
Things Past Telling
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Robin Miles
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By:
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Sheila Williams
“This is a truly character-driven novel that explores how people define themselves, the creation of family and home, and the importance of memory and language. . . . Fans of historical epics won’t be able to put this book down.”—Historical Novel Society
“Emotionally satisfying. . . . A remarkable character portrait.”—Publishers Weekly
The author of The Secret Women tells the story of a brave and enduring woman as indomitable as Ernest Gaines’ legendary Miss Jane Pittman, in a breathtaking novel that combines the epic romance and adventure of Outlander, the sweeping drama of Roots, and the haunting historical power of Barracoon.
Things Past Telling is a remarkable historical epic that charts one unforgettable woman’s journey across an ocean of years as vast as the Atlantic that will forever separate her from her homeland.
Born in West Africa in the mid-eighteenth century, Maryam Prescilla Grace—a.k.a “Momma Grace” will live a long, wondrous life marked by hardship, oppression, opportunity, and love. Though she will be “gifted” various names, her birth name is known to her alone. Over the course of 100-plus years, she survives capture, enslavement by several property owners, the Atlantic crossing when she is only eleven years of age, and a brief stint as a pirate’s ward, acting as both a spy and a translator.
Maryam learns midwifery from a Caribbean-born wise woman, whose “craft” combines curated techniques and medicines from African, Indigenous, and European women. Those midwifery skills allow her to sometimes transcend the racial and class barriers of her enslavement, as she walks the razor’s edge trying to balance the lives and health of her own people with the cruel economic mandates of the slave holders, who view infants born in bondage not as flesh-and-blood children but as investment property.
Throughout her triumphant and tumultuous life Maryam gains and loses her homeland, her family, her culture, her husband, her lovers, and her children. Yet as the decades pass, this tenacious woman never loses her sense of self.
Inspired by a 112-year-old woman the author discovered in an 1870 U.S. Federal census report for Ohio, loosely based on the author’s real-life female ancestors, spanning more than a hundred years, from the mid-eighteen-century to the end of America’s Civil War, and spanning across the globe, from what is now southern Nigeria to the islands of the Caribbean to North America and the land bordering the Ohio River, Things Past Telling is a breathtaking story of a past that lives on in all of us, and a life that encompasses the best—and worst—of our humanity.
©2022 Sheila Williams (P)2022 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...




















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I hate this part of history, and experiencing it through Maryam’s eyes just broke my heart in a million pieces.
I loved her so much, her determination and wit and wisdom. I felt her losses and rooted for her in the little triumphs she had. I wanted so much more for her.
I was so angry at the disgusting racist pigs and men who ran and ruined her life.
I felt so much love and appreciation for the kind souls that helped her along the way.
I’ve never had such strong emotions provoked from a story.
Ugh, this is beautifully written about horrible things.
This is the book that should be trending. This is the book everyone needs to read.
10000000 stars
Narrator did an amazing job at bringing this to life and nailed the different accents.
Perfect narration to a 10 star book
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Absolutely wonderful
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Storytelling at its best!
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The narrator!
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beautiful
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Everything
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Wonderful Listen
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10 Stars!
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The narrator was awesome, capturing all of the diverse cultural accents. Because of my hearing loss, the accents were sometimes hard to understand, but not any fault of the narrator.
Thought provoking!
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Beautiful, storytelling and narration
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