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
About this listen
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.
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San Francisco, 1915. As America teeters on the brink of world war, Charmian and her husband, famed novelist Jack London, wrestle with genius and desire, politics and marital competitiveness. Charmian longs to be viewed as an equal partner who put her own career on hold to support her husband, but Jack doesn't see it that way...until Charmian is pulled from the audience during a magic show by escape artist Harry Houdini, a man enmeshed in his own complicated marriage. Suddenly charmed, Charmian's eyes open to a world of possibilities.
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Who Knew...?
- By L. Ronayne on 05-04-18
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The Clockwork Three
- By: Matthew Kirby
- Narrated by: Marc Thompson
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A team of unlikely friends - an orphaned street musician, a hard-working girl from the tenements, and a talented clockmaker's apprentice - discover that together they can overcome even the darkest of fears.
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HASTY CLIMBERS SUFFER SUDDEN FALLS
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-17-17
By: Matthew Kirby
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Deathless
- By: Catherynne M. Valente
- Narrated by: Kim de Blecourt
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to Western European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories that have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the 20th century.
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My Favorite Fantasy Book of the Year
- By Robert on 12-29-13
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Thousand Pieces of Gold
- By: Ruthanne Lum McCunn
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Lalu Nathoy's father called his thirteen-year-old daughter his treasure, his "thousand pieces of gold," yet when famine strikes northern China in 1871, he is forced to sell her. Polly, as Lalu is later called, is sold to a brothel, sold again to a slave merchant bound for America, auctioned to a saloonkeeper, and offered as a prize in a poker game. This biographical novel is the extraordinary story of one woman's fight for independence and dignity in the American West.
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Disjointed account of an extraordinary life
- By David on 05-01-15
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The Promise
- By: Ann Weisgarber
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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1900. Young pianist Catherine Wainwright flees the fashionable town of Dayton, Ohio in the wake of a terrible scandal. Heartbroken and facing destitution, she finds herself striking up correspondence with a childhood admirer, the recently widowed Oscar Williams. In desperation she agrees to marry him, but when Catherine travels to Oscar's farm on Galveston Island, Texas—a thousand miles from home—she finds she is little prepared for the life that awaits her.
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Beautifully written and read
- By RueRue on 04-21-14
By: Ann Weisgarber
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Arcadia
- By: Lauren Groff
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Lauren Groff’s acclaimed debut novel The Monsters of Templeton was short-listed for the Orange Prize. Her second novel, Arcadia opens in the late 1960s with a group of young idealists forming a commune in western New York State. Into this group is born Bit, who grows into a quiet, distant man. Over the course of 50 years, Bit witnesses the utopia crumble and the world change in unimaginable ways.
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Luscious prose, intimate and realistic
- By Kathleen on 03-22-12
By: Lauren Groff
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Other Voices, Other Rooms
- By: Truman Capote
- Narrated by: Cody Roberts
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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At the age of 12, Joel Knox is summoned to meet the father who abandoned him at birth. But when Joel arrives at the decaying mansion in Skully's Landing, his father is nowhere in sight. What he finds instead is a sullen stepmother who delights in killing birds; an uncle with the face - and heart - of a debauched child; and a fearsome little girl named Idabel who may offer him the closest thing he has ever known to love.
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Capote’s coming of age story
- By Daniel Diffin on 11-08-23
By: Truman Capote
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Her Body and Other Parties
- Stories
- By: Carmen Maria Machado
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
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Beautiful
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-17
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The Dressmaker's Dowry
- A Novel
- By: Meredith Jaeger
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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For listeners of Lucinda Riley, Sarah Jio, or Susan Meissner, this gripping historical debut novel tells the story of two women: one an immigrant seamstress who disappears from San Francisco's gritty streets in 1876 and the other a young woman in the present day who must delve into the secrets of her husband's wealthy family only to discover that she and the missing dressmaker might be connected in unexpected ways.
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Even two good narrators can't redeem this
- By RueRue on 03-27-17
By: Meredith Jaeger
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Nowhere is a Place
- By: Bernice McFadden
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Nothing can mend a broken heart quite like family. Sherry has struggled all her life to understand who she is, where she comes from, and, most important, why her mother slapped her cheek one summer afternoon. The incident has haunted Sherry, and it causes her to dig into her family's past. Like many family histories, it is fractured and stubbornly reluctant to reveal its secrets. But Sherry is determined to know the full story. In a few days' time, her extended family will gather for a reunion, and Sherry sets off across the country with her mother, Dumpling, to join them.
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A Mother and Daughter Tear. It. Up.
- By Susie on 01-15-14
By: Bernice McFadden
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Liesl & Po
- By: Kei Acedera, Lauren Oliver
- Narrated by: Jim Dale
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice - until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone. That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable. Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po....
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Great story made better by a great narrator
- By Marie on 09-16-12
By: Kei Acedera, and others
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Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
- By: Kelly Link - editor, Gavin J. Grant - editor
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes, Nico Evers-Swindell, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.
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MMMM, Orca Bacon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-14-13
By: Kelly Link - editor, and others
What listeners say about Church of Marvels
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lisa
- 02-15-16
Don't Miss This One!
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.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Alex
- 04-27-16
The voices.
The story was great, but I found the readers voices of the character's very annoying, especially the younger ones. Which too away from the story.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Becky Wilson
- 06-08-16
I really wanted to love this
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.
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- Sandi from Oregon
- 05-13-15
If Dickens needed a NY location for a story..
Dickens would find himself right at home in these streets and alleys in turn of the century New York. Parry's description of the times, her character development and her unusual theme coupled with the narration make this a "stop what you are doing and listen!" story.
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.
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5 people found this helpful
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- mmimee
- 12-20-15
Enjoyable
I felt it took a bit for me to get into it, but really enjoyed the story once I did.
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- T. Lit.
- 03-29-16
MARVELOUS!
Simply one of the most enjoyable reads in in awhile. It draws you into a world of another time, into characters full of mystery, and molded by the strength and vastness of love.
I want mor from Leslie Perry
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- SydsAirplane
- 12-20-16
Boring narrator!
I had a hard time getting into this book. The story is very interesting, but the narrator may as well be reading a VCR repair manual. She is dull and dry and not at all connected with this wonderful story.
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- Andrea
- 08-02-15
Riveting Tale of Compassion and Tolerance
I found this book to be beautifully written and narrated, and touchingly resonant in today's world, though it took place decades ago. Ostensibly, it's the story of two sisters who become separated - the one's journey to find the other, and we readers are treated to quite a story along the way, with a diverse cast of characters whom Denice Stradling brings convincingly to life.
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.
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3 people found this helpful
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- RueRue
- 11-09-15
Good and not-so-good
A mixed review. I liked the historical setting and the intricacy of the separate stories connecting through the course of the book, but the momentum of the narrative got bogged down by too much discriptive prose, and the undeveloped characters weakened the plot. But the ending, tying up all the threads of the story, was a big plus. Narration was good.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Eugene Monzon, Jr.
- 06-05-15
Church of Parry
What did you love best about Church of Marvels?
The four main characters were well developed
What 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.
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1 person found this helpful