Showing results by narrator "Suzanne Barbetta" in All Categories

Lynne Cox, internationally famous for swimming the world’s most difficult waterways without a wetsuit, and able to endure water temperatures so cold that it would kill anyone else, recognizes and celebrates all forms of athleticism in others, human or otherwise. And when she saw a video of a Newfoundland dog leaping from an airborne helicopter into Italian waters to save someone from drowning, Cox was transfixed by the rescue, and captivated by the magnificence, physicality, and daring of the dog. 

Among New York City's Gilded Age elite, one family will defy convention. Helen Wilcox has one desire: to successfully launch her daughters into society. From the upper crust herself, Helen's unconventional—if happy—marriage has made the girls' social position precarious. Then her husband gambles the family fortunes on an elevated railroad that he claims will transform the face of the city and the way the people of New York live, but will it ruin the Wilcoxes first? 

Beloved Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, famous for the Anne of Green Gables series, was also a prolific writer of short stories, poems, and essays. This collection is part of Montgomery's wider portfolio of 500 stories spanning 20 years.

Looking in your teenage daughter's purse is never a good idea. After all, it ended up with Carolina Jessup opening a bed & breakfast for railroad fanatics in a tiny Georgia mountain town. Carolina knows all about, and hates, small towns. How did she end up leaving her wonderful Atlanta suburbs behind while making her husband's dreams come true?

In this continuation of Pulitzer Prize-winner Edna Ferber's series set at the turn of the 20th century, the magnetic divorcée Emma McChesney faces a new set of challenges. In partnership with T.A. Buck Jr., Emma struggles to keep the T.A. Buck Featherloom Petticoat Company relevant, while her charismatic 21-year-old son takes the NY advertising world by storm. Jock's insistence that his business-savvy mother's methods are outdated leads to a crisis of confidence for Emma. But Jock's charm and ability to "sell ice to an Eskimo" land him in trouble.

Accepting second best is good for her career, but first-grade teacher Retta Curt delays signing up for the disappointment. Given two weeks to consider her contract, she retreats to Gram’s cottage on Moon Lake, the last place she felt contentment. But the cottage is derelict; Cousin Julie, distant; and Sweet Picks, the family ice cream stand, in danger of folding. A surly newcomer is buying and then running down properties until nothing remains of the idyllic lakeside community she remembers. 

Award-winning author Nancy Fulda presents six stories of hope, heartache, humor and dignity. Within these pages, curses transmute into blessings, friends become enemies, possible futures collide with nonexistent pasts, and imaginary friends take on corporeal form. From invisible pets to magical islands, from a child with autism to a dying multimillionaire, these stories will touch your heart and leave your thoughts spinning long after the last page has been listened.

 Spend your next 30 minutes traveling to a future where first adopters have the most advanced robot butlers or where everyone has a superpower - except the young man you just met. Or perhaps you prefer a good hard-boiled detective story or one about a hardscrabble life in the Australian outback. 

Jewel Mantelle is just beginning to get used to the humidity in her new Southern home on Sophia Island, when Turtle Season opens way too early. At least, it's too early according to her friends with Turtle Trackers. Is it a true sea turtle nest found on a stormy April morning? Not likely, when a body is eventually discovered buried where the eggs should be. 

Rebecca Moore thought she left violent death behind her, but the bodies keep mounting...and they're begging for justice. Having abandoned her career as a Washington, DC, reporter to run her late uncle's classic car restoration shop, Rebecca wants peace. Then the brutally stabbed corpse of a lovely dancer is discovered in the back seat of a vintage Bentley being towed by her ex-con workers - the cops' preferred suspects. When a second young dancer is pulled from the Potomac, Rebecca throws down her wrenches.

Recently named a “40 under 40” by a prominent fashion magazine, Southern charmer and Harvard-educated Caroline Johnson spends her days building a successful handbag business and nights lamenting her nonexistent love life. Her intelligence and professional acumen are often disregarded because of her good looks, thick accent, and overly accommodating style. 

Devil Stories - Twenty tales of the demonic selected and edited by Maximilian J. Rudwin. The Devil is an old character in literature. Perhaps he is as old as literature itself. He is encountered in the story of the paradisiacal sojourn of our first ancestors, and from that day on, Satan has appeared unfailingly, in various forms and with various functions, in all the literatures of the world. 

Once again, the Sophia Island Shrimp Festival is over. Thousands attended to eat shrimp, shop, and watch the pirates come ashore as usual, but this year’s temperatures were warmer than ever. Everyone is happy that the busy hot weekend is over, and everyone came through unscathed. Or so it seems. Jewel and Craig Mantelle also made it through their kids and families’ first visit to their new island home. 

Miserable and depressed after yet another failed relationship, Dixie has been roped into playing chauffeur on her grandmother and great aunt's annual pilgrimage to Graceland. The only thing worse than being depressed and alone with a pint of ice cream is being depressed and accompanied by a couple of batty septuagenarians with Elvis obsessions. And as they are checking in to a hotel that has seen far better days, Dixie sees the last person she expects: her ex. The man who dumped her without a backward glance.

 A Baker’s Dozen - A collection of 13 classic Christmas stories.  

For too long, victims have been told to be quiet, to keep a secret, to be ashamed, to be blamed, and we now say, "No more." It is time to speak. It is time to form a chorus of voices that demand change. This anthology is a way to channel those experiences into something inspiring, moving, and encourages others to action.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Edna Ferber created three wildly successful books featuring the business adventures of a dynamic, divorced single mother at the turn of the century. The first book in this classic series introduces listeners to the engaging, beautiful, and quick-talking Emma McChesney, traveling saleswoman for the T.A. Buck Featherloom Petticoat Company. Emma's 10 years on the road have taught her that living the Philosophy of Roast Beef, Medium allows her to avoid "moral pepsin" while meeting the challenges required to win in a man's world.

Jewel Mantelle has never lived in the South, much less on the coast, so moving from Chicagoland to the historic North Florida coastal town of Sophia Island seems like just the adventure to fix her marriage. However, when she arrives, she finds that it’s awfully hot and humid there and that these Southern folks really like to hug. Her husband’s past on the island includes a creaky old house in the historic district and lots of nosy relatives he’d forgotten to mention.

Carolina knew moving teenagers from the Atlanta suburbs to a small Georgia mountain town was a horrible idea. She knew opening a B&B was an even worse plan. Oncoming headlights aren’t only aimed at her family, the town of Chancey is being set up for a collision that could change everything. And as that unfolds, Carolina’s husband Jackson is smack dab in the middle of it all, his hand on the throttle, going full steam ahead. 

Pennsylvania writer Elsie Singmaster's collection of fictional short stories related to the bloody and pivotal Battle of Gettysburg presents a variety of colorful, compelling, and flawed characters profoundly affected by the famous battle. These stories span five decades, beginning on July 1, 1863, and concluding with the 50th anniversary of the battle, the year this collection was published.