The Book Reader

Phoebe Deane by Grace Livingston Hill audiobook. Genre: romance Orphaned young and gifted with a quiet love of books, beauty, and refinement, Phoebe Deane has grown up in a hard New York farmhouse where she is treated less like family and more like hired help. Her gentle half-brother, Albert, means well but is easily led, leaving Phoebe at the mercy of his sharp-tongued, jealous wife, Emmeline, and a household that expects Phoebe to give up her own hopes without complaint. Trouble sharpens when a crude, domineering widower, Hiram Greene, decides Phoebe will be his next wife and begins applying pressure through deception, neighborhood opinion, and the kind of gossip that can ruin a woman long before she has a chance to speak for herself. As Phoebe struggles to keep her dignity and her freedom, unexpected allies appear: the practical, fiercely loyal Miranda Griscomb, and a principled young lawyer, Nathaniel Graham, whose chance meeting with Phoebe pulls him into the town's tangled judgments. In a community where appearances can feel like law, Phoebe must decide what courage, faith, and love look like when everyone else is deciding her future for her. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:23:40) Chapter 02 (00:49:33) Chapter 03 (01:09:42) Chapter 04 (01:34:15) Chapter 05 (02:02:13) Chapter 06 (02:25:32) Chapter 07 (02:49:41) Chapter 08 (03:05:24) Chapter 09 (03:24:18) Chapter 10 (03:44:38) Chapter 11 (04:04:25) Chapter 12 (04:24:06) Chapter 13 (04:45:32) Chapter 14 (05:04:01) Chapter 15 (05:28:37) Chapter 16 (05:53:48) Chapter 17 (06:16:05) Chapter 18 (06:37:36) Chapter 19 (06:55:16) Chapter 20 (07:17:04) Chapter 21 (07:41:49) Chapter 22 (08:00:41) Chapter 23 (08:21:30) Chapter 24 (08:41:21) Chapter 25 (09:05:45) Chapter 26 (09:20:48) Chapter 27 (09:46:04) Chapter 28 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Miranda by Grace Livingston Hill audiobook. Genre: romance Miranda Griscom has never been the sort of young woman a quiet town knows what to do with. Plainspoken, freckle-faced, and fiercely capable, she has earned a place in the Spafford household through sheer grit and unwavering loyalty. So when one of the wealthiest men around begins pressing for her hand, the neighbors can only gossip and wonder why Miranda keeps turning him away. Miranda cannot explain the truth: her heart has long belonged to another man, one whose name has been dragged through scandal and whose life hangs under the shadow of a murder charge he insists he did not commit. When news surfaces that her secret love is still at large, Miranda is drawn into a dangerous tangle of pursuit, suspicion, and sacrifice. To protect the innocent, clear a stained reputation, and stay true to the promise she has carried in silence, she must risk comfort and safety for hardship and uncertainty, even if it leads her far from home and into the unforgiving Oregon wilderness. With faith threaded through every trial, Grace Livingston Hill weaves a classic tale of steadfast love, moral courage, and the cost of doing what is right. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:20:48) Chapter 02 (00:51:47) Chapter 03 (01:07:49) Chapter 04 (01:20:00) Chapter 05 (01:37:02) Chapter 06 (01:58:30) Chapter 07 (02:24:11) Chapter 08 (02:45:13) Chapter 09 (03:13:06) Chapter 10 (03:32:17) Chapter 11 (03:46:37) Chapter 12 (03:53:10) Chapter 13 (04:16:38) Chapter 14 (04:34:34) Chapter 15 (04:49:34) Chapter 16 (05:03:08) Chapter 17 (05:20:57) Chapter 18 (05:53:55) Chapter 19 (06:09:32) Chapter 20 (06:27:02) Chapter 21 (06:41:21) Chapter 22 (07:03:53) Chapter 23 (07:29:53) Chapter 24 (07:49:56) Chapter 25 (08:06:48) Chapter 26 (08:29:56) Chapter 27 (08:44:31) Chapter 28 (08:58:28) Chapter 29 (09:10:13) Chapter 30 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marcia Schuyler by Grace Livingston Hill audiobook. Genre: romance Set in early 19th century upstate New York, Marcia Schuyler begins on the brink of a society wedding that is meant to secure the Schuyler family's standing. When Marcia's beautiful, willful sister Kate vanishes the night before the ceremony, leaving behind scandal and a shattered groom, the family's desperate solution falls to the quiet, dutiful younger sister. Marcia steps into Kate's place and marries David Spafford, the man she has secretly admired from afar, knowing his heart is still fixed on the bride who betrayed him. In a new home where every neighbor watches, Marcia tries to live in the shadow of another woman's trousseau, reputation, and expectations while fending off cold judgments, meddling relatives, and the dangerous attention of those who sense her vulnerability. Her one steady ally is Miranda Griscomb, a blunt, freckled neighbor girl whose fierce loyalty becomes both shield and surprise friendship. As old wounds reopen and Kate's choices echo back into the Spaffords' lives, Marcia must decide what love, honor, and self-respect will require of her. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:24:32) Chapter 02 (00:50:33) Chapter 03 (01:10:39) Chapter 04 (01:37:37) Chapter 05 (01:57:38) Chapter 06 (02:24:49) Chapter 07 (02:46:02) Chapter 08 (03:01:34) Chapter 09 (03:19:09) Chapter 10 (03:47:25) Chapter 11 (04:11:06) Chapter 12 (04:43:17) Chapter 13 (05:08:21) Chapter 14 (05:41:06) Chapter 15 (06:12:18) Chapter 16 (06:35:26) Chapter 17 (07:01:33) Chapter 18 (07:23:24) Chapter 19 (07:46:56) Chapter 20 (08:02:49) Chapter 21 (08:31:03) Chapter 22 (09:00:32) Chapter 23 (09:34:57) Chapter 24 (09:57:32) Chapter 25 (10:24:38) Chapter 26 (10:50:51) Chapter 27 (11:17:23) Chapter 28 (11:42:25) Chapter 29 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Finding of Jasper Holt by Grace Livingston Hill audiobook. Genre: romance When Jean Grayson boards a westbound train to visit her sister, she expects a quiet journey and a warm family welcome. Instead, a strange encounter leaves her carrying a wallet tied to a man she has never met, and a midnight disaster throws her into a terrifying fight for survival. The one person who pulls her from danger is Jasper Holt, a capable, guarded stranger whose name sparks whispers everywhere it is spoken. In the small community Jean is headed toward, Jasper's reputation has already been tried and condemned, and the people closest to Jean have their own reasons to keep him shut out of decent society. Yet Jean cannot forget the man who saved her life, nor ignore the unsettling sense that she has been drawn into a larger conflict involving stolen papers, fierce business rivalry, and a scheme that could ruin Jasper for good. As Jasper struggles to reclaim what was taken from him and prove the truth of his character, Jean must decide whether to trust the town's judgment or the quiet evidence of courage, sacrifice, and changing hearts. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:25:44) Chapter 02 (00:39:28) Chapter 03 (00:56:49) Chapter 04 (01:15:10) Chapter 05 (01:33:40) Chapter 06 (01:48:01) Chapter 07 (02:09:40) Chapter 08 (02:30:03) Chapter 09 (02:48:04) Chapter 10 (03:11:01) Chapter 11 (03:29:02) Chapter 12 (03:48:34) Chapter 13 (04:08:05) Chapter 14 (04:29:00) Chapter 15 (04:44:01) Chapter 16 (05:02:24) Chapter 17 (05:15:42) Chapter 18 (05:31:08) Chapter 19 (05:43:31) Chapter 20 (05:54:37) Chapter 21 (06:08:28) Chapter 22 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Daily Rate by Grace Livingston Hill audiobook. Genre: romance Celia Murray is a lonely young woman trying to make an honest life for herself in Philadelphia, earning a modest wage and renting a room in a bleak boardinghouse where the food is poor and the atmosphere is worse. Separated from Aunt Hannah - the loving, steady presence who once made her childhood feel like home - Celia clings to her faith while wondering whether anything in the city can ever feel warm or safe. Then an unexpected inheritance drops into her lap, and Celia dares to imagine a different future. Instead of chasing comfort for herself alone, she sends for Aunt Hannah and pours her new resources into a bold experiment: transforming the shabby boardinghouse into a true home, one clean room, nourishing meal, and quiet act of kindness at a time. As the house begins to change, so do the lives inside it, and Celia discovers that ministry is often made of ordinary days and imperfect people. But new hope brings new risks - jealousy, misunderstanding, and the ache of wanting more than she feels she deserves. When Horace Stafford, a compassionate mission-chapel minister, steps into their orbit, Celia must confront the secret longing she has tried to bury and decide what trust really costs. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:17:57) Chapter 02 (00:35:13) Chapter 03 (00:52:04) Chapter 04 (01:09:28) Chapter 05 (01:27:00) Chapter 06 (01:44:49) Chapter 07 (02:02:56) Chapter 08 (02:24:44) Chapter 09 (02:42:57) Chapter 10 (03:02:31) Chapter 11 (03:19:52) Chapter 12 (03:37:45) Chapter 13 (03:56:49) Chapter 14 (04:16:46) Chapter 15 (04:33:26) Chapter 16 (04:52:12) Chapter 17 (05:07:54) Chapter 18 (05:24:26) Chapter 19 (05:40:11) Chapter 20 (06:01:20) Chapter 21 (06:24:45) Chapter 22 (06:37:47) Chapter 23 (06:57:08) Chapter 24 (07:14:49) Chapter 25 (07:27:51) Chapter 26 (07:41:08) Chapter 27 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Greek View of Life by Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson audiobook. Genre: philosophy In The Greek View of Life, classicist Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson offers a lucid, wide-ranging portrait of how the ancient Greeks understood the world and their place within it. Rather than a chronicle of battles and rulers, this book asks a deeper question: what kind of life did Greek culture imagine was worth living? Dickinson guides listeners through the Greeks' attitudes toward nature and the divine, the demands of the city-state, the meaning of freedom and citizenship, and the competing claims of pleasure, duty, and self-control. Along the way, he draws on Greek literature, philosophy, and art to reveal a civilization that prized clarity of thought, balance, and measure, yet never ignored the shadow of suffering and limitation. Written with an eye for comparison, the book invites modern readers to test their own assumptions against a society that helped shape Western ideas of reason, beauty, politics, and education. The result is both an introduction to Greek ideals and a reflective meditation on what culture can teach us about character, community, and the art of living. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:04:33) Chapter 02 (00:20:15) Chapter 03 (00:24:26) Chapter 04 (00:32:59) Chapter 05 (00:47:59) Chapter 06 (00:55:44) Chapter 07 (01:02:49) Chapter 08 (01:10:41) Chapter 09 (01:20:07) Chapter 10 (01:33:08) Chapter 11 (01:52:45) Chapter 12 (02:06:07) Chapter 13 (02:19:19) Chapter 14 (02:28:04) Chapter 15 (02:43:07) Chapter 16 (02:52:57) Chapter 17 (03:03:25) Chapter 18 (03:07:51) Chapter 19 (03:17:17) Chapter 20 (03:22:41) Chapter 21 (03:38:50) Chapter 22 (03:47:14) Chapter 23 (03:51:51) Chapter 24 (04:05:43) Chapter 25 (04:28:23) Chapter 26 (04:49:51) Chapter 27 (05:27:35) Chapter 28 (05:42:16) Chapter 29 (05:52:35) Chapter 30 (05:57:53) Chapter 31 (06:04:11) Chapter 32 (06:08:48) Chapter 33 (06:17:04) Chapter 34 (06:38:54) Chapter 35 (06:45:20) Chapter 36 (07:12:07) Chapter 37 (07:39:12) Chapter 38 (07:47:38) Chapter 39 (08:01:45) Chapter 40 (08:16:57) Chapter 41 (08:33:47) Chapter 42 (08:42:42) Chapter 43 (08:51:57) Chapter 44 (09:03:32) Chapter 45 (09:16:16) Chapter 46 (09:36:15) Chapter 47 (09:45:42) Chapter 48 (10:03:54) Chapter 49 (10:27:26) Chapter 50 (10:33:47) Chapter 51 (10:36:49) Chapter 52 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Criminal man - according to the classification of Cesare Lombroso by Gina Lombroso audiobook. Genre: science In this influential work of early criminology, Gina Lombroso presents and organizes Cesare Lombroso's provocative attempt to explain crime through classification. Drawing on medical observation, anthropology, and statistics, the book argues that criminal behavior is not a single phenomenon but a spectrum of distinct types, from the so-called born criminal and the habitual offender to the criminal by passion and the mentally ill delinquent. Lombroso's method is concrete and case-driven: he compares bodies, faces, and habits; catalogs physical and psychological 'stigmata'; and links crime to heredity, epilepsy, insanity, alcoholism, and social environment. Along the way, the reader is taken into courtrooms, prisons, and asylums through examples meant to show how different offenders think, act, and relapse. Whether approached as a serious scientific proposal, a historical artifact, or a cautionary tale about bias in measurement, the book raises enduring questions about free will, responsibility, and prevention: if crime has causes that can be studied, can society replace pure punishment with diagnosis, treatment, and reform? For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:13:59) Chapter 01 (01:18:13) Chapter 02 (01:47:12) Chapter 03 (02:21:30) Chapter 04 (02:50:42) Chapter 05 (03:30:07) Chapter 06 (03:58:12) Chapter 07 (04:52:47) Chapter 08 (05:39:23) Chapter 09 (06:07:57) Chapter 10 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White audiobook. Genre: history In The Natural History of Selborne, parson-naturalist Gilbert White invites listeners into the quiet English village he called home, and turns everyday observations into an extraordinary portrait of the living world. Written as a series of letters to fellow scholars and friends, the book follows White through the fields, hedgerows, ponds, and churchyard of Selborne as he watches swallows arrive and depart, notes the habits of owls and mice, records the songs of birds, and studies the shifting seasons with patient curiosity. White is not chasing exotic specimens or grand theories so much as trying to understand how animals, plants, weather, and human life fit together in one small place. Along the way, his careful attention challenges easy assumptions, highlights the value of repeated observation, and shows how wonder can be grounded in detail. Part scientific record, part rural chronicle, and part meditation on nature's rhythms, this classic work offers a vivid sense of place and a gentle, inquisitive voice that helped shape modern field naturalism. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:17:58) Chapter 02 (00:53:52) Chapter 03 (01:35:19) Chapter 04 (02:17:49) Chapter 05 (02:55:05) Chapter 06 (03:44:09) Chapter 07 (04:15:07) Chapter 08 (04:59:37) Chapter 09 (05:40:32) Chapter 10 (06:23:03) Chapter 11 (07:07:17) Chapter 12 (07:53:34) Chapter 13 (08:34:44) Chapter 14 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bel Ami, or The History of a Scoundrel by Guy de Maupassant audiobook. Genre: drama In late 19th-century Paris, Georges Duroy is a broke former soldier with a sharp smile, a quick appetite, and no intention of staying poor. When a chance encounter brings him into the orbit of a major newspaper, Georges discovers a world where fortunes rise on politics, scandal, and the right signature at the bottom of an article. Lacking education but rich in nerve, he learns to turn charm into currency, trading on introductions, favors, and the intimate confidences of those who know how the city truly works. As he reinvents himself as 'Bel Ami,' his ambitions accelerate, and so do the consequences. Every salon invitation and newsroom whisper becomes a step on a ladder he is willing to climb at any cost, while the women who guide him, challenge him, or underestimate him each reveal a different face of power in a society obsessed with appearance. Guy de Maupassant's classic novel is a razor-edged portrait of greed, desire, and social performance, where success is measured not by virtue, but by audacity. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:28:00) Chapter 02 (00:53:21) Chapter 03 (01:13:24) Chapter 04 (01:30:42) Chapter 05 (01:47:01) Chapter 06 (02:03:08) Chapter 07 (02:17:38) Chapter 08 (02:33:43) Chapter 09 (02:55:06) Chapter 10 (03:20:41) Chapter 11 (03:57:16) Chapter 12 (04:15:04) Chapter 13 (04:34:29) Chapter 14 (04:48:41) Chapter 15 (05:03:33) Chapter 16 (05:20:27) Chapter 17 (05:42:04) Chapter 18 (06:04:19) Chapter 19 (06:17:51) Chapter 20 (06:41:25) Chapter 21 (06:59:31) Chapter 22 (07:17:21) Chapter 23 (07:35:52) Chapter 24 (07:55:32) Chapter 25 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ghosts of Piccadilly by George Slythe Street audiobook. Genre: history In The Ghosts of Piccadilly, British critic and satirist G. S. Street turns one of London's most famous thoroughfares into a after-hours promenade through memory. The 'ghosts' here are not supernatural apparitions, but the lingering presence of the men and women who once lived, argued, flirted, schemed, and celebrated behind Piccadilly's townhouse facades and club doors - along with the vanished buildings that shaped the street's character. Street guides the listener from address to address, pausing at quiet doorways to spin anecdotes drawn from letters, gossip, and biographical fragments. His tour is deliberately personal rather than encyclopedic: he follows his own tastes, lingering on figures who amuse or move him, and gliding past others with dry wit. Along the way, Piccadilly becomes a miniature history of fashionable London, where reputations are made in drawing rooms, fortunes are wagered, and public lives leave private traces. By blending social history with sharply observed commentary, Street invites you to see a familiar street as a crowded stage, and to listen for the echoes still embedded in its stones. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:24:03) Chapter 02 (00:53:36) Chapter 03 (01:14:22) Chapter 04 (01:35:26) Chapter 05 (01:54:34) Chapter 06 (02:15:39) Chapter 07 (02:38:28) Chapter 08 (02:56:52) Chapter 09 (03:17:26) Chapter 10 (03:40:47) Chapter 11 (03:59:42) Chapter 12 (04:15:54) Chapter 13 (04:36:21) Chapter 14 (04:57:32) Chapter 15 (05:17:58) Chapter 16 (05:37:00) Chapter 17 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices