The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
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Narrated by:
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Adenrele Ojo
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Bahni Turpin
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Adam Lazarre-White
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By:
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Ayana Mathis
About this listen
A debut of extraordinary distinction: through the trials of one unforgettable family, Ayana Mathis tells the story of the children of the Great Migration, a story of love and bitterness and the promise of a new America.
In 1923, 15-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia, hoping for a chance at a better life. Instead, she marries a man who will bring her nothing but disappointment and watches helplessly as her firstborn twins succumb to an illness a few pennies could have prevented. Hattie gives birth to nine more children, whom she raises with grit and mettle and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave. She vows to prepare them for the calamitous difficulty they are sure to face in their later lives, to meet a world that will not love them.
Captured here in 12 luminous narrative threads, their lives tell the story of a mother’s monumental courage and the journey of a nation. Beautiful and devastating, Ayana Mathis’s The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is glorious, harrowing, unexpectedly uplifting, and blazing with life.
©2013 Ayana Mathis (P)2013 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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The underground mine fires ravaging Pennsylvania coal country have forced 11-year-old Brigid Howley and her family to seek refuge with her estranged grandparents, the formidable Gram and the black lung-stricken Gramp. Tragedy is no stranger to the Howleys, a proud Irish-American clan who takes strange pleasure in the "curse" laid upon them generations earlier by a priest who ran afoul of the Molly Maguires. The weight of this legacy rests heavily on a new generation, when Brigid, already struggling to keep her family together, makes a grisly discovery in a long-abandoned bootleg mine shaft.
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Disfunction makes a good read
- By NHull on 05-30-14
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Trading Dreams at Midnight
- By: Diane McKinney-Whetstone
- Narrated by: Shari Peele
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Diane McKinney-Whetstone, the award-winning and best-selling author of Tumbling, presents Trading Dreams at Midnight - - an Essence Book Club Recommended Read. Back in 1984, 15-year-old Neena's mother left and never came back. And now Neena is following in her footsteps.
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Hard to follow
- By Nevada on 08-13-10
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The Plague of Doves
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James, Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The unsolved murder of a farm family haunts the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for this crime and the subsequent distortions of truth transform the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation and shape the passions of both communities for the next generation.
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Avoid this Plague
- By Andre on 05-16-08
By: Louise Erdrich
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This Side of the Sky
- By: Elyse Singleton
- Narrated by: Myra Taylor, Sharon Washington, Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Award-winning journalist Elyse Singleton delivers what Essence calls “a gem - the perfect book to curl up with.”
Best friends Lilian and Myraleen, two African American women from rural Mississippi, travel to Europe during World War II to act as members of the Women’s Army Corps. During this time of segregation and destruction, both women discover love and heartbreak, triumph and defeat.
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A Breath of Fresh Air
- By Adina Andreu on 07-19-12
By: Elyse Singleton
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The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
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My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
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Sula
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Nel and Sula's devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.
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Good against evil and a riotous story to boot
- By Karen on 04-11-11
By: Toni Morrison
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
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Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
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The Lost Girls
- A Novel
- By: Heather Young
- Narrated by: Alice Rosengard, Laurel Schroeder
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family's vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys the family - her father commits suicide, and her mother and two older sisters spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, keeping a decades-long vigil for the lost child. Sixty years later, Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before her death, she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person who might care: her grandniece, Justine.
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Engaging story spanning three generations.
- By LilMissMolly on 09-23-16
By: Heather Young
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The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
- By: Leslye Walton
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga. Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender.
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Beautiful and Haunting Fairytale
- By FanB14 on 07-24-15
By: Leslye Walton
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The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove
- A Novel
- By: Susan Gregg Gilmore
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Bezellia Grove was born into the most prominent of Nashville families, but that didn’t stop her from having an alcoholic mother and a distant, adulterous father. Her nanny, Maizelle, and Nathaniel, the handyman, are the people who have taken care of her since she can remember. She considers them family, but her parents just consider them servants because they are Black. When Bezellia has a clandestine romance with Nathaniel's son, Whites and Blacks unite in fury at the young couple.
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light southern fiction
- By suzanne on 02-08-13
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The Last Ballad
- A Novel
- By: Wiley Cash
- Narrated by: Karen White, Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Twelve times a week, 28-year-old Ella May Wiggins makes the two-mile trek to and from her job on the night shift at American Mill No. Two in Bessemer City, North Carolina. The insular community considers the mill's owners - the newly arrived Goldberg brothers - white but not American and expects them to pay Ella May and other workers less because they toil alongside African Americans like Violet, Ella May's best friend. While the dirty, hazardous job at the mill earns Ella May a paltry nine dollars for 72 hours of work each week, it's the only opportunity she has.
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Dryer than a popcorn fart
- By Scott Wilson on 02-11-18
By: Wiley Cash
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Jefferson is an innocent and unwitting party to a deadly liquor store shoot-out in the 1940s. As the only survivor, he is tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, a university-trained teacher at the plantation school, is persuaded to visit Jefferson in his cell. Wiggins is torn between staying in his native Cajun community or moving on. The 2 men gradually form a bond as they jointly discover the simple heroism of resisting - and denying - the expected.
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It Enters Your Soul
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Gap Creek
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Young Julie Harmon works "hard as a man", they say, so hard that at times she's not sure she can stop. People depend on her to slaughter the hogs and nurse the dying. People are weak, and there is so much to do. At just 17 she marries and moves down into the valley of Gap Creek, where perhaps life will be better. But Julie and Hank's new life in the valley, in the last years of the 19th century, is more complicated than the couple ever imagined.
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GAP creek Review
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River Sing Me Home
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.
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Good debut.. with a few quarrels in my opinion
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The Deep End of the Ocean
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Overall
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Performance
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Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmare - the disappearance of a child - as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch listeners' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.
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Great reading, but way too much cut out
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What listeners say about The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Suzn F
- 12-14-12
Hattie and her Family Tragically Flawed
Hattie bore eleven children. In the death of her first two, twins, Hattie becomes a shell of a woman. She is a victim of circumstance, from the times, from her relationships and from herself. Her husband August can't or won't be the man she needs yet he was the one person who shined with love, passion and tenderness toward the children.
The writing was superb; the twining of the twelve tales worked. I felt the ending abrupt and a bit disappointing.And I am so glad to have experienced this book.
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34 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Wendy
- 03-04-13
Beautiful Reading
If you could sum up The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Oprah's Book Club 2.0) in three words, what would they be?
Engaging Beautiful Sad
What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I loved hearing the narrator read the accents that sound like home (I live far away now). Her voice is beautiful and easy to listen to.
Any additional comments?
Recommend
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Overall
- Pretty
- 01-21-15
Truly a Joy
The book made me feel warm like hot tea and cool like cool glass of water all at the same time. The writing kept me engaged, very visual writing. I definitely recommend giving it a chance.
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Performance
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Story
- Kharma
- 10-30-13
Great Narration, Good Story
What made the experience of listening to The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Oprah's Book Club 2.0) the most enjoyable?
The narration was on point. I could really get into the story and loved the way the narrator was able to move in and out of the period dialect and tone.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No. I actually liked the way it was broken up into short stories that were eventually strung together
Any additional comments?
The book did not leave me completely satisfied in the end. I felt the last quarter of the book were a bit rush and maybe not as well laid out as others.
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Story
- Lydia G.
- 07-08-20
amazing tale of transformation
such a lovely tale of how one mom is transformed through her children. must read
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Lee
- 05-31-14
The core of what it is to be human
What did you love best about The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Oprah's Book Club 2.0)?
This book gets at the core of what it is to be human. Yes, it is about the Great Migration, but it is about love, loss, regret, hope and so many other more subtle emotional aspects of the human psyche and heart. I was amazed by this author's ability to evoke so many different emotions in me. It was a wonderful intertwined tale that I will recommend to others. Thank you, Oprah, for recommending this one. Absolutely fabulous.
What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
The narrators were all wonderful.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Too many to detail.
Any additional comments?
Read this book!
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Christine
- 05-10-15
Painfully riveting
This is the truth about motherhood. Hattie's love for her children is evident in the sacrifices that she makes for them and the unconditional love that she shows to them. What a great story. Most of us have many Mother's and grandmother's like this.
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- Danee C Jones-Mitchell
- 02-14-13
Felt each character!
What made the experience of listening to The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Oprah's Book Club 2.0) the most enjoyable?
I enjoyed the brief yet extensive visit with each character. Although set in a particular time period, the characterizations, situations, and reactions were timeless. I cared about each one of character because I understood them.
What did you like best about this story?
I loved that I had an opportunity to get to know Hattie and her husband first. Also the all the complexities of the "why's" that created the "who" that drove the "what" were not made evident all at once. I understood her and them little by little through relationship (which shape us all).
Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Adenrele and Bahni are my favorites and this performance was stellar (as expected!)
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I listen as I drive.
Any additional comments?
I wanted the ending to wrap up differently although I was not disappointed.
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- Susan Davis
- 03-11-13
Loved the story
Where does The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Oprah's Book Club 2.0) rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
As far as the content of the book, I loved it. I found the reader quite distracting to the story, however.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Hattie was the centerpiece, but I found her husband to be the most interesting. It was fascinating to see his perspective on their life and marriage in contrast to her's.
How could the performance have been better?
The reader had very awkward timing and phrasing. It wasn't smooth and consistent. She did well on dialogue, but the narrative was disjointed at times. The male reader was excellent. He had a magnificent voice and was absolutely believable.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No. It was easy to listen in chapters.
Any additional comments?
Very seldom does a book make me cry, but this one really touched my heart. The author caught the emotion and drama of a struggling family with too many mouths to feed and too few resources. It's also a solidifies the fact that even imperfect parents can be loved by their children. A wonderful book.
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- Sterling Splendor
- 06-12-13
Another disappointing Oprah recommendation -
I generally don't like Oprah's recommendations. But this one came highly recommended, so I gave it a try. The narration was great. Very well done. The book may have been well-written, but was really a series short stories about people at perhaps the most miserable stages of their lives. The book was about Hattie's children, but I never really got a sense of them as a family, since each story was self-contained. Unless you're a true devotee of Oprah's recommendations, I wouldn't suggest this as a read for anyone.
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