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Ella
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Alexandra Grey
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
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Publisher's summary
In the vein of The Paris Wife and The Personal Librarian comes this debut novel, a magnificent work of “biographical fiction” that reimagines the turbulent and triumphant early years of Ella Fitzgerald, arguably the greatest singer of the twentieth century.
When fifteen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald’s mother dies at the height of the Depression in 1932, the teenager goes to work for the mob to support herself and her family. When the law finally catches up, the “ungovernable” adolescent is incarcerated in the New York Training School for Girls in upstate New York—a wicked prison infamous for its harsh treatment of inmates, especially Black ones. Determined to be free, Ella escapes and makes her way back to Harlem, where she is forced to dance for pennies on the street.
Looking for a break into show business, Ella draws straws to appear at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night on November 21, 1934. Rather than perform a dance routine directly after “The World Famous Edwards Sisters” number, the homeless Ella, wearing men’s galoshes a size too big, risks everything when she decides to sing Judy instead. Four years later, at barely twenty-one, Ella Fitzgerald has become the bestselling female vocalist in America.
Diane Richards’ Ella Fitzgerald is inspiring and intriguing—an emotionally rich, psychologically complex character, a flawed mother and wife who struggles with deep emotional scars and trauma and battles racism, sexism, and colorism as she learns to find her voice on the stage. Ella takes us from the brothels, speakeasys, and streets of Depression-era New York City to the grand hotel suites where Ella, now older and wiser, looks back on her life and finally confronts the demons from childhood that torment her.
Compelling and rich in historical detail, Ella is a remarkable debut novel about an extraordinary woman.
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Story
Lacey Bond is a 13-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents’ rural daycare center. Then the Satanic Panic hits. It’s the summer of 1990 when Lacey ’s parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades.
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how could anyone's life be this bad?
- By Side_of_fry on 05-31-24
By: Maggie Thrash
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The Moment
- Thoughts on the Race Reckoning That Wasn’t and How We All Can Move Forward Now
- By: Bakari Sellers
- Narrated by: Bakari Sellers
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Bakari Sellers expands on the issues he addressed in his New York Times bestseller My Vanishing Country, examining national politics and policies that deeply impact not only Black people in his home state of South Carolina but the lives of millions of African Americans in communities across the nation. Four years later, Sellers has an answer to the question he raised on CNN, offering much-needed prescriptions to help all Black American lives.
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Good but not great
- By Amazon Customer on 06-27-24
By: Bakari Sellers
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Their Vicious Games
- By: Joelle Wellington
- Narrated by: Ariel Blake
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Adina Walker has known this the entire time she’s been on scholarship at the prestigious Edgewater Academy—a school for the rich (and mostly white) upper class of New England. It’s why she works so hard to be perfect and above reproach, no matter what she must force beneath the surface. Even one slip can cost you everything.
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Good story and excellent reader.
- By Jackie on 07-02-24
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Coming Home
- By: Brittney Griner, Michelle Burford - contributor
- Narrated by: Andia Winslow, Brittney Griner
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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On February 17, 2022, Brittney Griner arrived in Moscow ready to spend the WNBA offseason playing for the Russian women’s basketball team where she had been the centerpiece of previous championship seasons. Instead, a security checkpoint became her gateway to hell when she was arrested for mistakenly carrying under one gram of medically prescribed hash oil. Brittney’s world was violently upended in a crisis she has never spoken in detail about publicly—until now.
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WOW!
- By Anonymous User on 05-08-24
By: Brittney Griner, and others
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Summer on the Bluffs
- A Novel (Oak Bluffs, Book 1)
- By: Sunny Hostin
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Thirty years ago, Amelia Vaux Tanner and her husband built a house high on the bluffs, a cottage they named Chateau Laveau. For decades, “Ama” played host to American presidents, Wall Street titans, and cultural icons. But her favorite guests have always been her three “goddaughters”: Esperanza “Perry” Soto, a beautiful, talented Afro-Latina lawyer with Ama’s strong, yet guarded personality; Olivia Jones, a gifted Wall Street analyst with Ama’s brilliant, logical mind; and Billie Hayden, a gifted marine biologist and rule-breaker with Ama’s courageous free spirit.
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Sorry not for me
- By Kim P on 05-06-21
By: Sunny Hostin
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The Rulebreaker
- The Life and Times of Barbara Walters
- By: Susan Page
- Narrated by: Susan Page
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Rulebreaker, Susan Page conducts 150 interviews and extensive archival research to discover that Walters was driven to keep herself and her family afloat after her mercurial and famous impresario father attempted suicide. But she never lost the fear of an impending catastrophe, which is what led her to ask for things no woman had ever asked for before, to ignore the rules of misogynistic culture, to outcompete her most ferocious competitors, and to protect her complicated marriages and love life from scrutiny.
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Very well written and very interesting
- By Anonymous User on 04-29-24
By: Susan Page
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The Return of Ellie Black
- By: Emiko Jean
- Narrated by: Mizuo Peck, Tessa Albertson, Nicole Lewis, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work. Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State. But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers.
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A Solid Debut Novel
- By Jackie0930 on 05-25-24
By: Emiko Jean
What listeners say about Ella
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- CAMT
- 05-19-24
Heartbreaking story with wonderful vocals
Heartbreaking! The narration and singing made this audio book come to life! The story was full of heartbreaking times in Ella's life. I found some passages difficult to listento. I longed for some success and kept listening even when it got slow. I liked the epiogue where she so lovingly met with a woman of her own kind who was so proud of Ella.
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- Nancy
- 06-07-24
Compelling listen
Although a novel, provides great insight into the early life of the worlds, greatest female singer of the past century. Truly inspiring.
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- Kelly Thomas
- 06-23-24
Heart wrenching, and beautiful
I had no idea how heart wrenching Ella Fitzgerald‘s story was. At times it was hard to listen to you because it was so heavy, but it was so beautifully written and her story is so inspirational to know that she came through all of those hard times.
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