Portrait of an Unknown Lady
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
Portrait of an Unknown Lady
Buy for $11.17
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kyla García
-
By:
-
Maria Gainza
About this listen
New York Times notable author Maria Gainza, who dazzled critics with Optic Nerve, returns with the captivating story of an auction house employee on the trail of an enigmatic master forger.
In the Buenos Aires art world, a master forger has achieved legendary status. Rumored to be a woman, she specializes in canvases by the painter Mariette Lydis, a portraitist of Argentinean high society. But who is this absurdly gifted creator of counterfeits? What motivates her? And what is her link to the community of artists who congregate, night after night, in a strange establishment called the Hotel Melancolico?
On the trail of this mysterious forger is our narrator, an art critic and auction house employee through whose hands counterfeit works have passed. As she begins to take on the role of art-world detective, adopting her own methods of deception and manipulation, she warns us "not to proceed in expectation of names, numbers or dates . . . My techniques are those of the impressionist." Driven by obsession and full of subtle surprise, Portrait of an Unknown Lady is a highly seductive and enveloping meditation on what we mean by "authenticity" in art, and a captivating exploration of the gap between what is lived and what is told.
©2018 María Gainza; English translation copyright 2022 by Thomas Bunstead (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- By: Hernan Diaz
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,655
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,208
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,208
Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Before Purchasing
- By JLDLOfficial on 08-13-22
By: Hernan Diaz
-
The Bangalore Detectives Club
- By: Harini Nagendra
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 361
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 314
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 313
When clever, headstrong Kaveri moves to Bangalore to marry handsome young doctor Ramu, she’s resigned herself to a quiet life. But that all changes the night of the party at the Century Club, where she escapes to the garden for some peace and quiet—and instead spots an uninvited guest in the shadows. Half an hour later, the party turns into a murder scene. When a vulnerable woman is connected to the crime, Kaveri becomes determined to save her and launches a private investigation to find the killer, tracing his steps from an illustrious brothel to an Englishman’s mansion.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Good concept, poor execution
- By Amazon Customer on 09-01-22
By: Harini Nagendra
-
The Kill Artist
- By: Daniel Silva
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,825
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,126
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6,103
After the assassination of his wife and son, Gabriel Allon retires from his brutal anti-terrorist career and loses himself in his previous cover job: art restoration. But when Tariq al-Hourani, the Palestinian terrorist responsible for his family’s death, begins a killing spree designed to destroy Middle East peace talks, Gabriel once again slips into the shadowy world of international intrigue. In a global game of hide-and-seek, the motives of Gabriel and Tariq soon become more personal than political.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Reluctant Assassin
- By Snoodely on 10-30-13
By: Daniel Silva
-
The Latecomer
- A Novel
- By: Jean Hanff Korelitz
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,959
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,743
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,730
The Latecomer follows the story of the wealthy, New York City-based Oppenheimer family, from the first meeting of parents Salo and Johanna, under tragic circumstances, to their triplets born during the early days of IVF. As children, the three siblings—Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally—feel no strong familial bond and cannot wait to go their separate ways, even as their father becomes more distanced and their mother more desperate. When the triplets leave for college, Johanna, faced with being truly alone, makes the decision to have a fourth child.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Conservatives and religious are the villains
- By Ashley on 09-01-22
-
The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 789
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 705
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 705
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
-
Death at La Fenice
- Commissario Brunetti Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 696
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 621
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 615
During intermission at the famed La Fenice opera house in Venice, Italy, a notoriously difficult and widely disliked German conductor is poisoned—and suspects abound. Guido Brunetti, a native Venetian, sets out to unravel the mystery behind the high-profile murder. To do so, he calls on his knowledge of Venice, its culture, and its dirty politics. Along the way, he finds the crime may have roots going back decades—and that revenge, corruption, and even Italian cuisine may play a role.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Hercule Poirot in Venice...!!!
- By Emil Grancagnolo on 10-09-22
By: Donna Leon
-
Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- By: Hernan Diaz
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,655
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,208
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,208
Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Before Purchasing
- By JLDLOfficial on 08-13-22
By: Hernan Diaz
-
The Bangalore Detectives Club
- By: Harini Nagendra
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 361
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 314
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 313
When clever, headstrong Kaveri moves to Bangalore to marry handsome young doctor Ramu, she’s resigned herself to a quiet life. But that all changes the night of the party at the Century Club, where she escapes to the garden for some peace and quiet—and instead spots an uninvited guest in the shadows. Half an hour later, the party turns into a murder scene. When a vulnerable woman is connected to the crime, Kaveri becomes determined to save her and launches a private investigation to find the killer, tracing his steps from an illustrious brothel to an Englishman’s mansion.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Good concept, poor execution
- By Amazon Customer on 09-01-22
By: Harini Nagendra
-
The Kill Artist
- By: Daniel Silva
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,825
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,126
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6,103
After the assassination of his wife and son, Gabriel Allon retires from his brutal anti-terrorist career and loses himself in his previous cover job: art restoration. But when Tariq al-Hourani, the Palestinian terrorist responsible for his family’s death, begins a killing spree designed to destroy Middle East peace talks, Gabriel once again slips into the shadowy world of international intrigue. In a global game of hide-and-seek, the motives of Gabriel and Tariq soon become more personal than political.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Reluctant Assassin
- By Snoodely on 10-30-13
By: Daniel Silva
-
The Latecomer
- A Novel
- By: Jean Hanff Korelitz
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,959
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,743
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,730
The Latecomer follows the story of the wealthy, New York City-based Oppenheimer family, from the first meeting of parents Salo and Johanna, under tragic circumstances, to their triplets born during the early days of IVF. As children, the three siblings—Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally—feel no strong familial bond and cannot wait to go their separate ways, even as their father becomes more distanced and their mother more desperate. When the triplets leave for college, Johanna, faced with being truly alone, makes the decision to have a fourth child.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Conservatives and religious are the villains
- By Ashley on 09-01-22
-
The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 789
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 705
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 705
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
-
Death at La Fenice
- Commissario Brunetti Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 696
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 621
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 615
During intermission at the famed La Fenice opera house in Venice, Italy, a notoriously difficult and widely disliked German conductor is poisoned—and suspects abound. Guido Brunetti, a native Venetian, sets out to unravel the mystery behind the high-profile murder. To do so, he calls on his knowledge of Venice, its culture, and its dirty politics. Along the way, he finds the crime may have roots going back decades—and that revenge, corruption, and even Italian cuisine may play a role.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Hercule Poirot in Venice...!!!
- By Emil Grancagnolo on 10-09-22
By: Donna Leon
-
A Visit from the Goon Squad
- By: Jennifer Egan
- Narrated by: Roxana Ortega
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,263
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,082
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,079
Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, the listener does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in locales as varied as New York, San Francisco, Naples, and Africa.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Deep and dazzling novel, brilliantly read!
- By J. W. Coop on 06-29-19
By: Jennifer Egan
-
Nine Lives
- A Novel
- By: Peter Swanson
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy, Mark Bramhall
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 603
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 528
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 528
Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke—until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very Very Good!!!!
- By shelley on 03-16-22
By: Peter Swanson
-
Birnam Wood
- A Novel
- By: Eleanor Catton
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 727
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 604
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 603
A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand’s South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding thriller w/ exceptional character development
- By Bradley T. Collins on 04-21-23
By: Eleanor Catton
-
The Cold, Cold Ground
- Detective Sean Duffy, Book 1
- By: Adrian McKinty
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,943
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,452
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,427
Northern Ireland, spring 1981. Hunger strikes, riots, power cuts, a homophobic serial killer with a penchant for opera, and a young woman’s suicide that may yet turn out to be murder: on the surface, the events are unconnected, but then things—and people—aren’t always what they seem. Detective Sergeant Duffy is the man tasked with trying to get to the bottom of it all. It’s no easy job—especially when it turns out that one of the victims was involved in the IRA but was last seen discussing business with someone from the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Listen to this book. You won't be disappointed.
- By Christopher on 01-21-12
By: Adrian McKinty
-
A Line in the Sand
- A Novel
- By: Kevin Powers
- Narrated by: Christine Lakin
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 189
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 164
One early morning on a Norfolk beach in Virginia, a dead body is discovered by a man taking his daily swim—Arman Bajalan, formerly an interpreter in Iraq. After narrowly surviving an assassination attempt that killed his wife and child, Arman has been given lonely sanctuary in the US as a maintenance worker at the Sea Breeze Motel. Now, convinced that the body is connected to his past, he knows he is still not safe.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
A preposterous bloodbath
- By David Benjamin on 07-06-23
By: Kevin Powers
-
The Shadow of the Wind
- By: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,798
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,337
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,351
Barcelona, 1945: Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his 11th birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother's face. To console his only child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona's guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Have the book handy
- By Rebecca on 07-17-05
-
The Lioness
- A Novel
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: January LaVoy, Grace Experience, Gabrielle De Cuir
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 911
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 798
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 794
Tanzania, 1964. When Katie Barstow, A-list actress, and her new husband, David Hill, decide to bring their Hollywood friends to the Serengeti for their honeymoon, they envision giraffes gently eating leaves from the tall acacia trees, great swarms of wildebeests crossing the Mara River, and herds of zebras storming the sandy plains. Their glamorous guests—including Katie’s best friend, Carmen Tedesco, and Terrance Dutton, the celebrated Black actor who stars alongside Katie in the highly controversial film Tender Madness—will spend their days taking photos.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
AMAZING!
- By Julie Linker on 05-18-22
By: Chris Bohjalian
-
Foster
- By: Claire Keegan
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 1 hr and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 709
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 607
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 604
It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas' house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household—where everything is so well tended to—and this summer must soon come to an end.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A story that will stay with me a long time
- By CTKG on 11-01-22
By: Claire Keegan
-
The Berlin Exchange
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 190
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 161
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 160
Berlin, 1963. An early morning spy swap, not at the familiar setting for such exchanges, nor at Checkpoint Charlie, where international visitors cross into the East, but at a more discreet border crossing, usually reserved for East German VIPs. The Communists are trading two American students caught helping people to escape over the wall and an aging MI6 operative. On the other side of the trade: Martin Keller, a physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A fabulous thriller. As good as LeCarre
- By Rosemary Wells on 04-02-22
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Two Nights in Lisbon
- A Novel
- By: Chris Pavone
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 997
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 884
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 876
Ariel Price wakes up in Lisbon, alone. Her husband is gone—no warning, no note, not answering his phone. Something is wrong. She starts with hotel security, then the police, then the American embassy, at each confronting questions she can’t fully answer: What exactly is John doing in Lisbon? Why would he drag her along on his business trip? Who would want to harm him? And why does Ariel know so little about her new—much younger—husband?
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Don’t bother reading unless you enjoy…
- By Cynthia on 05-29-22
By: Chris Pavone
-
Shrines of Gaiety
- A Novel
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Jason Watkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 702
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 613
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 613
1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven, whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie’s empire faces threats from without and within.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Rich characters of all stripes
- By Glorious Lorius on 11-09-22
By: Kate Atkinson
-
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
- A Novel
- By: Dominic Smith
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,794
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,601
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,599
In 1631, Sara de Vos is admitted as a master painter to the Guild of St. Luke's in Holland, the first woman to be so recognized. Three hundred years later, only one work attributed to de Vos is known to remain - a haunting winter scene, At the Edge of a Wood, which hangs over the bed of a wealthy descendant of the original owner. An Australian grad student, Ellie Shipley, struggling to stay afloat in New York, agrees to paint a forgery of the landscape, a decision that will haunt her.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Undone by Cadmium Yellow
- By Mel on 04-18-16
By: Dominic Smith
Related to this topic
-
Distant Star
- By: Roberto Bolano
- Narrated by: Walter Krochmal
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 53
A chilling novel about the nightmare of a corrupt and brutal dictatorship. The star of Roberto Bolano's hair-raising novel Distant Star is Alberto Ruiz-Tagle, an air force pilot who exploits the 1973 coup to launch his own version of the New Chilean Poetry, a multimedia enterprise involving sky-writing, poetry, torture, and photo exhibitions. For our unnamed narrator, who first encounters this "star" in a college poetry workshop, Ruiz-Tagle becomes the silent hand behind every evil act in the darkness of Pinochet's regime.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Omg
- By Sierra on 08-03-16
By: Roberto Bolano
-
The Gift
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 42
The Gift is the last of the novels Nabokov wrote in his native language and the crowning achievement of that period in his literary career. It is also his ode to Russian literature, evoking the works of Pushkin, Gogol, and others in the course of its narrative: the story of Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev, an impoverished émigré poet living in Berlin, who dreams of the book he will someday write - a book very much like The Gift itself.
One of the twentieth century’s master prose stylists, Vladimir Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg in 1899.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A complex and rich Künstlerroman
- By Darwin8u on 11-30-13
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
The City of Falling Angels
- By: John Berendt
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 563
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 267
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 265
The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Do Yourself a Favor and Skip This Book!
- By AUDIBLE on 10-08-05
By: John Berendt
-
The Possessed
- Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
- By: Elif Batuman
- Narrated by: Elif Batuman
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
In The Possessed we watch Elif Batuman investigate a possible murder at Tolstoy's ancestral estate. We go with her to Stanford, Switzerland, and St. Petersburg; retrace Pushkin's wanderings in the Caucasus; learn why Old Uzbek has 100 different words for crying; and see an 18th-century ice palace reconstructed on the Neva. Love and the novel, the individual in history, the existential plight of the graduate student: all find their places in The Possessed.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Dear Russian Literary Diary...
- By Darwin8u on 08-29-17
By: Elif Batuman
-
The President's Hat
- By: Antoine Laurain
- Narrated by: Luke Thompson, Peter Noble, David Timson, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 132
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 116
Dining alone in an elegant Parisian brasserie, accountant Daniel Mercier can hardly believe his eyes when President François Mitterrand sits down to eat at the table next to him. After the presidential party has gone, Daniel discovers that Mitterrand’s black felt hat has been left behind. After a few moments’ soul-searching, Daniel decides to keep the hat as a souvenir of an extraordinary evening. It’s a perfect fit, and as he leaves the restaurant Daniel begins to feel somehow...different.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
You need this book. I need that hat.
- By Amber on 10-25-13
By: Antoine Laurain
-
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
- By: Italo Calvino
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 647
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 572
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 567
Italo Calvino imagines a novel capable of endless mutations in this intricately crafted story about writing and readers. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler turns out to be not one novel but 10, each with a different plot, style, ambience, and author, and each interrupted at a moment of suspense. Together they form a labyrinth of literatures, known and unknown, alive and extinct, through which two readers, a male and a female, pursue both the story lines that intrigue them and one another.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The position of the feet during reading...
- By literate rose on 02-09-18
By: Italo Calvino
-
Distant Star
- By: Roberto Bolano
- Narrated by: Walter Krochmal
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 53
A chilling novel about the nightmare of a corrupt and brutal dictatorship. The star of Roberto Bolano's hair-raising novel Distant Star is Alberto Ruiz-Tagle, an air force pilot who exploits the 1973 coup to launch his own version of the New Chilean Poetry, a multimedia enterprise involving sky-writing, poetry, torture, and photo exhibitions. For our unnamed narrator, who first encounters this "star" in a college poetry workshop, Ruiz-Tagle becomes the silent hand behind every evil act in the darkness of Pinochet's regime.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Omg
- By Sierra on 08-03-16
By: Roberto Bolano
-
The Gift
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 42
The Gift is the last of the novels Nabokov wrote in his native language and the crowning achievement of that period in his literary career. It is also his ode to Russian literature, evoking the works of Pushkin, Gogol, and others in the course of its narrative: the story of Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev, an impoverished émigré poet living in Berlin, who dreams of the book he will someday write - a book very much like The Gift itself.
One of the twentieth century’s master prose stylists, Vladimir Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg in 1899.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A complex and rich Künstlerroman
- By Darwin8u on 11-30-13
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
The City of Falling Angels
- By: John Berendt
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 563
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 267
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 265
The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Do Yourself a Favor and Skip This Book!
- By AUDIBLE on 10-08-05
By: John Berendt
-
The Possessed
- Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
- By: Elif Batuman
- Narrated by: Elif Batuman
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
In The Possessed we watch Elif Batuman investigate a possible murder at Tolstoy's ancestral estate. We go with her to Stanford, Switzerland, and St. Petersburg; retrace Pushkin's wanderings in the Caucasus; learn why Old Uzbek has 100 different words for crying; and see an 18th-century ice palace reconstructed on the Neva. Love and the novel, the individual in history, the existential plight of the graduate student: all find their places in The Possessed.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Dear Russian Literary Diary...
- By Darwin8u on 08-29-17
By: Elif Batuman
-
The President's Hat
- By: Antoine Laurain
- Narrated by: Luke Thompson, Peter Noble, David Timson, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 132
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 116
Dining alone in an elegant Parisian brasserie, accountant Daniel Mercier can hardly believe his eyes when President François Mitterrand sits down to eat at the table next to him. After the presidential party has gone, Daniel discovers that Mitterrand’s black felt hat has been left behind. After a few moments’ soul-searching, Daniel decides to keep the hat as a souvenir of an extraordinary evening. It’s a perfect fit, and as he leaves the restaurant Daniel begins to feel somehow...different.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
You need this book. I need that hat.
- By Amber on 10-25-13
By: Antoine Laurain
-
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
- By: Italo Calvino
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 647
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 572
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 567
Italo Calvino imagines a novel capable of endless mutations in this intricately crafted story about writing and readers. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler turns out to be not one novel but 10, each with a different plot, style, ambience, and author, and each interrupted at a moment of suspense. Together they form a labyrinth of literatures, known and unknown, alive and extinct, through which two readers, a male and a female, pursue both the story lines that intrigue them and one another.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The position of the feet during reading...
- By literate rose on 02-09-18
By: Italo Calvino
-
The Lost Painting
- The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece
- By: Jonathan Harr
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 529
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 239
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 237
An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
an incredible and complex story unfolds seamlessly
- By Jeremiah on 10-31-05
By: Jonathan Harr
-
Artful
- By: Ali Smith
- Narrated by: Ali Smith
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
In 2012, Ali Smith delivered the Weidenfeld lectures on European comparative literature at St. Anne’s College, Oxford. Those lectures, presented here, took the shape of discursive stories that refused to be tied down to either fiction or the essay form. Thus, Artful is narrated by a character who is haunted - literally - by a former lover, the writer of a series of lectures about art and literature. A hypnotic dialogue unfolds between storytelling and a meditation on art that encompasses love, grief, memory, and revitalization.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
#Reality/Loss/Mythology
- By Ellen K. on 11-14-18
By: Ali Smith
-
Wicked Autumn
- Booktrack Edition
- By: G. M. Malliet
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 17
Max Tudor has adapted well to his post as vicar of St. Edwold's in the idyllic village of Nether Monkslip. The quiet village seems the perfect home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past as an MI5 agent. But this new-found serenity is quickly shattered when the highly vocal and unpopular president of the Women's Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Max's training as a former agent kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Just OK
- By Jeanne on 08-05-21
By: G. M. Malliet
-
The Loved One
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 3 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 108
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 89
Following the death of a friend, the poet and pets' mortician Dennis Barlow finds himself entering the artificial Hollywood paradise of the Whispering Glades Memorial Park. Within its golden gates, death, American-style, is wrapped up and sold like a package holiday - and Dennis gets drawn into a bizarre love triangle with Aimée Thanatogenos, a naïve Californian corpse beautician, and Mr. Joyboy, a master of the embalmer's art.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Satire? Or just mean spirited?
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 02-08-23
By: Evelyn Waugh
-
Istanbul
- Memories and the City
- By: Orhan Pamuk
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 215
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 179
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 183
A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy—or hüzün—that all Istanbullus share.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible pronunciation
- By K. Jaynes on 02-25-18
By: Orhan Pamuk
-
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 41
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, the first novel Nabokov wrote in English, is a tantalizing literary mystery in which a writer’s half brother searches to unravel the enigma of the life of the famous author of Albinos in Black, The Back of the Moon, and Doubtful Asphodel. A characteristically cunning play on identity and deception, the novel concludes “ I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we both are someone whom neither of us knows.”
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A dry run at big, complex themes
- By Darwin8u on 12-08-13
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
England's Finest
- By: Christopher Fowler
- Narrated by: Tim Goodman
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
The Peculiar Crimes Unit has solved many extraordinary cases over the years, but some were hushed up and hidden away. Until now. Arthur Bryant remembers these lost cases as if they were yesterday. Here, then, is the truth about the Covent Garden opera diva and the 17th reindeer, the body that falls from the Tate Gallery, the ordinary London street corner where strange accidents keep occurring, the consul’s son discovered buried in the unit’s basement, the corpse pulled from a swamp of Chinese dinners....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Over to soon!
- By Nancy on 11-17-19
-
Amulet
- By: Roberto Bolaño, Chris Andrews - translator
- Narrated by: Adriana Sananes
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 37
A tour de force, Amulet is a highly charged first-person, semi-hallucinatory novel that embodies in one woman's voice the melancholy and violent recent history of Latin America. Amulet is a monologue, like Bolaño's acclaimed debut in English, By Night in Chile. The speaker is Auxilio Lacouture, a Uruguayan woman who moved to Mexico in the 1960s, becoming the "Mother of Mexican Poetry", hanging out with the young poets in the cafés and bars of the University.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Read The Savage Detectives first
- By Alicia Grega on 12-05-13
By: Roberto Bolaño, and others
-
The Museum of Innocence
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Maureen Freely (translator)
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 326
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 246
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 246
Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the long-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeosie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
one of the very best I've ever heard
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 03-06-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
-
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
- Stories
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon, Piter Marek, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 155
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 133
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 135
In "Books and Roses", one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers' fates. In "Is Your Blood as Red as This?", an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school. "'Sorry' Doesn't Sweeten Her Tea" involves a "house of locks", where doors can be closed only with a key - with surprising unobservable developments. And in "If a Book Is Locked There's Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think", a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
clever
- By jared rogerson on 03-15-18
By: Helen Oyeyemi
-
Outline
- The Outline Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Rachel Cusk
- Narrated by: Kate Lock
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 49
A man and a woman are seated next to each other on a plane. They get to talking - about their destination, their careers, their families. Grievances are aired, family tragedies discussed, marriages and divorces analyzed. An intimacy is established as two strangers contrast their own fictions about their lives. Outline is a novel in 10 conversations. Spare and stark, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing during one oppressively hot summer in Athens.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Difficult and Better in Print
- By Nick O. on 07-18-23
By: Rachel Cusk
-
Russian Winter
- A Novel
- By: Daphne Kalotay
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 167
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 115
In Russian Winter, the beautiful debut novel by critically acclaimed writer Daphne Kalotay, a famed ballerina’s jewelry auction in Boston reveals long-held secrets of love and family, friendship and rivalry, harkening back to Stalinist Russia. Called “tender, passionate, and moving” by Jenna Blum, the New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us, Russian Winter is a perfect choice for fans of the novels of Debra Dean (The Madonnas of Leningrad), Ann Patchett (Bel Canto), and Ian McEwan (Atonement).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Read this review; Sophisticated and wonderful!
- By Cookie on 01-15-12
By: Daphne Kalotay
What listeners say about Portrait of an Unknown Lady
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- RR
- 06-13-22
hard to follow the narrator
the narrator spoke clearly, but it was like they were just reciting discrete sentences not telling a story. the disjointed narration made the story impossible to follow.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!