Try free for 30 days
-
Playing for Freedom
- The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl
- Narrated by: Zarifa Adiba
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $28.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
Tears of Amber
- By: Sofía Segovia, Simon Bruni - translator
- Narrated by: Will Damron, Angela Dawe
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With war looming dangerously close, Ilse’s school days soon turn to lessons of survival. In the harshness of winter, her family must join the largest exodus in human history to survive. As battle lines are drawn and East Prussia’s borders vanish beneath them, they leave their farm and all they know behind for an uncertain future. But Ilse also has Janusz, her family’s young Polish laborer, by her side. As they flee from the Soviet army, his enchanting folktales keep her mind off the cold, the hunger, and the horrors unfolding around them.
-
Big Chicas Don't Cry
- By: Annette Chavez Macias
- Narrated by: Vanessa Vasquez, Alessandra Manon, Aida Reluzco, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cousins Mari, Erica, Selena, and Gracie are inseparable. They aren’t just family but best friends—sharing secrets, traditions, and a fierce love for their abuelita. But their idyllic childhood ends when Mari’s parents divorce, forcing her to move away. With Mari gone, the girls’ tight-knit bond unravels.
-
Where Waters Meet
- By: Zhang Ling
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Dan John Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There was rarely a time when Phoenix Yuan-Whyller’s mother, Rain, didn’t live with her. Even when Phoenix got married, Rain, who followed her from China to Toronto, came to share Phoenix’s life. Now at the age of eighty-three, Rain’s unexpected death ushers in a heartrending separation.
-
Her Name Is Knight
- Nena Knight, Book 1
- By: Yasmin Angoe
- Narrated by: Tamika Katon-Donegal
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A smash debut novel from rising star Yasmin Angoe, Her Name Is Knight features an elite assassin heroine on a mission to topple a human trafficking ring and avenge her family....
-
-
Was captivated by this story
- By Miriam Verbeek on 09-05-2023
-
The Blue Bar
- Blue Mumbai Thriller, Book 1
- By: Damyanti Biswas
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After years of dancing in Mumbai’s bars, Tara Mondal was desperate for a new start. So when a client offered her a life-changing payout to indulge a harmless, if odd, fantasy, she accepted. The setup was simple: wear a blue-sequined saree, enter a crowded railway station, and escape from view in less than three minutes. It was the last time anyone saw Tara.
-
The Night Raven
- The Moonwind Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Johan Rundberg, A. A. Prime - translator
- Narrated by: Nina Yndis
- Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1880, and in the frigid city of Stockholm, death lurks around every corner. Twelve-year-old Mika knows that everyone in her orphanage will struggle to survive this winter. But at least the notorious serial killer the Night Raven is finally off the streets…or is he? Mika is shocked when a newborn baby is left at the orphanage in the middle of the night, by a boy with a cryptic message. Who is he? And who is this “Dark Angel” he speaks of? When a detective shows up, Mika senses something even more sinister is going on.
-
Tears of Amber
- By: Sofía Segovia, Simon Bruni - translator
- Narrated by: Will Damron, Angela Dawe
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With war looming dangerously close, Ilse’s school days soon turn to lessons of survival. In the harshness of winter, her family must join the largest exodus in human history to survive. As battle lines are drawn and East Prussia’s borders vanish beneath them, they leave their farm and all they know behind for an uncertain future. But Ilse also has Janusz, her family’s young Polish laborer, by her side. As they flee from the Soviet army, his enchanting folktales keep her mind off the cold, the hunger, and the horrors unfolding around them.
-
Big Chicas Don't Cry
- By: Annette Chavez Macias
- Narrated by: Vanessa Vasquez, Alessandra Manon, Aida Reluzco, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cousins Mari, Erica, Selena, and Gracie are inseparable. They aren’t just family but best friends—sharing secrets, traditions, and a fierce love for their abuelita. But their idyllic childhood ends when Mari’s parents divorce, forcing her to move away. With Mari gone, the girls’ tight-knit bond unravels.
-
Where Waters Meet
- By: Zhang Ling
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Dan John Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There was rarely a time when Phoenix Yuan-Whyller’s mother, Rain, didn’t live with her. Even when Phoenix got married, Rain, who followed her from China to Toronto, came to share Phoenix’s life. Now at the age of eighty-three, Rain’s unexpected death ushers in a heartrending separation.
-
Her Name Is Knight
- Nena Knight, Book 1
- By: Yasmin Angoe
- Narrated by: Tamika Katon-Donegal
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A smash debut novel from rising star Yasmin Angoe, Her Name Is Knight features an elite assassin heroine on a mission to topple a human trafficking ring and avenge her family....
-
-
Was captivated by this story
- By Miriam Verbeek on 09-05-2023
-
The Blue Bar
- Blue Mumbai Thriller, Book 1
- By: Damyanti Biswas
- Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After years of dancing in Mumbai’s bars, Tara Mondal was desperate for a new start. So when a client offered her a life-changing payout to indulge a harmless, if odd, fantasy, she accepted. The setup was simple: wear a blue-sequined saree, enter a crowded railway station, and escape from view in less than three minutes. It was the last time anyone saw Tara.
-
The Night Raven
- The Moonwind Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Johan Rundberg, A. A. Prime - translator
- Narrated by: Nina Yndis
- Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1880, and in the frigid city of Stockholm, death lurks around every corner. Twelve-year-old Mika knows that everyone in her orphanage will struggle to survive this winter. But at least the notorious serial killer the Night Raven is finally off the streets…or is he? Mika is shocked when a newborn baby is left at the orphanage in the middle of the night, by a boy with a cryptic message. Who is he? And who is this “Dark Angel” he speaks of? When a detective shows up, Mika senses something even more sinister is going on.
-
Third Wheel
- By: Nick Spalding
- Narrated by: Will Watt
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jake Carlisle is living his best life, thanks to the crazily successful influencer channel he created with his best friend Sy. Reviewing whacky hobbies and adrenaline-fuelled adventures, Sy has pushed Jake into doing more exciting stuff than either ever thought possible. Then disaster strikes. When newbie Helena joins the team, Sy quickly falls head over heels for her…All of a sudden, with romance blossoming and the business dynamic shifting, Jake is horrified to find himself becoming the dreaded third wheel.
-
The Memory Library
- By: Kate Storey
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond, Imogen Wilde
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For forty-two years, Sally Harrison has been building a library. Each year, on her daughter’s birthday, she adds a new book to her shelves – with a note in the front dedicated to her own greatest work. But Ella – Sally’s only child – fled to Australia twenty-two years ago after a heated exchange, and never looked back. And though Sally still dutifully adds a new paperback to the shelves every time the clock strikes midnight on July 11th, her hopes of her daughter ever thumbing through the pages are starting to dwindle.
-
A Storm of Infinite Beauty
- A Novel
- By: Julianne MacLean
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scarlett Fontaine is a true Hollywood legend—a singer, actress, and beloved fashion icon. But Scarlett dies tragically at just thirty-six years old, leaving behind no children. Or so the story goes… Gwen Hollingsworth is the curator at a museum dedicated to Scarlett’s life. She’s also sole heir to Scarlett’s fortune as a descendant of the star. But all is not well in Gwen’s world. She’s dealing with a messy marital separation and is struggling to move forward.
-
The Life She Wanted
- A Novel
- By: Anita Abriel
- Narrated by: Valerie Rose Lohman
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1926, Hyde Park, New York. Born to modest means but befriended by the wealthy, aspiring dress designer Pandora Carmichael has been surrounded by privilege yet never at home in it. That hasn’t stopped her from dreaming—of a romance in a rarified world that could also give her the status and resources to start a business of her own. When she’s introduced to a charismatic Princeton student, Pandora’s future begins to fall into place.
-
-
Just so predictable and tedious.
- By Infragelis on 07-01-2024
-
Julia
- By: Sandra Newman
- Narrated by: Louise Brearley
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, chief city of Airstrip One, the third most populous province of Oceania. It's 1984 and Julia Worthing works as a mechanic fixing the novel-writing machines in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. Under the ideology of IngSoc and the rule of the Party and its leader Big Brother, Julia is a model citizen - cheerfully cynical, believing in nothing and caring not at all about politics. She routinely breaks the rules but also collaborates with the regime whenever necessary. Everyone likes Julia.
-
-
Uncomfortably interesting
- By Annie Wilson on 26-03-2024
-
Excuse Me While I Disappear
- Tales of Midlife Mayhem
- By: Laurie Notaro
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Laurie Notaro has proved everyone wrong: she didn’t end up in rehab, prison, or cremated at a tender age. She just went gray. At past fifty, every hair’s root is a symbol of knowledge (she knows how to use a landline), experience (she rode in a car with no seat belts), and superpowers (a gray-haired lady can get away with anything). Though navigating midlife is initially upsetting—the cracking noises coming from her new old body, receiving regular junk mail from mortuaries—Laurie accepts it. And then some.
-
A Quantum Love Story
- By: Mike Chen
- Narrated by: Patti Murin
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Grieving her best friend's recent death, neuroscientist Mariana Pineda’s ready to give up everything to start anew. Even her career—after one last week consulting at a top secret particle accelerator. Except the strangest thing happens: a man stops her…and claims they've met before. Carter Cho knows who she is, why she's mourning, why she's there. And he needs Mariana to remember everything he’s saying.
-
The Family Bones
- By: Elle Marr
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky, Sura Siu, Jennifer Jill Araya, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Psychology student Olivia Eriksen’s family is notorious among true-crime buffs. Faced with a legacy of psychopathy that spans generations, Olivia has spent much of her academic life trying to answer one chilling question: Nature or nurture? Although she’s kept a safe distance from her blood relatives for years, Olivia agrees to attend a weekend reunion. After all, her fiancé is eager to meet his future in-laws, and the gathering may give her a chance to interview her elusive grandfather about the family traits.
-
My Mother and Other Wild Animals
- An Essay
- By: Andrew Sean Greer
- Narrated by: Andrew Sean Greer
- Length: 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andrew Sean Greer can’t wait to get home to San Francisco after a writer’s residency in Kansas. But when his mother, Sandra, decides to come along for the ride, he has a new goal: get her to crack a smile at every stop, whether breathtaking or breathtakingly kitschy. He’s always known his mother to be as efficient and serious as a chemist (which she happens to be), always in gray, eyebrow cocked, and handling challenges with grace. To mix things up, Andrew develops an elaborate itinerary of planned chaos.
-
When We Walk By
- Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America
- By: Kevin F. Adler, Donald W. Burnes, Amanda Banh - contributor, and others
- Narrated by: Kevin F. Adler
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When We Walk By takes an urgent look at homelessness in America, showing us what we lose—in ourselves and as a society—when we choose to walk past and ignore our neighbors in shelters, insecure housing, or on the streets. And it brilliantly shows what we stand to gain when we embrace our humanity and move toward evidence-based people-first, community-driven solutions, offering social analysis, economic and political histories, and the real stories of unhoused people.
-
October in the Earth
- A Novel
- By: Olivia Hawker
- Narrated by: Jackie Zebrowski
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Del Wensley, wife of the most celebrated preacher in Harlan County, tries to mind her place. Until her husband’s infidelity pushes an already strained marriage to a breaking point. Clinging to her last hope for self-respect, Del turns her back on the rigid life she’s known. A coal train is rolling through the valley. With her eyes wide open to the unfamiliar, and to the freedom she craves, Del takes to the rails.
-
A Light Through the Cracks
- A Climber's Story
- By: Beth Rodden
- Narrated by: Beth Rodden
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Renowned rock climber Beth Rodden’s inspiring memoir about overcoming devastating trauma, refusing to be held hostage by fear, and taking a leap toward healing.
-
-
I loved it.
- By Anonymous User on 29-05-2024
Publisher's Summary
A passionate musician growing up in the war-torn streets of Kabul takes her forbidden talents abroad in this triumphant memoir from debut author Zarifa Adiba.
As an Afghan girl, Zarifa Adiba has big, unfathomable dreams. Her family is poor, her country mired in conflict. Walking to school in Kabul, Zarifa has to navigate suicide bombers.
But Zarifa perseveres, nurturing her passion for music despite its “sinful” nature under Taliban law. At sixteen she gains admission to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, and at eighteen she becomes the lead violist, co-conductor, and spokesperson for Zohra, the first all-female orchestra in the Muslim world.
Despite Zarifa’s accomplishments—which include a stunning performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland—her future in music demands a reckoning with her life back home. Many of the girls in Zohra are forced to marry, but Zarifa yearns to study, travel, and explore her independence. Her so-called “bad girl” identity puts her at odds with her culture and her family.
Playing for Freedom is the deeply compelling story of a woman who dares to compose a masterpiece even with all odds stacked against her.
Critic Reviews
“Adiba passionately supports education for all girls…Her unpretentious, earnest style as she recounts her life story with a matter-of-fact tone is as endearing as it is engaging. A must-have for any collection, especially in school and academic libraries. This memoir celebrates the power of one young woman to make a difference by speaking up and daring to be herself.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Adiba writes with feeling and genuine pride in herself and her Afghan cultural heritage, and will touch the heart of anyone spending time in her company.”—Booklist