The House of Special Purpose
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The House of Special Purpose
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Narrated by:
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Stefan Rudnicki
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By:
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John Boyne
About this listen
Part love story, part historical epic, part tragedy, The House of Special Purpose illuminates an empire at the end of its reign. Living in England with his beloved wife, Zoya, Georgy prepares to make one final journey back to the Russia he once knew and loved, the Russia that both destroyed and defined him. As Georgy remembers days gone by, we are transported to Saint Petersburg, to the Winter Palace of the tzar, in the early twentieth century - a time of change, threat, and bloody revolution. As Georgy overturns the most painful stone of all, we uncover the story of the house of special purpose.
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,384
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery - or at least that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding. A Must listen.
- By Keith G on 09-04-17
By: John Boyne
-
The Twelfth Enchantment
- By: David Liss
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 107
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 107
Lucy Derrick is a young woman of good breeding and poor finances. After the death of her beloved father, she is forced to maintain a shabby dignity as the unwanted boarder of her tyrannical uncle, fending off marriage to a local mill owner. But just as she is on the cusp of accepting a life of misery, events take a stunning turn when a handsome stranger - the poet and notorious rake Lord Byron - arrives at her house, stricken by what seems to be a curse, and with a cryptic message for Lucy. Suddenly her unfortunate circumstances are transformed in ways at once astonishing and seemingly impossible.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A Little Better than Just OK
- By Cariola on 02-10-12
By: David Liss
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Golden Earrings
- By: Belinda Alexandra
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 533
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 487
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 483
Catalina, grand-daughter of Spanish refugees, is a disciplined student with the School of the Paris Opera Ballet. Little gets inthe way of her career until the visit of an otherworldly being, who leaves her a mysterious pair of golden earrings. Given a quest, Catalina realises she must explore her own Spanish heritage and makes the connection between the visitor and ‘La Rusa’, a young Andalusian flamenco star. La Rusa died in exile in Paris in 1952, her death ruled as suicide. But as Catalina begins to discover, there were those in the community, who had good reason for wanting La Rusa dead.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fabulous story
- By Paddington on 10-19-12
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The Cater Street Hangman
- By: Anne Perry
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,771
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,523
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,520
When a maid in the upper class Ellison household is strangled, Inspector Pitt is called in to investigate. He finds a world ruled by strict manners and social customs, where the inhabitants of the Ellison's neighborhood appear to be more outraged by the thought of scandal than they are by murder. Inspector Pitt finds a most unlikely ally in Charlotte, the Ellison's spirited daughter. But as the murders continue, Charlotte and Pitt find themselves drawn together by more than the investigation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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I really like this book but it's not for everone
- By Ancient Warrior on 03-14-11
By: Anne Perry
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Lyon's Bride
- The Chattan Curse, Book 1
- By: Cathy Maxwell
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 214
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 201
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 202
They call him Lord Lyon, proud, determined - and cursed. He is in need of a bride, but if he falls in love, he dies. His fervent hope is that by marrying - and having a son - without love, perhaps he can break the curse's chains forever. Enter beautiful Thea Martin - a duke's headstrong, errant daughter and society's most brilliant matchmaker. Years ago, she and Lyon were inseparable, until he disappeared from her life without a word. Now she is charged with finding Lyon's bride - a woman he cannot love for a man Thea could love too well.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good Story - Wonderful Narrator
- By Lia on 11-19-12
By: Cathy Maxwell
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And Only to Deceive
- Lady Emily, Book 1
- By: Tasha Alexander
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 604
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 534
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 535
For Emily, accepting the proposal of Philip, the viscount Ashton, was an easy way to escape her overbearing mother, who was set on a grand society match. So when Emily's dashing husband died on safari soon after their wedding, she felt little grief. After all, she barely knew him. Now, nearly two years later, she discovers that Philip was a far different man from the one she had married so cavalierly.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Tiresome
- By nkevinsc on 03-05-15
By: Tasha Alexander
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An Heiress at Heart
- By: Jennifer Delamere
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
With An Heiress at Heart, Jennifer Delamere delivers the first in a historical romance series sure to set hearts aflame. After five years in exile for a youthful indiscretion, Lizzie Poole is given a second chance to join London society when her best friend, Ria, takes to her death bed and asks Lizzie to assume her identity. Ria wants Lizzie to carry out her final wishes, but neither knows that Lord Somerville has designs on Ria - and that maintaining the ruse will put Lizzie’s heart at risk.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Captivating Read
- By Rita Henriquez-Green on 12-15-22
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The Ambassador's Daughter
- By: Pam Jenoff
- Narrated by: Joanna Daniel
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 245
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 222
Brought to the peace conference by her father, a German diplomat, Margot Rosenthal initially resents being trapped in the congested French capital, where she is still looked upon as the enemy. But as she contemplates returning to Berlin and a life with Stefan, the wounded fiancé she hardly knows anymore, she decides that being in Paris is not so bad after all. Bored and torn between duty and the desire to be free, Margot strikes up unlikely alliances: with Krysia, an accomplished musician with radical acquaintances and a secret to protect; and with Georg, the handsome, damaged naval officer who gives Margot a job.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Book 0 in the series
- By Stevon on 12-12-17
By: Pam Jenoff
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Dracula, My Love
- The Secret Journals of Mina Harker
- By: Syrie James
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 103
Mina Harker is torn between two men. Struggling to hang on to the deep, pure love she's found within her marriage to her husband, Jonathan, she is inexorably drawn into a secret, passionate affair with a charismatic but dangerous lover. This haunted and haunting creature has awakened feelings and desires within her that she has never before known, remaking her as a woman. Although everyone she knows fears him and is pledged to destroy him, Mina sees a side to him that the others cannot.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Far Better Than I Thought or Hoped For!
- By Troy on 03-27-13
By: Syrie James
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Glimmer of Hope
- By: Sarah M. Eden
- Narrated by: Kymberly Mellon
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 206
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 184
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 185
Stunning Miranda Harford once had the world at her feet. She was young, carefree, and desperately in love. But when her new husband left for London without her, her world fell apart. Devastated by his abandonment, Miranda fled their home, taking residence at her husband's rarely visited countryside estate. For three years, she lived alone. But now, as the holidays draw near, an unexpected visitor arrives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Gutwrenching
- By Voracious Reader on 04-02-17
By: Sarah M. Eden
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The Scottish Duke
- By: Karen Ranney
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 133
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 123
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
Though raised as a gentleman's daughter, Lorna Gordon is obliged to take a position as an upstairs maid at Blackhall Castle when her father dies. Alex Russell, the Duke of Kinross, is the most tempting man she's ever seen - and completely unattainable until, at a fancy dress ball, Lorna disguises herself as Marie Antoinette and pursues an illicit tryst, with scandalous consequences.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!
- By Lady M on 12-16-16
By: Karen Ranney
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Despite the Falling Snow
- By: Shamim Sarif
- Narrated by: Shamim Sarif
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 37
Now a major motion picture. After an early career amongst the political elite of Cold War Russia, Alexander Ivanov has lived in America for 40 years and has managed to bury the tragic memories surrounding his charismatic late wife, Katya - or so he believes. For into his life come two women - one who will start to open up the heart he has protected for so long; another who is determined to uncover the truth about what really happened to Katya all those years ago.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful snow fall
- By Mary findsplaces on 05-22-20
By: Shamim Sarif
-
A Place of Greater Safety
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 33 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 281
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 245
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 244
It is 1789, and three young provincials have come to Paris to make their way. Georges-Jacques Danton, an ambitious young lawyer, is energetic, pragmatic, debt-ridden - and hugely but erotically ugly. Maximilien Robespierre, also a lawyer, is slight, diligent, and terrified of violence. His dearest friend, Camille Desmoulins, is a conspirator and pamphleteer of genius. A charming gadfly, erratic and untrustworthy, bisexual and beautiful, Camille is obsessed by one woman and engaged to marry another, her daughter.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Disaster
- By Frank Dudley Berry Jr. on 08-01-13
By: Hilary Mantel
-
Winter Collection
- Six Historical Short Stories (A Timeless Romance Anthology, Book 1)
- By: Sarah M. Eden, Heidi Ashworth, Annette Lyon, and others
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 112
Six award-winning authors have contributed brand new stories to A Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Collection. A collection unlike any other, listeners will love this compilation of six sweet historical romance novellas, set in varying eras, yet all with one thing in common: Romance.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Winter
- By Manila J. Dobbs on 08-12-23
By: Sarah M. Eden, and others
-
The Idiot
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 27 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 183
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 163
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
In The Idiot, Prince Myshkin possesses a childlike innocence and trusting nature that leave him vulnerable to abuse by those around him. Returning to St. Petersburg to collect an inheritance, Myshkin realizes he is a stranger in a society obsessed with wealth, manipulation and power.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Avoid Constance Garnett
- By Anthony on 04-09-17
-
Devils
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 28 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 753
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 668
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 666
Exiled to four years in Siberia, but hailed by the end of his life as a saint, prophet, and genius, Fyodor Dostoevsky holds an exalted place among the best of the great Russian authors. One of Dostoevsky’s five major novels, Devils follows the travails of a small provincial town beset by a band of modish radicals - and in so doing presents a devastating depiction of life and politics in late 19th-century Imperial Russia.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent translation and narration
- By L. Kerr on 09-06-13
-
Wolfblade
- Hythryn Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Jennifer Fallon
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 25 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
Marla Wolfblade of Hythria is determined to restore her family's great name, but conspirators surround her: The Sorcerers' Collective, the Patriots - even members of her own family. She must make sure her son Damin lives to be old enough to restore the Wolfblade name to its former glory. Elezaar the Dwarf is a small man with big secrets - but that doesn't matter to Marla Wolfblade. Her brother is the High Prince of Hythria, and, in this fiercely patriarchal society, her fate will be decided on his whim.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
An epic political drama
- By Katherine on 07-19-14
By: Jennifer Fallon
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Propelled into the priesthood by a family tragedy, Odran Yates is full of hope and ambition. When he arrives at Clonliffe Seminary in the 1970s, it is a time in Ireland when priests are highly respected, and Odran believes that he is pledging his life to "the good."
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It is September 1919: Twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will - from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France.
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Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent - but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful - but desperately lonely - older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This is a very smart book
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The Boy at the Top of the Mountain
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When Pierrot becomes an orphan, he must leave his home in Paris for a new life with his aunt Beatrix, a servant in a wealthy Austrian household. But this is no ordinary time, for it is 1935 and the Second World War is fast approaching; and this is no ordinary house, for this is the Berghof, the home of Adolf Hitler. Pierrot is quickly taken under Hitler's wing and thrown into an increasingly dangerous new world: a world of terror, secrets, and betrayal from which he may never be able to escape.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent story
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By: John Boyne
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This House Is Haunted
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Well Read - Not Very Scary, Had Promise
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This story starts with a family. For now, it is a father and a mother with two sons, one with his father’s violence in his blood, one with his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will determine their fate. It is a beginning. Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of 2,000 years. They will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium and journeying across 50 countries to a life among the stars, their destinies remain the same....
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4 out of 5 stars
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AD 2016
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It is September 1919: Twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will - from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France.
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Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent - but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful - but desperately lonely - older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war.
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The Boy at the Top of the Mountain
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Stay Where You Are and Then Leave
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The day the First World War broke out, Alfie Summerfield's father promised he wouldn't go away to fight - but he broke that promise the following day. Four years later, Alfie doesn't know where his father might be, other than that he's away on a special, secret mission. Then, while shining shoes at King's Cross Station, Alfie unexpectedly sees his father's name on a sheaf of papers belonging to a military doctor. Bewildered and confused, Alfie realizes his father is in a hospital close by - a hospital treating soldiers with shell shock.
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5 out of 5 stars
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WWI Coming of Age Story
- By tooonce72 on 04-26-14
By: John Boyne
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The Echo Chamber
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 250
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The Cleverley family live a gilded life, little realising how precarious their privilege is, just one tweet away from disaster. George, the patriarch, is a stalwart of television interviewing, a 'national treasure' (his words); his wife, Beverley, a celebrated novelist; and their children, Nelson, Elizabeth, Achilles, various degrees of catastrophe waiting to happen. Together they will go on a journey of discovery through the Hogarthian jungle of the modern living where past presumptions count for nothing and carefully curated reputations can be destroyed in an instant.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Delicious, Witty, Hysterical!!
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Noah Barleywater Runs Away
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Eight-year-old Noah's problems seem easier to deal with if he doesn't think about them. So he runs away, taking an untrodden path through the forest. Before long, he comes across a shop. But this is no ordinary shop: It's a toyshop, full of the most amazing toys, and brimming with the most wonderful magic. And here Noah meets a very unusual toymaker. The toymaker has a story to tell, and it's a story of adventure and wonder, and broken promises. He takes Noah on a journey. A journey that will change his life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant Funny Magical Story
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By: John Boyne
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The Heart's Invisible Furies
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,055
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Cyril Avery is not a real Avery - or at least that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding. A Must listen.
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For Those Who Are Lost
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Ava and Joseph Simon reluctantly put their nine-year-old son, Henry, and four-year-old daughter, Catherine, in the care of their son’s teacher, who will escort them on a boat to mainland England. Just as the ferry is about to leave, the teacher’s sister Lily appears. The two trade places: Helen doesn’t want to leave Guernsey, and Lily is desperate for a fresh start.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing Story!
- By tkm29 on 04-17-23
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Four Hundred and Forty Steps to the Sea
- By: Sara Alexander
- Narrated by: Sara Alexander
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,942
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,715
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,688
Nestled into the cliffs in southern Italy's Amalfi coast, Positano is an artist's vision, with rows of brightly hued houses perched above the sea and picturesque staircases meandering up and down the hillside. Santina, still a striking woman despite old age and the illness that saps her last strength, is spending her final days at her home, Villa San Vito. The magnificent 18th-century palazzo is very different from the tiny house in which she grew up. And as she decides its fate, she must confront the choices that led her here so long ago.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I’m shook!
- By paintgal on 03-18-21
By: Sara Alexander
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Past Imperfect
- By: Julian Fellowes
- Narrated by: Richard Morant
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,181
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,032
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,024
Damian Baxter is hugely wealthy and dying. He lives alone in a big house in Surrey, England, looked after by a chauffeur, butler, cook and housemaid. He has but one concern--his fortune in excess of 500 million and who should inherit it on his death.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Read Snobs instead
- By cristina on 02-14-13
By: Julian Fellowes
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Last Bus to Wisdom
- A Novel
- By: Ivan Doig
- Narrated by: David Aaron Baker
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,754
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,435
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,427
The final novel from a great American storyteller. Donal Cameron is being raised by his grandmother, the cook at the legendary Double W ranch in Ivan Doig's beloved Two Medicine Country of the Montana Rockies, a landscape that gives full rein to an 11-year-old's imagination. But when Gram has to have surgery for "female trouble" in the summer of 1951, all she can think to do is to ship Donal off to her sister in faraway Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Such a lovely final book.
- By B.J. on 02-26-16
By: Ivan Doig
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After You’d Gone
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Elle Newlands
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 166
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Story4 out of 5 stars 146
Alice Raikes takes a train from London to Scotland to visit her family, but when she gets there she witnesses something so shocking that she insists on returning to London immediately. A few hours later, Alice is lying in a coma after an accident that may or may not have been a suicide attempt. Alice’s family gathers at her bedside and as they wait, argue, and remember, long-buried tensions emerge. The more they talk, the more they seem to conceal. Alice, meanwhile, slides between varying levels of consciousness, recalling her past and a love affair that recently ended.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very well written.
- By Audible Fan on 02-24-21
By: Maggie O'Farrell
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Russka
- The Novel of Russia
- By: Edward Rutherfurd
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 39 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 673
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 592
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Story4 out of 5 stars 592
Russka is the story of four families who are divided by ethnicity but united in shaping the destiny of Russia. From a single riverside village situated at one of the country’s geographic crossroads, Russia’s Slav peasant origins are influenced by the Greco-Iranian, Khazar, Jewish, and Mongol invasions. Unified by this one place, the many cultures blend to form a rich and varied tapestry. Rutherfurd’s grand saga is as multifaceted as Russia itself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful Historical Novel
- By Angelyn S. Furst on 10-22-12
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History of the Rain
- By: Niall Williams
- Narrated by: Jennifer McGrath
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 214
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 183
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 180
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or keep alive those who only live now in the telling. In Faha, County Clare, everyone is a long story...Bedbound in her attic room beneath the falling rain, Plain Ruth Swain is in search of her father. To find him Ruthie must first trace the jutting jaw lines, narrow faces, and gleamy skin of the Swains from the restless Reverend Swain, her great-grandfather, to her father.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The language is astoundingly beautiful.
- By Kindle Customer on 05-30-17
By: Niall Williams
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Secrets of a Charmed Life
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,150
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,630
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,611
Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden--one that will test her convictions and her heart.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Rare 5-Star Across the Board!
- By Imamomof4 on 06-14-15
By: Susan Meissner
What listeners say about The House of Special Purpose
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ilene
- 12-08-24
Excellent
I was instantly drawn into this historical drama. It was so good! I’m interested in more titles by this author. Highly recommend!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ann D - NY
- 07-22-21
Brilliant
Absolutely loved this book !! Made even better by the narration of Stefan Rudniki. He really brought this book to life. I’m a big John Boyne fan and was so sorry to get to the end of this book. If you are a history buff, you’ll love this one. Thanks Mr. Boyne and Mr. Rudniki for many enjoyable hours
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kristi
- 01-13-23
I’m so glad I read this!
As with all of Boynes books, this one was not always easy to listen to, but was so well written and narrated that I’m sitting here at the end telling myself it was all worth it. I am a life long fan of Boynes.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- lynn
- 08-28-18
Terrific
I am a John Boyne fan--has an amazing "painterly" writing style, and among the best for putting you in a scene. "House" at it's core is a romance with a heartfelt twist that breathes new life into an historical Russian mystery. Stefan Rudnicki is dead brilliant and the perfect choice for voice. The fact that the story toggles back and forth in time is a perfect mechanism that keeps the reader from what might have been a worn historical fiction. Loved it!!!!
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kristin Kline
- 05-05-24
What a spectacular book.
What a surprise it was for me as the story unfolded. What endearing characters the author created. It was wonderful to follow this beautiful man on this historic tale.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- KayTee
- 07-01-18
Wonderful
If only it were true...
This was a beautiful and heartbreaking tale.
I was completely enthralled.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ellen Russell
- 07-16-19
Not as good
The story goes back and forth in time and is a bit hard to follow at first but what makes it more challenging is the narrator. His voice is just too deep and booming for these characters and it was distracting. John Boyne’s other book “the hearts invisible furies” is one of my favorites!! Read that if you haven’t yet. He is an excellent writer.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- nancy neiditz
- 06-05-24
wonderful book
such an interesting vook and learning so much about the Russian revolution. A fantastic book in every way. I really enjoyed it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jennifer Bloech
- 09-09-24
Beautiful
John Boyne did it again. Haunting and beautiful, this story will stay with me for a while. Definitely recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- The Me
- 01-31-20
My Favorite!
What a wonderful journey! I will treasure this story always. I wish I could hear it all again for the first time. A bit jealous of the listeners to come.
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3 people found this helpful