Dreamers of the Day
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Ann Marie Lee
About this listen
“I suppose I ought to warn you at the outset that my present circumstances are puzzling, even to me. Nevertheless, I am sure of this much: My little story has become your history. You won’t really understand your times until you understand mine.”
So begins the account of Agnes Shanklin, the charmingly diffident narrator of Dreamers of the Day. And what is Miss Shanklin’s “little story”? Nothing less than the creation of the modern Middle East at the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference, where Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence, and Lady Gertrude Bell met to decide the fate of the Arab world - and of our own.
A 40-year-old schoolteacher from Ohio, Agnes has come into a modest inheritance that allows her to take the trip of a lifetime to Egypt. Arriving at the Semiramis Hotel just as the Peace Conference convenes, Agnes enters into the company of the historic luminaries who will, in the space of a few days at a hotel in Cairo, invent the nations of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan.
As Agnes observes the tumultuous inner workings of nation-building, she is drawn more and more deeply into geopolitical intrigue and toward a personal awakening. With graceful and effortless prose, Mary Doria Russell illuminates the long, rich history of the Middle East through a story that brilliantly elucidates today’s headlines. Dreamers of the Day is a memorable and passionate novel.
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Where Have You Been All My Life, Thomas Mann?
- By Virginia Waldron on 03-30-17
By: Thomas Mann
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Three Daughters of Eve
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day, Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife and mother, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor.
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Review 3 daughters of Eve
- By CA on 04-28-18
By: Elif Shafak
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The Course of Honour
- By: Lindsey Davis
- Narrated by: Diana Bishop
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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He has no money, no reputation and no famous ancestors.' The love story of the Emperor Vespasian, who brought peace to Rome after years of strife, and his mistress, the freed slave woman Caenis, this book recreates Ancient Rome's most turbulent period - the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero and Vespasian's rise to power. As their forbidden romance blossoms, Caenis is embroiled in political intrigue, while Vespasian embarks on a glorious career.
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Great love story
- By Julie on 05-04-20
By: Lindsey Davis
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Troubles
- By: J. G. Farrell
- Narrated by: Kevin Hely
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland - to the Majestic Hotel and to the fiancée he acquired on a rash afternoon's leave three years ago. Despite her many letters, the lady herself proves elusive, and the Major's engagement is short-lived. But he is unable to detach himself from the alluring discomforts of the crumbling hotel. Ensconced in the dim and shabby splendour of the Palm Court, surrounded by gently decaying old ladies and proliferating cats, the Major passes the summer.
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Absolutely delightful read
- By E. Kim on 02-25-20
By: J. G. Farrell
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After the War Is Over
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Robson
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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After four years as a military nurse, Charlotte Brown is ready to leave behind the devastation of the Great War. The daughter of a vicar, she has always been determined to dedicate her life to helping others. Moving to busy Liverpool, she throws herself into her work with those most in need, only tearing herself away for the lively dinners she enjoys with the women at her boardinghouse.
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More romance than history
- By RueRue on 08-17-16
By: Jennifer Robson
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Archangel
- Samaria, Book 1
- By: Sharon Shinn
- Narrated by: Tamara Marston
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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A tale of the distant future by the author of The Shape-Changer's Wife brings listeners to a world in which the fate of all life rests on the voice of an angel.
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An All-TIme Favorite
- By Carol on 02-27-11
By: Sharon Shinn
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Murphy's Law
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Molly Murphy always knew she'd end up in trouble, just as her mother predicted. So, when she commits murder in self-defense, she flees her cherished Ireland, under cover of a false identity, for the anonymous shores of late 19th-century America. When she arrives in New York and sees the welcoming promise of freedom in the Statue of Liberty, Molly begins to breathe easier. But when a man is murdered on Ellis Island, a man Molly was seen arguing with, she becomes a prime suspect in the crime.
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Cream Puff Read
- By Jan on 12-19-13
By: Rhys Bowen
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Mademoiselle Chanel
- By: C. W. Gortner
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Born into rural poverty, Gabrielle Chanel and her siblings are sent to an orphanage after their mother's death. The sisters nurture Gabrielle's exceptional sewing skills, a talent that will propel the willful young woman into a life far removed from the drudgery of her childhood.
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Fiction Not Biography
- By Sara on 02-07-16
By: C. W. Gortner
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The Mayfair Bookshop
- A Novel of Nancy Mitford and the Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Eliza Knight
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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1938: She was one of the six sparkling Mitford sisters, known for her stinging quips, stylish dress, and bright green eyes. But Nancy Mitford’s seemingly dazzling life was really one of turmoil: with a perpetually unfaithful and broke husband, two Nazi sympathizer sisters, and her hopes of motherhood dashed forever. With war imminent, Nancy finds respite by taking a job at the Heywood Hill Bookshop in Mayfair, hoping to make ends meet, and discovers a new life.
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Perfectly Voices, Upliftingly Fun
- By Syd Young on 04-15-22
By: Eliza Knight
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Shaman's Crossing, Book One of the Soldier Son Trilogy
- By: Robin Hobb
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Hugo and Nebula Award finalist Robin Hobb crafts intricate fantasy tales featuring larger-than-life characters and exotic landscapes. Nevare Burvelle survives the King’s Cavalla Academy—where nepotism and corruption reign—to become a soldier in the Gernian king’s army. As he and his fellow soldiers are thrust onto the front lines of the king’s brutal territorial expansion campaign, they struggle against the Plainspeople—forest-dwellers who possess a powerful magic long dismissed by the Gernians.
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Sometimes Magic Isn't A Good Thing
- By Therese M. Woolley on 10-18-13
By: Robin Hobb
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Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
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It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
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Grand Central
- Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion
- By: Melanie Benjamin, Amanda Hodgkinson, Pam Jenoff, and others
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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On any particular day, thousands upon thousands of people pass through New York City's Grand Central Terminal, through the whispering gallery, beneath the ceiling of stars, and past the information booth and its beckoning four-faced clock, to whatever destination is calling them. It is a place where people come to say hello and good-bye. And each person has a story to tell.
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Grand Central: Memories
- By ZacharyKindle Customer on 05-03-17
By: Melanie Benjamin, and others
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The Satanic Verses
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Inextricably linked with the fatwa called against its author in the wake of the novel’s publication, The Satanic Verses is, beyond that, a rich showcase for Salman Rushdie’s comic sensibilities, cultural observations, and unparalleled mastery of language. The book begins with two Indians plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their airliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations.
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Use an audiobook to really enjoy Satanic Verses
- By David Edelberg on 11-24-12
By: Salman Rushdie
What listeners say about Dreamers of the Day
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Manifesta
- 08-25-20
An utterly entrancing historical novel
I love Mary Doria Russell. I'm reading my way through her novels, and I think I've found a new favorite. Dreamers of the Day is largely set in a period that fascinates me, the post-WWI years that stretched from the Spanish flu pandemic through the Great Depression (both of which will feel familiar these days). The novel largely examines a particularly important time, the years when European interests, led by the likes of Winston Churchill and Gertrude Bell, carved up the Middle East in order to exploit its resources, and people like T.E. Lawrence valiantly opposed them. But what makes this novel great is that history is seen through the eyes of Agnes Shanklin, a charming American whose adventures in the Middle East will have you rooting for her every step of the way. The book is engrossing and surprising, and it will stay in your heart.
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1 person found this helpful
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- jeanne
- 10-30-20
Interesting and Perplexing
I’m just now finished and my brain is piecing together what I heard. Initially, I thought the story was so amazingly relevant, recounting the 1917 flu. It gave me chills. As the story unfolded, it took surprising turns, moving between time planes and places through its heroine. More surprises, reality and speculations round out this historical look at a century ago, often through the eyes of our own time.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mark Kizhnerman
- 10-03-18
Good, but not great
After The Sparrow, the bar is too high for Mary Doria Russell. While the subject matter was interesting, it didn’t have the punch of her other books, so by comparison, this book wasn’t as good.
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- Crossing Rebecca
- 09-29-17
A Bold Book by a Daring Author
This is my fourth book by Mary Doris Russell. I am in awe of this writer. I would not normally pick up a book with this premise but she gives such a novel take on an influential moment in history wrapped up in a voyage of self exploration that rings true.
I do not know whether the narrator got the Cleveland accent perfectly but the accents she chose helped to draw her characters in vivid detail.
This is a very special and thoughtful book that I strongly recommend.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Tom
- 10-01-09
good historical novel
The author writes very well, and the narrartor Ann Marie Lee is one of my favorites. I learned a lot about World War I, primarily its aftermath and the Europeans dividing up the defeated Ottoman Empire, creating new countries, like Iraq, not knowing or caring enough about the people to do a decent job.
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4 people found this helpful
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- W.Denis
- 10-02-08
Little Big Woman
Meeting and interacting with world famous people worked very well until the end when in my view,it became contrived and spoiled what was a very good story.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Robin
- 11-26-22
Mommy issues detract from an otherwise good story
I like a lot about this book, but found the heroine (Agnes) rather uninteresting. The focus on her mommy issues was a real detractor for me. But the history and other characters were very vivid and engaging.
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- Susan S. Angle
- 09-15-21
Loved this book!
I listened to this book 20 years ago and never forgot it. Now, in the midst of this pandemic and my upcoming journey to Egypt, it seemed quite timely. It begins just before WWI, goes through the 1918 pandemic and continues with a wonderful historical jaunt through Egypt with engaging characters like Winston Churchill and Lawrence of Arabia. Completely entertaining! I really like this author.
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- Marina
- 12-23-16
Very interesting and cleverly written...
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes! I would recommend since it brings history to life and takes you to the beginning era of twentieth century!!!
What did you like best about this story?
The history behind the story....
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- Catherine
- 08-29-16
Flaccid preachy writing
While it was a fun idea to set a novel in the Middle East with the real shapers of the political borders post WWI, I found this to be a very dull read. The narrator, both the reader and the first person storyteller, were wimpy, helpless women. I think the reader made this aspect worse. The author chose a few social characteristics of the historical characters to emphasize--they were not fleshed out like real people. The historical issues of the day were mostly set out like a lecture in a classroom, not well integrated into conversations. The history was interesting, but there are better books out there: try Desert Queen instead, about Gertrude Bell who was a fascinating woman.
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1 person found this helpful