The Kurdish Bike: A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Alesa Lightbourne
About this listen
Gold Medal: Best Regional Fiction e-Book, Independent Publishers Book Awards 2017
First Place: Best Fiction of 2017, North Street Book Contest
With her marriage over and life gone flat, Theresa Turner responds to an online ad and lands at a school in Kurdish Iraq. Befriended by a widow in a nearby village, Theresa is embroiled in the joys and agonies of traditional Kurds, especially the women who survived Saddam's genocide only to be crippled by age-old restrictions, brutality, and honor killings.
Theresa's greatest challenge will be balancing respect for cultural values while trying to introduce more enlightened attitudes toward women - at the same time seeking new spiritual dimensions within herself.
The Kurdish Bike is gripping, tender, wry, and compassionate - an eye-opener into little known customs in one of the world's most explosive regions - a novel of love, betrayal, and redemption.
©2016 Alesa M. Lightbourne (P)2018 Alesa LightbourneListeners also enjoyed...
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Hum If You Don't Know the Words
- By: Bianca Marais
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a 10-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred...until the Soweto Uprising.
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Completely wrong accents
- By Debbie on 02-12-22
By: Bianca Marais
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In the Country
- Stories
- By: Mia Alvar
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Don Castro
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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These nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles, emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines to begin new lives in the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere - and sometimes turning back again.
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My introduction to Filipino literature and culture
- By Amazon Customer on 03-28-16
By: Mia Alvar
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The Wangs vs. the World
- By: Jade Chang
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Charles Wang is mad at America. A brash, lovable immigrant businessman who built a cosmetics empire and made a fortune, he's just been ruined by the financial crisis. Now all Charles wants is to get his kids safely stowed away so that he can go to China and attempt to reclaim his family's ancestral lands - and his pride. Outrageously funny and full of charm, The Wangs vs. the World is an entirely fresh look at what it means to belong in America - and how going from glorious riches to (still name-brand) rags brings one family together in a way money never could.
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Spectacular
- By Barbara on 10-11-16
By: Jade Chang
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Table for Five
- By: Susan Wiggs
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Lily Robinson and Sean McGuire have nothing in common. She guards her independent lifestyle with a ferocity that hides a fear of love and the pain it can bring. He’s always been a rolling stone, making his own way. But with the sudden deaths of a couple close to them both, the two become joined in grief and a knowledge that they must step up and care for the three orphaned children. With little more than hope and dedication, these five embark on a cross-country road trip filled with the ups and downs, the joys and frustrations that make up a family.
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Ok if you’re in the mood for women’s fiction
- By Jane on 02-18-13
By: Susan Wiggs
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Magnolia Wednesdays
- By: Wendy Wax
- Narrated by: Käthe Mazur
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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At 41, Vivian Armstrong Gray's life as an investigative journalist is crumbling. Humiliated after taking a bullet in her backside during an exposé, Vivi learns that she's pregnant, jobless, and very hormonal. This explains why she says "yes" to a dreadful job covering suburban living back home in Georgia, a column she must write incognito. Down South, it's her sister's ballroom dance studio that becomes her undercover spot where she learns about the local life - and where unexpected friendships develop.
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Painful. And not in a good way.
- By Kate on 01-24-13
By: Wendy Wax
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Veil of Roses
- By: Laura Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Tamila Soroush wanted it all. But in the Islamic Republic of Iran, dreams are a dangerous thing for a girl. Tami abandons them…until her twenty-seventh birthday, when her parents give her a one-way ticket to America, hoping she will “go and wake up her luck.” If they have their way, Tami will never return to Iran…which means she has three months to find a husband in America.
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Rooting for freedom
- By Newman on 07-10-13
By: Laura Fitzgerald
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The Bastard of Istanbul
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In her second novel written in English, Elif Shafak confronts her country's violent past in a vivid and colorful tale set in both Turkey and the United States. At its center is the "bastard" of the title, Asya, a 19-year-old woman who loves Johnny Cash and the French Existentialists, and the four sisters of the Kazanci family who all live together in an extended household in Istanbul.
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A tender gift from far away
- By Barbara on 11-07-07
By: Elif Shafak
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The Wishing Thread
- By: Lisa Van Allen
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The Van Ripper women have been the talk of Tarrytown, New York, for centuries. Some say they're angels; some say they're crooks. In their tumbledown "Stitchery", not far from the stomping grounds of the legendary Headless Horseman, the Van Ripper sisters - Aubrey, Bitty, and Meggie - are said to knit people's most ardent wishes into beautiful scarves and mittens, granting them health, success, or even a blossoming romance. But for the magic to work, sacrifices must be made - and no one knows that better than the Van Rippers.
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Wonderful
- By Angela on 02-22-15
By: Lisa Van Allen
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The Widow of Wall Street
- A Novel
- By: Randy Susan Meyers
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Phoebe has loved Jake Pierce since childhood, and that love continues without hesitation while she watches him create a financial dynasty. But when Phoebe learns that her husband's triumphs are the result of an elaborate Ponzi scheme, her world unravels. Lies underpin her life and marriage. And as Jake's crime is uncovered, the world obsesses over her. Did she know her gilded life was fabricated by fraud?
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Here's a Miracle: Sympathy for Ruth Madoff
- By Godwillen on 05-24-17
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A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
- By: Brigid Pasulka
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years.
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The Old & New Worlds Converge & Transcend Time
- By Sara on 11-22-16
By: Brigid Pasulka
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Good Muslim Boy
- By: Osamah Sami
- Narrated by: Osamah Sami, David Tredinnick
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet Osamah Sami: a schemer, a dreamer and a madcap antihero of spectacular proportions whose terrible life choices keep leading to cataclysmic consequences...despite his best laid plans to be a good Muslim boy. By the age of 13, Osamah had survived the Iran-Iraq war, peddled fireworks and chewing gum on the Iranian black market, proposed 'temporary marriage' not once but three times, and received countless floggings from the Piety Police....
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Funny, heartwarming and one of the best
- By Sylvia Green on 07-26-17
By: Osamah Sami
What listeners say about The Kurdish Bike: A Novel
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- barbara
- 06-04-22
It’s a keeper.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved learning about the Kurdish culture in a very palatable manner. The author is humorous and self-deprecating.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-10-19
A dive into Kurdish culture from American woman’s perspective.
I really enjoy learning about culture and history different than my own. I’ve learned as a white 60 something woman that it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to immerse myself into other cultures, so literature and film is the next best thing.
This is a story about expatriate teachers in Kurdistan. The protagonist forms a family like relationship with a traditional Kurdish family.
This book felt authentic, realistically describing humanity in our similarities and perceived extreme differences.
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- Shoppermom
- 10-06-18
An interesting look at a world unknown to many.
I listened to this story in the midst of an upsetting week, political-news wise, so I found the tale (which has subplots devoted to the continued prevalence of female genital mutilation) particularly disturbing. No matter what part of the globe one examines (with the possible exception of Scandinavia), huge numbers of men remain determined to control and subdue women through any means possible. The book is narrated by the author, who admits that much of it is semi-biographical, following her own stay among the Iraqi Kurds. While I felt enriched by learning of many of the adventures and experiences recounted, I often questioned the protagonist's choices and judgment. Her exposure to the Kurdish society was made easier by her brash decision to ride around (alone and female) on a bike, and thus there would probably have been no book without that decision. But many of her actions (such as taking hallucinogenic drugs and going out alone to lie under the sky and await wisdom) seemed decidedly ill-advised and poorly conceived (as did her recounted histories with men back home who continued to take advantage of her even while she was half-way around the world). Ms. Lightbourne writes beautifully, and her words were skillfully used to convey moods, settings, and personalities with great immediacy. The narration was at a quicker pace than many professional narrators use, but I find that a plus. The author graciously gifted me a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review, and I'm glad I listened to it. But it certainly didn't serve to brighten my week.
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- SUSAN J.
- 05-29-24
The Kindness of Teachers
I delighted in the author’s adventures not only on her Kurdish bike but also with the Kurdish people and other expats. Her humanity and kindness shown through her experiences. She was a wonderful Ambassador for America.
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- janice Brewer
- 12-09-20
Mind Opening Novel
Excellent story comparing women s role in two very different cultures. The author describes the country and it's people through the eyes of an American visitor a little down on her luck and then realized she is the lucky one.
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- Shirley Brown
- 03-06-22
The Kurdish Bike
The writing was very well done. The story was convincing and characters made real through the story.
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- Teresa
- 08-27-19
A Disturbing Tale of Acceptance and Submission
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
The author and narrator Alesa Lightbourne had to have experienced this situation first hand in order to be able to bring to us the often heart-breaking customs and beliefs of a Kurdish village. We certainly cannot claim to be ignorant of that reality. We know it exists and we see every day how women and young girls are abused by that society. It is maybe harder for us to comprehend how women would acquiesce to this status quo. This book simply explains why that is so. It is a look into the minds and souls of a race that has experienced too much grief and terror already and that has learned not to rebel against the inevitable. And yet... there is a little ray of hope for future generations, a hope we should all encourage. Great book and well narrated by the author.
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- HistoryBuff
- 09-25-18
Made me laugh, very entertaining
I was caught somewhere between admiration for this teacher's bravery (traveling to Kurdistan to teach!) and her naivete at certain points in the story (why would she ever think it a good idea to ask middle school students about their experiences under Saddam Hussein?). Mostly I just wish I had been there to see the whole thing- her friendship with Muhammad, the sweet revenge she took on Bernie, even the sad moments with Bezma and others. The ending was brilliant and hilarious. Kudos for a job well done!
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- Sharonia
- 07-07-20
Such a great read (listen) !
This is one of the best new novels I've read in a long time. It has everything a good read should have, interesting writing about a culture of which we know so little, drama, sex, love, wit and fun. And well written. I so admire the main character, a woman full of moxie and chutzpah, and the other characters in the book as well. Completely believable. The reader was excellent, a beautiful voice, so clear. I couldn't wait to keep listening and my book club agrees. We will have fun discussing this one.
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- kimberly barry
- 10-04-20
Blue Angel
Although the production of this book is not as Hollywood as some audible books the story is rich with meaning.
Much of the plight of the Kurdish women is untold. And This book sparks a curiosity to learn more of the history that much of the world has turned its back on.
The characters are real and authentic. The story telling is detailed and honest. This book would make for very good bookclub conversation and debate. Alesa has a way with words and her ability to share life experiences in a true and authentic way is wonderful.
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