
Church of Marvels
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Denice Stradling
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By:
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Leslie Parry
A ravishing first novel set in vibrant, tumultuous turn-of-the-century New York City, where the lives of four outsiders become entwined, bringing irrevocable change to them all.
New York, 1895. Sylvan Threadgill, a night soiler cleaning out the privies behind the tenement houses, finds an abandoned newborn baby in the muck. An orphan himself, Sylvan rescues the child, determined to find where she belongs.
Odile Church and her beautiful sister, Belle, were raised amid the applause and magical pageantry of The Church of Marvels, their mother's spectacular Coney Island sideshow. But the Church has burnt to the ground, their mother dead in its ashes. Now Belle, the family's star, has vanished into the bowels of Manhattan, leaving Odile alone and desperate to find her.
A young woman named Alphie awakens to find herself trapped across the river in Blackwell's Lunatic Asylum - sure that her imprisonment is a ruse by her husband's vile, overbearing mother. On the ward she meets another young woman of ethereal beauty who does not speak, a girl with an extraordinary talent that might save them both.
As these strangers' lives become increasingly connected, their stories and secrets unfold. Moving from the Coney Island seashore to the tenement-studded streets of the Lower East Side, a spectacular human circus to a brutal, terrifying asylum, Church of Marvels takes readers back to turn-of-the-century New York - a city of hardship and dreams, love and loneliness, hope and danger. In magnetic, luminous prose, Leslie Parry offers a richly atmospheric vision of the past in a narrative of astonishing beauty, full of wondrous enchantments, a marvelous debut that will leave readers breathless.
©2015 Leslie Parry (P)2015 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...












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What made the experience of listening to Church of Marvels the most enjoyable?
The storyline is intriguing, complex and surprising. I love this book.What did you like best about this story?
Rich characters and the surprising intertwining of their lives. That's all I can say without giving too much away.What about Denice Stradling’s performance did you like?
Good character development.If you could rename Church of Marvels, what would you call it?
Surprises Abound.Don't Miss This One!
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Is there anything you would change about this book?
Shorter descriptions and smaller paragraphs, the story dragged on too long.What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
Let down.Would you be willing to try another one of Denice Stradling’s performances?
Not if I can avoid it.Do you think Church of Marvels needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
No, the mystery ended.I really wanted to love this
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I wish that I knew where I found the recommendation for this book, because I would love to listen to some of their other suggestions. I will definitely listen to this book again.
If Dickens needed a NY location for a story..
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The voices.
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Enjoyable
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I want mor from Leslie Perry
MARVELOUS!
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Boring narrator!
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It's a story of outcasts finding love and resolution within their strange and difficult lives. I used the word riveting in my headline, but this story unfolds slowly and is not to be rushed. In spite of the backdrop of turn of the century Coney Island and the tough back alleys of Manhattan, there's an almost Dickensean feel to the novel, again enhanced by top notch narration.
My only complaint was a little confusion due to the author's predilection of going back and forth in time and setting. Those transitions were sometimes hard to follow and I was sure I missed something, often rewinding to find I hadn't. Rest easy, in the epilogue all is revealed.
This is a great story by a very talented writer.
Riveting Tale of Compassion and Tolerance
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Good and not-so-good
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What did you love best about Church of Marvels?
The four main characters were well developedWhat did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
Denice Stradling overall reading of the novel was great...however at times I could tell that the editing process was not fully completed because her levels would vary throughout the reading.Church of Parry
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