forces.
-
-
Faith, Romance, Spies, and Fascinating History
- By Amazon Customer on 05-02-19
By: Elizabeth Musser
-
The Nanny
- A Novel
- By: Gilly Macmillan
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Patience Tomlinson, Ben Eliot
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this compulsively listenable tale of secrets, lies, and deception, Gilly Macmillan explores the darkest impulses and desires of the human heart. Diabolically clever, The Nanny reminds us that sometimes the truth hurts so much you’d rather hear the lie.
-
-
Great gripping story!
- By Jordan Zenzel on 10-01-19
By: Gilly Macmillan
-
The Parisian
- By: Isabella Hammad
- Narrated by: Fiona Button
- Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterful debut novel by Plimpton Prize winner Isabella Hammad, The Parisian illuminates a pivotal period of Palestinian history through the journey and romances of one young man, from his studies in France during World War I to his return to Palestine at the dawn of its battle for independence.
-
-
Overly ambitious
- By Placeholder on 06-16-19
By: Isabella Hammad
-
Queen of the Mersey
- By: Maureen Lee
- Narrated by: Maggie Ollerenshaw
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Queenie is only 14 and has been deserted by her mother. Set in Liverpool and Wales at the outbreak of World War II, this story explores themes of female friendship and betrayal from the perspective of a group of women of widely different ages.
-
-
Entertaining
- By W on 05-27-08
By: Maureen Lee
-
Tender Is the Night
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, Tender Is the Night is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick's harrowing demise. A profound study of the romantic concept of character - lyrical, expansive, and hauntingly evocative.
-
-
Subtle yet grand
- By jb on 10-12-15
-
The Lindbergh Nanny
- By: Mariah Fredericks
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the most famous toddler in America, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., is kidnapped from his family home in 1932, the case makes international headlines. Already celebrated for his flight across the Atlantic, his father, Charles, Sr., is the country’s golden boy, with his wealthy, lovely wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, by his side. But there’s someone else in their household—Betty Gow, a formerly obscure young woman, now known around the world by another name: the Lindbergh Nanny. Betty must find the truth in order to clear her own name—and to find justice for the child she loves.
-
-
Excellent book and narration
- By Nancy on 01-16-23
-
Two Crosses
- Secrets of the Cross, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth Musser
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The glimmering Huguenot cross she so innocently wears leads her deep into the shadows. When Gabriella Madison arrives in the French village of Castelnau in 1961 to continue her university studies, she doesn’t anticipate being drawn into the secretive world behind the Algerian war for independence from France. And the further she delves into the war efforts, the more her faith is challenged. The people who surround her bring a whirlwind of transforming forces.
-
-
Faith, Romance, Spies, and Fascinating History
- By Amazon Customer on 05-02-19
By: Elizabeth Musser
-
The Nanny
- A Novel
- By: Gilly Macmillan
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Patience Tomlinson, Ben Eliot
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this compulsively listenable tale of secrets, lies, and deception, Gilly Macmillan explores the darkest impulses and desires of the human heart. Diabolically clever, The Nanny reminds us that sometimes the truth hurts so much you’d rather hear the lie.
-
-
Great gripping story!
- By Jordan Zenzel on 10-01-19
By: Gilly Macmillan
-
The Parisian
- By: Isabella Hammad
- Narrated by: Fiona Button
- Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A masterful debut novel by Plimpton Prize winner Isabella Hammad, The Parisian illuminates a pivotal period of Palestinian history through the journey and romances of one young man, from his studies in France during World War I to his return to Palestine at the dawn of its battle for independence.
-
-
Overly ambitious
- By Placeholder on 06-16-19
By: Isabella Hammad
-
Queen of the Mersey
- By: Maureen Lee
- Narrated by: Maggie Ollerenshaw
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Queenie is only 14 and has been deserted by her mother. Set in Liverpool and Wales at the outbreak of World War II, this story explores themes of female friendship and betrayal from the perspective of a group of women of widely different ages.
-
-
Entertaining
- By W on 05-27-08
By: Maureen Lee
-
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
-
The Bermondsey Bookshop
- By: Mary Gibson
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in 1920s London, this is the inspiring story of Kate Goss' struggle against poverty, hunger and cruel family secrets. Her mother died in a fall, her father has vanished without trace, and now her aunt and cousins treat her viciously. In a freezing, vermin-infested garret, factory girl Kate has only her own brave spirit and dreams of finding her father to keep her going. She has barely enough money to feed herself, or to pay the rent. The factory where she works begins to lay off people and it isn't long before she has fallen into the hands of the violent local money-lender.
-
-
A glimpse into the past
- By Luci-Lu on 10-27-21
By: Mary Gibson
-
The Love Note
- By: Tracy Rees
- Narrated by: Jasmine Blackborow
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perfect for fans of The Keeper of Lost Things and The Villa in Italy. Blue lives a charmed life. From her family's townhouse in Richmond, she lives a life of luxury and couldn't want for anything - well, on the surface at least. Then, on the night of her 21st birthday, her father makes a startling toast: he will give his daughter's hand to whichever man can capture her heart best in the form of a love letter. But Blue has other ideas, and, unwilling to play at her father's bewildering games, she sets out on her own path to find her own destiny....
-
-
The Love Note❣️
- By Leslie Gail Mnich on 10-25-20
By: Tracy Rees
-
What Once Was True
- By: Jean Grainger
- Narrated by: Caroline Lennon
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robinswood, Co. Waterford, 1939. The once grand house is home to two very different families. Despite delusions of grandeur, Lord and Lady Kenefick and their adult children live a life of decayed opulence as the money needed to keep such a large house and grounds ever dwindles. Meanwhile, the Murphy family, Dermot, Isabella and their three almost grown-up girls, live and work on the estate and do their best to keep everything running smoothly.
-
-
I throughly enjoyed every minute of this book
- By paula wright on 09-16-20
By: Jean Grainger
-
The War Nurses: A Moving Wartime Romance Saga Full of Heart
- The War Nurses Series
- By: Lizzie Page
- Narrated by: Marian Hussey
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You will love every moment of this absolutely brilliant wartime saga, perfect for fans of Diney Costeloe, Soraya M. Lane, and Nadine Dorries. As war takes its toll, the love and care of two brave young nurses become everything to the wounded soldiers they tend... 1914. Two plucky young nurses pledge to help the war effort: Mairi, a wholesome idealist hoping to leave behind her past and Elsie, a glamorous single mother with a weakness for handsome soldiers. Despite their differences, the pair become firm friends.
-
-
I really really wanted to like this book...
- By Teresa M. Thornborough on 09-26-19
By: Lizzie Page
-
The Shadow Lines
- By: Amitav Ghosh
- Narrated by: Raj Varma
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Opening in Calcutta in the 1960s, Ghosh’s radiant second novel follows two families - one English, one Bengali - as their lives intertwine in tragic and comic ways. The narrator, Indian-born and English educated, traces events back and forth in time, through years of Bengali partition and violence, observing the ways in which political events invade private lives.
-
-
Narrator Doesn't Know How to Pronounce
- By Amazon Customer on 08-27-11
By: Amitav Ghosh
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The War Widow
- Billie Walker Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: Tara Moss
- Narrated by: Corinne Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sydney, 1946. Though war correspondent Billie Walker is happy to finally be home, for her the heady postwar days are tarnished by the loss of her father and the disappearance in Europe of her husband, Jack. To make matters worse, now that the war is over, the newspapers are sidelining her reporting talents to prioritize jobs for returning soldiers. But Billie is a survivor and she's determined to take control of her own future. So, she reopens her late father's business, a private investigation agency, and, slowly, the women of Sydney come knocking.
-
-
Slow start then rushed ending
- By Miriam R. on 11-05-23
By: Tara Moss
-
Double Blind
- A Novel
- By: Edward St. Aubyn
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Double Blind follows three close friends and their circle through a year of extraordinary transformation. Set between London, Cap d'Antibes, Big Sur, and a rewilded corner of Sussex, this thrilling, ambitious novel is about the headlong pursuit of knowledge - for the purposes of pleasure, revelation, money, sanity, or survival - and the consequences of fleeing from what we know about others and ourselves.
-
-
What in the world?
- By Nicole Hanson on 06-10-21
By: Edward St. Aubyn
-
People Person
- By: Candice Carty-Williams
- Narrated by: Danielle Vitalis
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dimple Pennington knows of her half-siblings, but she doesn’t really know them. Five people who don’t have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad’s gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about. She’s thirty, and her life isn’t really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a wayward boyfriend, Dimple’s life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she’s never felt more alone in her life.
-
-
Excellent Story
- By C. Marshall on 10-01-22
-
The Woman in the Mirror
- A Novel
- By: Rebecca James
- Narrated by: Charlotte Newton-John, Katharine Mangold
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two centuries, Winterbourne Hall has stood atop a bluff overseeing the English countryside of Cornwall and the sea beyond. In 1947, Londoner Alice Miller accepts a post as governess at Winterbourne, looking after Captain Jonathan de Grey’s twin children. Falling under the de Greys’ spell, Alice believes the family will heal her own past sorrows. But then, the twins’ adoration becomes deceitful and taunting. Their father, ever distant, turns spiteful and cruel. The manor itself seems to lash out. Alice finds her surroundings subtly altered, her air slightly chilled.
-
-
Superb Gothic
- By MamaBear on 02-02-21
By: Rebecca James
-
The Man from Berlin
- Gregor Reinhardt, Book 1
- By: Luke McCallin
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In war-torn Yugoslavia, a beautiful young filmmaker and photographer - a veritable hero to her people - and a German officer have been brutally murdered. Assigned to the case is military intelligence officer Captain Gregor Reinhardt. Already haunted by his wartime actions and the mistakes he's made off the battlefield, he soon finds that his investigation may be more than just a murder, and that the late Yugoslavian heroine may have been much more brilliant - and treacherous - than anyone knew.
-
-
Solid 1st novel of WWII Nazi officer in Sarajevo
- By ATM on 10-28-14
By: Luke McCallin
-
The Passenger
- A Novel
- By: Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, André Aciman
- Narrated by: Philip Boehm, Neil Hellegers
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, November 1938. Jewish shops have been ransacked and looted, synagogues destroyed. As storm troopers pound on his door, Otto Silbermann, a respected businessman who fought for Germany in the Great War, is forced to sneak out the back of his own home. Turned away from establishments he had long patronized, and fearful of being exposed as a Jew despite his Aryan looks, he boards a train.
-
-
Top-notch novel
- By R. Klein on 05-31-21
By: Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, and others
-
The War Widow
- Billie Walker Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: Tara Moss
- Narrated by: Corinne Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sydney, 1946. Though war correspondent Billie Walker is happy to finally be home, for her the heady postwar days are tarnished by the loss of her father and the disappearance in Europe of her husband, Jack. To make matters worse, now that the war is over, the newspapers are sidelining her reporting talents to prioritize jobs for returning soldiers. But Billie is a survivor and she's determined to take control of her own future. So, she reopens her late father's business, a private investigation agency, and, slowly, the women of Sydney come knocking.
-
-
Slow start then rushed ending
- By Miriam R. on 11-05-23
By: Tara Moss
-
Double Blind
- A Novel
- By: Edward St. Aubyn
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Double Blind follows three close friends and their circle through a year of extraordinary transformation. Set between London, Cap d'Antibes, Big Sur, and a rewilded corner of Sussex, this thrilling, ambitious novel is about the headlong pursuit of knowledge - for the purposes of pleasure, revelation, money, sanity, or survival - and the consequences of fleeing from what we know about others and ourselves.
-
-
What in the world?
- By Nicole Hanson on 06-10-21
By: Edward St. Aubyn
-
People Person
- By: Candice Carty-Williams
- Narrated by: Danielle Vitalis
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dimple Pennington knows of her half-siblings, but she doesn’t really know them. Five people who don’t have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad’s gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about. She’s thirty, and her life isn’t really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a wayward boyfriend, Dimple’s life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she’s never felt more alone in her life.
-
-
Excellent Story
- By C. Marshall on 10-01-22
-
The Woman in the Mirror
- A Novel
- By: Rebecca James
- Narrated by: Charlotte Newton-John, Katharine Mangold
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two centuries, Winterbourne Hall has stood atop a bluff overseeing the English countryside of Cornwall and the sea beyond. In 1947, Londoner Alice Miller accepts a post as governess at Winterbourne, looking after Captain Jonathan de Grey’s twin children. Falling under the de Greys’ spell, Alice believes the family will heal her own past sorrows. But then, the twins’ adoration becomes deceitful and taunting. Their father, ever distant, turns spiteful and cruel. The manor itself seems to lash out. Alice finds her surroundings subtly altered, her air slightly chilled.
-
-
Superb Gothic
- By MamaBear on 02-02-21
By: Rebecca James
-
The Man from Berlin
- Gregor Reinhardt, Book 1
- By: Luke McCallin
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In war-torn Yugoslavia, a beautiful young filmmaker and photographer - a veritable hero to her people - and a German officer have been brutally murdered. Assigned to the case is military intelligence officer Captain Gregor Reinhardt. Already haunted by his wartime actions and the mistakes he's made off the battlefield, he soon finds that his investigation may be more than just a murder, and that the late Yugoslavian heroine may have been much more brilliant - and treacherous - than anyone knew.
-
-
Solid 1st novel of WWII Nazi officer in Sarajevo
- By ATM on 10-28-14
By: Luke McCallin
-
The Passenger
- A Novel
- By: Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, André Aciman
- Narrated by: Philip Boehm, Neil Hellegers
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, November 1938. Jewish shops have been ransacked and looted, synagogues destroyed. As storm troopers pound on his door, Otto Silbermann, a respected businessman who fought for Germany in the Great War, is forced to sneak out the back of his own home. Turned away from establishments he had long patronized, and fearful of being exposed as a Jew despite his Aryan looks, he boards a train.
-
-
Top-notch novel
- By R. Klein on 05-31-21
By: Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, and others
-
And Now She's Gone
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Howzell Hall
- Narrated by: Je Nie Fleming
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isabel Lincoln is gone. But is she missing? It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman’s secrets and the truth she’s hidden from her friends and family. Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, Rachel Howzell Hall's And Now She’s Gone explores the nature of secrets - and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive.
-
-
A intriguing mystery with powerful social message
- By Cecily on 03-17-21
-
Last Port of Call
- The Queenstown Series, Book 1
- By: Jean Grainger
- Narrated by: Siobhan Waring
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The day Titanic sails from Queenstown, taking with it the hopes and dreams of so many, Harp’s life too is devastated. The small port town is shaken to its foundations at the loss of the unsinkable ship, but the revelation of a long-held secret means that Harp and Rose have a much more pressing issue to solve, one that could destroy them if they cannot find a solution.
-
-
Love, love, love
- By Anij on 06-13-23
By: Jean Grainger
-
Autumn Nights
- 13 Spooky Fall Reads
- By: Cass Kim, Edison T. Crux, Matthew Cesca, and others
- Narrated by: Garrett Michael Brown
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From hayrides, corn mazes, Jekyll n Hyde, warped games, witches, demons, and death personified, Autumn Nights: 13 Spooky Fall Reads brings together the very best in chilling tales to hear under a harvest moon. This audiobook is for those who get excited about Halloween and crisp fall weather (and yes, even pumpkin spice lattes). Are you the type to dream of windy nights and tumbling leaves even while summer days stretch on? Do you want scary bonfire stories with doses of humor and twists on classical tales? This collection is perfect for you.
-
-
Loved it
- By Jennifer on 11-04-19
By: Cass Kim, and others
-
The Unwilling
- A Novel
- By: John Hart
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gibby's older brothers have already been to war. One died there. The other came back misunderstood and hard, a decorated killer now freshly released from a three-year stint in prison. Jason won't speak of the war or of his time behind bars, but he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn't known for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women.
-
-
Amazing Book! Why isn't it listed in new releases?
- By Nicole Nance on 02-04-21
By: John Hart
-
The House Is on Fire
- By: Rachel Beanland
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Andi Arndt, Michael Crouch, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richmond, Virginia 1811. It’s the height of the winter social season, the General Assembly is in session, and many of Virginia’s gentleman planters, along with their wives and children, have made the journey to the capital. On the night after Christmas, the city's only theater is packed with holiday revelers. In the middle of a performance, the theater goes up in flames. Based on the true story of Richmond’s theater fire, The House Is on Fire offers proof that sometimes, in the midst of great tragedy, we are offered our most precious—and fleeting—chances at redemption.
-
-
I learned a lot
- By Jane Perkins on 04-24-23
By: Rachel Beanland
-
Sisters Under the Rising Sun
- A Novel
- By: Heather Morris
- Narrated by: Laura Carmichael
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the midst of World War II, an English musician, Norah Chambers, places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army as they move down through the Pacific. Norah remains to care for her husband and elderly parents, knowing she may never see her child again. Sister Nesta James, a Welsh Australian nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as Singapore falls to the Japanese she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship.
-
-
Beautiful story
- By Kindle Customer on 03-11-24
By: Heather Morris
-
The Last Garden in England
- By: Julia Kelly
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Marisa Calin, Danielle Cohen, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.
-
-
Lovely and slow but warning 1 narrator is horrible
- By E. Read on 06-30-21
By: Julia Kelly
-
The Bone Orchard
- By: Sara A. Mueller
- Narrated by: Ell Potter
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charm is a witch, and she is alone. The last of a line of conquered necromantic workers, now confined within the yard of regrown bone trees at Orchard House, and the secrets of their marrow. Charm is a prisoner, and a survivor. Charm tends the trees and their clattering fruit for the sake of her children, painstakingly grown and regrown with its fruit: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain. Charm is a whore, and a madam. The wealthy and powerful of Borenguard come to her house to buy time with the girls who aren't real.
-
-
A Fantastic, UNIQUE Take on Gothic Fantasy
- By Rhiannon on 04-07-22
By: Sara A. Mueller
-
The Irish Boarding House
- By: Sandy Taylor
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dublin, 1952. When Mary Kate Ryan receives a surprise inheritance from the woman who abandoned her as a tiny baby, she’s stunned. All her life, she has longed to know why her mother disappeared, and now she’s devastated to realize that every lonely night she spent without a home or family of her own, her mother knew exactly where she was.
-
-
This is a story as sweet as peppermint candy
- By Tresia on 05-23-23
By: Sandy Taylor
-
We Are Not Like Them
- A Novel
- By: Christine Pride, Jo Piazza
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Shayna Small, Kevin R. Free, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia. But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen’s husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager.
-
-
These Author’s UNDERSTOOD the assignment!
- By Queenwdg on 10-25-21
By: Christine Pride, and others
-
Dumpster Doll
- By: Michelle Mays, Michelle Moone
- Narrated by: Michelle Mays
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michelle Mays was born into an abusive family in the Midwest. As she and her siblings cling to survival, the balance of family ties is weighed against alcoholism, drug abuse, abandonment, and despair. Hope dawns in the form of foster care, only to be deferred by multiple placements and a system not equipped to support the children it's meant to protect.
-
-
Strength, Resilience, Beauty, Empathy
- By Rita on 08-20-23
By: Michelle Mays, and others
-
Bon Bons to Yoga Pants
- The Health and Happiness Society
- By: Katie Cross
- Narrated by: Katherine Butcher
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lexie Greene has always had such a pretty face. Unfortunately, that's where it seemed to stop. She's grown up hearing her mother constantly remind her that she needs to lose weight.. And 22-year-old Lexie knows she's overweight. With her younger sister's wedding on the horizon and a crush to stalk on Facebook, Lexie's had enough. She gives up her constant daydreams about food and joins a dieting group.
-
-
fun book
- By lisa on 03-05-17
By: Katie Cross
What listeners say about A Hundred Suns
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- KL100
- 06-04-21
Amazing book
This book is excellent - excellent story, excellent character development and excellent narration. Having recently visited Vietnam and the “Hanoi Hilton” museum, it was especially interesting to me to read about French colonization there. I highly recommend this book, especially if you like historical fiction.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- L. Clayton
- 07-14-23
Ugh… chapter 22
The conversation between Marcelle and Red in this chapter should really have taken place in another setting. Why the author thought people needed to be exposed to this disgusting imagery is beyond me. It’s bad erotica (ie, I can’t imagine it being appealing even if this was a genre you liked).
Good counterpoints:
I liked the characters of Jessie, Victor, their driver, and Koi.
The author’s descriptions of the places were quite good.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeffrey S. Field
- 12-22-20
Enter a New World
What an amazing story. Well dramatized and performed. !
If you think you understand Indochina....take a moment and listen.
I am gifting this to all of my friends.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Maurice Peterson
- 06-09-20
I have been seduced!
Karin Tanabe is a literary seductress. She first invites you to enjoy her tale of romance and adventure long ago, in far away Asia, as seen through the eyes of two protagonists. Jesse is a young American mother who has lifted herself up by her own boot straps, from poverty in America's tobacco country to the lofty echelons of high society in Paris and Indochina (Vietnam), where rubber is the golden commodity. The other protagonist, Marcelle, having ridden her beauty to the same social spheres, is bent on bringing down the oppressive plantation system that has the Indochinese populace in a brutal stranglehold. As her suspenseful tale unwinds however, you discover this is more than a mere romantic novel. "A Hundred Suns" is also a lesson in Colonialism and the Communist uprisings of Viet Nam in the 1930's, brought to life by her fascinating, believable and empathetic characters.
What I found most admirable about Tanabe's deftly crafted plot, is that the reader sympathizes with both these characters, who have stakes in opposite poles of the political spectrum, pitted against each other in a deadly game. Both characters are flawed individuals of dark secrets and dirty deeds, yet Tanabe makes you root for them both until their opposing views and treachery ultimately come face to face.
I am grateful to Karin Tanabe for taking me on this entertaining ride that has indeed left me a more knowledgeable person. I have enjoyed her two previous works equally, "The Gilded Years" and "The Diplomat's Daughter," and I am eagerly awaiting her next masterpiece. I believe Karin Tanabe is one of America's leading authors. Her international scope and yearning for people of the world to understand one another and uplift the world are palpable in every one of her enthralling novels. If everyone would read Karin's books, and take them to heart, the world would certainly become a better place for us all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- BROOKE BRANDOW
- 04-30-20
Viet Nam in 1933
Viet Nam in 1933 —history, adventure, intrigue and romance. I don’t read many novels, but I absolutely loved this one, perhaps since Viet Nam looms so large in the life of our Country and my generation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shallie Beach
- 03-08-23
Loved it!
Love the mixture of history and suspense. Author paints a beautiful picture of a history and time that will pull you in!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thomas Stroschein
- 04-27-20
I was expecting more
I heard review on NPR so wanted to get book. It unfortunately was very uneven. Some descriptions of the life and times were vivid while others were flat. Narrative alternating between main characters had some good points but story splintered and characters became unfortunate caricatures.
The performance was excellent but I was hoping for more.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- shoelover
- 02-27-23
Communist drivel
Total disappointment story is sleezy and promotes communism. There should be a warning of the propaganda. Will try to return. It is the waste of a credit!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Suzana Oei
- 10-21-20
Awful
Amateurishly written with a weak story, trite characters & oddly portrayed history.
Couldn’t goad myself into the denouement.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robyn
- 05-20-23
Poorly written. Editors, where were you?
The setting in French colonial Indochine, was promising but the author lacks the skill to subtly reveal her anti-colonialist theme. Result: she becomes didactic and heavy-handed, with crushingly dull, stilted, unnatural dialogue to try to make her point. For example, one communist tells his lover basic information about how bad the French colonials are, even though they have been lovers for years and both know and agree on this, so such a conversation would never have occurred.
In addition the author for the most part denies agency to Vietnamese characters, especially impoverished communists. Her change agents in the Vietnam of her chosen era are a former Vogue model, her wealthy capitalist Vietnamese lover, and a disillusioned member of the Michelin family. The Western stereotypes and amplification of the power of Western/wealthy/privileged characters undermines the author’s point about colonialism. The one true local communist is an unpleasant poisoner who gets a bit part in one chapter.
In the end you’re left with shallow chick lit in an exotic location. I found the whole thing sickening and thoughtless.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful