Frog Music
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Khristine Hvam
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By:
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Emma Donoghue
About this listen
A French burlesque dancer risks everything to bring a killer to justice in this gripping historical novel from the author of Room: "her greatest achievement yet" (Darin Strauss, author of Half a Life).
Summer of 1876: San Francisco is in the fierce grip of a record-breaking heat wave and a smallpox epidemic. Through the window of a railroad saloon, a young woman named Jenny Bonnet is shot dead.
The survivor, her friend Blanche Beunon, is a French burlesque dancer. Over the next three days, she will risk everything to bring Jenny's murderer to justice—if he doesn't track her down first. The story Blanche struggles to piece together is one of free-love bohemians, desperate paupers, and arrogant millionaires; of jealous men, icy women, and damaged children. It's the secret life of Jenny herself, a notorious character who breaks the law every morning by getting dressed: a charmer as slippery as the frogs she hunts.
In thrilling, cinematic style, Frog Music digs up a long-forgotten, never-solved crime. Full of songs that migrated across the world, Emma Donoghue's lyrical tale of love and bloodshed among lowlifes captures the pulse of a boomtown like no other.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2014 Emma Donoghue (P)2014 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"A riveting literary thriller.... Donoghue brilliantly conjures the chaos of a boomtown in the grip of both a heat wave and a smallpox epidemic; her cast of colorful lowlifes includes the freeloading Arthur and his sycophantic best friend, Ernest. But it's Blanche and Jenny who hold our attention.... FROG MUSIC begins with a mystery: Who killed Jenny? But it enthralls with two other questions: Who was Jenny? Who will Blanche become?"—Karen Holt, O, The Oprah Magazine
"FROG MUSIC...[brings] to steamy life the unresolved so-called San Miguel Mystery.... Donoghue front-loads the drama.... She captures San Francisco in all its melting-pot, fishy-smelling glory, and weaves in authentic details about smallpox outbreaks, race riots, and orphanages. Jenny Bonnet is an incendiary character pulled directly from the history books.... Her extraordinary life gives Donoghue's novel contemporary resonance."—Elyse Moody, Elle
"More fine work from one of popular fiction's most talented practitioners.... Donoghue's vivid rendering of Gilded Age San Francisco is notable for her atmospheric use of popular songs and slang in Blanche's native French, but the book's emotional punch comes from its portrait of a woman growing into self-respect as she takes responsibility for the infant life she's created."—Kirkus Reviews
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Bitter Spirits
- Roaring Twenties, Book 1
- By: Jenn Bennett
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Aida Palmer performs a spirit medium show onstage at Chinatown's illustrious Gris-Gris speakeasy. However, her ability to summon (and expel) the dead is more than just an act. Winter Magnusson is a notorious bootlegger who's more comfortable with guns than ghosts. Unfortunately for him, he's the recent target of a malevolent hex that renders him a magnet for hauntings. After Aida's supernatural assistance is enlisted to banish the ghosts, her spirit-chilled aura heats up as the charming bootlegger casts a different sort of spell on her.
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Cute paranormal romance set in the 1920s
- By Karissa Eckert on 08-13-17
By: Jenn Bennett
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Glorious
- By: Bernice L. McFadden
- Narrated by: Alfre Woodard
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights era. Blending the truth of American history with the fruits of Bernice L. McFadden's rich imagination, this is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and revival offers a candid portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.
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Gruesome violence
- By Marilyn on 11-22-11
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Tess of the Road
- By: Rachel Hartman
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons can be whomever they choose. Tess is none of these things. Tess is...different. She speaks out of turn, has wild ideas, and can't seem to keep out of trouble. Then Tess goes too far. Tess's family decide the only path for her is a nunnery. But on the day she is to join the nuns, Tess chooses a different path for herself. She cuts her hair, pulls on her boots, and sets out on a journey. She's not running away, she's running towards something.
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Beautiful and Boring, Both.
- By Ryan on 04-05-19
By: Rachel Hartman
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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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A Spear of Summer Grass
- By: Deanna Raybourn
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even among Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather's savanna manor house until gossip subsides. Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz records, cigarettes and safaris. As mistress of this wasted estate, Delilah falls into the decadent pleasures of society.
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Disappointed
- By Vinity on 07-13-13
By: Deanna Raybourn
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Fair Play
- By: Deeanne Gist
- Narrated by: Kate Forbes
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Saddled with a man's name, the captivating Billy Jack Tate makes no apologies for taking on a man's profession. As a doctor at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, she is one step closer to having her very own medical practice - until Hunter Scott asks her to give it all up to become his wife.
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Total flop!
- By irishred507 on 02-26-17
By: Deeanne Gist
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Blackmail, My Love
- A Murder Mystery
- By: Katie Gilmartin
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Josie O'Conner travels to San Francisco in 1951 to locate her gay brother, a private dick investigating a blackmail ring targeting lesbians and gay men. Jimmy's friends claim that just before he disappeared he became a rat, informing the cops on the bar community. Josie adopts Jimmy's trousers and wingtips, battling to clear his name, halt the blackmailers, and exact justice for the many queer corpses.
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Fine Writing, Beautifully Read
- By CJ on 06-14-15
By: Katie Gilmartin
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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
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Six of Crows
- By: Leigh Bardugo
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder, Brandon Rubin, Fred Berman, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price - and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone.
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7 Narrators, But That's Not a Good Thing
- By KM on 03-18-16
By: Leigh Bardugo
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Lily and the Major
- By: Linda Lael Miller
- Narrated by: Pilar Witherspoon
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Lily Chalmers wanted only two things from life: a farm of her own, and to find the sisters she hadn't seen since they were all little girls heading west on the orphan train. She certainly had no desire for a husband.
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Had to give up on this one
- By Shooting Star on 05-26-20
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Angel of Harlem
- By: Kuwanna Haulsey
- Narrated by: Brenda Pressley
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Inspired by the extraordinary events of Dr. May Chinn’s life, Angel of Harlem is a deeply affecting story of love and transcendence. Weaving seamlessly scenes from the battlefields of the Civil War, during which her father escaped from slavery, to the Harlem living rooms and kitchen tables where May is sometimes forced to operate on her patients, this fascinating novel lays bare the heart of a woman who changed the face of medicine.
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Really Enjoyed!
- By Amazon Customer on 08-08-19
By: Kuwanna Haulsey
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The Man from Stone Creek
- Stone Creek, Book 1
- By: Linda Lael Miller
- Narrated by: Buck Schirner
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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There was trouble in Haven, Arizona, and Ranger Sam O'Ballivan was determined to sort it all out. He arrived posing as the new schoolteacher, and his first order of business was to bring the rough ranchers' children under control. To that end, he called on Maddie Chancelor, the local postmistress, whose younger brother was in firm need of discipline. Sam wasn't sure what to expect - but it was definitely not this graceful woman whose prim, proper stance was so at odds with the fire in her eyes.
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3 And One Half Stars
- By Pauline on 10-25-08
What listeners say about Frog Music
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- loralou
- 09-11-14
Frog music
This was a good mystery with real character development. I found the author kept rehashing the same points over and over. What I liked about the book was its ability to rehash those same points with many different outcomes which kept the mystery going.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-09-19
I'm a fan of the author
She still aims and hits her target (my peaked interest) everytime. I quite loved the narrator of this story. I will say it was not as good as slimmerkin but definitely worth the listen.
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- BirderMame
- 07-13-14
Cross-dressing, prostitution and smallpox!
This tale of 1876 San Francisco crosscuts between the August initial meeting of a cross-dressing free spirit and a French prostitute and the September murder of the former and the latter's attempt to have justice done. There is much historical color, apparently well researched, including quite interesting revelations of the "baby-farming" business.
To the negative, the narrator murders the many songs of the period that she is called upon to sing; she could have learned the accurate tunes, mostly available elsewhere, or simply spoken them as she occasionally does. She does not do a bad job with the heavy French accents required for much of the dialog.
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- Avid Listener
- 06-18-21
Story premise better than execution
I think this story could be much better and deserves some more work - a major rewrite and editing - to turn out a revised edition. Fewer jumps back and forth in time would already improve the listening/reading experience. It’s too confusing and there’s also a redundant loop of same material. The characters aren’t as well fleshed out in this story as in the first story I listened to by Emma Donaghue called Landing. Landing is still my favorite by this author. In Frog Music there were some sex scenes that were too graphic for my taste. The best part of story was the satisfying conclusion, so, I’m glad I had confidence in the author to deliver a good ending. I hope I find some of the author’s other books as well written as Landing. P.S. I think there were some errors in the French phrases.
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- Syd Young
- 07-23-14
Just a struggle
At first I was very drawn into this, then it became a chore. Am I alone? I don't buy the characters, or the mystery, and I didn't care about them in the end. That's fatal for me.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Ellenaeddy
- 05-08-14
Good premise but jambled
The premises and possibilities of this book are really good. It's an interesting time, some interesting characters and a good mystery. But the flash backs are completely confusing and really could have been handled better. Something as simple as a date over the chapter so you could get what was past and what was further on. I'm not sorry I read it, and it's a fascinating view of Old San Francisco. But very hard to follow.
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6 people found this helpful
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- T. Shaw
- 06-29-14
Mediocre
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
I loved Donoghue's Room but this actually left me numb. It dances between the present and past. The protagonist sort of wins at the end and that was upbeat…but thats it.
Would you recommend Frog Music to your friends? Why or why not?
No. I don't think the story line was worthwhile enough.
What does Khristine Hvam bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Actually, the narration was better than the storyline.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
No.
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2 people found this helpful
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- JPisme
- 06-09-14
Enjoyable Read
Where does Frog Music rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
It's probably up there in the 80th percentile of like ability. I've read some I liked more and a lot I've liked less.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Frog Music?
Can't think of anything I can talk about without giving something away to future readers
Have you listened to any of Khristine Hvam’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I don't think so, she did a wonderful job with this one
If you could take any character from Frog Music out to dinner, who would it be and why?
Jenny Bonnet, because she was such a unique character
Any additional comments?
It is definitely worth it's cost 😃
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- Taryn
- 04-16-14
Donoghue + Hvam = entertainment
I am a fan of both Ms. Donoghue and Ms. Hvam, so imagine my happiness when they collaborate to entertain me. This book was engaging and interesting. I did find it a bit confusing because the author kept going back and forth between time periods, but that seems to be a writing technique that is very popular now. The storyline, set in San Francisco in the late 19th century was fascinating and I learned a few things I had never heard about ie: baby farms and cross dressing as a crime. The characters were not particularly likeable, except for Jennie, but I did feel that the author delved into what made them the people they were. I enjoy historically based novels because in an entertaining way they bring up facts I wasnt aware of, that I can later research. Ms.Hvams narration was excellent as always, she is able to conjure up many different accents realistically and move between them flawlessly! Despite this not being a perfect novel, I think it's entertaining and worth your time and credit.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Ilana
- 04-11-14
True Crime, Great Yarn
I found out after finishing this book, as I listened to a short NPR interview with Emma Donoghue, that she'd based her latest story on a true crime that took place in California in 1876: "On the very outskirts of San Francisco, in a grimy bar, a lot of bullets came through a window and they killed one woman in the room, Jenny Bonnet, who was a professional frog catcher. And they left the other woman, Blanche Beunon, a burlesque dancer, unharmed", she told the interviewer. Basing herself on numerous court transcripts and newspaper articles, she found material which was too good to make up; the city was in the middle of a major heatwave and a devastating smallpox epidemic; the victim Jenny Bonnet was a professional frog-catcher who sold her goods to local restaurants and liked to wear men's clothes, which was a punishable offence in the city of San Francisco and landed her in jail numerous times. The other woman, Blanche Beunon was a French immigrant who made her living as a burlesque dancer and prostitute. These two women, along with the city of San Francisco itself, a ramshackle place quickly thrown together by "miners, restaurateurs and prostitutes" are Donoghue's main characters, from which she fleshed out her story, creating plausible lives for the two women and imagining how the two might have crossed paths and come to be in that room together on the fatal night.
The main character is Blanche, who at first is content with her life, making men drool and throw money at her feet with her naughty stage acts and 'michetons', the rich customers she charges healthy fees for sexual favours. But when Jenny Bonnet literally slams into her with her outlandish machine, in the form of a large front-wheel bicycle, and the two unconventional women start developing a friendship, questions raised by Jenny force Blanche to look at her life from a new perspective. Donoghue, while not condoning or condemning prositution, raises question about how it affects women's lives in the larger picture. In this case, Blanche has had a baby by her French boyfriend, who abhors the 'Bourgeois' but has no qualms comfortably living off her earnings, and who had arranged for the newborn to be farmed out to "Angel Makers", a form of childcare for desperate parents known as such because the children likely to die from neglect. Up until her encounter with Jenny, Blanche had conveniently put the whole matter out of her mind and never visited the place where her child was kept, imagining, as she was led to believe, that the child lived in the fresh air of a country farm, away from city pollution and dirt. But from the sudden shocking awareness of what Petit's living conditions have actually been for the first year of his life, a mother's love will force her to make difficult choices which will have repercussions on many lives.
I read Donoghue's Slammerkin many years ago, and must say I haven't had the courage to broach Room yet, but in this new novel, she returns in good form to one of my favourite genres and delivers a historical novel that crackles with life and realistic details and characters, and makes for a really great yarn from beginning to end, for what is a basically an unputdownable read.
I've listened to Khristine Hvam narrate other books before and while she is a good narrator, my beef with her is that she seems to have just one cookie-cutter foreign accent which I've heard her use for both Czech and French accents most unconvincingly. Of course, in my case, being a fluent French speaker, a bad French accent is bound to grate on the ears, and in this case, since the main protagonist is French, there is a lot of grating to be endured, but to Hvam's credit, the delivery was good enough for this to be a minor quibble and didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of this audiobook. Definitely recommended.
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13 people found this helpful