A Poor Wise Man by Mary Roberts Rinehart audiobook.

Genre: thriller

In a smoke-laden American steel city still reeling from the Great War, Lily Cardew returns home with new eyes. After a year of hard, unglamorous service among soldiers and vulnerable young women, the sheltered rituals of the Cardew mansion feel unreal - and the iron-willed patriarch Anthony Cardew feels more like a judge than a grandfather. Below their hilltop world, the mills grind on, immigrants pour through the station, and the streets buzz with talk of strikes, bombs, and revolution. Lily is drawn to arguments she was never allowed to hear: the bitter logic of the radicals, the slick charm of a union lawyer with dangerous ambitions, and the unsettling influence of her aunt Elinor, long estranged and bound to the notorious Jim Doyle. Caught between family loyalty and a fierce need to be useful, Lily risks her name, her inheritance, and her freedom. Watching from the edge is Willy Cameron, a poor but stubbornly honest young man whose clear-eyed courage places him at the center of a citizen movement - and in Lily's path - just as the city tilts toward upheaval.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:25:00) Chapter 02

(00:51:42) Chapter 03

(01:21:32) Chapter 04

(01:51:45) Chapter 05

(02:32:18) Chapter 06

(03:07:04) Chapter 07

(03:51:44) Chapter 08

(04:33:06) Chapter 09

(05:13:53) Chapter 10

(05:54:46) Chapter 11

(06:46:46) Chapter 12

(07:24:34) Chapter 13

(07:56:43) Chapter 14

(08:37:56) Chapter 15

(09:15:16) Chapter 16

(09:53:49) Chapter 17

(10:40:07) Chapter 18

(11:15:45) Chapter 19

(11:56:33) Chapter 20

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Rose Mather - A Tale by Mary Jane Holmes audiobook.

Genre: romance

Set in the Northern village of Rockland as the news of Fort Sumter ignites the Civil War, Rose Mather: A Tale follows a community suddenly forced to measure its ideals against its losses. Rose Mather is young, fashionable, and newly married to wealthy William Mather, and she arrives at the first war meeting with the careless confidence of someone certain the conflict will touch other people first. Around her, the stakes are immediate: gentle Annie Graham wrestles with duty and devotion as her husband considers enlisting, while the sharp-tongued Widow Simms and the struggling Bakers watch their own sons step forward. As neighbors march off, letters and rumors begin to reshape life at home, and the lines between patriotism, fear, and ambition blur. Rose, who can be silly and coquettish as often as she is kind-hearted, finds her world challenged by grief, courage, and the moral weight of class prejudice. With a large cast of soldiers, sweethearts, and rivals - including the steadfast Tom Carleton and the resilient Isaac Simms - Holmes builds a homefront romance where love is tested by uncertainty, sacrifice, and the hard truth that war changes everyone it reaches.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:19:54) Chapter 02

(00:44:29) Chapter 03

(01:10:15) Chapter 04

(01:39:49) Chapter 05

(02:06:51) Chapter 06

(02:37:10) Chapter 07

(02:59:37) Chapter 08

(03:17:26) Chapter 09

(03:38:43) Chapter 10

(04:05:19) Chapter 11

(04:34:29) Chapter 12

(04:58:44) Chapter 13

(05:19:35) Chapter 14

(05:48:40) Chapter 15

(06:15:39) Chapter 16

(06:55:09) Chapter 17

(07:30:54) Chapter 18

(08:03:52) Chapter 19

(08:32:52) Chapter 20

(09:03:00) Chapter 21

(09:28:09) Chapter 22

(09:55:16) Chapter 23

(10:20:25) Chapter 24

(10:48:53) Chapter 25

(11:09:20) Chapter 26

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Maggie Miller by Mary Jane Holmes audiobook.

Genre: romance

In the shadowy New England hills, the decaying Old House by the Mill shelters a proud exile, Madam Conway, and the servant who has served her family for years: Hagar Warren, sharp-eyed, resentful of poverty, and fiercely devoted to her daughter, Hester. When tragedy strikes and Madam Conway's grieving daughter, Margaret Miller, returns home, two babies are born within days of each other - and Hagar makes a reckless choice that binds all their futures to a single, devastating secret. Years later, Maggie Miller grows up bright, beautiful, and headstrong, certain of her place in the world, while Hagar, half haunted and half triumphant, watches from her lonely cottage in the woods. As Maggie steps into society, friendships and romances bloom: charming visitors arrive at Mill Farm, and Maggie becomes entangled with the warmhearted Henry Warner, his fragile sister Rose, and suitors whose interest may not be as innocent as it seems. With Madam Conway's rigid obsession with birth and blood pressing down on every relationship, Maggie's search for love and belonging collides with the truth Hagar has sworn to keep - a truth powerful enough to remake families, fortunes, and hearts.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:28:41) Chapter 02

(01:03:49) Chapter 03

(01:43:01) Chapter 04

(02:19:02) Chapter 05

(02:56:56) Chapter 06

(03:40:49) Chapter 07

(04:21:20) Chapter 08

(04:56:00) Chapter 09

(05:33:28) Chapter 10

(06:04:18) Chapter 11

(06:38:44) Chapter 12

(07:12:22) Chapter 13

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Lena Rivers by Mary Jane Holmes audiobook.

Genre: romance

If you're a fan of mid-19th Century melodramas with many twists and turns you will love this book. Acclaimed as Holmes greatest commercial success the charming heroine of this tale is Lena Rivers whose mother died when she was a baby. The father is unknown, and she is brought up by her grandparents in the New England mountains.

When the grandfather dies, she and her grandmother are uprooted to live with her uncle in Kentucky. His wealthy wife and 3 spoiled children are not at all happy about taking in these poor relations and do all they can to make them feel unwelcome. Sometimes highly emotional, sometimes hilarious the characters in this good old-fashioned romance are captivating and will pull you in until the very satisfying end.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:27:49) Chapter 02

(01:02:59) Chapter 03

(01:21:06) Chapter 04

(01:58:03) Chapter 05

(02:38:27) Chapter 06

(03:10:51) Chapter 07

(03:44:44) Chapter 08

(04:04:43) Chapter 09

(04:37:23) Chapter 10

(05:04:58) Chapter 11

(05:27:40) Chapter 12

(05:49:58) Chapter 13

(06:16:56) Chapter 14

(06:47:52) Chapter 15

(07:25:15) Chapter 16

(07:59:43) Chapter 17

(08:30:39) Chapter 18

(08:59:55) Chapter 19

(09:25:11) Chapter 20

(09:59:52) Chapter 21

(10:33:16) Chapter 22

(10:58:34) Chapter 23

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Gretchen by Mary Jane Holmes audiobook.

Genre: romance

When wealthy, fastidious Arthur Tracy returns to Tracy Park after years abroad, his homecoming should restore order to the grand estate and the quiet town of Shannondale. Instead, Arthur arrives shaken and mentally unsteady, speaking obsessively of a woman named Gretchen and insisting she was with him on the journey, though no one can find her. His brother Frank, who has grown comfortable managing Arthur's fortune and hosting glittering society gatherings with his ambitious wife Dolly, is gripped by fear that Arthur's return will expose long-buried compromises. Then a brutal storm sweeps in, and a grim discovery at the eerie Tramp House leaves an abandoned child, nicknamed Jerry, at the center of the town's whispers. Taken in by the poor but proud Harold and his grandmother, Jerry becomes a living question mark that refuses to fade, especially as Arthur feels a strange, unsettling pull toward her. As years pass, old loyalties strain, missing jewels spark suspicion, and young hearts tangle with class, pride, and desire. Between drawing-room display and hard-won survival, Gretchen unfolds as a tale of mystery, conscience, and the dangerous cost of keeping secrets.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:31:55) Chapter 02

(01:01:23) Chapter 03

(01:22:37) Chapter 04

(01:46:42) Chapter 05

(02:11:40) Chapter 06

(02:43:00) Chapter 07

(02:57:55) Chapter 08

(03:26:13) Chapter 09

(03:56:23) Chapter 10

(04:31:23) Chapter 11

(05:10:26) Chapter 12

(05:46:38) Chapter 13

(06:33:18) Chapter 14

(07:08:11) Chapter 15

(07:39:06) Chapter 16

(08:17:12) Chapter 17

(08:49:43) Chapter 18

(09:27:53) Chapter 19

(09:50:18) Chapter 20

(10:18:56) Chapter 21

(10:57:38) Chapter 22

(11:28:20) Chapter 23

(11:52:17) Chapter 24

(12:22:20) Chapter 25

(12:55:03) Chapter 26

(13:16:00) Chapter 27

(13:40:18) Chapter 28

(14:04:23) Chapter 29

(14:28:49) Chapter 30

(14:56:59) Chapter 31

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Cousin Maude by Mary Jane Holmes audiobook.

Genre: family

When Matilda's husband James dies, she marries rich Dr. Kennedy thinking he will provide a good home for her daughter Maude. However, the doctor is a miser and assumes that Matty will be his housekeeper. They have a little boy who is crippled and the doctor ignores him. Maude is totally devoted to him and on her mother's deathbed promises to look after him always. The story then evolves with Maude meeting her stepsister Nellie's cousins JC and James. Nellie has set her sights on JC who is after her money while Maude develops strong feelings towards James. JC begins to fall for Maude and when he learns that she has come into an inheritance bequeathed to her by her mother's former servant/nurse Janet he proposes to her. The complications that follow along with the arrival of a new stepmother add just the right amount of drama to this sweet romance.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:24:52) Chapter 02

(00:47:45) Chapter 03

(01:26:54) Chapter 04

(01:55:55) Chapter 05

(02:15:31) Chapter 06

(02:42:09) Chapter 07

(03:12:39) Chapter 08

(03:45:42) Chapter 09

(04:10:32) Chapter 10

(04:37:03) Chapter 11

(04:59:48) Chapter 12

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Bessie's Fortune by Mary Jane Holmes audiobook.

Genre: mystery

In Boston and quiet Allington, New England, the polished Jerrold household is built on ambition, appearances, and a carefully guarded past. When an aging patriarch on a lonely farm insists on making a final confession, old wounds reopen and whispers of a long-buried crime begin to circle through the family - along with rumors of money that vanished the same night. Across the Atlantic, another branch of this tangled history is taking shape: Daisy McPherson, dazzling and reckless, drifts from hotel to hotel and gaming table to gaming table, while her gentle husband Archie clings to honor and a promise never to gamble. Their daughter, Bessie, grows up bright, dutiful, and painfully familiar with poverty, learning to work, to wait, and to hope in the shadow of her mother's appetites. When the search for a rightful heir finally reaches Bessie's doorstep, she is pulled from the worn rooms of Stoneleigh into a world of scrutiny and temptation - and into the competing attentions of three very different men. Caught between love, duty, and the seductive power of wealth, Bessie must decide what kind of fortune she truly wants.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:34:16) Chapter 02

(00:56:28) Chapter 03

(01:25:27) Chapter 04

(01:55:52) Chapter 05

(02:20:57) Chapter 06

(02:58:00) Chapter 07

(03:34:22) Chapter 08

(04:10:50) Chapter 09

(04:34:21) Chapter 10

(05:01:39) Chapter 11

(05:34:06) Chapter 12

(05:58:27) Chapter 13

(06:34:24) Chapter 14

(07:02:29) Chapter 15

(07:23:28) Chapter 16

(07:53:44) Chapter 17

(08:24:20) Chapter 18

(08:55:48) Chapter 19

(09:18:33) Chapter 20

(09:43:04) Chapter 21

(10:20:38) Chapter 22

(10:48:11) Chapter 23

(11:20:53) Chapter 24

(11:55:40) Chapter 25

(12:31:06) Chapter 26

(12:58:18) Chapter 27

(13:23:10) Chapter 28

(13:50:53) Chapter 29

(14:11:40) Chapter 30

(14:48:03) Chapter 31

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Thou Art The Man by Mary Elizabeth Braddon audiobook.

Genre: mystery

Mary Elizabeth Braddon's late-Victorian mystery opens on a tragedy that shatters a young love story. At the Scottish estate of Ellerslie, Brandon Mountford, a sensitive gentleman burdened by epilepsy and frightening gaps in memory, is discovered near a brutal death and quickly becomes the obvious suspect. Forced to flee rather than face a trial that seems decided in advance, Brandon vanishes, and the woman who loved him, heiress Sibyl Higginson, is left to rebuild her life under the shadow of unanswered questions. Ten years later, Sibyl, now Lady Penrith, is traveling across a bleak stretch of moorland when a disturbed stranger thrusts a scrawled message into her hands, a message Sibyl believes can only have come from Brandon. With her spirited niece Coralie Urquhart at her side, Sibyl begins to trace the note back to its source, reopening the old case and stirring up long-buried rivalries, family secrets, and motives for murder. Blending relentless suspense with Braddon's fascination for contemporary ideas about disease, heredity, and criminal responsibility, Thou Art the Man drives toward a moral reckoning in which someone must finally be named and confronted.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:43:38) Chapter 02

(00:53:14) Chapter 03

(01:23:49) Chapter 04

(02:15:03) Chapter 05

(03:04:27) Chapter 06

(04:00:50) Chapter 07

(04:36:25) Chapter 08

(04:55:20) Chapter 09

(05:48:50) Chapter 10

(06:27:09) Chapter 11

(06:41:03) Chapter 12

(07:10:49) Chapter 13

(07:51:34) Chapter 14

(08:35:11) Chapter 15

(09:03:28) Chapter 16

(09:26:05) Chapter 17

(10:02:24) Chapter 18

(10:24:22) Chapter 19

(10:45:45) Chapter 20

(11:08:42) Chapter 21

(11:29:47) Chapter 22

(11:58:23) Chapter 23

(12:16:21) Chapter 24

(12:40:04) Chapter 25

(13:05:46) Chapter 26

(13:40:46) Chapter 27

(14:29:58) Chapter 28

(15:18:56) Chapter 29

(15:43:32) Chapter 30

(15:57:27) Chapter 31

(16:29:26) Chapter 32

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The Day Will Come by Mary Elizabeth Braddon audiobook.

Genre: mystery

In the quiet Dorset village of Cheriton, wedding bells welcome Juanita Dalbrook home as a bride. She is the only child of James Dalbrook, now Lord Cheriton, a brilliant barrister turned self-made peer whose ambition has bought him an ancient estate and a place among the county families. Juanita's marriage to Sir Godfrey Carmichael seems to seal that rise at last, joining new money to old blood and turning Cheriton Chase into the perfect honeymoon refuge. But beneath the pageantry lie old resentments, anxious hopes of inheritance, and a past Lord Cheriton has worked hard to bury. When violence shatters the household and suspicion spreads through servants' corridors and drawing rooms alike, the tragedy becomes more than private grief - it becomes a puzzle with consequences for names, fortunes, and reputations. Into the gathering darkness steps Theodore Dalbrook, Juanita's capable cousin and a working barrister, determined to uncover the truth. His search draws him from country lanes to London streets, through legal traps and social masks, toward the hidden motive that could explain a crime born of betrayal and revenge.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:37:57) Chapter 02

(01:09:18) Chapter 03

(01:21:14) Chapter 04

(01:41:10) Chapter 05

(02:02:55) Chapter 06

(02:30:38) Chapter 07

(02:51:53) Chapter 08

(03:40:25) Chapter 09

(04:18:39) Chapter 10

(04:39:58) Chapter 11

(04:58:19) Chapter 12

(05:23:16) Chapter 13

(05:40:59) Chapter 14

(06:17:46) Chapter 15

(06:59:25) Chapter 16

(07:35:10) Chapter 17

(08:16:30) Chapter 18

(08:50:22) Chapter 19

(09:33:31) Chapter 20

(10:08:48) Chapter 21

(10:50:57) Chapter 22

(11:05:41) Chapter 23

(11:30:18) Chapter 24

(11:47:09) Chapter 25

(12:09:06) Chapter 26

(12:32:10) Chapter 27

(12:43:52) Chapter 28

(13:21:25) Chapter 29

(13:33:38) Chapter 30

(14:04:29) Chapter 31

(14:26:40) Chapter 32

(14:40:54) Chapter 33

(15:08:45) Chapter 34

(15:37:55) Chapter 35

(15:56:59) Chapter 36

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Taken at the Flood by Mary Elizabeth Braddon audiobook.

Genre: thriller

In Victorian England, Sylvia Carew has been raised in modest circumstances by a parish schoolmaster whose carefully guarded history has left her with more questions than security. Clever, beautiful, and fiercely determined to escape poverty, Sylvia finds herself torn between the steady devotion of Edmund Standen, a respectable young banker, and the glittering promise of rank, money, and a great house. When an unexpected path opens to a titled marriage, Sylvia seizes it, convinced she can outpace regret and remake herself as Lady Perriam. But society has a long memory, and Sylvia's new life comes with watchful eyes: anxious relatives, a hard-headed family adviser, and neighbors eager to turn rumor into scandal. As old affections flare back to life and buried facts begin to surface, Sylvia is forced into ever riskier bargains to protect her position and her child. Driven by ambition as much as love, she must decide how far she will go to keep what she has gained - and what it will cost when the tide of consequences turns.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:21:46) Chapter 02

(00:48:22) Chapter 03

(01:17:09) Chapter 04

(01:47:16) Chapter 05

(02:17:32) Chapter 06

(02:44:25) Chapter 07

(03:11:03) Chapter 08

(03:47:11) Chapter 09

(04:20:23) Chapter 10

(04:53:39) Chapter 11

(05:28:35) Chapter 12

(06:09:45) Chapter 13

(06:48:26) Chapter 14

(07:23:48) Chapter 15

(07:48:13) Chapter 16

(08:19:25) Chapter 17

(08:46:49) Chapter 18

(09:12:23) Chapter 19

(09:45:26) Chapter 20

(10:19:46) Chapter 21

(10:50:43) Chapter 22

(11:25:55) Chapter 23

(12:01:02) Chapter 24

(12:27:49) Chapter 25

(12:53:39) Chapter 26

(13:15:55) Chapter 27

(13:50:25) Chapter 28

(14:20:17) Chapter 29

(14:49:28) Chapter 30

(15:17:13) Chapter 31

(15:46:12) Chapter 32

(16:11:01) Chapter 33

(16:39:27) Chapter 34

(17:04:40) Chapter 35

(17:36:01) Chapter 36

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