The Garden of Letters
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Narrated by:
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Elizabeth Sastre
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Alyson Richman
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By:
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Alyson Richman
About this listen
Set against the rich backdrop of World War II Italy, Garden of Letters captures the hope, suspense, and romance of an uncertain era, in an epic intertwining story of first love, great tragedy, and spectacular bravery.
Portofino, Italy, 1943. A young woman steps off a boat in a scenic coastal village. Although she knows how to disappear in a crowd, Elodie is too terrified to slip by the German officers while carrying her poorly forged identity papers. She is frozen until a man she's never met before claims to know her. In desperate need of shelter, Elodie follows him back to his home on the cliffs of Portofino.
Only months before, Elodie Bertolotti was a cello prodigy in Verona, unconcerned with world events. But when Mussolini's Fascist regime strikes her family, Elodie is drawn into the burgeoning resistance movement by Luca, a young and impassioned bookseller. As the occupation looms, she discovers that her unique musical talents, and her courage, have the power to save lives.
In Portofino, young doctor Angelo Rosselli gives the frightened and exhausted girl sanctuary. He is a man with painful secrets of his own, haunted by guilt and remorse. But Elodie's arrival has the power to awaken a sense of hope and joy that Angelo thought was lost to him forever.
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Critic reviews
"Richman seamlessly weaves together the languages of music and love, reaching into the heart of the reader with artful portraits of heroism, sacrifice and redemption. Fans of The Lost Wife will again savor Richman's ability to tell a remarkable story about people who are unforgettable and real." (Pam Jenoff, international best-selling author)
“Lyrical and rich...filled with beauty and tragedy, romance and heartbreak.” (Jillian Cantor, author of Margot)
“Graceful, mellifluous...read this book.” (Jenna Blum, New York Times best-selling author of Those Who Save Us)
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By: Sarah Jio
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The Gods of Tango
- A Novel
- By: Carolina De Robertis
- Narrated by: Carolina De Robertis
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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February 1913: seventeen-year-old Leda, carrying only a small trunk and her father's cherished violin, leaves her Italian village for a new home, and a new husband, in Argentina. Arriving in Buenos Aires, she discovers that he has been killed, but she remains: living in a tenement, without friends or family, on the brink of destitution. Still, she is seduced by the music that underscores life in the city: tango, born from lower-class immigrant voices, now the illicit, scandalous dance of brothels and cabarets.
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A rousing tale
- By Jean on 07-24-15
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The Ambassador's Daughter
- By: Pam Jenoff
- Narrated by: Joanna Daniel
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Brought to the peace conference by her father, a German diplomat, Margot Rosenthal initially resents being trapped in the congested French capital, where she is still looked upon as the enemy. But as she contemplates returning to Berlin and a life with Stefan, the wounded fiancé she hardly knows anymore, she decides that being in Paris is not so bad after all. Bored and torn between duty and the desire to be free, Margot strikes up unlikely alliances: with Krysia, an accomplished musician with radical acquaintances and a secret to protect; and with Georg, the handsome, damaged naval officer who gives Margot a job.
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Book 0 in the series
- By Stevon on 12-12-17
By: Pam Jenoff
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Women of the Silk
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama takes listeners back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amid the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own.
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Another beautiful historical fiction!
- By T. Hoyt on 09-28-24
By: Gail Tsukiyama
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The Librarian Spy
- A Novel of World War II
- By: Madeline Martin
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence. Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.
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Good story, disturbing narration.
- By John on 09-22-22
By: Madeline Martin
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Sea Change
- By: Karen White
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Kate Forbes, Peggity Price
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Karen White' s New York Times best-selling novels keep audiences up well into the night with their compelling plots and engaging characters. Sea Change is a riveting tale of second chances, forgiveness, and leaps of faith. Plagued by feelings of loneliness and not belonging, 35-year-old Ava Whalen is as shocked as anyone when she falls for child psychologist Matthew Frazier, elopes with him, and settles down on St. Simons Island, Georgia. But her newfound happiness is threatened when her past proves difficult to escape.
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Slow moving
- By Mon on 11-21-12
By: Karen White
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Three Souls
- A Novel
- By: Janie Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this.... So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls - stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun - who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.
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Very different but compelling point of view.
- By Kevin Wickline on 06-08-23
By: Janie Chang
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Secrets of a Charmed Life
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden--one that will test her convictions and her heart.
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Rare 5-Star Across the Board!
- By Imamomof4 on 06-14-15
By: Susan Meissner
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Golden Earrings
- By: Belinda Alexandra
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Catalina, grand-daughter of Spanish refugees, is a disciplined student with the School of the Paris Opera Ballet. Little gets inthe way of her career until the visit of an otherworldly being, who leaves her a mysterious pair of golden earrings. Given a quest, Catalina realises she must explore her own Spanish heritage and makes the connection between the visitor and ‘La Rusa’, a young Andalusian flamenco star. La Rusa died in exile in Paris in 1952, her death ruled as suicide. But as Catalina begins to discover, there were those in the community, who had good reason for wanting La Rusa dead.
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Fabulous story
- By Paddington on 10-19-12
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The Thread Collectors
- A Novel
- By: Shaunna J. Edwards, Alyson Richman
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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1863: In a small Creole cottage in New Orleans, an ingenious young Black woman named Stella embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army. Bound to a man who would kill her if he knew of her clandestine activities, Stella has to hide not only her efforts but her love for William, a Black soldier and a brilliant musician.
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Extremely good!
- By Doodle slave on 07-02-23
By: Shaunna J. Edwards, and others
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The House Girl
- A Novel
- By: Tara Conklin
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The year is 2004: Lina Sparrow is an ambitious young lawyer working on a historic class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for the descendants of American slaves. The year is 1852: Josephine is a 17-year-old house slave who tends to the mistress of a Virginia tobacco farm - an aspiring artist named Lu Anne Bell. It is through her father, renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers a controversy rocking the art world: Art historians now suspect that the revered paintings of Lu Anne Bell, an antebellum artist known for her humanizing portraits of the slaves who worked her Virginia tobacco farm, were actually the work of her house slave, Josephine.
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Disappointing
- By Jeanette Finan on 02-21-13
By: Tara Conklin
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A Fall of Marigolds
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries...and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she's made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her?
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Beautiful!
- By R. Burnham on 03-29-15
By: Susan Meissner
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A Golden Age
- A Novel
- By: Tahmima Anam
- Narrated by: Madhur Jaffrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
As young widow Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she might be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming, her children are almost grown, and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air.
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sad, poignant, thought-provoking, beautiful
- By Rio Delta Wild on 06-04-08
By: Tahmima Anam
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What listeners say about The Garden of Letters
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Daniel & Steph Cline
- 11-22-20
Beautiful Story
I hated to finish this book. Loved the characters. Bought 3 copies so friends could share in this story.
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1 person found this helpful
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- ZacharyKindle Customer
- 01-04-17
Garden of Letters
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Definitely, first the novel was beautiful, second, the narrators were awesome.
What did you like best about this story?
The room of letters and how it's transformed in the end.
What about Elizabeth Sastre and Alyson Richman ’s performance did you like?
Both of them were so realistic, at times you could swear there was also a male narrator.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I DID! BEAUTIFUL BOOK!!!!!
Any additional comments?
This is a novel that you want to sit and savor.....
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- Gail
- 10-26-21
AWESOME
After a slow start introducing the characters, I couldn't put it down. I laughed and cried. The story line gave few clues as to what would come next. I didn't really want to listen to this book, but I am so glad I did. Hope there is a sequel.
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- Lori J. Little
- 10-13-16
A favorite!
I loved this tender work of heart! The author and narrator took me away to this time and place, and I loved every minute of it.
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- MrsAllister
- 01-11-17
Eh, so so
Would you try another book from Alyson Richman and/or Elizabeth Sastre and Alyson Richman ?
Elizabeth Sastre is an excellent narrator.
Would you be willing to try another book from Alyson Richman? Why or why not?
Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhh....I guess. I'd want to give her another chance. The story had potential, then sort of just fell apart at the end.
Any additional comments?
This book started off well. It was interesting, good character development. Towards the end it just fell apart, I didn't like the ending at all. I don't know, it kind of just left me wanting more. One thing I hated the entire book was her overuse of descriptive descriptions (if that makes any sense). It left one feeling unrelatable to the characters sometimes, because things were often just not described in a realistic way. Like, "he could see her reflection in her eyes." While you technically can, you're not seeing your own expression in someone else's eyes.
And, while the story should have only been spoken by the two main characters, she would jump to over to the person the main character was talking to and briefly describe the situation from their side of it, or explore how they were feeling, and then jump back to the main character.
There was lots of eye rolling from me throughout the book, but it wasn't irritating enough for me stop listening. The narration was excellent, and really saved the story.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-09-24
Aburrido
Después de leer Los amantes de Praga y Las horas de terciopelo, este libro es decepcionante.
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- Lelia
- 01-05-15
My thoughts
This story went above my expectations. The narrator was absolutely wonderful, and my most memorable moment was when she failed the mission.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Carrie E. Fox
- 06-28-24
Exceptional Writing/Narration
Beautifully written. Skillfully narrated. Historical Moving and Sweeping . Great character development. I loved everything about this novel. An all time favorite!
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- maggie mae
- 06-15-19
Haunting
This book was hauntingly beautiful, with many surprising twists and turns.The characters in the book were lovingly brought to life By the narrator and kept you entranced throughout
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1 person found this helpful
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- S. Randall
- 11-28-18
Ok overall
The book was just ok for me. The story seemed to lull in places and the. capture me in others. I also think the ending was abrupt and odd.
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