Showing results by narrator "Alyssa Bresnahan" in All Categories

Sanora Babb experienced pioneer life in a one-room dugout, eye-level with the land that supported, tormented and beguiled her; where her family fought for their lives against drought, crop-failure, starvation, and almost unfathomless loneliness. Learning to read from newspapers that lined the dugout' s dirt walls, she grew up to be a journalist, then a writer of unforgettable books about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, most notably Whose Names Are Unknown.

As a 2-year-old, Helen Keller was stricken with a mysterious illness which left her blind and deaf. It wasn't until she was 6, and a teacher, Miss Sullivan, entered her life, that she was able to communicate with her family. In her unforgettable autobiography, Helen shares her struggle with, and ultimate triumph over, her disability. When it was first published in 1902, her story gained the attention of some of the most famous people of her day and it was later popularized by stage play and movie.

Waking on her tenth birthday, Ellen finds a silver crown on the pillow beside her. She wonders who might have given it to her. But before she can find out, her house goes up in flames, and her family disappears. Forced on a cross-country quest, Ellen flees deadly agents who want to grab the power of the silver crown for themselves.

At 16, Dru has seen more supernatural phenomena than almost anyone on the planet. So her teen years are far from a walk in the park, especially after Sergej kidnaps her best friend Graves. Willing to do anything to save him, Dru embarks on a desperate quest that might just be her last.

Ever since Harper was struck by lightning, she’s been able to see and hear the last memories of the dead. Going on the road with her stepbrother Tolliver, she uses this unwanted gift to solve crimes and bring clients closure. Now, besides handling a budding romance with Tolliver, Harper is on the trail of a particularly gruesome killer in rural Texas, and she must act quickly before more lives are lost.

Towner Whitney, the self-confessed unreliable narrator of The Lace Reader, hails from a family of Salem women who can read the future in the patterns in lace, and who have guarded a history of secrets going back generations. But the disappearance of two women brings Towner home to Salem and the truth about the death of her twin sister to light.

A sensation upon its publication in 1970, Sexual Politics documents the subjugation of women in great literature and art. Kate Millett's analysis targets four revered authors - D. H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, and Jean Genet - and builds a damning profile of literature's patriarchal myths and their extension into psychology, philosophy, and politics. Her eloquence and popular examples taught a generation to recognize inequities masquerading as nature and proved the value of feminist critique in all facets of life.

Here's a spooky tale of mystery and witchcraft that always captures the imagination of young listeners. When Jessica finds a scrawny kitten, she brings him home and names him Worm. But then Jessica begins to change. Is Worm bewitching her?

In this riveting and emotional conclusion to the thriller-romance Janie series, which started with The Face on the Milk Carton, all will be revealed as listeners find out if Janie and Reeve’s love has endured, and whether or not the person who brought Janie and her family so much emotional pain and suffering is brought to justice.

When Janie first realized she was the missing child on the milk carton, her whole world fell apart. At first, she wondered if the parents she loved so much had actually kidnapped her, but it turns out that they were only trying to protect her. Now that the mystery of Janie's kidnapping has been unraveled, she is caught on the horns of a huge dilemma.

Inspector Kate Martinelli has worked the SFPD's Homicide Detail for nearly 30 years. One day her 15-year-old daughter, Nora, asks about an aunt she'd never met. Kate's kid sister died in the 1980s, a wild young woman who lost control of a car and hit a tree, end of story...except it isn't. Because once Kate begins to look, seeking to reassure Nora that it was only a senseless accident and not the suicide a small town's gossip made it, she starts to find pieces that don't fit the picture.

When a band of homeless people cremate a beloved dog in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the authorities are willing to overlook a few broken regulations. But three weeks later, when the dog's owner gets the same fiery send-off, the SFPD has a real headache on its hands. The autopsy suggests homicide, but Inspector Kate Martinelli and her partner, Al Hawkin, have little else to go on: a homeless victim with no positive ID, a group of witnesses with little love for the cops, and a possible suspect, known only as Brother Erasmus, who proves both articulate and impossible to understand.

Sanora Babb' s long-hidden novel Whose Names Are Unknown tells an intimate story of the High Plains farmers who fled drought dust storms during the Great Depression. Written with empathy for the farmers' plight, this powerful narrative is based upon the author' s firsthand experience.

While 20-year-old Harriet is behind bars, she reviews the history of her great-grandmother’s fight against slavery, her grandmother’s crusade against “demon rum,” and her mother’s struggle for women’s suffrage. Now she longs for the courage to leave her own legacy.

First published in 1848, Camille captivated Paris and has inspired countless adaptations. This classic story of love and loss is based on the author’s real-life affair with courtesan Marie Duplessis. Also known as The Lady of the Camellias, the novel follows the courtesan Marguerite Gautier through her tumultuous love affair with handsome—but middle class—Armand Duval. Before their passionate affair is over, one lover must give up everything.

My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer. This is Susie Salmon. Watching from heaven, Susie sees her happy suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they each try to cope with their terrible loss alone.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The last thing Maura Thomas remembers before her car careened over a steep embankment is having dinner with her college roommate - over 20 years ago. Everything in between is a blank. Maura has no recollection of her husband, her daughter, or her busy, glamorous existence as owner of a Beverly Hills boutique. Maura can't even be sure that everyone around her is who they claim to be. Is it paranoia or self-preservation that makes her uneasy?

A nameless El Salvadoran man, fleeing torture and imprisonment, arrives in the United States - his only hope for asylum. The American woman who has volunteered to help him is searching for something to add meaning to her life. When these two lonely people meet, their haunting relationship fulfills their hearts' desires, but it also gives life to their darkest dreams.

Annie Sutton is not only a best-selling mystery author, she’s the proprietor of the newly opened Vineyard Inn. Recently engaged to local Police Sergeant John Lyons, instead of making wedding plans, Annie’s fighting with him about his older daughter, a troubled teen who has moved home - bringing chaos in her wake. With Annie’s beloved brother away on a troublesome journey of his own, Annie needs a friend. She begins to confide in one of the Inn’s guests, a mysterious stranger named Mary Beth Mullen.

After three years on a whaling voyage, Henry Macy returns to Nantucket to news that his grandmother has passed, bequeathing her vast fortune to him and his sister, Hitty. And it was truly vast. But Lillian Coffin was no fool. The inheritance comes with a steep cost, including when they should marry and whom - a Quaker in good standing, of course. But if they relinquish the inheritance, it all goes to Tristram Macy, their father's thieving business partner. As Hitty and Henry seek a way to satisfy the will's conditions, they'll be faced with obstacles on every side.