
Good Night, Irene
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Barrie Kreinik
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Luis Alberto Urrea
About this listen
This New York Times bestselling novel tells an exhilarating World War II epic that chronicles an extraordinary young woman’s heroic frontline service in the Red Cross.
“Urrea’s touch is sure, his exuberance carries you through . . . He is a generous writer, not just in his approach to his craft but in the broader sense of what he feels necessary to capture about life itself.” —Financial Times
In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiancé in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. She makes fast friends in training with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicknamed Donut Dollies, who command military vehicles called Clubmobiles at the front line, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle.
After D-Day, these two intrepid friends join the Allied soldiers streaming into France. Their time in Europe will see them embroiled in danger, from the Battle of the Bulge to the liberation of Buchenwald. Through her friendship with Dorothy, and a love affair with a courageous American fighter pilot named Hans, Irene learns to trust again. Her most fervent hope, which becomes more precarious by the day, is for all three of them to survive the war intact.
Taking as inspiration his mother’s own Red Cross service, Luis Alberto Urrea has delivered an overlooked story of women’s heroism in World War II. With its affecting and uplifting portrait of friendship and valor in harrowing circumstances, Good Night, Irene powerfully demonstrates yet again that Urrea’s “gifts as a storyteller are prodigious” (NPR).
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Critic reviews
“Good Night, Irene is a beautiful, heartfelt novel that celebrates the intense power and durability of female friendship while shining a light on one of the fascinating lost women’s stories of World War II. Inspired by his own family history—and his mother’s heroism as a Red Cross volunteer during the war—Luis Urrea has created an indelible portrait of women’s courage under extreme adversity. Powerful, uplifting, and deeply personal, Good Night, Irene is a story of survival, camaraderie, and courage on the front line.”—Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds"
,"“Every once in a while the universe opens its heart and pulls out a book like this novel, gifting it to the cosmos. In Good Night, Irene, a new element has been created, and the literary world is reborn in the image of Luis Alberto Urrea. His voice comes alive on every page of this magnificent novel.”—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Swee
A heart-wrenching wartime drama, a rich portrait of friendship, and an exploration of the trials and triumphs of the human spirit, Good Night, Irene is historical fiction at its finest. Using the little-known true story of women who worked behind the front lines for the Red Cross during World War II, Luis Alberto Urrea weaves a novel about the enduring bonds, devastating losses, and heroism of ordinary people who put their lives on the line for freedom. This is a story that needed to be told and remembered.” —Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train and The Exiles
Editorial Review
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Story
It is 1889, and civil war is brewing in Mexico. A 16-year-old girl, Teresita, illegitimate but beloved daughter of the wealthy and powerful rancher Don Tomas Urrea, wakes from the strangest dream, a dream that she has died. Only it was not a dream. This passionate and rebellious young woman has arisen from death with the power to heal, but it will take all her faith to endure the trials that await her and her family now that she has become the "Saint of Cabora".
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Magical Realism at its best!
- By Angie on 12-26-06
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The Water Museum
- Stories
- By: Luis Alberto Urrea
- Narrated by: Luis Alberto Urrea
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Examining the borders between one nation and another, between one person and another, Urrea reveals his mastery of the short form. This collection includes the Edgar-award winning "Amapola" and his now-classic "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses," which had the honor of being chosen for NPR's "Selected Shorts" not once but twice.
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Luis Alberto Urrea is the Chicano Mark Twain
- By Jaziel Gonzalez on 03-02-19
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Island Queen
- A Novel
- By: Vanessa Riley
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 21 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent. Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life
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BRILLIANT
- By PJMcGhee on 07-11-21
By: Vanessa Riley
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Woman on Fire
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Barr
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of the award-winning Fugitive Colors and The Unbreakables, a gripping tale of a young, ambitious journalist embroiled in an international art scandal centered around a Nazi-looted masterpiece—forcing the ultimate showdown between passion and possession, lovers and liars, history and truth.
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Thrilling mix of history and suspense
- By Trisha A. Harkness on 04-02-22
By: Lisa Barr
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Honor
- By: Thrity Umrigar
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly: long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena—a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man—Smita comes face to face with a society where tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past.
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Wow.
- By Robert Bryant on 01-19-22
By: Thrity Umrigar
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Another Woman's Husband
- A Novel
- By: Gill Paul
- Narrated by: Laura Aikman
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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1911: When 15-year-old Mary Kirk meets Wallis Warfield at summer camp, she’s immediately captivated by her fearless, brazen, and self-assured personality. Though Mary’s family isn’t crazy about Wallis, Mary stands by her side - even years later when rumors swirl about Wallis and her reckless behavior with the Prince of Wales. But when Mary’s loyalty to Wallis comes into question, their friendship will be put to the test. 1997: After a romantic proposal in Paris, Rachel and her fiancé Alex are in a cab when the car ahead crashes.
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Binge worthy
- By Amanda on 12-24-19
By: Gill Paul
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The Paris Dressmaker
- A Novel of WWII
- By: Kristy Cambron
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris, 1939. Maison Chanel has closed, thrusting haute couture dressmaker Lila de Laurent out of the world of high fashion as Nazi soldiers invade the streets and the City of Lights slips into darkness. Lila’s life is now a series of rations, brutal restrictions, and carefully controlled propaganda while Paris is cut off from the rest of the world. Yet in hidden corners of the city, the faithful pledge to resist. Lila is drawn to La Resistance and is soon using her skills as a dressmaker to infiltrate the Nazi elite.
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Excellent in all ways
- By Amazon Customer on 02-23-21
By: Kristy Cambron
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The Moonflowers
- A Novel
- By: Abigail Rose-Marie
- Narrated by: Abigail Reno
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Tig Costello has arrived in Darren, Kentucky, commissioned to paint a portrait honoring her grandfather Benjamin. His contributions to the rural Appalachian town and his unimpeachable war service have made him a local hero. But to Tig, he’s a relative stranger. To find out more about him, Tig wants to talk to the person who knew her grandfather best: Eloise Price, the woman who murdered him fifty years ago.
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Excellent
- By Jen Novak on 12-28-24
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When We Were Young & Brave
- A Novel
- By: Hazel Gaynor
- Narrated by: Rosie Jones, Imogen Church
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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China, December 1941. Having left an unhappy life in England for a teaching post at a missionary school in northern China, Elspeth Kent is now anxious to return home to help the war effort. But as she prepares to leave China, a terrible twist of fate determines a different path for Elspeth, and those in her charge. Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has always felt safe at Chefoo School, protected by her British status.
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heart wrenching And inspiring!!
- By Justin Drogoszewski on 11-22-20
By: Hazel Gaynor
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The Devil's Highway
- A True Story
- By: Luis Alberto Urrea
- Narrated by: Luis Alberto Urrea
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
In May 2001, a group of men attempted to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona, through the deadliest region of the continent, the "Devil's Highway." Three years later, Luis Alberto Urrea wrote about what happened to them. The result was a national bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a "book of the year" in multiple newspapers, and a work proclaimed as a modern American classic.
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My Favorite Author to Listen to
- By C. F. Eastman on 03-08-18
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The London House
- By: Katherine Reay
- Narrated by: Madeleine Maby
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Caroline Payne thinks it’s just another day of work until she receives a call from Mat Hammond, an old college friend and historian. But pleasantries are cut short. Mat has uncovered a scandalous secret kept buried for decades: In World War II, Caroline’s British great-aunt betrayed family and country to marry her German lover. Determined to find answers and save her family’s reputation, Caroline flies to her family’s ancestral home in London.
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The bones of the story were great
- By Carmen Gibson on 01-26-22
By: Katherine Reay
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Factory Girls
- By: Michelle Gallen
- Narrated by: Amy Molloy
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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It’s the summer of 1994, and all Maeve Murray wants are good final exam results so she can earn her ticket out of the wee Northern Irish town she has grown up in during the Troubles—away from her crowded home, the silence and sadness surrounding her sister’s death, and most of all, away from the simmering violence of her divided community. And as a first step, Maeve’s taken a summer job in a local shirt factory working alongside Protestants with her best friends, kind, innocent Caroline Jackson and privileged and clever Aoife O’Neill.
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Best Book of 2022!
- By Michael on 12-10-22
By: Michelle Gallen
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Into the Beautiful North
- A Novel
- By: Luis Alberto Urrea
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the US to find work. Recently it has dawned on her that he isn't the only man who has left town. In fact there are almost no men in the village - they've all gone north. While watching The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men - her own "Siete Magníficos" - to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over.
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Needs a better reader
- By The Honest Reviewer on 01-16-19
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Goodnight, Irene
- An Irene Kelly Novel
- By: Jan Burke
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The morning after Irene says goodnight to her old journalist friend O'Connor, he is killed suddenly upon opening a letter bomb. As the smoke clears, a devastated Irene determines to find the mail-bomber by tracing threads of an unsolved crime from 1955 - the same cold case O'Connor had been obsessed with.
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Welcome Irene
- By Anonymous User on 04-29-08
By: Jan Burke
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The Orphan's Tale
- A Novel
- By: Pam Jenoff
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wydra, Kyla Garcia
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep. When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.
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Sappy and tedious
- By Churchill on 03-23-17
By: Pam Jenoff
Amazing to think they sent women out to do that!
Loved it!
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Wonderful historical fiction
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Wonderful and important
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A Gripping Story
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What a great book!
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Interesting history
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Not just a one time read.
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Wow. Just wow!
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The BEST
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A story of women never told!
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