Listen to Best Sellers Audiobooks in Fiction, Literary

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: After the Apocalypse

Subtitle: Stories

Author: Maureen McHugh

Narrator: Therese Plummer, Angela Lin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 03-05-14

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced overseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague.

Critic Reviews:

"Hauntingly beautiful."Booklist, "Unpredictable and poetic work."The Plain Dealer

Members Reviews:

ALTHOUGH THE ODDS ARE GOOD THE GOODS ARE ODD

IT DOES NOT MATTER IF THE CAT IS WHITE OR BLACK, AS LONG AS IT CATCHES THE MICE.

Okay, I guess I am starting to get it? Short stories don't always have to have a plot. Sometimes it is just a study in characters or in situations. I still prefer a start, middle and ending (a plot). Some of these stories including the story the collection is named after have no plot. She woke up, the world had ended, she traveled and saw the destruction, the end.

IN THE KINGDOM OF THE BLIND, THE ONE EYE GIRL IS KING

Having complained about that, let me say I like MM's writing. The first story of hers I read was The Cost To Be Wise. I have read it a couple of times since then. I thought why have I not heard of her before? So I searched her out and got her book, China Mountain Zhang, a most excellent book. I recommend it. I thought she was from China, since a lot of her stuff happens there. It turns out she was a teacher for one year there. My favorite story from this collection was Special Economics, a future in China where bird flu kills off most of the population. Like a lot of MM's story, this is from the perspective of the people on the lower rung of the social ladder. It is a five star story and worth getting the collection. The first story The Naturalist is a five star story and is also in the collection ZOMBIE, MORE RECENT DEAD. The title story is a three star story and can be found in Kaster's TOP TEN TALES #4. I also really enjoyed Honeymoon. It is kind of a white trash story. Three of the nine stories are five star, one is four star and the rest are 1-3 stars.

The narrators are excellent and add to the pleasure of listening.

for people who see beauty in reset.

really enjoyed it. easy to listen to, and if you're in love with dystopia and games such as fallout and the last of us, this book good be up your alley.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: City of God

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: E. L. Doctorow

Narrator: John Rubinstein

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-04-14

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In his workbook, a New York City novelist records the contents of his teeming brain - sketches for stories, accounts of his love affairs, riffs on the meanings of popular songs, ideas for movies, obsessions with cosmic processes. He is a virtual repository of the predominant ideas and historical disasters of the age. But now he has found a story he thinks may become his next novel: The large brass cross that hung behind the altar of St. Timothy's, a run-down Episcopal church in lower Manhattan, has disappeared...and even more mysteriously reappeared on the roof of the Synagogue for Evolutionary Judaism, on the Upper West Side. The church's maverick rector and the young woman rabbi who leads the synagogue are trying to learn who committed this strange double act of desecration and why. Befriending them, the novelist finds that their struggles with their respective traditions are relevant to the case. Into his workbook go his taped interviews, insights, preliminary drafts...and as he joins the clerics in pursuit of the mystery, it broadens to implicate a large cast of vividly drawn characters - including scientists, war veterans, prelates, Holocaust survivors, cabinet members, theologians, New York Times reporters, filmmakers, and crooners - in what proves to be a quest for an authentic spirituality at the end of this tortured century.

Daringly poised at the junction of the sacred and the profane, and filled with the sights and sounds of New York, this dazzlingly inventive masterwork emerges as the American novel listeners have been thirsting for: a defining document of our times, a narrative of the 20th century written for the 21st.

Critic Reviews:

"E.L. Doctorow is an astonishing novelist - astonishing not only in the virtuosity with which he deploys his mimetic skills, but also in the fact that it is impossible to predict even roughly the shape, scope and tone of one of his novels from its predecessors." (Robert Tower, The New York Times Book Review)

"Doctorow is a master of atmosphere.... He knows the art of storytelling inside and out." (Newsweek)

Members Reviews:

Deep and enormous sweep of ideas

This is a challenging book to review. It is unlike almost any I have read--and difficult to classify, though quite satisfying to listen to (after I began to grasp it's process, or non-process).

There is a rather light plot going on--a writer is committing ideas to notebooks--therefore, as we hear them, they lack the continuity of a novel--but seem to be the range of things that capture his attention, the scope of which are enormous. Then there is a story about a Christian church losing it's cross, and having it cruelly show up on the roof of a Jewish synagogue. This gives the sense that the entire book is meant to arouse notions of vexing theological questions, and Doctorow does not disappoint as he brings it to even cosmological questions.

It begins--in parallel with the Bible, with an explanation of one current belief about beginning of the universe, an expanded story about the Big Bang, and thereafter shifts among various ideas, verses, stories, that the writer would like to explore. The priest and the rabbis do some of the story telling, but as the book is not intended to simply be a novel with a linear plot, it is not always clear "who" is speaking--the writer, the other people or possibly the author himself.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The New York Stories

Author: John O'Hara, Steven Goldleaf (editor, introduction), E. L. Doctorow (foreword)

Narrator: Becky Ann Baker, Dylan Baker, Bobby Cannavale, Jon Hamm, Richard Kind, Jan Maxwell, Gretchen Mol, Dallas Roberts

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-20-14

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 32 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Collected for the first time, the New York stories of John O'Hara, "among the greatest short story writers in English, or in any other language" (Brendan Gill, Here at The New Yorker)

Collected for the first time, here are the New York stories of one of the 20th century's definitive chroniclers of the city - the speakeasies and highballs, social climbers and cinema stars, mistresses and powerbrokers, unsparingly observed by a popular American master of realism. Spanning his four-decade career, these more than 30 refreshingly frank, sparely written stories are among John O'Hara's finest work, exploring the materialist aspirations and sexual exploits of flawed, prodigally human characters and showcasing the snappy dialogue, telling details, and ironic narrative twists that made him the most-published short story writer in the history of the New Yorker.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Deepest Secret

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Carla Buckley

Narrator: Kirsten Potter

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-04-14

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 258 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

For fans of Jodi Picoult, Kim Edwards, and William Landay, The Deepest Secret is part intimate family drama, part gripping page-turner, exploring the profound power of the truths were scared to face . . . about our marriages, our children, and ourselves.

Eve Lattimores family is like every other on their suburban street, with one exception. Her son Tyler has a rare medical condition that makes him fatally sensitive to light, which means heavy curtains and deadlocked doors protect him during the day and he can never leave the house except at night. For Eve, only constant vigilance stands between an increasingly restless teenage son and the dangers of the outside world.

Until the night the unthinkable happens. When tragedy strikes, it becomes clear that this family is not the only one on the quiet cul-de-sac that is more complicated than it appears. And as Eve is forced to shield her family from harm, there are some crises she cannot control - and some secrets that not even love can conceal.

Deeply moving and stunningly suspenseful, The Deepest Secret is a novel of rare power - a story about hope and forgiveness, about the terrifying ways our lives can spin out of control and the unexpected sacrifices that may save us.

Editorial Reviews:

Editors Select, February 2014 - I love a good suspense story--add to that the secrecy of suburbia, and you have yourself a winner. When I first picked up this book, I thought it would be more of a psychological thriller. Instead I got a captivating tale about a familys struggles, both internal and external, and just how far a mother would go to protect her family. Though this book deals with very heavy & somewhat unlikely situations, it left me questioning my own beliefs about forgiveness and morality. I definitely stayed up way too late reading this book- I just needed to find out how everything would be resolved. Laura, Audible Editor

Members Reviews:

Gripping

I could not stop reading/listening. The book is not really a "mystery." It's about right and wrong choices. It's about relationships. It's about human nature. Carla Buckley makes this all come to life in a book that grabs you from the start with an obvious, but true, insight into what seems to be happening 'out in the open' (in the light) and what's really happening 'behind the curtains' (at night). The reader is quite good.

[I googled the disease of the main character and almost found the websites as gripping as this novel. Kudos to the parents who have to deal with this heart-wrenching and life-altering diagnosis for their child--and to the patients!!! Wow.]

I was disappointed to read the reviews of the author's first novel (it sounds like she was testing the waters for this one). However, this one was good enough to put the first on my 'wish list'.....and to hope that her third one comes quickly.

Not what I expected

What did you like best about this story?

I thought the son's illness and how the family led this upside down life to protect him was very interesting and a unique backdrop for the story.

If you could take any character from The Deepest Secret out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Holly....What is so wrong Holly? Holly's story would make a great follow-up sequel to this one.

Any additional comments?

What a great listen! I thought the narrator was excellent and I really had no idea what was going to happen in the end.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: In the City by the Sea

Author: Kamila Shamsie

Narrator: Sartaj Garewal

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-04-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Hasan is 11 years old. He loves cricket, pomegranates, the night sky, his clever, vibrant artistic mother and his etymologically obsessed lawyer father, and he adores his next-door neighbour Zehra.

One early summer morning, while lazing happily on the roof, Hasan watches a young boy flying a yellow kite fall to his death. Soon after, Hasan's idyllic, sheltered family life is shattered when his beloved uncle Salman, a dissenting politician, is arrested and charged with treason.

Set in a land ruled by an oppressive military regime, this eloquent, charming and quietly political novel vividly recreates the confusing world of a young boy on the edge of adulthood, and beautifully illustrates the transformative power of the imagination.

Kamila Shamsie was born in 1973 in Pakistan. She is the author of five novels: In the City by the Sea, Kartography (both shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Salt and Saffron, Broken Verses, and Burnt Shadows (shortlisted for the 2009 Orange Prize). In 1999 she received the Prime Minister's Award for Literature and in 2004 the Patras Bokhari Award - both awarded by the Pakistan Academy of Letters. Kamila Shamsie lives in London.

Critic Reviews:

"A colourful and peripatetic view of politics in Pakistan... an interesting and promising novel" (Guardian)

"A touching and engrossing story... an assured debut" (The Times)

"Full of fun, longing and wit... a debut of spirit and imagination, loaded with intelligent charm" (Ali Smith, Scotsman)

"A touching and engrossing story... an assured debut." (The Times)

"Full of fun, longing, and wit...a debut of spirit and imagination, loaded with intelligent charm." (Ali Smith, Scotsman)

Members Reviews:

Highly recommended!!

A clever & insightful, yet thoroughly entertaining book. A child's-eye view of the world, politics & people gives a different perspective to a heavy and deep subject: in a questioning, humorous and reflective way. I love the sense of humour & life in the characters and how this challenges the prevailing & limited portrayal of this country in western media (not least the female authorship).

I cannot wait to start on the rest of Kamala Shamsie's books. Highly, highly recommended.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Classic Tales Podcast, Season Three

Author: Mary Shelley, H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle

Narrator: B. J. Harrison

Format: Original Recording

Length: 38 hrs and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-30-14

Publisher: B.J. Harrison

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Who says that you can't have it all? Adventure, romance, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and fine literature? Infinite variety - that is what you find here. Classic Literature has never been presented so approachably. You will savor the chills from Edgar Allan Poe, then smilingly shake your head as a man dupes an entire town.

You will hear how Sherlock Holmes solves a case for Bohemian nobility, then marvel as a man destroys his life over a piece of string. Whether it be witchdoctors battling each other with lightening, a mad tea party, or a country composed of blind people, each title is guaranteed to bring you closer to the great minds who shaped the world around us with their glorious words.

Each tale is complete and unabridged. Running time is over 39 hours!

Complete List of Titles: "The Ice Palace", by F. Scott Fitzgerald; "A Slip Under the Microscope", by H.G. Wells; Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll; "The Secret Garden - A Father Brown Mystery", by G.K. Chesterton; "Bartleby, the Scrivener", by Herman Melville; "Ligeia", by Edgar Allan Poe; "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg", by Mark Twain; "A Scandal in Bohemia", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; "The Piece of String", by Guy de Maupassant; "A Vine on a House", by Ambrose Bierce; "Markheim", by Robert Louis Stevenson; "The Kiss", by Anton Chekhov; "Paul's Case", by Willa Cather; "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", by Edgar Allan Poe; "The Ghost in the Mill", by Harriet Beecher Stowe; "The Minister's Black Veil", by Nathaniel Hawthorne; "The Country of the Blind", by H.G. Wells; "The Battle of the Witchdoctors", by H. Rider Haggard; "Wrestling an Alligator", by Mr. Warburton; "Spiderama", by W. H. Hudson; "Ravaged by a Lion", by Rev. Dr. David Livingstone; "The Bottle Imp", by Robert Louis Stevenson; Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley; "The Unexpected", by Jack London; "A Case of Identity", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; "The Man Who Disliked Cats", by P.G. Wodehouse; "Lot No. 249", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; "Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad", by M. R. James; "Olalla", by Robert Louis Stevenson; "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz", by F. Scott Fitzgerald; "The Duplicity of Hargraves", by O. Henry; "A Cricket on the Hearth", by Charles Dickens; and "The Music of Erich Zann", by H.P. Lovecraft.

Members Reviews:

Editing problem

During the story "The Cricket on the Hearth," another story comes on at the same time making it impossible to listen to either story. The second story finally stops after a few minutes and the original story is allowed to finish in peace.

Otherwise, not as interesting a collection of stories as volumes 1 and 2, but read by the narrator very enjoyably.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Carthage

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrator: Susan Ericksen, David Colacci

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-21-14

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 117 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

A young girl's disappearance rocks a community and a family in this stirring examination of grief, faith, justice, and the atrocities of war from Joyce Carol Oates, "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation).

Zeno Mayfield's daughter has disappeared into the night, gone missing in the wilds of the Adirondacks. But when the community of Carthage joins a father's frantic search for the girl, they discover the unlikeliest of suspectsa decorated Iraq War veteran with close ties to the Mayfield family. As grisly evidence mounts against the troubled war hero, the family must wrestle with the possibility of having lost a daughter forever.

Carthage plunges us deep into the psyche of a wounded young corporal haunted by unspeakable acts of wartime aggression, while unraveling the story of a disaffected young girl whose exile from her family may have come long before her disappearance.

Dark and riveting, Carthage is a powerful addition to the Joyce Carol Oates canon, one that explores the human capacity for violence, love, and forgiveness, and asks if it's ever truly possible to come home again.

Critic Reviews:

"Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most distinguished figures in American letters, and her matchless prose is best enjoyed when spoken aloud. The husband-and-wife team of Susan Ericksen and David Colacci are gifted professionals who narrate this novel and embroil us in the tragedy of the Mayfield family, whose younger daughter, the one they call "the smart one," goes missing. Some of the most memorable portrayals in this stream-of-consciousness story include the older sister's protestation of love for her wounded and psychologically damaged fiancé, the mother's shaken voice as she tries to accept her daughter's disappearance, and the soldier's haunted tones as he remembers the horrors of his service in Iraq. This is a disturbing yet compelling listening experience, and its narrators show us the complexity of human experience." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

A Major Disappointment!!

I have been a Joyce Carol Oates fan until now but will certainly have to be convinced of the value of any future books. The characters are superficial, the ?heroine could be autistic, borderline, schizophrenic or just badly behaved and selfish - but her upper-middle-class parents don't bother to have her assessed and/or treated. The structure of the book is no structure - it wanders all over the place with the voices of the individuals providing a confusing mish mash of points of view and life experiences - not to give it away but there is the human cost of U.S. wars, alcoholism, cancer, violence, confused sexuality, mental illness, poverty, affluence, an evil potential mother-in-law, religion, a questionable legal system and an individual able to influence politicians, many philosophical references and altogether too much fainting. The narration has been poorly edited with much repetition, and script-induced pseudo-hysteria. There are grammatical errors and misuse of words which could be either the author's or the narrator's problem. I could believe that this was written by someone else. It was a lot of time to waste in hope of improvement.

Agonizingly slooooow

What disappointed you about Carthage?

Same incident rewritten 7 times from supposedly different points of view. The entire Part 1 could be deleted.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Battleborn

Author: Claire Vaye Watkins

Narrator: Ali Ahn, Morgan Hallett, Laura Knight Keating, Mozhan Marno, Kevin Orton, T. Ryder Smith, Tom Stechschulte

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-21-14

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 29 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Like the work of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson, Richard Ford, and Annie Proulx, Battleborn represents a near-perfect confluence of sensibility and setting, and the introduction of an exceptionally powerful and original literary voice. In each of these ten unforgettable stories, Claire Vaye Watkins writes her way fearlessly into the mythology of the American West, utterly reimagining it. Her characters orbit around the region's vast spaces, winning redemption despite - and often because of - the hardship and violence they endure. The arrival of a foreigner transforms the exchange of eroticism and emotion at a prostitution ranch. A prospecting hermit discovers the limits of his rugged individualism when he tries to rescue an abused teenager. Decades after she led her best friend into a degrading encounter in a Vegas hotel room, a woman feels the aftershock. Most bravely of all, Watkins takes on - and reinvents - her own troubled legacy in a story that emerges from the mayhem and destruction of Helter Skelter. Arcing from the sweeping and sublime to the minute and personal, from Gold Rush to ghost town to desert to brothel, the collection echoes not only in its title but also in its fierce, undefeated spirit the motto of her home state.

Members Reviews:

Wonderful magnificent stories beautifully told

What a great group of narrators carefully chosen to read Claire Vaye Watkins' stories! I thoroughly enjoyed each narration and what's more is that they've added animated life throughout the collection!

Don't get too comfortable

Where does Battleborn rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

Battleborn is filled with flawed and loving characters whose stories both alarm your senses and break your heart. Set in the West, Watkins' familiar places welcomed me if not the very human and at times uncomfortable experiences she captures. Great writing, great reading. Just don't expect to get a shiny, happy feeling.

Hören Sie sich dieses volle Hörbuch kostenlos bei https://hotaudiobook.com

Titel: Still Alice

Untertitel: Mein Leben ohne Gestern

Autor:: Lisa Genova

Erzähler: Heide Domanowski

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 10 hrs and 13 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 12-20-13

Herausgeber: Lübbe Audio

Bewertung: 3.5 von 5 von 6 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Eine ergreifende Geschichte einer Frau in den besten Jahren, die ihr eigenes und wohl vertrautes Leben schwinden sieht. "Mein Leben ohne Gestern" ist ein schmerzliches Porträt und ein Buch, das Sie nicht vergessen werden. Lisa Genova zeigt uns: Wenn die Gedächtnisleistung nachlässt, bleiben immer noch die Gefühle.

>> Diese ungekürzte Hörbuch-Fassung wird Ihnen exklusiv von Audible präsentiert und ist ausschließlich im Download erhältlich.

Mitglieder Bewertungen:

Wunderschön

Any additional comments?

A wonderful story, beautifully read by Heide Domanowski. Based on fact, so the listener learns a lot about early onset Alzheimer. And slow enough for intermediate German learners to understand).

Wrong book

Would you try another book from Lisa Genova and/or Heide Domanowski?

Yes

Would you ever listen to anything by Lisa Genova again?

Yes

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Heide Domanowski?

I don't know

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I don't speak German

Any additional comments?

My mistake I didn't realize it was a German version

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Spinning Heart

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Donal Ryan

Narrator: Wayne Farrell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-20-13

Publisher: steerforth press l.l.c.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 65 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Winner - The Guardian First Book Award

Winner of two Irish Book Awards - Newcomer of The Year and Book of The Year

Longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

In the aftermath of Ireland's financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds.

The Spinning Heart speaks for contemporary Ireland like no other novel. Wry, vulnerable, all-too human, it captures the language and spirit of rural Ireland and with uncanny perception articulates the words and thoughts of a generation. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town life is witty, dark and sweetly poignant.

Donal Ryan's brilliantly realized debut announces a stunning new voice in fiction.

Critic Reviews:

"Irish author Ryan's debut takes readers to the 'heart' of hardscrabble life in Ireland in the era after the economic boom and bust of 2008. The novel received Book of the Year honors at the Irish Book Awards.... Reminiscent of Faulkners

As I Lay Dying, this book gives readers a storyor rather storiestold from multiple perspectives, each chapter using a different voice. . . . Disturbing and unnerving but ultimately beautiful." (

Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

"The recession has hit rural Ireland, and 'the sky is falling down." Through 21 different voices, Donal Ryan's virtuoso debut novel pieces together a fractured portrait of a community in shock. . . . What is so special about Ryan's novel is that it seems to draw speech out of the deepest silences; the testimony of his characters rings rich and true funny and poignant and banal and extraordinary and we can't help but listen." (

The Guardian)

"Wayne Farrell's gifted voice and captivating Irish brogue are mesmerizing.... Farrell is so versatile that listeners may sometimes think they're hearing a full-cast recording.... There are times when a narrator enhances a book, and there are times like this when he makes it." (

AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

21 Distinct Voices Beautifully Crafted

If you are looking for one of those uplifting stories full of Irish resourcefulness, indomitability, and bleak humor, you had best look elsewhere. While 'The Spinning Heart' has a few bright moments, overall, it's what I'd call a downer. Ryan tells the story of an economically depressed small town through the distinctive voices of 21 of its inhabitants, each of whom is given a chapter of his or her own in which to comment on the neighbors and their business as well as recent events in the town, most notably the collapse of a local building company whose owner first wiped out his workers' pensions, the disappearance of a small child from a care center, and the arrest of the local golden boy, Bobby Mahon, for the murder of his father. Everyone has his or her own point of view, depending in large part upon their own history with the novel's major players, Bobby Mahon, Pokey Burke (the construction business owner), and Realtin (the single mother of the missing child). What they all have in common is an oppressive sadness, tinged with anger, and a prevailing sense that life is just not fair.