
The Underground Library
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.25
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fenella Woolgar
-
By:
-
Jennifer Ryan
About this listen
When the Blitz imperils the heart of a London neighborhood, three young women must use their fighting spirit to save the community’s beloved library in this novel based on true events from the author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir.
When the new deputy librarian, Juliet Lansdown, finds that Bethnal Green Library isn’t the bustling hub she is expecting, she becomes determined to breathe life back into it. But can she show the men in charge that a woman is up to the task of running the library, especially when a confrontation with her past threatens to derail her?
Katie Upwood is thrilled to be working at the library, although she is only there until she heads off to university in the fall. But after the death of her beau on the front line and amid tumultuous family strife, she finds herself harboring a life-changing secret with no one to turn to for help.
Sofie Baumann, a young Jewish refugee, came to London on a domestic service visa only to find herself working as a maid for a man who treats her abominably. She escapes to the library every chance she can, finding friendship in the literary community and aid in finding her sister, who is still trying to flee occupied Europe.
When a slew of bombs destroys the library, Juliet relocates the stacks to the local Underground station where the city’s residents shelter nightly, determined to lend out stories that will keep spirits up. But tragedy after tragedy threatens to unmoor the women and sever the ties of their community. Will Juliet, Kate, and Sofie be able to overcome their own troubles to save the library? Or will the beating heart of their neighborhood be lost forever?
©2024 Jennifer Ryan (P)2024 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Spies of Shilling Lane
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mrs. Braithwaite, self-appointed queen of her English village, finds herself dethroned, despised, and dismissed following her husband’s selfish divorce petition. Never deterred, the threat of a family secret being revealed sets off hot-foot to London to find the only person she has left - her clever daughter, Betty, who took work there at the first rumbles of war. But when she arrives, Betty’s landlord, the timid Mr. Norris, informs her that Betty hasn’t been home in days - with the chaos of the bombs, there’s no telling what might have befallen her.
-
-
Loved It!!
- By Jomo on 06-20-19
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After renowned fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the London Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. Praying that her niece and nephew will be more hospitable than her brother had been, she arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business while staying in a quaint country village.
-
-
Delightful historical fiction
- By Kindle Customer on 01-01-23
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Gabrielle Glaister, Laura Kirman, Imogen Wilde, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As England enters World War II's dark early days, spirited music professor Primrose Trent, recently arrived to the village of Chilbury, emboldens the women of the town to defy the Vicar's stuffy edict to shutter the church's choir in the absence of men and instead carry on singing. Resurrecting themselves as The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, the women of this small village soon use their joint song to lift up themselves and the community as the war tears through their lives.
-
-
A Romance
- By Sara on 04-17-17
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Booklover's Library
- By: Madeline Martin
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.
-
-
excellent & historically accurate.
- By Kindle Customer on 10-19-24
By: Madeline Martin
-
The Resistance Bakery
- By: Siobhan Curham
- Narrated by: Lauryn Allman
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paris, 1943. The scent of fresh baguettes hangs in the air as Coralie unbolts the door to her bakery with trembling fingers. She must get out of the city. Hiding her precious leather recipe book inside her coat, she promises never to let the secret locations of the people she worked tirelessly to save fall into German hands… Present day. Raven is unhappy about being shipped off to the other side of the country for the summer to stay with the mysterious French grandmother she barely knows.
-
-
One of the best!!!
- By NICK J. on 02-08-25
By: Siobhan Curham
-
The All-American
- By: Susie Finkbeiner
- Narrated by: Sandy Rustin, Andrea Emmes
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1952, and nearly all the girls 16-year-old Bertha Harding knows dream of getting married, keeping house, and raising children in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. Bertha dreams of baseball. She reads every story in the sports section, she plays ball with the neighborhood boys—she even writes letters to the pitcher for the Workington Sweet Peas, part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
-
-
Fantastic 1950’s fiction!
- By Melissas Bookshelf on 07-28-23
By: Susie Finkbeiner
-
The Spies of Shilling Lane
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mrs. Braithwaite, self-appointed queen of her English village, finds herself dethroned, despised, and dismissed following her husband’s selfish divorce petition. Never deterred, the threat of a family secret being revealed sets off hot-foot to London to find the only person she has left - her clever daughter, Betty, who took work there at the first rumbles of war. But when she arrives, Betty’s landlord, the timid Mr. Norris, informs her that Betty hasn’t been home in days - with the chaos of the bombs, there’s no telling what might have befallen her.
-
-
Loved It!!
- By Jomo on 06-20-19
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After renowned fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the London Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. Praying that her niece and nephew will be more hospitable than her brother had been, she arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business while staying in a quaint country village.
-
-
Delightful historical fiction
- By Kindle Customer on 01-01-23
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Gabrielle Glaister, Laura Kirman, Imogen Wilde, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As England enters World War II's dark early days, spirited music professor Primrose Trent, recently arrived to the village of Chilbury, emboldens the women of the town to defy the Vicar's stuffy edict to shutter the church's choir in the absence of men and instead carry on singing. Resurrecting themselves as The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, the women of this small village soon use their joint song to lift up themselves and the community as the war tears through their lives.
-
-
A Romance
- By Sara on 04-17-17
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
The Booklover's Library
- By: Madeline Martin
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.
-
-
excellent & historically accurate.
- By Kindle Customer on 10-19-24
By: Madeline Martin
-
The Resistance Bakery
- By: Siobhan Curham
- Narrated by: Lauryn Allman
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paris, 1943. The scent of fresh baguettes hangs in the air as Coralie unbolts the door to her bakery with trembling fingers. She must get out of the city. Hiding her precious leather recipe book inside her coat, she promises never to let the secret locations of the people she worked tirelessly to save fall into German hands… Present day. Raven is unhappy about being shipped off to the other side of the country for the summer to stay with the mysterious French grandmother she barely knows.
-
-
One of the best!!!
- By NICK J. on 02-08-25
By: Siobhan Curham
-
The All-American
- By: Susie Finkbeiner
- Narrated by: Sandy Rustin, Andrea Emmes
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1952, and nearly all the girls 16-year-old Bertha Harding knows dream of getting married, keeping house, and raising children in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. Bertha dreams of baseball. She reads every story in the sports section, she plays ball with the neighborhood boys—she even writes letters to the pitcher for the Workington Sweet Peas, part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
-
-
Fantastic 1950’s fiction!
- By Melissas Bookshelf on 07-28-23
By: Susie Finkbeiner
-
Lady Flyer
- By: Heather B. Moore
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the quiet town of Houghton, Michigan, sixteen-year-old Nancy Harkness discovers a passion that ignites her heart in ways she never expected. The arrival of barnstormer pilots brings more than just the thrill of their daring stunts; it brings the promise of adventure. Nancy vows she will be a pilot someday. Years later, as the dark clouds of World War II gather on the horizon, Nancy’s dreams take a new and daring turn. With unwavering determination, she envisions a squadron of female pilots. Yet, her path is far from clear.
-
-
Excellent historical book!
- By sherri e. on 09-24-24
By: Heather B. Moore
-
The Last Light over Oslo
- A Novel
- By: Alix Rickloff
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cleo Jaffray was an American. A war in Europe had nothing to do with her. She told herself that right up until the man she loved went missing in Poland and Cleo was forced to turn to the only person who might be able to help—her aunt Daisy, the US Minister to Norway. Daisy Harriman has never shied away from a challenge, be it canvassing for women’s suffrage or driving Red Cross ambulances in WWI, so as only the second woman ambassador, she is determined to prove the naysayers wrong and succeed in her post.
-
-
History & Great Story Combo
- By Ann on 04-08-25
By: Alix Rickloff
-
The Canary Girls
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Chiaverini
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Early in the Great War, men left Britain’s factories in droves to enlist. Struggling to keep up production, arsenals hired women to build the weapons the military urgently needed. “Be the Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun,” the recruitment posters beckoned. Thousands of women—cooks, maids, shopgirls, and housewives—answered their nation’s call. These “munitionettes” worked grueling shifts often seven days a week, handling TNT and other explosives with little protective gear.
-
-
A Novel Worth Listening To.
- By Ana Reader on 03-17-24
-
The Hidden Book
- A Novel
- By: Kirsty Manning
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Nabben
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From bestselling author Kirsty Manning comes a stunning novel based on a true story of clandestine courage in World War II as prisoners of war risk their lives to secure evidence of Nazi atrocities—and how one man concealed it for decades before passing it on to his family who struggle to understand their inherited legacy of trauma.
By: Kirsty Manning
-
The Italian Ballerina
- A World War II Novel
- By: Kristy Cambron
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rome, 1943. With the fall of Italy's Fascist government and the Nazi regime occupying the streets of Rome, British ballerina Julia Bradbury is stranded and forced to take refuge at a hospital on Tiber Island. But when she learns of a deadly sickness sweeping through the quarantine wards--a fake disease known only as Syndrome K--she is drawn into one of the greatest cons in history. Alongside hospital staff, friars of the adjoining church, and two Allied medics, Julia risks everything to rescue Jewish Italians from the deadly clutches of the Holocaust.
-
-
Took me halfway through...
- By Mona-Alisa on 05-26-23
By: Kristy Cambron
-
The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris
- By: Daisy Wood
- Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow, Tom Lawrence
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Juliette and her husband have finally made it to France on the romantic getaway of her dreams—but as the days pass, all she discovers is quite how far they’ve grown apart. She’s craving a new adventure, so when she happens across a tiny, abandoned shop with a for-sale sign in the window, it feels fated. And she’s about to learn that the forgotten bookshop hides a lot more than meets the eye.
-
-
WWII Historical Fiction
- By Mona-Alisa on 04-04-23
By: Daisy Wood
-
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
- A Novel
- By: Anna Johnston
- Narrated by: Tim Carroll
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Frederick Fife was born with an extra helping of kindness in his heart. If he borrowed your car, he’d return it washed with a full tank of gas. The problem is there’s nobody left in Fred’s life to borrow from. At eighty-two, he’s desperately lonely, broke, and on the brink of homelessness. But Fred’s luck changes when, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, he takes the place of grumpy Bernard Greer at the local nursing home. Now he has warm meals in his belly and a roof over his head—as long as his poker face is in better shape than his prostate and that his look-alike never turns up.
-
-
Somewhat engaging but predictable
- By RSNYC on 10-15-24
By: Anna Johnston
-
The Tiffany Girls
- A Novel
- By: Shelley Noble
- Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Louis Comfort Tiffany, famous for his stained-glass windows, is planning a unique installation at the Paris World’s Fair, the largest in history. At their fifth-floor studio on Fourth Avenue, the artists of the Women’s Division of the Tiffany Glass Company are already working longer shifts to finish the pieces that Tiffany hopes will prove that he is the world’s finest artist in glass. Known as the “Tiffany Girls,” these women are responsible for much of the design and construction of Tiffany’s extraordinary glassworks, but none receive credit.
-
-
So good
- By John on 07-02-23
By: Shelley Noble
-
Wilde Love
- A Dark Horse Dive Bar Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Lynn Barrington
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lyric Wilde’s not whipping up the best food in town at the Dark Horse Dive Bar, she’s making a name for herself as a rising singer-songwriter. And if any of her online followers cross the line from friendly to fanatical, well, Lyric figures it goes with the territory—and she can take care of herself. But there’s one fan she wants to get to know better—a silent, sexy biker named Viper. A man who makes her think mine every time she looks at him. But who exactly is “Viper?”
-
-
really, really good.
- By Catherine J on 05-06-25
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
Sisters and Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Ryan
- Narrated by: Megan Tusing
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There’s nothing more complicated than the relationship among family...especially when the Silva sisters are keeping secrets. For Sierra it means returning home with her two little boys after a devastating Napa wildfire takes her home, her job, and even the last mementos of her late husband, David. Determined to start over, how can she ever reveal the truth - that her husband may have led a double life? To the world, Amy’s world is perfect: handsome husband, delightful children, an Instagram-worthy home. But behind this facade lies an awful truth....
-
-
Couldn't finish..listen to a sample before you buy
- By Kindle Customer on 07-21-22
By: Jennifer Ryan
-
Daughters of the Occupation
- A Novel of WWII
- By: Shelly Sanders
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On one extraordinary day in 1940, Miriam Talan’s comfortable life is shattered. While she gives birth to her second child, a son she and her husband, Max, name Monya, the Soviets invade the Baltic state of Latvia and occupy the capital city of Riga, her home. Because the Talans are Jewish, the Soviets confiscate Max’s business and the family’s house and bank accounts, leaving them with nothing.
-
-
It never ceases to break my heart …
- By Sherry M. Bianchi-Knod on 05-23-22
By: Shelly Sanders
-
In the Middle of Hickory Lane
- By: Heather Webber
- Narrated by: Hallie Ricardo, Stephanie Willis
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emme Wynn has wanted nothing more her whole life than to feel like part of a family. Having grown up on the run with her con artist mother, she’s been shuffled from town to town, drawn into bad situations, and has learned some unsavory habits that she’s tried hard to overcome. When her estranged grandmother tracks her down out of the blue and extends a job offer—helping to run her booth at an open-air marketplace in small-town Sweetgrass, Alabama—Emme is hopeful that she’ll finally be able to plant the roots she’s always dreamed of.
-
-
Full of charm
- By Krista Doerr on 11-09-22
By: Heather Webber
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Mayfair Bookshop
- A Novel of Nancy Mitford and the Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Eliza Knight
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1938: She was one of the six sparkling Mitford sisters, known for her stinging quips, stylish dress, and bright green eyes. But Nancy Mitford’s seemingly dazzling life was really one of turmoil: with a perpetually unfaithful and broke husband, two Nazi sympathizer sisters, and her hopes of motherhood dashed forever. With war imminent, Nancy finds respite by taking a job at the Heywood Hill Bookshop in Mayfair, hoping to make ends meet, and discovers a new life.
-
-
Perfectly Voices, Upliftingly Fun
- By Syd Young on 04-15-22
By: Eliza Knight
-
The Littlest Library
- A Novel
- By: Poppy Alexander
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jess Metcalf is perfectly content with her quiet, predictable life. But when her beloved grandmother passes away and she loses her job at the local library, Jess’ life is turned upside down. Determined to pick up the pieces, Jess decides it’s time for a new beginning. Unable to part with her grandmother’s cherished books, she packs them all up and moves to a tiny cottage in the English countryside. To her surprise, Jess discovers that she’s now the owner of an old red phone box that was left on the property.
-
-
An entertaining read.
- By Kim Meseck on 11-10-22
By: Poppy Alexander
-
Daughters of the Occupation
- A Novel of WWII
- By: Shelly Sanders
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On one extraordinary day in 1940, Miriam Talan’s comfortable life is shattered. While she gives birth to her second child, a son she and her husband, Max, name Monya, the Soviets invade the Baltic state of Latvia and occupy the capital city of Riga, her home. Because the Talans are Jewish, the Soviets confiscate Max’s business and the family’s house and bank accounts, leaving them with nothing.
-
-
It never ceases to break my heart …
- By Sherry M. Bianchi-Knod on 05-23-22
By: Shelly Sanders
-
Counting Lost Stars
- A Novel
- By: Kim van Alkemade
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1960, New York City: College student Rita Klein is a pioneering woman in the new field of computer programming—until she unexpectedly becomes pregnant. At the Hudson Home for Unwed Mothers, social workers pressure her into surrendering her baby for adoption. Rita is struggling to get on with her life when she meets Jacob Nassy, a charming yet troubled man from the Netherlands who is traumatized by his childhood experience of being separated from his mother during the Holocaust.
-
-
My kind of book
- By diane on 01-03-25
By: Kim van Alkemade
-
Sisters of the Resistance
- A Novel of Catherine Dior's Paris Spy Network
- By: Christine Wells
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paris, 1944: The war is nearly over, but for members of the Resistance in occupied France, it is more dangerous than ever before. Twenty-five-year-old Gabby Foucher loathes the Nazis, though as the concierge of 10 rue Royale, she does her best to avoid conflict - unlike her bolder sister Yvette, who finds trouble at every turn.
-
-
NOT about Catherine Dior
- By Amazoncustomer on 08-09-21
By: Christine Wells
-
The Golden Doves
- A Novel
- By: Martha Hall Kelly
- Narrated by: Jeremy Carlisle Parker, Saskia Maarleveld, Martha Hall Kelly
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue are thrilled to be working in the French resistance, stealing so many Nazi secrets that they become known as the Golden Doves, renowned across France and hunted by the Gestapo. Their courage will cost them everything. When they are finally arrested and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, along with their loved ones, a reclusive Nazi doctor does unspeakable things to Josie’s mother, a celebrated Jewish singer who joined her daughter in Paris when the world seemed bright. And Arlette’s son is stolen from her, never to be seen again.
-
-
Wanted to like it more than I did
- By Nicole on 04-19-23
-
The Mayfair Bookshop
- A Novel of Nancy Mitford and the Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Eliza Knight
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1938: She was one of the six sparkling Mitford sisters, known for her stinging quips, stylish dress, and bright green eyes. But Nancy Mitford’s seemingly dazzling life was really one of turmoil: with a perpetually unfaithful and broke husband, two Nazi sympathizer sisters, and her hopes of motherhood dashed forever. With war imminent, Nancy finds respite by taking a job at the Heywood Hill Bookshop in Mayfair, hoping to make ends meet, and discovers a new life.
-
-
Perfectly Voices, Upliftingly Fun
- By Syd Young on 04-15-22
By: Eliza Knight
-
The Littlest Library
- A Novel
- By: Poppy Alexander
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jess Metcalf is perfectly content with her quiet, predictable life. But when her beloved grandmother passes away and she loses her job at the local library, Jess’ life is turned upside down. Determined to pick up the pieces, Jess decides it’s time for a new beginning. Unable to part with her grandmother’s cherished books, she packs them all up and moves to a tiny cottage in the English countryside. To her surprise, Jess discovers that she’s now the owner of an old red phone box that was left on the property.
-
-
An entertaining read.
- By Kim Meseck on 11-10-22
By: Poppy Alexander
-
Daughters of the Occupation
- A Novel of WWII
- By: Shelly Sanders
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On one extraordinary day in 1940, Miriam Talan’s comfortable life is shattered. While she gives birth to her second child, a son she and her husband, Max, name Monya, the Soviets invade the Baltic state of Latvia and occupy the capital city of Riga, her home. Because the Talans are Jewish, the Soviets confiscate Max’s business and the family’s house and bank accounts, leaving them with nothing.
-
-
It never ceases to break my heart …
- By Sherry M. Bianchi-Knod on 05-23-22
By: Shelly Sanders
-
Counting Lost Stars
- A Novel
- By: Kim van Alkemade
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1960, New York City: College student Rita Klein is a pioneering woman in the new field of computer programming—until she unexpectedly becomes pregnant. At the Hudson Home for Unwed Mothers, social workers pressure her into surrendering her baby for adoption. Rita is struggling to get on with her life when she meets Jacob Nassy, a charming yet troubled man from the Netherlands who is traumatized by his childhood experience of being separated from his mother during the Holocaust.
-
-
My kind of book
- By diane on 01-03-25
By: Kim van Alkemade
-
Sisters of the Resistance
- A Novel of Catherine Dior's Paris Spy Network
- By: Christine Wells
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paris, 1944: The war is nearly over, but for members of the Resistance in occupied France, it is more dangerous than ever before. Twenty-five-year-old Gabby Foucher loathes the Nazis, though as the concierge of 10 rue Royale, she does her best to avoid conflict - unlike her bolder sister Yvette, who finds trouble at every turn.
-
-
NOT about Catherine Dior
- By Amazoncustomer on 08-09-21
By: Christine Wells
-
The Golden Doves
- A Novel
- By: Martha Hall Kelly
- Narrated by: Jeremy Carlisle Parker, Saskia Maarleveld, Martha Hall Kelly
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue are thrilled to be working in the French resistance, stealing so many Nazi secrets that they become known as the Golden Doves, renowned across France and hunted by the Gestapo. Their courage will cost them everything. When they are finally arrested and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, along with their loved ones, a reclusive Nazi doctor does unspeakable things to Josie’s mother, a celebrated Jewish singer who joined her daughter in Paris when the world seemed bright. And Arlette’s son is stolen from her, never to be seen again.
-
-
Wanted to like it more than I did
- By Nicole on 04-19-23
-
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club
- A Novel
- By: Helen Simonson
- Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham, Helen Simonson
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the summer of 1919, and Constance Haverhill is without prospects. Now that all the men have returned from the front, she has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. While she looks for a position as a bookkeeper or—horror—a governess, she’s sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel. Despite having only weeks to find a permanent home, Constance is swept up in the social whirl of Hazelbourne-on-Sea after she rescues the local baronet’s daughter, Poppy Wirrall, from a social faux pas.
-
-
Engaging at every step
- By Starr on 10-21-24
By: Helen Simonson
-
The Dictionary of Lost Words
- A Novel
- By: Pip Williams
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means “slave girl,” begins to collect other words discarded or neglected by the dictionary men.
-
-
Enchanted
- By Lulu Can on 04-07-21
By: Pip Williams
-
The Immortals of Tehran
- By: Ali Araghi
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a child living in his family's apple orchard, Ahmad Torkash-Vand treasures his great-great-great-great grandfather's every mesmerizing world. On the day of his father's death, Ahmad listens closely as the seemingly immortal elder tells him the tale of a centuries-old family curse...and the boy's own fated role in the story.
-
-
Unique story with many characters
- By Anonymous User on 08-22-24
By: Ali Araghi
-
The Nature of Fragile Things
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins, Jason Culp
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin's odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn't right.
-
-
The Nature of Fragile Things is a 5 star listen!
- By Kathy… send to help my husband to sleep!! on 02-04-21
By: Susan Meissner
-
The School for German Brides
- A Novel of World War II
- By: Aimie K. Runyan
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Kathleen Gati
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the war begins, Hanna Rombauer, a young German woman, is sent to live with her aunt and uncle after her mother’s death. Thrown into a life of luxury she never expected, Hanna soon finds herself unwillingly matched with an SS officer twenty years her senior. The independence that her mother lovingly fostered in her is considered highly inappropriate as the future wife of an up-and-coming officer and she is sent to a “bride school.” There, in a posh villa on the outskirts of town, Hanna is taught how to be a “proper” German wife.
-
-
It's ok
- By Donna Grimsley on 06-15-22
By: Aimie K. Runyan
-
Off the Wild Coast of Brittany
- By: Juliet Blackwell
- Narrated by: Hope Newhouse, Xe Sands
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Natalie Morgen made a name for herself with a memoir about overcoming her harsh childhood after finding a new life in Paris. After falling in love with a classically trained chef, they moved together to his ancestral home, a tiny fishing village off the coast of Brittany. But then Francois-Xavier breaks things off with her without warning, leaving her flat broke and in the middle of renovating the guesthouse they planned to open for business.
-
-
Swept away by this wonderful story
- By pam g on 03-29-21
By: Juliet Blackwell
-
A Dreadful Splendor
- A Novel
- By: B.R. Myers
- Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Victorian London, Genevieve Timmons poses as a spiritualist to swindle wealthy mourners—until one misstep lands her in a jail cell awaiting the noose. Then a stranger arrives to make her a peculiar offer. The lord he serves, Mr. Pemberton, has been inconsolable since the tragic death of his beautiful bride-to-be. If Genevieve can perform a séance persuasive enough to bring the young lord peace, she will win her freedom.
-
-
Excellent!
- By Kimberly A. Minardi on 09-20-22
By: B.R. Myers
-
Our Woman in Moscow
- A Novel
- By: Beatriz Williams
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the autumn of 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. The world is shocked by the family’s sensational disappearance. Were they eliminated by the Soviet intelligence service? Or have the Digbys defected to Moscow with a trove of the West’s most vital secrets?
-
-
Wonderful Listen
- By Terry on 09-29-21
By: Beatriz Williams
-
All We Were Promised
- A Novel
- By: Ashton Lattimore
- Narrated by: Shayna Small, Ashton Lattimore
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.
-
-
Simply Amazing!
- By TMJ on 04-19-25
By: Ashton Lattimore
-
When the Moon Is Low
- A Novel
- By: Nadia Hashimi
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan, Neil Shah
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mahmoud’s passion for his wife, Fereiba, a schoolteacher, is greater than any love she’s ever known. But their happy, middle-class world implodes when their country is engulfed in war and the Taliban rises to power. Mahmoud, a civil engineer, becomes a target of the new fundamentalist regime and is murdered. Forced to flee Kabul with her three children, Fereiba must find a way to cross Europe and reach her sister’s family in England. With forged papers and help from kind strangers they meet along the way, Fereiba make a dangerous crossing into Iran under cover of darkness.
-
-
Unfinished?
- By James R. Hyde on 10-25-21
By: Nadia Hashimi
-
Angels of the Pacific
- A Novel of World War II
- By: Elise Hooper
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inspired by the extraordinary true stories of World War II’s American Army nurses famously known as the Angels of Bataan and the unsung contributions of Filipinas of the resistance, this novel transports us to a remarkable era of hope, bravery, perseverance, and ultimately—victory.
-
-
Reader so bad I had to stop listening
- By STL Carol on 09-18-22
By: Elise Hooper
-
You Belong Here Now
- A Novel
- By: Dianna Rostad
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Montana 1925: Three brave kids from New York board the orphan train headed west. An Irish boy who lost his whole family to Spanish flu, a tiny girl who won’t talk, and a volatile young man who desperately needs to escape Hell’s Kitchen. They are paraded on platforms across the Midwest to work-worn folks and journey countless miles, racing the sun westward. Before they reach the last rejection and stop, the kids come up with a daring plan, and they set off toward the Yellowstone River and grassy mountains where the wild horses roam.
-
-
Disappointed with the language
- By Clara Jennings on 09-15-21
By: Dianna Rostad
I will listen to this story again, very emotional I became not wanting to stop to sleep! Listened to well into the early
Morning hours . Just beautiful best I’ve ever listened to or ever will.
True story heartfelt
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The first third of the story is so hard to listen to because their situations are so dire…lots of action in the middle and then each persons story eventually worked out in believable ways
Really great at setting the Blitz and all people endured in an accessible way
I love this writer’s style and research that is embedded in her stories
Great characters who stay with you after the story is over
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A WWII novel with hope
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Power of Women
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
beautiful story!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The underground library by Jennifer Ryan.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Storytelling excellence and historical facts wrapped into one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sad to see this end!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very Satisfying
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The spirit of all of these women.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.