
The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree
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Narrated by:
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Matt Godfrey
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Laura Jennings
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Zura Johnson
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By:
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India Hayford
About this listen
Disguised by a name she found on a tombstone and accompanying a Vietnam vet she met in a graveyard, an unconventional young snake-handler who talks to the dead returns to the ghosts of her childhood home in 1967 Arkansas ...
Fans of Delia Owens, Barbara Kingsolver, Kelly Mustian, and Quinn Connor will be captivated by this haunting Southern debut about found family, folk magic, the long shadow of trauma, the salvation of human connection, and the transcendent beauty of nature.
Genevieve Charbonneau talks to ghosts and has a special relationship with rattlesnakes. In her travels, she’s wandered throughout the South, escaping a mental hospital in Alabama, working for a Louisiana circus, and dancing at a hoochy-kootch in Texas. Now for the first time in a decade, she’s allowed her winding path to bring her to the site of her grandmother’s Arkansas farmhouse, a place hallowed in her memory.
She intends only to visit briefly—to pay respects to her buried loved ones and leave. But a chance meeting with a haunted young Vietnam vet reconnects her with the remnants of a family she thought long gone, and their union becomes a catalyst for change and salvation. An abused woman and her daughters develop the courage to fight back, a ghost finds the path away from life, and a sanctimonious predator becomes the prey. In the process, Genevieve must choose between her longing for meaningful connection after years as an outsider and her equally excruciating impulse to run.
Written by a naturalist and set on the land where her family roots stretch back two centuries, The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree is a haunting story about letting go and the things we leave behind, the power of names, and the ties that bind. It is both harrowing and triumphant, a visceral Southern debut as otherworldly and beautiful as it is unflinching and wry.
*A Publishers Marketplace BUZZ BOOKS Selection*
"Set in rural Arkansas in 1967, India Hayford's evocative and beautifully crafted tale is infused with magical realism and dark humor. This powerful narrative of belonging and the unexpected gifts and challenges of finding one’s place in the world is a mesmerizing read that will leave you pondering the interplay of fate and free will. It's a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the enduring quest for home."—Susan Wiggs, # 1 New York Times bestselling author
©2025 India S.C. Hayford (P)2025 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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- A Novel
- By: Boris Fishman
- Narrated by: Youssif Kamal
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Susanna, George, and their eight-year-old daughter, Dina, have been lucky, so far, in these four years since war broke out in their country. Even as their fellow "minority-sect" neighbors and classmates are murdered or imprisoned, George’s loyal work teaching "dominant-sect" literature has kept them fed and protected. But then the day comes: the university fires George—despite his years of collaboration, he is no longer safe. Left without money or allies, it is time for the family to run.
By: Boris Fishman
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I Would Die for You
- A Novel
- By: Sandie Jones
- Narrated by: Imogen Wilde
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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California, 2011: Nicole Forbes lives a quiet life in the small seaside town of Coronado with her husband and daughter. She is not expecting a writer to knock on her door asking for her personal insight into the downfall of the biggest British band of the 1980s—unveiling the threads of a life she left behind years ago. The same day, her daughter goes missing and the school claims her aunt picked her up . . . but she doesn’t have an aunt. Convinced of a link between the two, Nicole is forced to revisit long-abandoned memories from her past to protect everything she now holds dear.
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It’s bad
- By STLGIRL on 05-21-25
By: Sandie Jones
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The Undoing of Violet Claybourne
- A Novel
- By: Emily Critchley
- Narrated by: Nathalie Buscombe
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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1999: When successful writer Gillian Larking receives a letter from the nephew of an old friend, she knows that her past has finally caught up with her. Violet Claybourne, her old boarding school roommate, was a girl who captivated Gillian with stories of her charming sisters and their picturesque home at Thornleigh Hall. Violet Claybourne pulled Gillian into her life, into her family, and changed Gilly's path forever. Violet Claybourne also spent the past sixty years in a psych hospital, and now she wants Gillian to tell her story. The real story.
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Boring and convoluted
- By Linda Roberts on 05-27-25
By: Emily Critchley
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Theory & Practice
- By: Michelle de Kretser
- Narrated by: Melissa Madden Gray
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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It's 1986, and "beautiful, radical ideas" are in the air. The narrator of Theory & Practice, a young woman originally from Sri Lanka, arrives in Melbourne for graduate school to research the novels of Virginia Woolf. In the bohemian neighborhood of St. Kilda she meets artists, activists, students—and Kit. He claims to be in a "deconstructed relationship." They become lovers, and the narrator's feminism comes up against her jealousy. Meanwhile, an entry in Woolf's diary upends what the narrator knows about her literary idol, and throws her own work into disarray.
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The Library of Lost Dollhouses
- A Novel
- By: Elise Hooper
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Tildy Barrows, Head Curator of a beautiful archival library in San Francisco, is meticulously dedicated to the century’s worth of inventory housed in her beloved Beaux Art building. She loves the calm and order in the shelves of books and walls of art. But Tildy’s life takes an unexpected turn when she, first, learns the library is on the verge of bankruptcy and, second, discovers two exquisite never-before-seen dollhouses.
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Delightful and captivating novel
- By Kerozelvin on 04-06-25
By: Elise Hooper
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None Left to Tell
- By: Noelle Ihli
- Narrated by: Lisa Cordileone
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Lucy is sick of turning the other cheek. Ten years ago, an anti-Mormon mob drove her family and friends from their homes in Illinois. But now, the tables have turned. Rumor has it, some of those same men are traveling through Utah on their way to California. And this time, Lucy won’t run. Katrina knew the trek west would be difficult. But she had no idea she’d be walking straight into hell. The young mother of four is prepared to do whatever it takes to protect her family from the violence closing in, but the battle to survive will be more harrowing than anything she can imagine.
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Heartbreaking History
- By jessi on 05-07-25
By: Noelle Ihli
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Saltwater
- A Novel
- By: Katy Hays
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan, Cassandra Campbell, Carlotta Brentan
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1992, Sarah Lingate is found dead below the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Despite suspicions that the old-money Lingates are involved, Sarah’s death is ruled an accident. And every year, the family returns to prove it’s true. But on the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah’s death, the Lingates arrive at the villa to find a surprise waiting for them—the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died.
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Entertained
- By Hannah Chiet on 04-08-25
By: Katy Hays
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Open, Heaven
- A Novel
- By: Seán Hewitt
- Narrated by: Sebastian Croft
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Set in a remote village in the north of England, Open, Heaven unfolds over the course of one year in which two teenage boys meet and transform each other’s lives. James—a sheltered, shy sixteen-year-old—is alone in his newly discovered sexuality, full of an unruly desire but entirely inexperienced. As he is beginning to understand himself and his longings, he also realizes how his feelings threaten to separate him from his family and the rural community he has grown up in. He dreams of another life, fantasizing about what lies beyond the village’s leaf-ribboned boundaries.
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What a writer!
- By Russ on 06-03-25
By: Seán Hewitt
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Counting Backwards
- By: Binnie Kirshenbaum
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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It begins with hallucinations. From their living room window, Leo sees a man on stilts, an acting troupe, a pair of swans paddling on the Manhattan streets below. Initially, Leo believes the visions are related to his terrible eyesight, something he and his wife, Addie, joke about. Then, he starts to experience occasional, but fleeting, oddities. He's unable to perform simple tasks and he hears things that aren’t real. The doctors have no answers, and his erratic disturbances multiply.
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Sharing the journey of losing a husband to young onset Lewy Body Dementia
- By Elliott Greene on 04-19-25
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Happy Land
- By: Dolen Perkins-Valdez
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Ashley J. Hobbs
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Nikki hasn’t seen her grandmother in years. So when the elder calls out of the blue with an urgent request for Nikki to visit her in the hills of western North Carolina, Nikki hesitates only for a moment. After years of silence in her family, due to a mysterious estrangement between her mother and grandmother, she’s determined to learn the truth while she still can. But instead of answers about the recent past, Mother Rita tells Nikki an incredible story of a kingdom on this very mountain, and of her great-great-great grandmother, Luella, who would become its queen.
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Relatable
- By kathy w. on 05-24-25
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The Book of M
- A Novel
- By: Peng Shepherd
- Narrated by: James Fouhey, Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears - an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories. Ory and his wife, Max, have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day, Max’s shadow disappears, too.
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It was ok
- By Fatima on 12-04-19
By: Peng Shepherd
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I See You've Called in Dead
- A Novel
- By: John Kenney
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting” man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living.
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wonderful book. Comic edge but full of heart
- By Amazon Customer on 04-10-25
By: John Kenney
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The Wandering Season
- A Novel
- By: Aimie K. Runyan
- Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Veronica Stratton, a specialty food broker with a business on the cusp of brilliant success that would change the trajectory of her life, visits her parents in idyllic Estes Park for Christmas. She's fresh from a breakup with her longtime boyfriend, so she's eager to reconnect with her beloved family in the mountains and forget about her troubles for a few days. But with the holiday comes a DNA test from her younger sister that confirms her secret suspicions: she's adopted. Having the truth out in the open leaves her feeling unmoored in ways she didn't anticipate.
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A miss from an otherwise good author
- By Hillary J. Wucherer on 05-16-25
By: Aimie K. Runyan