Three Stages of Amazement
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 $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Anne Twomey
-
By:
-
Carol Edgarian
About this listen
A sweeping, richly compassionate novel about marriage, ambition, and the reclaiming of love - by the bestselling novelist and cofounder of Narrative magazine.
Many love stories end in marriage; rare is the love story that begins with one - already promised, already worn. Set in San Francisco during the first year of Obama’s presidency, Three Stages of Amazement deftly charts the struggles and triumphs of Lena Rusch and her husband Charlie Pepper, still believe they can have it all - sex, love, marriage, children, career, brilliance. But life delivers surprises and tests - a stillborn child, an economic crash, a ruthless business rival and the attentions of an old lover. Touched by tragedy and by ordinary hopes unmet, Lena and Charlie must face, for the first time in their lives, real limitation.
Fifteen years after her stunning debut, Rise the Euphrates, Carol Edgarian has created a panoramic and deeply moving story about business and family and the demands of love in our time. She takes readers on a spellbinding journey inside America today, with an unforgettable cast of characters including Cal Rusch, Lena’s uncle, a Silicon Valley titan, and Ivy, his socialite wife, who engender complication in the lives of all the people they touch: their grown children, business partners, friends, the servants and workers upon whom the glamorous life depends - and Lena, whose quest for grace is the pulse of this gorgeous novel.
As Lena and Charlie, Ivy and Cal, face the temptations of their youth and the fantasy of the redo, they discover that real life is the ultimate challenge. Told with eloquence and compassion, Three Stages of Amazement is a true thriller of the heart, a riveting story about confronting adversity, gaining wisdom, and finding great love.
©2011 Carol Edgarian (P)2011 Simon and Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Vera
- By: Carol Edgarian
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Vera Johnson, 15-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, notorious proprietor of San Francisco’s most legendary bordello. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds - the madam’s alluring sphere, replete with tickets to the opera, surly henchmen, and scant morality, and the quiet domestic life of the family paid to raise her.
-
-
The Phoenix here is more than San Francisco
- By Carol C on 04-16-21
By: Carol Edgarian
-
Someone Else's Shoes
- A Novel
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Daisy Ridley
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope--she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in. That’s because Sam Kemp—in the bleakest point of her life—has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag—she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat.
-
-
Bad language
- By Kerbear on 02-25-23
By: Jojo Moyes
-
An American Marriage (Oprah’s Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Tayari Jones
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden, Eisa Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding.
-
-
So many “WTF” moments
- By Kristen R King on 05-04-18
By: Tayari Jones
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
Blue Dahlia
- In the Garden, Book 1
- By: Nora Roberts
- Narrated by: Susie Breck
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trying to escape the ghosts of the past, young widow Stella Rothchild, along with her two energetic little boys, has moved back to her roots in southern Tennessee - and into her new life at Harper House and In the Garden nursery. She isn't intimidated by the house - nor its mistress, local legend Roz Harper.
-
-
mmmm...not a big Susie Breck fan
- By Diandra Huffman on 12-31-14
By: Nora Roberts
-
Swept Away
- By: Robyn Carr
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jennifer Chaise is proud of her life. Coming from nothing, she's used her beauty to her advantage and is swept up in a glamorous world of wealth and privilege as the mistress of a high-flying businessman. But when she walks in on a violent scene in their Las Vegas hotel room, Jennifer knows she can no longer ignore the truth about her boyfriend, and she flees. Desperate to escape the men searching for her, she invents a whole new persona - with a new look and a new name - as she hides out in a small Nevada town.
-
-
LOVED THE STORY!
- By Artkeep on 07-29-16
By: Robyn Carr
-
Vera
- By: Carol Edgarian
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Vera Johnson, 15-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, notorious proprietor of San Francisco’s most legendary bordello. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds - the madam’s alluring sphere, replete with tickets to the opera, surly henchmen, and scant morality, and the quiet domestic life of the family paid to raise her.
-
-
The Phoenix here is more than San Francisco
- By Carol C on 04-16-21
By: Carol Edgarian
-
Someone Else's Shoes
- A Novel
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Daisy Ridley
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope--she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in. That’s because Sam Kemp—in the bleakest point of her life—has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag—she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat.
-
-
Bad language
- By Kerbear on 02-25-23
By: Jojo Moyes
-
An American Marriage (Oprah’s Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Tayari Jones
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden, Eisa Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding.
-
-
So many “WTF” moments
- By Kristen R King on 05-04-18
By: Tayari Jones
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
Blue Dahlia
- In the Garden, Book 1
- By: Nora Roberts
- Narrated by: Susie Breck
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trying to escape the ghosts of the past, young widow Stella Rothchild, along with her two energetic little boys, has moved back to her roots in southern Tennessee - and into her new life at Harper House and In the Garden nursery. She isn't intimidated by the house - nor its mistress, local legend Roz Harper.
-
-
mmmm...not a big Susie Breck fan
- By Diandra Huffman on 12-31-14
By: Nora Roberts
-
Swept Away
- By: Robyn Carr
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jennifer Chaise is proud of her life. Coming from nothing, she's used her beauty to her advantage and is swept up in a glamorous world of wealth and privilege as the mistress of a high-flying businessman. But when she walks in on a violent scene in their Las Vegas hotel room, Jennifer knows she can no longer ignore the truth about her boyfriend, and she flees. Desperate to escape the men searching for her, she invents a whole new persona - with a new look and a new name - as she hides out in a small Nevada town.
-
-
LOVED THE STORY!
- By Artkeep on 07-29-16
By: Robyn Carr
-
Barefoot
- A Novel
- By: Elin Hilderbrand
- Narrated by: Rachael Warren
- Length: 16 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From marriage, infidelity, and the mayhem of motherhood to scandal, tragedy, and illness - three women seek peace and comfort in Nantucket as they cope with life's challenges. Three women - burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues - tumble onto the Nantucket airport tarmac one hot June day. Vicki is trying to sort through the news that she has a serious illness. Her sister, Brenda, has just left her job after being caught in an affair with a student. And their friend Melanie, after seven failed in vitro attempts, is pregnant at last.
-
-
OMG...spoiler alert:
- By Abby Mamacos on 10-09-17
By: Elin Hilderbrand
-
A Single Thread
- The Cobbled Court Series, Book 1
- By: Marie Bostwick
- Narrated by: Pam Ward, Lorna Raver
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marie Bostwick weaves the unforgettable story of four very different women whose paths cross, changing their lives forever. It’s a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only takes a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realize she’s found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn’s wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop. Finding a storefront is easy enough; starting a new life isn’t....
-
-
Christian oriented fiction
- By Ruth Lambert on 04-07-16
By: Marie Bostwick
-
The Undoing of Saint Silvanus
- By: Beth Moore
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only God knew why Jillian Slater agreed to return to New Orleans on the news that her father had finally drunk himself to death. It's not like they were close. She hadn't seen him - or her grandmother, the ice queen - in almost 20 years. But when Adella Atwater, the manager of her grandmother's apartment house, called and said her expenses would be paid if she'd fly in for the burial, a free trip to New Orleans was too intriguing to resist.
-
-
Classic Beth, highly recommend!!
- By Susan on 12-22-16
By: Beth Moore
-
Trading Dreams at Midnight
- By: Diane McKinney-Whetstone
- Narrated by: Shari Peele
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Hard to follow
- By Nevada on 08-13-10
-
The House on Harbor Hill
- By: Shelly Stratton
- Narrated by: Susan Spain
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
She's generous, kind, and compassionate - yet Delilah Grey will forever be an outcast in the small seaside town of Camden Beach, Maryland. She takes in women shattered by abuse, poverty, illness, or events beyond their control. But no matter how far she's come or how many she's helped find their way back, there is no safe place for Delilah. Acquitted of her rich husband's mysterious death decades ago, she lives in her beautiful mansion consumed by secrets - and mistakes she feels she can never atone for...until she takes in desperate mother Tracey Walters and her two young children.
-
-
Great story line
- By Valerie D. Pegram on 12-12-23
By: Shelly Stratton
-
Spring Fever
- By: Mary Kay Andrews
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 15 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Annajane Hudgens truly believes she is over her ex-husband, Mason Bayless. They've been divorced for four years, she's engaged to a terrific new guy, and she's ready to leave the small town where she and Mason had so much history. She is so over Mason that she has absolutely no problem attending his wedding to the beautiful, intelligent, delightful Celia. But when fate intervenes and the wedding is called to a halt as the bride is literally walking down the aisle, Annajane begins to realize that maybe she's been given a second chance.
-
-
Still funny, interesting characters, laughs
- By Sharon on 06-14-12
By: Mary Kay Andrews
-
Outside the Lines
- A Novel
- By: Amy Hatvany
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton, Corey Brill
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Eden was 10 years old she found her father, David, bleeding on the bathroom floor. The suicide attempt led to her parents’ divorce, and David all but vanished from Eden’s life. Twenty years later, Eden runs a successful catering company and dreams of opening a restaurant. Since childhood, she has heard from her father only rarely, just enough to know that he’s been living on the streets and struggling with mental illness.
-
-
Wonderful real life novel about mental illness
- By Brian PDX on 04-08-15
By: Amy Hatvany
-
Landing
- By: Emma Donoghue
- Narrated by: Laura Hicks
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sile is a stylish citizen of the new Dublin, a veteran flight attendant who's traveled the world. Jude is a 25-year-old archivist, stubbornly attached to the tiny town of Ireland, Ontario, in which she was born and raised. On her first plane trip, Jude's and Sile's worlds touch and snag at Heathrow Airport. In the course of the next year, their lives, and those of their friends and families, will be drawn into a new, shaky orbit.
-
-
Not Nevada Barr's, Bittersweet
- By Tapioca on 11-17-07
By: Emma Donoghue
-
Ain't She Sweet?
- By: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The girl everybody loves to hate has returned to the town she'd sworn to leave behind forever. As the rich, spoiled princess of Parrish, Mississippi, Sugar Beth Carey had broken hearts, ruined friendships, and destroyed reputations. But 15 years have passed, and now she's come home - broke, desperate, and too proud to show it. The people of Parrish don't believe in forgive and forget. But none of them have reckoned on the unexpected strength of a woman who's learned survival the hard way.
-
-
wonderfully read
- By older reader on 06-14-20
-
Charming Lily
- By: Fern Michaels
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professional mountaineer Lily is building a new life for herself - in ways she never would have expected. She's traded the mountain wilderness of Wyoming for the lush river country of the deep South, where she is busy restoring a fine old Natchez, Mississippi house. And she's rediscovered happiness with Matt Starr, the man she has always loved. But Lily's dreams for the future are suddenly threatened when Matt disappears without a trace.
-
-
HORRIBLE
- By Melinda on 12-07-21
By: Fern Michaels
-
Angel's Rest
- An Eternity Springs Novel
- By: Emily March
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beloved author Emily March returns with a warm and uplifting novel about a small town with a big heart. Welcome to Eternity Springs, a little piece of Heaven in the Colorado Rockies. Gabriel Callahan has lost everything that mattered. All he wants is solitude on an isolated mountain estate. Instead, he gets a neighbor. Vibrant, no-nonsense Nic Sullivan is Eternity Springs’ veterinarian, and she has an uncanny plan to lure this talented architect back to the world of the living.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Donna on 02-20-11
By: Emily March
-
Plantation
- A Lowcountry Tale
- By: Dorothea Benton Frank
- Narrated by: Susie Breck
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Caroline Wimbley Levine learns that her mother, Miss Lavinia, has supposedly gone mad, she leaves the big city bustle of Manhattan and returns to Tall Pines Plantation. Caroline originally left Tall Pines to escape her feisty, eccentric mother and her drunken brother, Trip. When Miss Lavinia dies, Caroline is forced to come to terms with her family's troubled history as well as her failing relationship with her husband.
-
-
Abridged!!
- By Teresa on 04-18-16
Editorial reviews
Thirty-somethings Lena and Charlie don’t have it easy. As Three Stages of Amazement begins, they are still mourning the death of an infant daughter while frequently in the ER with baby Willa. Charlie’s high-tech medical start-up keeps him away more than at home, and Lena is overwhelmed trying to juggle her work in TV while caring for the baby and Theo, their preternaturally astute 5-year-old. But the marriage will be further tested as an Italian ex-boyfriend reappears; the boom market of the early 2000s starts to slide; and relatives with bad blood begin interfering. This is the somewhat overloaded premise of Carol Edgarian’s timely and well-played love story.
Noted actress Anne Twomey brings Lena’s intelligence and passion to the forefront, making her attractiveness to the men in the novel easy to understand. Despairingly lonely, she is also resentful of her role holding down the fort while her brilliant and compassionate doctor husband, who is utterly devoted to her and their children, sees to their fiscal future. When Charlie responds to a business offer by Lena’s despised Uncle Cal, a ruthlessly successful investment titan, not only is her anger inflamed, but her passion too. Alessandro, her ex, pops up at the same time, perfectly positioned for seduction and a cash infusion, too, given his position in Cal’s firm. ‘Sandro’s plummy Italian accent, courtesy of Twomey, and poetic sensuality generate plenty of romantic suspense. (In fact Twomey vocally sketches everyone from the Guatemalan nanny to Charlie’s salt-of-the-earth Back Bay business partner with convincing nuance.)
With Twomey’s gruff, barking delivery, Cal is a clearly defined misanthrope and ‘Top Dog’, taking on big stakes strategies and internecine traps. It’s a very Madoff milieu (Bernie’s name is dropped several times) and Cal’s wife Iris inhabits it with gusto, hosting, for example, an over-the-top party featuring Al and Tipper at which Norah Jones performs. Yet it is in Iris’ journey in the final chapters of her life (and the novel), in her search to understand herself as mother, wife, and individual, that the novel gains dramatic poignancy.
Three Stages of Amazement is storytelling that makes for good listening, thanks to Twomey’s contributions. And it offers an effective portrait of a just-elapsed cultural moment in American 21st century life. Elly Schull Meeks
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
Texas Rich
- By: Fern Michaels
- Narrated by: Erin Yuen
- Length: 25 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Billie Ames naively fell for the exciting pilot Moss Coleman at the Philadelphia Navy Yard during World War II. Within a few months, she was pregnant, married, and traveling across the country to Austin...to the 250,000-acre spread known as Sunbridge and into the tantalizing world of the Texas rich. In a vast land dominated by the industrious Colemans, Billie fights to maintain control of her life and her marriage.
-
-
Awful Southern Accent
- By Tina Peters on 03-24-16
By: Fern Michaels
-
Plantation
- A Lowcountry Tale
- By: Dorothea Benton Frank
- Narrated by: Susie Breck
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Caroline Wimbley Levine learns that her mother, Miss Lavinia, has supposedly gone mad, she leaves the big city bustle of Manhattan and returns to Tall Pines Plantation. Caroline originally left Tall Pines to escape her feisty, eccentric mother and her drunken brother, Trip. When Miss Lavinia dies, Caroline is forced to come to terms with her family's troubled history as well as her failing relationship with her husband.
-
-
Abridged!!
- By Teresa on 04-18-16
-
Ain't She Sweet?
- By: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The girl everybody loves to hate has returned to the town she'd sworn to leave behind forever. As the rich, spoiled princess of Parrish, Mississippi, Sugar Beth Carey had broken hearts, ruined friendships, and destroyed reputations. But 15 years have passed, and now she's come home - broke, desperate, and too proud to show it. The people of Parrish don't believe in forgive and forget. But none of them have reckoned on the unexpected strength of a woman who's learned survival the hard way.
-
-
wonderfully read
- By older reader on 06-14-20
-
Tryin' To Sleep In the Bed You Made
- By: Virginia DeBerry, Donna Grant
- Narrated by: Fran L. Washington
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gayle was the beauty who believed that a man could make her life complete. Patricia was the intellectual who thought that rising to the top of her career would make her happy. And then there is Marcus Carter, who has been linked to both Gayle and Pat since the tragedy that occurred when they were all children. Can either one save him from himself? Can friends survive a love that comes between them? Each of them gets what she wants, but no one counts on the price they have to pay.
-
-
Better with each chapter!
- By Cyn B. on 02-09-16
By: Virginia DeBerry, and others
-
The Daisy Children
- A Novel
- By: Sofia Grant
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Katie Garrett gets the news that she’s received an inheritance from the grandmother she hardly knew, it couldn’t have come at a better time. She flees Boston and travels to rural Texas. There, she’s greeted by her distant cousin Scarlett. Friendly and flamboyant, Scarlett couldn’t be more different from sensible Katie. And as they begin the task of sorting through their grandmother’s possessions, they discover letters and photographs that uncover the hidden truths about their shared history, and the long-forgotten tragedy of the New London school explosion of 1937 that binds them.
-
-
a little odd to me
- By G-Mom on 11-09-24
By: Sofia Grant
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
Texas Rich
- By: Fern Michaels
- Narrated by: Erin Yuen
- Length: 25 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Billie Ames naively fell for the exciting pilot Moss Coleman at the Philadelphia Navy Yard during World War II. Within a few months, she was pregnant, married, and traveling across the country to Austin...to the 250,000-acre spread known as Sunbridge and into the tantalizing world of the Texas rich. In a vast land dominated by the industrious Colemans, Billie fights to maintain control of her life and her marriage.
-
-
Awful Southern Accent
- By Tina Peters on 03-24-16
By: Fern Michaels
-
Plantation
- A Lowcountry Tale
- By: Dorothea Benton Frank
- Narrated by: Susie Breck
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Caroline Wimbley Levine learns that her mother, Miss Lavinia, has supposedly gone mad, she leaves the big city bustle of Manhattan and returns to Tall Pines Plantation. Caroline originally left Tall Pines to escape her feisty, eccentric mother and her drunken brother, Trip. When Miss Lavinia dies, Caroline is forced to come to terms with her family's troubled history as well as her failing relationship with her husband.
-
-
Abridged!!
- By Teresa on 04-18-16
-
Ain't She Sweet?
- By: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The girl everybody loves to hate has returned to the town she'd sworn to leave behind forever. As the rich, spoiled princess of Parrish, Mississippi, Sugar Beth Carey had broken hearts, ruined friendships, and destroyed reputations. But 15 years have passed, and now she's come home - broke, desperate, and too proud to show it. The people of Parrish don't believe in forgive and forget. But none of them have reckoned on the unexpected strength of a woman who's learned survival the hard way.
-
-
wonderfully read
- By older reader on 06-14-20
-
Tryin' To Sleep In the Bed You Made
- By: Virginia DeBerry, Donna Grant
- Narrated by: Fran L. Washington
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gayle was the beauty who believed that a man could make her life complete. Patricia was the intellectual who thought that rising to the top of her career would make her happy. And then there is Marcus Carter, who has been linked to both Gayle and Pat since the tragedy that occurred when they were all children. Can either one save him from himself? Can friends survive a love that comes between them? Each of them gets what she wants, but no one counts on the price they have to pay.
-
-
Better with each chapter!
- By Cyn B. on 02-09-16
By: Virginia DeBerry, and others
-
The Daisy Children
- A Novel
- By: Sofia Grant
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Katie Garrett gets the news that she’s received an inheritance from the grandmother she hardly knew, it couldn’t have come at a better time. She flees Boston and travels to rural Texas. There, she’s greeted by her distant cousin Scarlett. Friendly and flamboyant, Scarlett couldn’t be more different from sensible Katie. And as they begin the task of sorting through their grandmother’s possessions, they discover letters and photographs that uncover the hidden truths about their shared history, and the long-forgotten tragedy of the New London school explosion of 1937 that binds them.
-
-
a little odd to me
- By G-Mom on 11-09-24
By: Sofia Grant
-
Arsenic with Austen: A Mystery
- The Crime with the Classics, Book 1
- By: Katherine Bolger Hyde
- Narrated by: Caroline Shaffer
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Emily Cavanaugh inherits a fortune from her great-aunt, she expects her life to change. She doesn't expect to embark on a murder investigation, confront the man who broke her heart 35 years before, and nearly lose her own life. Emily travels to the sleepy coastal village of Stony Beach, Oregon, to claim her inheritance, centered on a beautiful Victorian estate called Windy Corner but also including a substantial portion of the real estate of the whole town.
-
-
Starts with great promise, but....
- By Wendie Lubic on 07-16-16
-
Trading Dreams at Midnight
- By: Diane McKinney-Whetstone
- Narrated by: Shari Peele
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Hard to follow
- By Nevada on 08-13-10
-
The Undoing of Saint Silvanus
- By: Beth Moore
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only God knew why Jillian Slater agreed to return to New Orleans on the news that her father had finally drunk himself to death. It's not like they were close. She hadn't seen him - or her grandmother, the ice queen - in almost 20 years. But when Adella Atwater, the manager of her grandmother's apartment house, called and said her expenses would be paid if she'd fly in for the burial, a free trip to New Orleans was too intriguing to resist.
-
-
Classic Beth, highly recommend!!
- By Susan on 12-22-16
By: Beth Moore
-
Summer of Two Wishes
- By: Julia London
- Narrated by: Natalie Ross
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Macy Lockhart’s life shattered in a moment with the news that her husband, Finn – serving in the military overseas – has been killed in the line of duty. Their ardent marriage is over, leaving Macy alone, empty, directionless. But while she tries to sustain herself with memories of Finn, who made her and their small Texas ranch the center of his life, it is wealthy Wyatt Clark who slowly brings joy back into her life - until the day that Finn, miraculously spared from death, returns home to claim his bride….
-
-
Excellent!
- By Lady M on 05-01-13
By: Julia London
-
Keeper of the Light
- Keeper Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Arielle DeLisle
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Olivia Simon is on duty in the emergency room of North Carolina's Outer Banks Hospital when a gunshot victim is brought in. Midway through the desperate effort to save the young woman's life, Olivia realizes who she is - Annie O'Neill, the woman Olivia's husband, Paul, is in love with.
-
-
I can't finish this...
- By Calmeridian Tink on 03-31-16
-
Nappily Ever After
- A Novel
- By: Trisha R. Thomas
- Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Venus Johnston has a great job and a long-term, live-in boyfriend who happens to be a drop-dead gorgeous doctor. She also has a weekly beauty-parlor date to keep her long, nappy hair slick and straight. But the tedious hours and harsh chemicals in the salon have long grated on Venus. One frustrating day, she trades in the long hair for a dramatically short, natural cut and sends her commitment-balking boyfriend packing. It's a bold declaration of independence and one that has effects she never could have imagined.
-
-
Great
- By Laura K. on 08-21-09
By: Trisha R. Thomas
-
The Life List
- A Novel
- By: Lori Nelson Spielman
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brett Bohlinger has forgotten all about the list of life goals she’d written as a naïve teenager. In fact, at 34, Brett seems to have it all—a plum job at her family’s multimillion-dollar company and a spacious loft with her irresistibly handsome boyfriend. But when her beloved mother, Elizabeth, passes away, Brett’s world is turned upside down. Rather than simply naming her daughter the new CEO of Bohlinger Cosmetics, Elizabeth’s will comes with one big stipulation: Brett must fulfill the list of childhood dreams she made so long ago.
-
-
Truly Terrible.
- By Cricket on 04-27-14
-
Coyote Dream
- By: Jessica Davis Stein
- Narrated by: Julie Dretzin
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Friedman journeys to the Southwest to buy art for her family's New York gallery. Determined to put aside personal disappointments, she seeks new perspectives in the serenity of the desert landscape. Then her car breaks down on a Navajo reservation near the home of an aloof artist. And soon she will have to choose between love and duty, commitment and freedom - and learn to fight for what matters most.
-
-
GREAT
- By Texasrodie on 06-20-10
-
Far From the Tree
- By: Virginia DeBerry, Donna Grant
- Narrated by: Fran L. Washington
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celeste English and Ronnie Frazier are sisters, but they couldn't be more different. Celeste is a doctor's wife, living a perfect and elegant façade. But secretly, her marriage is falling apart and her need to control people around her threatens to destroy them all. Ronnie is an actress, living in New York. But she has no money, she has no home, and her life is held together by "chewing gum, paper clips, and spit." When their father dies, the sisters inherit a house in Prosper, North Carolina.
-
-
My Favorite Book So Far, by Far!
- By Dee on 04-19-09
By: Virginia DeBerry, and others
-
Magnolia Wednesdays
- By: Wendy Wax
- Narrated by: Käthe Mazur
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 41, Vivian Armstrong Gray's life as an investigative journalist is crumbling. Humiliated after taking a bullet in her backside during an exposé, Vivi learns that she's pregnant, jobless, and very hormonal. This explains why she says "yes" to a dreadful job covering suburban living back home in Georgia, a column she must write incognito. Down South, it's her sister's ballroom dance studio that becomes her undercover spot where she learns about the local life - and where unexpected friendships develop.
-
-
Painful. And not in a good way.
- By Kate on 01-24-13
By: Wendy Wax
-
Hannah's Dream
- By: Diane Hammond
- Narrated by: Laura Flanagan
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 41 years, Samson Brown has been caring for Hannah, the lone elephant at the down-at-the-heels Max L. Biedelman Zoo. Having vowed not to retire until an equally loving and devoted caretaker is found to replace him, Sam rejoices when smart, compassionate Neva Wilson is hired as the new elephant keeper. But Neva quickly discovers what Sam already knows: that despite their loving care, Hannah is isolated from other elephants and her feet are nearly ruined from standing on hard concrete all day.
-
-
excellent narration, enjoyable story
- By Elizabeth on 05-11-13
By: Diane Hammond
-
Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See
- By: Juliann Garey
- Narrated by: Dan Butler
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her tour-de-force first novel, Juliann Garey takes us inside the restless mind, ravaged heart, and anguished soul of Greyson Todd, a successful Hollywood studio executive who leaves his wife and young daughter and for a decade travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to keep hidden for almost 20 years.
-
-
Psychosis or Syphilis?
- By Vira on 04-02-13
By: Juliann Garey
What listeners say about Three Stages of Amazement
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Johnna Joy
- 04-17-11
Beautifully written
I almost didn't buy this book because some reviewer complained about the bad writing. In fact, I tried to get it out of my cart but couldn't, so I went ahead and got it. I am so glad I did. I can only conclude that this other reviewer doesn't know what good writing is.
This is a beautifully, beautifully written book. Its prose plunges into the depths of feeling and experience and displays them in pure poetry.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Psirus
- 07-29-19
Uneven but Poignant at Times
Interesting story told in words that sometimes soar, though too often overwritten and strained to the point of near-parody
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!