
Acts of Forgiveness
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Jade Wheeler
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By:
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Maura Cheeks
About this listen
“A vibrant and moving debut that takes to heart our deferred dreams and the value of remaining hopeful.”—Diane Marie Brown, author of Black Candle Women
How much of their lineage is one family willing to unearth in order to participate in the nation’s first federal reparations program?
Every American waits with bated breath to see whether or not the country’s first female president will pass the Forgiveness Act. The bill would allow Black families to claim up to $175,000 if they can prove they are the descendants of slaves, and for ambitious single mother Willie Revel the bill could be a long-awaited form of redemption. A decade ago, Willie gave up her burgeoning journalism career to help run her father’s struggling construction company in Philadelphia and she has reluctantly put family first, without being able to forget who she might have become. Now she’s back living with her parents and her young daughter while trying to keep her family from going into bankruptcy. Could the Forgiveness Act uncover her forgotten roots while also helping save their beloved home and her father’s life’s work?
In order to qualify, she must first prove that the Revels are descended from slaves, but the rest of the family isn’t as eager to dig up the past. Her mother is adopted, her father doesn’t trust the government and believes working with a morally corrupt employer is the better way to save their business, and her daughter is just trying to make it through the fifth grade at her elite private school without attracting unwanted attention. It’s up to Willie to verify their ancestry and save her family—but as she delves into their history, Willie begins to learn just how complicated family and forgiveness can be.
With powerful insight and moving prose, Acts of Forgiveness asks how history shapes who we become and considers the weight of success when it is achieved despite incredible odds—and ultimately what leaving behind a legacy truly means.
©2024 Maura Cheeks (P)2024 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Acts of Forgiveness is a vibrant and moving debut that takes to heart our deferred dreams and the value of remaining hopeful. Cheeks’s layered and tender story allows us to witness a family’s journey as they plant seeds, dig up roots, and bloom, all while they contend with injustices and fight for redemption in the world around them.”—Diane Marie Brown, author of Black Candle Women
“In Acts of Forgiveness, Maura Cheeks extends humanity, depth, hope, and complexity to a part of the American experience that too often gets flattened into talking points. This book is a testament to the power of great fiction to lead us to a better understanding of the truth. A generous and empathetic study of burden and inheritance, consequence and regret, this book and its characters are going to live with me for a long time.”—R. Eric Thomas, bestselling author of Congratulations, The Best Is Over!
“Acts of Forgiveness is a striking debut that asks pressing and urgent questions about reckoning with this nation’s history, and what it offers by way of answers is incredibly moving. Cheeks’s ability to render a painful past, an unfixed present, and a hopeful future through the Revels’ hopes and fears is astonishing. This novel grips with intellect and heart.”—Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park
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Wow
- By Amazon Customer on 03-28-25
By: Rae Giana Rashad
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Womb City
- By: Tlotlo Tsamaase
- Narrated by: Christel Mutombo
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nelah seems to have it all: fame, wealth, and a long-awaited daughter growing in a government lab. But, trapped in a loveless marriage to a policeman who uses a microchip to monitor her every move, Nelah’s perfect life is precarious. After a drug-fueled evening culminates in an eerie car accident, Nelah commits a desperate crime and buries the body, daring to hope that she can keep one last secret.
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Couldn’t stop listening over 2 days…
- By Tina on 01-28-24
By: Tlotlo Tsamaase
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It's Elementary
- By: Elise Bryant
- Narrated by: Aure Nash
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Mavis Miller is not a PTA mom. She has enough on her plate with her feisty seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, an exhausting job at a nonprofit, and the complexities of a multigenerational household. So no one is more surprised than Mavis when she caves to Trisha Holbrook, the long-reigning, slightly terrifying PTA president, and finds herself in charge of the school’s brand-new DEI committee. As one of the few Black parents at this California elementary school, Mavis tries to convince herself this is an opportunity for real change. But things go off the rails at the very first meeting.
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I give this ten thumbs up!!
- By 50 Shades of Miss Jones on 03-27-25
By: Elise Bryant
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Tender Beasts
- By: Liselle Sambury
- Narrated by: Kimberly Woods
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.”
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Perfectly Plotted
- By Marie A. on 03-07-24
By: Liselle Sambury
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Masquerade
- By: O.O. Sangoyomi
- Narrated by: Ariel Blake
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Òdòdó's hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the warrior king of Yorùbáland. Already shunned as social pariahs, living conditions for Òdòdó and the other women in her blacksmith guild grow even worse under Yorùbá rule.Then Òdòdó is abducted. She is whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Ṣàngótẹ̀, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper is none other than the vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior. But now that he is swathed in riches rather than rags, Òdòdó realizes he is not a vagrant at all.
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A wonderful, immersive performance!
- By Courtney Kosnik on 04-02-25
By: O.O. Sangoyomi
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Family Meal
- A Novel
- By: Bryan Washington
- Narrated by: André Santana, Bryan Washington, Jake Choi
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The ghost of Kai, the love of Cam's life, won't leave Cam alone. He follows Cam from LA back home to Houston, his visits wild, tender, and unpredictable. But Cam has changed, and when he reenters the orbit of his childhood best friend TJ and his family's bakery, neither Cam nor TJ is sure how to navigate their charged estrangement. Searching for a way past all the wounds and secrets—a way to be okay together, maybe for the first time— the pair find hope and sustenance from the most unlikely source.
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Fantastic.
- By Quinn on 10-11-23
By: Bryan Washington
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The Blueprint
- A Novel
- By: Rae Giana Rashad
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Solenne Bonet lives in Texas where choice no longer exists. An algorithm determines a Black woman’s occupation, spouse, and residence. Solenne finds solace in penning the biography of Henriette, an ancestor who’d been an enslaved concubine to a wealthy planter in 1800s Louisiana. But history repeats itself when Solenne, lonely and naïve, finds herself entangled with Bastien Martin, a high-ranking government official. Solenne finds the psychological bond unbearable, so she considers alternatives. With Henriette as her guide, she must decide whether and how to leave behind all she knows.
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Wow
- By Amazon Customer on 03-28-25
By: Rae Giana Rashad
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Womb City
- By: Tlotlo Tsamaase
- Narrated by: Christel Mutombo
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Nelah seems to have it all: fame, wealth, and a long-awaited daughter growing in a government lab. But, trapped in a loveless marriage to a policeman who uses a microchip to monitor her every move, Nelah’s perfect life is precarious. After a drug-fueled evening culminates in an eerie car accident, Nelah commits a desperate crime and buries the body, daring to hope that she can keep one last secret.
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Couldn’t stop listening over 2 days…
- By Tina on 01-28-24
By: Tlotlo Tsamaase
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It's Elementary
- By: Elise Bryant
- Narrated by: Aure Nash
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Mavis Miller is not a PTA mom. She has enough on her plate with her feisty seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, an exhausting job at a nonprofit, and the complexities of a multigenerational household. So no one is more surprised than Mavis when she caves to Trisha Holbrook, the long-reigning, slightly terrifying PTA president, and finds herself in charge of the school’s brand-new DEI committee. As one of the few Black parents at this California elementary school, Mavis tries to convince herself this is an opportunity for real change. But things go off the rails at the very first meeting.
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I give this ten thumbs up!!
- By 50 Shades of Miss Jones on 03-27-25
By: Elise Bryant
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Tender Beasts
- By: Liselle Sambury
- Narrated by: Kimberly Woods
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.”
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Perfectly Plotted
- By Marie A. on 03-07-24
By: Liselle Sambury
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Colored Television
- A Novel
- By: Danzy Senna
- Narrated by: Kristen Ariza
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Jane has high hopes her life is about to turn around. After years of living precariously, she, her painter husband, Lenny, and their two kids have landed a stint as house sitters in a friend’s luxurious home high in the hills above Los Angeles, a gig that coincides magically with Jane’s sabbatical. If she can just finish her latest novel, Nusu Nusu, the centuries-spanning epic Lenny refers to as her “mulatto War and Peace,” she’ll have tenure and some semblance of stability and success within her grasp. But things don’t work out quite as hoped.
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Frustrating
- By Carolyn White on 12-12-24
By: Danzy Senna
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All We Were Promised
- A Novel
- By: Ashton Lattimore
- Narrated by: Shayna Small, Ashton Lattimore
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.
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The realistic characters taking turns narrating.
- By Amazon Customer on 03-31-25
By: Ashton Lattimore
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Swift River
- By: Essie Chambers
- Narrated by: Shayna Small, Janina Edwards, Robin Miles
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.
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Such promise!
- By Cate on 01-23-25
By: Essie Chambers
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Sky Full of Elephants
- By: Cebo Campbell
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon, Erin Ruth Walker, Janina Edwards
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charlie Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn’t even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old left behind by her white mother and step-family.
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Ever wish that some folks would just disappear?
- By Alioop on 12-11-24
By: Cebo Campbell
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The Other Princess
- A Novel
- By: Denny S. Bryce
- Narrated by: Nneka Okoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
With a brilliant mind and a fierce will to survive, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, a kidnapped African princess, is rescued from enslavement at seven years old and presented to Queen Victoria as a “gift.” To the Queen, the girl is an exotic trophy to be trotted out for the entertainment of the royal court and to showcase Victoria’s magnanimity. Sarah charms most of the people she meets, even those who would cast her aside. Her keen intelligence and her aptitude for languages and musical composition helps Sarah navigate the Victorian era as an outsider given insider privileges.
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The Strength of a Black Woman
- By Carmen San Diego on 02-13-24
By: Denny S. Bryce
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Immortal Dark
- By: Tigest Girma
- Narrated by: Jordan Cobb
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad. To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away.
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Book 2 of this series ASAP please!
- By F Green on 09-18-24
By: Tigest Girma
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All the Glimmering Stars
- A Novel
- By: Mark Sullivan, Anthony and Florence Opoka - afterword
- Narrated by: Junior Nyong'o
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Anthony Opoka and Florence Okori are coming of age in Uganda in the 1990s. Outstanding students, they believe in being good humans before they are kidnapped and forced into the fanatical Lord’s Resistance Army. In a legion of young recruits, no one gets closer than Anthony to powerful messianic warlord Joseph Kony and his darkest secrets. To stay sane as he spirals through chaos, Anthony clings to his childhood lessons about being a good human. Florence’s upbringing grounds her, too, helping her keep her dreams alive even as she’s pulled deeper into the insanity of Kony’s war.
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Absolutely the best!
- By Katherine Dunigan on 06-29-24
By: Mark Sullivan, and others
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Where Sleeping Girls Lie
- By: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
- Narrated by: Natalie Simpson
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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In Where Sleeping Girls Lie—a YA contemporary mystery by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, the New York Times-bestselling author of Ace of Spades—a girl new to boarding school discovers dark secrets and coverups after her roommate disappears.
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Unpredictable
- By Myya Mixon on 03-02-25
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This Tender Land
- By: William Kent Krueger
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
1932: Located on the banks of the Gilead River in Minnesota, Lincoln School is home to hundreds of Native American boys and girls who have been separated from their families. The only two white boys in the school are orphan brothers Odie and Albert, who, under the watchful eyes of the cruel superintendent Mrs. Brickman, are often in trouble for misdeeds both real and imagined. The two boys' best friend is Mose, a mute Native American who is also the strongest kid in school. And they find another ally in Cora Frost, a widowed teacher who is raising her little girl, Emmy, by herself.
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"Didn't need the underlying social message"
- By Curtis on 09-23-19
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Annie Bot
- A Novel
- By: Sierra Greer
- Narrated by: Jennifer Jill Araya
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the pert outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she’s not the greatest at keeping Doug’s place spotless, but she’s trying to please him. She’s trying hard.
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Good, but not great
- By Katie Ramey on 03-25-24
By: Sierra Greer
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The Personal Librarian
- By: Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.
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A Treat For This Academic Librarian!
- By AlTonya on 07-14-21
By: Marie Benedict, and others
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The Mighty Red
- A Novel
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Argus, North Dakota, a collection of people revolve around a fraught wedding. Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe, an impulsive, lapsed Goth who can't read her future but seems to resolve his. Hugo, a gentle red-haired, home-schooled giant, is also in love with Kismet. He’s determined to steal her and is eager to be a home wrecker. Kismet's mother, Crystal, hauls sugar beets for Gary's family, and on her nightly runs, tunes into the darkness of late-night radio, sees visions of guardian angels.
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Read this book
- By Jessica on 11-01-24
By: Louise Erdrich
What listeners say about Acts of Forgiveness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Christmas Day
- 02-26-24
Hope and possibility
Who would think this could be possible? I loved this book. Well written. Only thing - the end seemed too abrupt without thorough resolutions. What did they use the forgiveness money for? Was it enough to keep the business afloat? Did Jerod report on Hank’s business? Did MRA get the contract? What became of her brother? The emotional upheaval from the police incident. So many things left unaddressed and then the main character seemed to change all of a sudden from the mother to the daughter. I would say the book could use a smoother tying up of loose ends.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- L. Pickford
- 03-08-24
Thought Provoking, Well-Written story
This is a single family’s view on what would happen if reparations for slavery were given. It is well written and very thought provoking. The narrator was very good until she tried to do a male voice or a random character. She slips into a distracting, nasal tone. Overall, highly recommend!
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Nancy Chamberlain
- 07-25-24
Amazing storytelling!
Her story telling is vivid and detailed and demonstrates an ability to put you inside the story that is special! This book has me working on my ancestry search again!
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