
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
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Narrated by:
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Mozhan Navabi
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By:
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Nadia Hashimi
About this listen
Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi's literary debut novel is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.
In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. As a son, she can attend school, go to the market, and chaperone her older sisters.
But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-great grandmother, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way.
Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl the Broke Its Shell interweaves the tales of these two women separated by a century who share similar destinies. But what will happen once Rahima is of marriageable age? Will Shekiba always live as a man? And if Rahima cannot adapt to life as a bride, how will she survive?
©2014 Nadia Hashimi (P)2024 William Morrow PaperbacksListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Irma Joubert
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Persomi is young, white, and poor, born the middle child of illiterate sharecroppers on the prosperous Fourie farm in the South African Bushveld. Persomi’s world is extraordinarily small. She has never been to the local village and spends her days absorbed in the rhythms of the natural world around her, escaping the brutality and squalor of her family home through the newspapers and books passed down to her from the main house and through her walks in the nearby mountains.
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Mostly Just Tedious and Ploding
- By Regina on 12-15-20
By: Irma Joubert
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Sons of Blackbird Mountain
- By: Joanne Bischof
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After the tragic death of her husband, Aven Norgaard is beckoned to give up her life in Norway to become a housekeeper in the rugged hills of 19th century Appalachia. Upon arrival, she finds herself in the home of her late husband’s cousins - three brothers who make a living by brewing hard cider on their 300-acre farm. Yet even as a stranger in a foreign land, Aven has hope to build a new life in this tight-knit family. But her unassuming beauty disrupts the bond between the brothers.
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Most eloquently written book ever!!!
- By Pandy on 05-06-19
By: Joanne Bischof
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As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
- By: Zoulfa Katouh
- Narrated by: Rasha Zamamiri
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager’s life. Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion.
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Tell me something good
- By Michel on 02-11-24
By: Zoulfa Katouh
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Sparks Like Stars
- A Novel
- By: Nadia Hashimi
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Kabul, 1978: The daughter of a prominent family, Sitara Zamani lives a privileged life in Afghanistan’s thriving cosmopolitan capital. The 1970s are a time of remarkable promise under the leadership of people like Sardar Daoud, Afghanistan’s progressive president, and Sitara’s beloved father, his right-hand man. But the ten-year-old Sitara’s world is shattered when communists stage a coup, assassinating the president and Sitara’s entire family. Only she survives.
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Amazing
- By Lisa on 03-26-21
By: Nadia Hashimi
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The Sweet Smell of Magnolias and Memories
- By: Celeste Fletcher McHale
- Narrated by: Nan Kelley
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Jacey and Colin shared the three most intense days of their lives together, waiting for help as Mississippi floodwaters surrounded them. Jacey knew Colin was the love of her life - until her rescue boat went underwater along with Colin's last name and pieces of Jacey's memory. The last thing she remembered was being submerged in water. Again.
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I'm Praying For A Book 2.
- By Loyia T. Lopez on 06-12-18
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The Family Morfawitz
- By: Daniel H. Turtel
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Hadassah Morfawitz flees Nazi Germany with her siblings and arrives in New York, she is determined to turn the city into her own Mount Olympus—at any cost. In choosing orphaned concentration camp survivor Zev Kretinberg as her husband and accomplice—ensuring his loyalty with the promise of riches and the burial of a dark past—she begins a ruthless journey toward the upper echelons of Park Avenue synagogue society.
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BRILLIANT FROM EVERY PERSPECTIVE
- By Scentart on 09-25-23
By: Daniel H. Turtel
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The Pearl That Broke Its Shell (Indonesian Edition)
- By: Nadia Hashimi, Endang Sulistyowati - translator
- Narrated by: Ajeng Atmakusumah
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Sebagai perempuan di negara yang menjunjung tinggi patriarki, hak Rahma dan keempat saudarinya sangat dibatasi. Bagi perempuan Afganistan, pendidikan dan kebebasan hanyalah angan-angan. Tanpa lahirmya seorang putra di dalam keluarganya, peran Rahma berganti menjadi anak lelaki—merupakan sebuah tradisi yang disebut bacha posh. Rahima pun berhal untuk sekolah dan merasakan dunia di luar rumahnya. Akan tetapi, itu hanya sampai ia dinikahkan.
By: Nadia Hashimi, and others
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The Sweetness of Water (Oprah’s Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Nathan Harris
- Narrated by: William DeMeritt
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys. Equal parts beauty and terror, The Sweetness of Water is an epic whose grandeur locates humanity and love amid the most harrowing circumstances.
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Masterful storytelling and an exceptional audio performance
- By Pamela on 06-18-21
By: Nathan Harris
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Ashes
- A WW2 historical fiction inspired by true events. A story of friendship, war and courage.
- By: Christopher de Vinck
- Narrated by: Laura Kirman
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Belgium, July 1939: Simone Lyon is the daughter of a Belgium national hero, the famous General Joseph Lyon. Her best friend Hava Daniels, is the eldest daughter of a devout Jewish family. Despite growing up in different worlds, they are inseparable. But when, in the spring of 1940, Nazi planes and tanks begin bombing Brussels, their resilience and strength are tested. Hava and Simone find themselves caught in the advancing onslaught and are forced to flee.
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The good and bad of this novel in MY opinion
- By paula wright on 08-22-20
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The Adult
- By: Bronwyn Fischer
- Narrated by: Emma Love
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Eighteen-year-old Natalie has just arrived at her first year of university in Toronto, leaving her remote, forested hometown for the big, impersonal city. Everyone she encounters seems to know exactly who they are. She reads advice listicles and watches videos online and thinks about how to fit in, how to really become someone, whoever that might be. And then she meets Nora, an older woman who takes an unexpected interest in her, and is drawn unstoppably into Nora’s orbit.
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Need part 2
- By Ritali03 on 06-09-23
By: Bronwyn Fischer
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Kinfolk
- A Novel
- By: Sean Dietrich
- Narrated by: Sean Dietrich
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
1970s, Southern Alabama. Sixty-two-year-old Jeremiah Lewis Taylor, or “Nub,” has spent his whole life listening to those he loves tell him he’s no good—first his ex-wife, now his always-disapproving daughter. Sure, his escapades have made him, along with his cousin and perennial sidekick, Benny, just a smidge too familiar with small-town law enforcement, but he’s never harmed anyone—except perhaps himself.
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The most beautifully written book I have ever read
- By Kindle Customer on 04-24-24
By: Sean Dietrich
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Midnight Blue
- A Novel
- By: Simone van der Vlugt
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Following the sudden death of her husband, 25-year-old Catrin leaves her small village and takes a job as a housekeeper to the successful Van Nulandt merchant family. Amsterdam is a city at the peak of its powers: Science and art are flourishing in the Golden Age, and Dutch ships bring back exotic riches from the Far East. Madam Van Nulandt passes her time taking expensive painting lessons from a local master, Rembrandt van Rigin....
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Beach or trip read
- By CSL on 07-17-23
Incredible story, incredible narration
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I rarely read but I read this and listened to it twice now:)
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beautiful story
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strength and heartbreak
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Beautiful story of triumph
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Being a woman born in America is a lottery win like no other
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An insight into the lives of Afghan women
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The miserable lives of Afghan women
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It was difficult to listen to at times but I had to remind myself that this is how things used to be and continue to be for many women living in oppressive regimes. The narration was well done. The storyline was interesting.
A tale as old as time…but filled with hope
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Amazing Afghan women
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