Mother Country
Good Intentions Collection
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Narrated by:
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Ariana Delawari
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By:
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Etaf Rum
About this listen
A young Palestinian American woman comes to terms with the lessons imparted by her mother in an evocative story about sacrifice, resilience, and reinvention by the New York Times bestselling author of A Woman Is No Man.
A daughter and mother: two women miles, years, and dreams apart. One defies traditions and expectations. The other conforms to them, even in a new land. Their emotional distance grows while the daughter, now a wife and mother herself, comes to better understand the woman she’s become and why, as she ruminates on inherited trauma, the need to forgive, and the lengths she’ll go to free herself from the past.
Etaf Rum’s Mother Country is part of Good Intentions, a riveting collection of stories about the instincts, fears, and fierce love inherent in motherhood from award-winning, bestselling authors. Read or listen to each in a single sitting.
©2023 Etaf Rum. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Growing up abandoned by her father and raised by a single mother, Celeste was determined to create the perfect family - but even perfect families have secrets. Her days are filled with a rewarding career, a devoted husband, and her four-year-old daughter. Celeste is the only one who knows the precarious house of cards her family is built upon - until the day her daughter falls critically ill. Then her world quickly spirals out of control, her secret threatening to destroy her marriage, family, reputation, and sanity.
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SPOILER ALERT. Sigh...
- By Kelly on 10-08-20
By: Lucinda Berry
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Shattered Dreams
- My Life as a Polygamist's Wife
- By: Irene Spencer
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Irene Spencer did as she felt God commanded in marrying her brother-in-law, Verlan LeBaron, becoming his second wife. When the government raided the fundamentalist, polygamous Mormon village of Short Creek, Arizona, Irene and her family fled to Verlan's brothers' Mexican ranch. They lived in squalor and desolate conditions in the Mexican desert with Verlan's six brothers, one sister, and numerous wives and children.
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Eye Opening... Difficult Listen... Honest
- By Paul Mullen on 06-24-08
By: Irene Spencer
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The Ungrateful Refugee
- What Immigrants Never Tell You
- By: Dina Nayeri
- Narrated by: Dina Nayeri
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Aged eight, Dina Nayeri fled Iran along with her mother and brother and lived in the crumbling shell of an Italian hotel-turned-refugee camp. Eventually, she was granted asylum in America. She settled in Oklahoma, then made her way to Princeton University. In this book, Nayeri weaves together her own vivid story with the stories of other refugees and asylum seekers in recent years, bringing us inside their daily lives and taking us through the different stages of their journeys, from escape to asylum to resettlement.
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Amazing story of resilience and compassion
- By PAH on 09-06-19
By: Dina Nayeri
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Peace from Broken Pieces
- How to Get Through What You're Going Through
- By: Iyanla Vanzant
- Narrated by: Iyanla Vanzant
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times best-selling author Iyanla Vanzant recounts the last decade of her life and the spiritual lessons learned—from the price of success during her meteoric rise as a TV celebrity on Oprah, the Iyanla TV show (produced by Barbara Walters), to the dissolution of her marriage and her daughter's 15 months of illness and death on Christmas day.
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Iyanla is Inspirational! A GREAT LISTEN!!!
- By Theresa on 12-04-11
By: Iyanla Vanzant
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A Girl Is a Body of Water
- By: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
- Narrated by: Tovah Ott
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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International award-winning author Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s novel is a sweeping and powerful portrait of a young girl and her family: who they are, what history has taken from them, and - most importantly - how they find their way back to each other. In her thirteenth year, Kirabo confronts a piercing question that has haunted her childhood: who is my mother? Kirabo has been raised by women in the small Ugandan village of Nattetta - her grandmother, her best friend, and her many aunts - but the absence of her mother follows her like a shadow.
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African narrators for African novels!
- By Lynn on 04-24-21
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Gone Again
- A Thriller
- By: Minka Kent
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt, Gabra Zackman
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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On her fortieth birthday, Celia Guest has reason to celebrate. She has a loving marriage, a beautiful Connecticut home, and treasured friends. Celia has everything she’s ever wanted. But among the cards and well-wishes, she discovers a disturbing note: You don’t deserve any of this. Who could be so cruel, so resentful, so…knowing? Then, in the early morning hours, Celia vanishes without a trace.
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Nothing really happens
- By A reader on 04-11-23
By: Minka Kent
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The Hole
- By: Hye-Young Pyun, Sora Kim-Russell - translator
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In this tense, gripping novel by a star of Korean literature, Oghi wakes from a coma after causing a devastating car accident that took his wife's life and left him paralyzed and badly disfigured. His caretaker is his mother-in-law, a widow grieving the loss of her only child. Oghi is neglected and left alone in his bed. His world shrinks to the room he lies in and his memories of his troubled relationship with his wife, a sensitive, intelligent woman who found all of her life goals thwarted except for one: cultivating the garden in front of their house.
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really dark stuff
- By Melissa Eisner on 02-02-21
By: Hye-Young Pyun, and others
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Two Crosses
- Secrets of the Cross, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth Musser
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The glimmering Huguenot cross she so innocently wears leads her deep into the shadows. When Gabriella Madison arrives in the French village of Castelnau in 1961 to continue her university studies, she doesn’t anticipate being drawn into the secretive world behind the Algerian war for independence from France. And the further she delves into the war efforts, the more her faith is challenged. The people who surround her bring a whirlwind of transforming forces.
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Faith, Romance, Spies, and Fascinating History
- By Amazon Customer on 05-02-19
By: Elizabeth Musser
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The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano
- A Novel
- By: Donna Freitas
- Narrated by: Kristen Sieh
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Rose Napolitano is fighting with her husband, Luke, about prenatal vitamins. She promised she’d take them, but didn’t. He promised before they got married that he’d never want children, but now he’s changed his mind. Their marriage has come to rest on this one question: Can Rose find it in herself to become a mother? Rose is a successful professor and academic. She's never wanted to have a child. The fight ends, and with it their marriage.
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Amateurish and Frustrating Book
- By Nerd on 06-04-21
By: Donna Freitas
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16 Lighthouse Road
- Cedar Cove, Book 1
- By: Debbie Macomber
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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"You don't know me yet, but in a few hours that's going to change. You see, I'm inviting you to my home and my town of Cedar Cove, because I want you to meet my family, friends, and neighbors. Come and hear their stories - maybe even their secrets!"
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Very Light Chick Lit
- By Leslie on 03-02-11
By: Debbie Macomber
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Unspeakable
- Surviving My Childhood and Finding My Voice
- By: Jessica Willis Fisher
- Narrated by: Jessica Fisher
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Using the written word as her witness statement, Jessica Willis Fisher tells a lacerating story of finding her voice after two decades of silence and an unforgettable story of risk and faith.
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"Don't tell" culture exposed
- By Angela on 11-03-22
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As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been.
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What listeners say about Mother Country
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- EJ
- 04-30-23
Expectations Are Stifling
Familial and cultural expectations are stifling. This was a very uncomfortable story. Sometimes the only way to define oneself is to be the opposite of someone else.
Part of the Unlimited Kindle catalog.
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- Bailey Rose
- 05-25-23
My Least Favorite in The Good Intentions Series
So, this installment in the Good Intentions series focuses on how families and family expectations form us. Good and bad. Traditional Palestinian families have a whole different outlook on women, their worth, and what is expected of them. Very sad.
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- Anonymous User
- 12-31-23
Enlighten
The honesty of raw emotions from a daughter’s relationship with herself, her mother. Her fight for her own freedom from the pain was inspiring!
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- Faliiza
- 01-01-24
Impactful short story
Great exploration of generational trauma and difficult mother-daughter relationship. This short piece told a long story, really moving.
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- Jeanette H.
- 12-20-23
Quick listen!
If I hadn't just finished reading Evil Eye, I would have loved this book more and given it a 5-star rating. With that aside, it is a very easy to connect with story, relating the complications of the mother-daughter relationship, especially in an immigrant home. Etaf Rum always does a great job with her story telling and this is right up there with her other books. Mother-daughter relationships are generally wrought with misunderstandings, lack of good communication, and a fear of not knowing you are loved. This short story has all of that plus. It's a great fast read!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Audrey A Dickie
- 06-03-23
My Favorite in the Series
I too experience these feelings. I am the mother and the daughter. Fear paralyzes a person from seeing the truth. I would recommend this book to a daughter that struggles to see the truth.
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- Amber S.
- 02-09-24
Made me think of my mom
I really loved seeing the empathy this woman has for her mother. To see her hurt and her pain too but still she has her heart open to her mother even tho it’s not easy. What a great healing experience.. good story.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-10-24
beautifully tragic
This is a very sad series of short stories about an immigrant woman breaking traditions and generational trauma and the woman who recommended it was right it's tragically beautiful. It's short well preformed and it's beautifully told I highly recommend. 5 out of 5 stars and a 10 out of 10
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1 person found this helpful
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- Alex
- 11-16-23
Very impactful
This was by far my favorite in the series of short stories. I highly recommend!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Rola
- 11-04-23
Very quick list
Quick read left me interested to know more, the voices in our mind are strong
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1 person found this helpful