The Greenlanders
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Narrated by:
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Ralph Lister
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By:
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Jane Smiley
About this listen
Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author Jane Smiley's The Greenlanders is an enthralling novel in the epic tradition of the old Norse sagas.
Set in the 14th century in Europe's most farflung outpost, a land of glittering fjords, blasting winds, sun-warmed meadows, and high, dark mountains, The Greenlanders is the story of one family - proud landowner Asgeir Gunnarsson; his daughter Margret, whose willful independence leads her into passionate adultery and exile; and his son Gunnar, whose quest for knowledge is at the compelling center of this unforgettable audiobook. Jane Smiley takes us into this world of farmers, priests, and lawspeakers, of hunts and feasts and long-standing feuds, and by an act of literary magic, makes a remote time, place, and people not only real but dear to us.
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Ann Burton - best-selling author of Rahab's Story - pens a sweeping historical novel about the Biblical heroine who risks all by wielding a tent peg and mallet. In this compelling tale of faith, courage, and romance, Jael boldly seizes a pivotal opportunity to free Israelites - and herself - from years of oppression.
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Easy to place yourself in the story!
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By: Ann Burton
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Dragon Seed
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To the Chinese the dragon is not an evil creature, but is a god and the friend of men who worship him. He "holds in his power prosperity and peace." Ruling the waters and the winds, he sends the good rain, is hence the symbol of fecundity. In the Hsia dynasty two dragons fought a great duel until both disappeared, leaving only a fertile foam from which were born the descendants of the Hsia. Thus, the dragons came to be looked upon as the ancestors of a race of heroes. This is the story of China at War.
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More Relevant Today than Ever
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The Greener Shore
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After Julius Caesar triumphs over Gaul, the druid Ainvar and his three wives sail west to the brilliant green island of Hibernia. Here, Ainvar and his clan try to reestablish themselves.
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Captivating
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By: Morgan Llywelyn
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Merivel
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- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
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In search of answers, Merivel sets off for the French court. But Versailles leaves him in despair, until a chance encounter with a seductive Swiss botanist allows him to dream of an honorable future. But back home, his loyalty and medical skill are about to be tested to the limit, while the captive bear he has brought back from France begins to cause havoc.
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On Foolishness and Mortality
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Lavinia
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Highly acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin lends a resonant voice to a pivotal yet often overlooked character of Vergil's The Aeneid. Born into peace and freedom, Lavinia is stunned to learn that she will be the cause of a great war - or so the prophecies and omens claim. Her fate is sealed, however, when she meets a man from Troy.
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Fascinatingly well written
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Sylvia
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From master storyteller Bryce Courtenay comes a colorful, lusty story set in the 13th century, an epic tale of a Europe torn by religious intolerance. The story centers around Sylvia Honeyeater, who sings like an angel and can literally charm the birds from the trees. The narrative also features the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Francis of Assisi, the Muslim Sultan and his harem, and the fervor that becomes the Children's Crusade and then, later, the Crusades.
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a departure for Bryce
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Historical Fiction that Aged Very Well
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A Wind from the South
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A goddess in the making... or a demon reborn? In the remote mountain village where she was born, Mariarta dil Alicg lives the untroubled life of a peasant girl...until, soon after a mysterious stranger's arrival, she starts to hear voices in the wind. The voices whisper strange secrets in Mariarta's ears -- promising her the power to command the stormwind, hinting at an unknown, magical heritage, and prophesying a fate marvelous past all Mariarta's imaginings. Then a curse falls on Mariarta's village, shattering the lives of her family and friends.
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This was a suprise!
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In 1697, Quebec is an island of French civilization perched on a bare gray rock amid a wilderness of trackless forests. For many of its settlers, Quebec is a place of exile, so remote that an entire winter passes without a word from home. But to 12-year-old Cécile Auclair, the rock is home, where even the formidable Governor Frontenac entertains children in his palace and beavers lie beside the lambs in a Christmas créche.
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wonderful
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The Dark Mirror
- Bridei Trilogy #1
- By: Juliet Marillier
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- Unabridged
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One bitter Midwinter's Eve, everything changes when Bridei finds a child on their doorstep - a child abandoned by the Fair Folk. It is the height of ill fortune to have truck with the Fair Folk, and all in the area counsel the babe's death. But Bridei sees an old and precious magic at work and, heedless of the danger, fights to save the child. Broichan is wary but relents, for Bridei must grow to be his own man and make his own decisions.
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disappointing
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Daughter of the Forest
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Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives and they are determined that she know only contentment. But Sorcha's joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift - by staying silent.
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Compelling story--but only at 1.5x
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Master and Man
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In the story, a land owner named Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov takes along one of his peasants, Nikita, for a short journey to the house of the owner of a forest. He is impatient and wishes to get to the town more quickly to purchase the forest before other contenders can get there. They find themselves in the middle of a blizzard, but the master in his avarice wishes to press on. They eventually get lost off the road and they try to camp. The master's peasant soon finds himself suffering from hypothermia.
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excellent. totally enngaging. naratorr quite wonderful!
- By J. RYBERG on 01-05-17
By: Leo Tolstoy, and others
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What listeners say about The Greenlanders
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Edie Bell
- 07-07-23
An Epic Norse Saga
wow! Quite a tale. I found myself totally immersed in cold and wintry Greenland year after year after year... this is a great story to be listened to and this narrator did a fantastic job. I couldn't wait to get back and listen to more.
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- Valerie C. Raps
- 01-26-23
A great epic
I thoroughly enjoyed it, feels like a mix of biblical style story telling, historical fact and research, and oral history of small town life in ancient times. Many would be bored by it but I was not. The dubbed in name pronunciation corrections are quite annoying and I wish they had left whatever mistake there was with that alone.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Michon Matthiesen
- 06-12-18
First-rate! You will be transported
Jane Smiley has created a marvelous saga of Greenland which allows the reader access to an unforgettable world. One learns what the people of Greenland ate, how they managed (or not) in extreme weather conditions, and how they thought. The novel takes place around the year 1400. There is drama on every page!
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4 people found this helpful
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- John L. Murphy
- 10-14-16
Retelling the sagas in a floundering land
What did you like best about The Greenlanders? What did you like least?
Jane Smiley claimed she "chanelled" the writing here and produced a tale very much like the Old Norse sagas. That is, she shears it of overt characterization and literary ornament. It's an admirable ambition, but I am glad I read Njal's and Egil's sagas first to get the flavor.
Unfortunately, the result is numbing. It's epic in size but not in energy. The people come and go, but little grasp remains for the listener of who's who, and it's difficult to care much. I wanted lots more about the decline of Greenland's Norse settlers, but it's vague; wrapped up in accusations of witchcraft, convincing in theory, but not as a fictional pageturner.
Has The Greenlanders turned you off from other books in this genre?
I doubt if there are other books in this genre. Only "Wayward Heroes" by Halldor Laxness to my knowledge represents for a wider audience a literary-minded author taking this theme up.
What does Ralph Lister bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I liked his ravings as Loras the crazed prophet late on. This was one time the voices came alive. He tries his best, but over so long a trek, it's hard to make this material exciting enough
Did The Greenlanders inspire you to do anything?
To find out more about the real Viking and later Norse contexts, as Jesse Byock has shown in Iceland. It also led me to seek out Neil Gaiman's retelling of Norse myth, a subject I knew nearly nothing about. So, while the tale itself lagged, the medievalist in me found inspiration.
Any additional comments?
Smiley tried in "Ten Days in the Hills" to retell Boccaccio's "Decameron." She did not succeed, but she at least has the legacy of a medieval literature Ph.D. to give her ideas. I read her big book about ways of looking at fiction similarly. She never draws me in, however.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Forest Brooder
- 04-10-23
A heartfelt & human examination of lost history
Written masterfully with the cadence and matter-of-fact stanzas of old Norse sagas, yet endearing of its characters and their small, bleak lives. Their struggles and victories brighten and humanize what’s largely a blind spot in history.
These norsemen colonized Greenland before the arrival of the Inuit, discovered America long before Columbus, and lived hard lives in Greenland for centuries only to disappear from history with hardly a trace.
Jane Smiley is a gifted storyteller to have written so finely researched and stylized saga of these lost people.
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- S. M.
- 12-11-22
Special story on an unusual topic
This is not a topic one hears about often, and the author has done a fine job of making Norse Greenland come alive.
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- Diane
- 07-18-22
Sleep inducing
This story lacked depth and came across as a repetitive listing of chronological events. I couldn’t finish it
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- Patti W
- 03-03-18
Very dissapointing
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
I started listening to this but it has been written in an old style, and it is like listening to an old priest read from the old testament without any emotion at all. The history of the Greenlanders is such an interesting one, and I did think that it may pick up a bit, but 27 hours of listening is too much. Even for me. I traditionally listen to books while in my studio painting, and find I can listen to almost anything, especially rather dry and overwhelmingly long books, as the story keeps my mind occupied while I work. But this didnt do that for me at all. Listeners who appreciate old testament style writing may love it. I switched over to The Story of the Volsungs, which is the same story but has been delivered in a more interesting manner.
What was most disappointing about Jane Smiley’s story?
The language and style of writing
How could the performance have been better?
More emotion and excitment
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