Forbidden Notebook
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Cassandra Campbell
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By:
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Alba de Céspedes
About this listen
With an introduction by Jhumpa Lahiri, Quaderno Proibito is a classic domestic novel by the Italian-Cuban feminist writer Alba de Céspedes, whose work inspired contemporary writers like Elena Ferrante
In this modern translation by acclaimed Elena Ferrante translator Ann Goldstein, The Forbidden Notebook centers the inner life of a dissatisfied housewife living in postwar Rome.
Valeria Cossati never suspected how unhappy she had become with the shabby gentility of her bourgeois life—until she begins to jot down her thoughts and feelings in a little black book she keeps hidden in a closet. This new secret activity leads her to scrutinize herself and her life more closely, and she soon realizes that her individuality is being stifled by her devotion and sense of duty toward her husband, daughter, and son. As the conflicts between parents and children, husband and wife, and friends and lovers intensify, what goes on behind the Cossatis’ façade of middle-class respectability gradually comes to light, tearing the family’s fragile fabric apart.
An exquisitely crafted portrayal of domestic life, The Forbidden Notebook recognizes the universality of human aspirations.
©1952 Mondadori Libri S.p.A., Milano. English translation © 2023 by Ann Goldstein. Foreword copyright © 2022 by Jhumpa Lahiri. Originally published in Italian as Quaderno Proibito in 1952 by Mondadori. (P)2023 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
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Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance.
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A strong story
- By Anita Kristensen on 06-08-19
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Cashelmara
- By: Susan Howatch
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong, Carly Robins
- Length: 27 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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When Edward de Salis travels to America after the death of his first wife, he is astonished to find himself falling in love with Marguerite, a young woman many years his junior. Full of hope for the future, he returns to his Irish estate, Cashelmara, but in 19th-century Ireland - a country racked by poverty and famine - his family eventually becomes trapped in a sinister spiral of violence that Edward could never have foreseen.
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Wonderful Story
- By Ann Marie Taylor on 07-04-20
By: Susan Howatch
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The Castle
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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On his deathbed, Franz Kafka asked that all his unpublished manuscripts be burned. Fortunately, his request was ignored, allowing such works as The Trial to earn recognition among the literary masterpieces of the 20th century. This brilliant new translation of The Castle captures comedic elements and visual imagery that earlier interpretations missed.
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Obscure, enigmatic, and not for everyone
- By John on 02-08-06
By: Franz Kafka
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Pietr the Latvian
- Inspector Maigret, Book 1
- By: Georges Simenon, David Bellos - translator
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first audiobook which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man.
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Long live Maigret
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-19-14
By: Georges Simenon, and others
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Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
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The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
By: Natsume Soseki
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Anthem
- By: Ayn Rand
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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“It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil.” Deep issues of conscience are explored in Ayn Rand’s dystopian tale of a man who dares to fight against a system that invades his very mind and identity.
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Triumphant! A beautiful molding of the mind.
- By Kari on 02-17-16
By: Ayn Rand
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The Custom of the Country
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Edith Wharton stands among the finest writers of early 20th-century America. In The Custom of the Country, Wharton’s scathing social commentary is on full display through the beautiful and manipulative Undine Spragg. When Undine convinces her nouveau riche parents to move to New York, she quickly injects herself into high society. But even a well-to-do husband isn’t enough for Undine, whose overwhelming lust for wealth proves to be her undoing.
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Cannot recommend a better narrator!
- By Esther on 07-29-12
By: Edith Wharton
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The Setting Sun
- New Directions Book
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: June Angela
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in the early postwar years, it probes the destructive effects of war and the transition from a feudal Japan to an industrial society. Ozamu Dazai died, a suicide, in 1948. But the influence of his book has made "people of the setting sun" a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a young aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie which pervades so much of the modern world.
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MORE OSAMU DAZAI TRANSLATIONS PLEASE!!!!!
- By Lucky on 10-19-22
By: Osamu Dazai
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The Rise of Silas Lapham
- By: William Dean Howells
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Howells’ best-known work and a subtle classic of its time, The Rise of Silas Lapham is an elegant tale of Boston society and manners. After garnering a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston in order to improve his social position. The consequences of this endeavor are both humorous and tragic as the greedy Silas brings his company to the brink of bankruptcy.
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Important for the Era
- By Brent on 03-19-23
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Burr
- A Novel (Narratives of Empire, Book 1)
- By: Gore Vidal
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is an extraordinary portrait of one of the most complicated - and misunderstood - figures among the Founding Fathers. In 1804, while serving as vice president, Aaron Burr fought a duel with his political nemesis, Alexander Hamilton, and killed him. In 1807, he was arrested, tried, and acquitted of treason. In 1833, Burr is newly married, an aging statesman considered a monster by many. But he is determined to tell his own story, and he chooses to confide in a young New York City journalist. Burr is the first novel in Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series.
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Finally! Vidal's Great Take on the Life of Burr
- By John Norton on 06-12-19
By: Gore Vidal
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Maurice
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Peter Firth
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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'Ah for darkness...not the darkness of a house which coops up a man among furniture, but the darkness where he can be free!' Maurice Hall knows he must choose between living life in the shadows or denying himself a chance at love and fulfilment. Aware of his attraction to the same sex, in a time where it was considered unlawful and immoral to have homosexual desires, Maurice must decide whether to battle or submit to a prejudiced 20th-century English society.
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Finally!!! It's past time!
- By Christopher P. on 11-18-10
By: E. M. Forster
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Mother Land
- A Novel
- By: Leah Franqui
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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When Rachel Meyer, a 30-something foodie from New York, agrees to move to Mumbai with her Indian-born husband, Dhruv, she knows some culture shock is inevitable. Blessed with a curious mind and an independent spirit, Rachel is determined to learn her way around the hot, noisy, seemingly infinite metropolis she now calls home. But the expat American’s sense of adventure is sorely tested when her mother-in-law, Swati, suddenly arrives from Kolkata - 1,000 miles away - alone, with an even more shocking announcement: She’s left her husband of more than 40 years and moving in with them.
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This could have been so good...
- By Amazon Customer on 09-01-20
By: Leah Franqui
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What listeners say about Forbidden Notebook
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- new haven reader
- 02-22-23
Time travel
This is the sad story of a woman with the misfortune of growing up and being trapped by rigid attitudes expecting women to be endlessly self-effacing. She perversely chooses duty over freedom and love, with the expectation of asserting moral superiority. Writing in her diary fails to move her from
Insight to change.
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- Janis
- 02-29-24
The main character
I liked the story it was very interesting. The notebook idea kept the storyline but needed more depth of true feelings in stead of guilt.
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- Lisa Op
- 11-16-24
a must read
The Forbidden Notebook came to my attention when searching for diary novels recommendations. I enjoyed accompanying Valeria, the main character and owner of the diary, in her journey of self discovery with its ups and downs, contradictions, affirmations, and deep reflections. The pacing was perfect for me. The audible narrator was flawless. Highly recommended for these topics: the diary genre, mid-20th Century worldview, feminism, tradition, psychology, values, history, work ethics, relationships.
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- Maria Herrera
- 11-27-23
A Revelation
What I liked most about this book was the tone it stuck to throughout the story. You could say it was truthful to the main character’s, Valeria’s, despair. As she travels this period of her life, the neatly laid down formulas for the whys and how’s begin to unravel. Her
alternating loss and speculation over the events around her reveal a deeply universal, it seems to me, anxiety in many women’s lives. Furthermore, I realize this book was written in the early 1950s and in that fact reveals so much of what we don’t understand of that time, because the caricature of that era seemingly binds us to a more conventional tableau. In that instance, this book is a revelation. It is literary evidence of the simmering pot that in one more generation would give was to the women movement.
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2 people found this helpful
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- EBL
- 03-08-24
Interesting story
The story was interesting, as it reminded me of how women were stereo-typed and marginalized during that period. I took away stars because the story did not advance. I came away from the book feeling very sad
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- T
- 02-16-23
Brilliant
As a man, I wish I had read this 30 years ago. Also beautifully written and recorded.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Susan
- 02-02-23
UNSETTLING
Great book. I’m glad to have come across it. This was the time-period when my mother was young, married in /55, had me—the eldest of 6–in /56.
I can see so much of what is her in this book. The attitudes towards women, the women who, like my mother, had to do it all.
Deep insight into the minds and lives of women of that post-war time. Both joyful and sad. I didn’t like *all* the characters, but to me, that’s not the point of a book. The point is to write truth, insofar as we know it; to translate that truth into character and story.
I recommend this book to anyone who would rather have a book to make you think, than one to escape life in. Both are fine, each has their place.
But this is about the age-old struggle of women to find even just “a room of one’s own.”
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8 people found this helpful
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- Mark A Mihdawi
- 05-06-23
Fantastic book!!!
Great exploration of the mind. It is amazing that this book was written so long ago, yet the thoughts and ideas are the same we deal with today.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Peter Garik
- 01-01-24
“The more things change, the more they stay the same”
Beautiful, sad and powerful book. This is the story of an Italian woman in her early forties, soon after the war, juggling being a mother, a wife, a daughter, do all the cooking and cleaning and still work in an office to make ends meet. A lot has changed in these seventy years or so, but it is still so hard for women to fulfill all of these roles at the same time. Brilliant book.
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- VS
- 03-06-24
Didn't care for it
I liked the idea of the story, hearing the íntimate thoughts of the main character through a diary but I didn't like any of the characters...at all. I had little patience for the main character who was a martyr. I understand that gender roles were different in the 50s but there was nothing interesting about her. She perpetuayed the problem. I grew tired hearing her complain.
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