
In the Shadow of the Greenbrier
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Narrated by:
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Gilli Messer
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By:
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Emily Matchar
About this listen
Four generations. One remarkable hotel. Countless secrets.
Nestled in the hills of West Virginia lies White Sulphur Springs, home to the Greenbrier Resort. Long a playground for presidents and film stars, the Greenbrier has its own gravitational pull. Over ten decades, four generations of the Zelner family must grapple with their place in its shadow . . . and within their own family.
In 1942, young mother Sylvia is desperate to escape her stifling marriage, especially when it means co-running Zelner’s general store with her husband. When the Greenbrier is commandeered for use as a luxury prison, Sylvia finds her fidelity strained and her heart on the line.
Seventeen years later, Sylvia’s daughter, Doree, struggles to fit in, eagerly awaiting the day she’ll leave for college and meet a nice Jewish boy. But when a handsome stranger comes to town and her brother Alan’s curiosity puts him and Sylvia at risk, Doree is torn between loyalty and desire.
An immersive family saga rich with historical detail, In the Shadow of the Greenbrier explores the inevitable clash between past and future and the extraordinary moments in ordinary lives.
©2024 Emily Matchar (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“A stirring coming-of-age tale and gripping family saga set against the backdrop of the famous and historic West Virginia resort. Readers will eagerly follow and root for the generations of the Zelner family as they struggle with their places in a changing world and come face-to-face with dark secrets of the past in this memorable and moving book.”—Pam Jenoff, author of Code Name Sapphire
“Matchar’s debut novel is a richly layered and beautifully written tale that immerses the reader into a sweeping saga set in the picturesque backdrop of the lush West Virginia mountains’ legendary Greenbrier resort, and its fascinating, secret history. Utterly captivating, In The Shadow of The Greenbrier is unforgettable."—Kim Michele Richardson, author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
“Emily Matchar brings the iconic Greenbrier Hotel to vivid life through the engaging, heartbreaking, and often harrowing experiences of four generations.”—Diane Chamberlain, author of The Last House on the Street
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Story
1960, New York City: College student Rita Klein is a pioneering woman in the new field of computer programming—until she unexpectedly becomes pregnant. At the Hudson Home for Unwed Mothers, social workers pressure her into surrendering her baby for adoption. Rita is struggling to get on with her life when she meets Jacob Nassy, a charming yet troubled man from the Netherlands who is traumatized by his childhood experience of being separated from his mother during the Holocaust.
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My kind of book
- By diane on 01-03-25
By: Kim van Alkemade
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The Lost English Girl
- By: Julia Kelly
- Narrated by: Danielle Cohen, Raphael Corkhill
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Liverpool, 1935: Raised in a strict Catholic family, Viv Byrne knows what’s expected of her: marry a Catholic man from her working-class neighborhood and have his children. However, when she finds herself pregnant after a fling with Joshua Levinson, a Jewish man with dreams of becoming a famous jazz musician, Viv knows that a swift wedding is the only answer. Her only solace is that marrying Joshua will mean escaping her strict mother’s scrutiny. But when Joshua makes a life-changing choice on their wedding day, Viv is forced once again into the arms of her disapproving family.
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Amazing! I finished it last week and can’t stop thinking about it g about it!
- By Jeanne Hook on 03-25-24
By: Julia Kelly
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Nowhere Like Home
- A Novel
- By: Sara Shepard
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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When Lenna gets a call from her old friend Rhiannon, she is startled; Rhiannon disappeared years ago without a trace. But Lenna is even more startled to learn that Rhiannon has a son and that she lives off the grid with a group of women in a community called Halcyon. Rhiannon invites Lenna, a new mother herself, to join them. Why suffer the sleepless nights by yourself? It takes a village, after all. Lenna decides to go and hopefully repair her relationship with Rhiannon, but as she drives into the desert and her cell service gets weaker, she becomes suspicious.
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The ending!
- By Kathrene L. Beasley on 03-11-25
By: Sara Shepard
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The Sun Walks Down
- A Novel
- By: Fiona McFarlane
- Narrated by: Emma Jones
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In September 1883, a small town in the South Australian outback huddles under strange, vivid sunsets. Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing during a dust storm, and the entire community is caught up in the search for him. As they scour the desert and mountains for the lost child, the residents of Fairly—newlyweds, farmers, mothers, indigenous trackers, cameleers, children, artists, schoolteachers, widows, maids, policemen—confront their relationships, both with one another and with the landscape they inhabit.
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exquisite writing
- By Anonymous User on 02-03-25
By: Fiona McFarlane
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The Girls in the Picture
- A Novel
- By: Melanie Benjamin
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1914, and 25-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently as an artist. But the word on everyone's lips these days is "flickers" - the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. Turn any corner in this burgeoning town and you'll find made-up actors running around, as a movie camera captures it all. In this fledgling industry, Frances finds her true calling: writing stories for this wondrous new medium.
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Melodramatic
- By Kay on 02-12-18
By: Melanie Benjamin
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The Sweeney Sisters
- A Novel
- By: Lian Dolan
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Maggie, Eliza, and Tricia Sweeney grew up as a happy threesome in a seaside town in Connecticut. But after their mother’s death from cancer 15 years ago, the sisters drifted apart. Their one touchstone is their father, Bill Sweeney, a famous literary lion universally adored by critics, publishers, and book lovers. When Bill dies unexpectedly one cool June night, his shell-shocked daughters return to their childhood home. They aren’t quite sure what the future holds without their larger-than-life father, but they do know how to throw an Irish wake to honor a man of his stature.
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Is Netflix next?
- By Grace Smith on 05-03-20
By: Lian Dolan
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Close Enough to Touch
- By: Colleen Oakley
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton, Kirby Heyborne, Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Jubilee Jenkins has a rare condition: She's allergic to human touch. After a nearly fatal accident, she became reclusive, living in the confines of her home for nine years. But after her mother dies, Jubilee is forced to face the world - and the people in it - that she's been hiding from. Jubilee finds safe haven at her local library, where she gets a job. It's there she meets Eric Keegan, a divorced man who recently moved to town with his brilliant, troubled adopted son. Eric is struggling to figure out how to be the dad - and man - he wants so desperately to be.
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Super unique
- By Misty Walker on 03-14-17
By: Colleen Oakley
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What Does It Feel Like?
- By: Sophie Kinsella
- Narrated by: Sally Phillips, Sophie Kinsella
- Length: 1 hr and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains that she has had an operation to remove the large, malignant tumor growing in her brain. As Eve learns to walk, talk, and write again—and as she wrestles with her diagnosis, and how and when to explain it to her beloved children—she begins to recall what’s most important to her: long walks with her husband’s hand clasped firmly around her own, family game nights, and always buying that dress when she sees it.
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Authentic and real
- By Brianne Weingarten on 10-13-24
By: Sophie Kinsella
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The Paris Library
- A Novel
- By: Janet Skeslien Charles
- Narrated by: Nicky Diss, Sarah Feathers, Esther Wane, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet seems to have the perfect life with her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into the city, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books.
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Calling all lovers of libraries around the world
- By MelSA on 02-15-21
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The Memory Library
- By: Kate Storey
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond, Imogen Wilde
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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For forty-two years, Sally Harrison has been building a library. Each year, on her daughter’s birthday, she adds a new book to her shelves – with a note in the front dedicated to her own greatest work. But Ella – Sally’s only child – fled to Australia twenty-two years ago after a heated exchange, and never looked back. And though Sally still dutifully adds a new paperback to the shelves every time the clock strikes midnight on July 11th, her hopes of her daughter ever thumbing through the pages are starting to dwindle.
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Who I want to be
- By Kindle Customer on 08-11-24
By: Kate Storey
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The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard
- By: Natasha Lester
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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French countryside, Present Day: Blythe Bricard is the daughter of famous fashion muses but that doesn't mean she wants to be one. She turned her back on that world, and her dreams, years ago. Fate, however, has a different plan, and Blythe will discover there is more to her iconic mother and grandmother than she ever knew.
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great read!
- By Kellie S. on 03-18-24
By: Natasha Lester
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A Map to Paradise
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter’s agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He’s her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation. Then one early morning Melanie and Eva spot Elwood’s sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don’t see Elwood at all anymore.
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Not my favorite from my favorite author.
- By Ginger on 03-28-25
By: Susan Meissner
Relatable in many ways
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Left longing for more about the government
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A little slow but good story
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Too Difficult to Follow
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Genuine depiction of characters
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Terrific read
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4 Timelines and Multiple POVs
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Live in WV-love the history
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It Was a Bit of a Shadow Reading This One
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Narration rocked!
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