The Birds of Opulence Audiobook By Crystal Wilkinson cover art

The Birds of Opulence

Preview

Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends January 21, 2025 at 11:59PM ET.
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Birds of Opulence

By: Crystal Wilkinson
Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends January 21, 2025 11:59PM ET. Cancel anytime.

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $11.17

Buy for $11.17

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

From the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of Blackberries, Blackberries and Water Street comes an astonishing new novel. A lyrical exploration of love and loss, The Birds of Opulence centers on several generations of women in a bucolic Southern Black township as they live with and sometimes surrender to madness.

The Goode-Brown family, led by matriarch and pillar of the community Minnie Mae, is plagued by old secrets and embarrassment over mental illness and illegitimacy. Meanwhile, single mother Francine Clark is haunted by her dead, lightning-struck husband and forced to fight against both the moral judgment of the community and her own rebellious daughter, Mona. The residents of Opulence struggle with vexing relationships to the land, to one another, and to their own sexuality. As the members of the youngest generation watch their mothers and grandmothers pass away, they live with the fear of going mad themselves and must fight to survive.

Crystal Wilkinson offers up Opulence and its people in lush, poetic detail. It is a world of magic, conjuring, signs, and spells, but also of harsh realities that only love - and love that's handed down - can conquer. At once tragic and hopeful, this captivating novel is a story about another time, rendered for our own.

©2016 The University Press of Kentucky (P)2021 Tantor
African American Family Life Fiction Historical Fiction Sagas Tearjerking

What listeners say about The Birds of Opulence

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Just ok

Not sure what I was expecting, but this was a bit underwhelming. I grow weary of these novels that are centered in Black trauma and pain. 😞

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Opulent

Masterful and Elegant. Sopping with culture, honesty and remembrance of home. Lexington Kentucky 💙 Ohio St Native

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A master storyteller

Crystal Wilkinson continues to amaze me sentence by sentence. The story of these women and of the man who came to love them, unforgettable!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The listening to the narrator’s voice captured my interest.

Saying that I enjoyed this book doesn’t seem right, given the life struggles of the characters. Still it is a book that I’ve had in my personal library for years. When I found it on audio books I started listening to it right away.
The narrator’s voice blended beautifully with the story making it hold my interest. It’s a book worth the reading and listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The Authentic Feel of My Ole Kentucky Home

I liked the vivid descriptions of country life and family life in a small Kentucky town. I appreciated the personalities and interactions among the various women and their families, the church socials, and the family interactions. I liked the vivid descriptions of sunsets, the weather, dew on the grass, the personalities represented and embodied in Ed Brown and the working men of the town as well as the women and their lives in their small town.

It reminded me of home. I know the author, and we grew up in the same town. I also read and especially enjoyed her book “Water Street”, because I grew up on that street. The performances in the book are well done and enjoyable.

Pleased I finally read this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!