Try free for 30 days
-
The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses)
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
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 $26.99
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
-
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.
-
Lily and the Octopus
- By: Steven Rowley
- Narrated by: Michael Urie
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you listen to Lily and the Octopus, you will be taken on an unforgettable ride. The magic of this novel is in the listening, and we don't want to spoil it by giving away too many details. We can tell you that this is a story about that special someone: the one you trust, the one you can't live without. For Ted Flask, that someone special is his aging companion, Lily, who happens to be a dog.
-
-
What a beautiful story about a gorgeous relationship.
- By Brooke on 29-04-2024
-
The Little Venice Bookshop
- By: Rebecca Raisin
- Narrated by: Alexandra Boulton
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Luna loses her beloved mother, she’s bereft: her mother was her only family, and without her Luna feels rootless. Then the chance discovery of a collection of letters in her mother’s belongings sends her on an unexpected journey.
-
Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse
- A Novel
- By: Faith Sullivan
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nell Stillman's road is not easy. When her boorish husband dies soon after they move to the small town of Harvester, Minnesota, Nell is alone, penniless yet responsible for her beloved baby boy, Hillyard. Not an easy fate in small-town America at the beginning of the 20th century. In the face of nearly insurmountable odds, Nell finds strength in lasting friendships and in the rich inner life awakened by the novels she loves.
-
The Moonlight Gardening Club
- By: Rosie Hannigan
- Narrated by: Shelley Atkinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though they come from the same small Irish village, lonely widow Ruby and struggling single mother Frankie couldn’t be more different. Then they discover the Moonlight Gardening Club, founded to remind its members that even on the darkest of nights, beauty and light can still be found. As they plant flowers chosen specially to be enjoyed under a carpet of stars in the gentle glow of moonlight, an unexpected friendship starts to bloom – and it might be just what each of them needs. But when shocking secrets from the past are revealed, both their worlds are turned upside down.
-
The Lost Bookshop
- By: Evie Woods, Nick Biadon
- Narrated by: Avena Mansergh-Wallace, Olivia Mace
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives. But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder…where nothing is as it seems.
-
-
Magical fantasy for adults
- By Elizabeth on 19-11-2023
-
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.
-
Lily and the Octopus
- By: Steven Rowley
- Narrated by: Michael Urie
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you listen to Lily and the Octopus, you will be taken on an unforgettable ride. The magic of this novel is in the listening, and we don't want to spoil it by giving away too many details. We can tell you that this is a story about that special someone: the one you trust, the one you can't live without. For Ted Flask, that someone special is his aging companion, Lily, who happens to be a dog.
-
-
What a beautiful story about a gorgeous relationship.
- By Brooke on 29-04-2024
-
The Little Venice Bookshop
- By: Rebecca Raisin
- Narrated by: Alexandra Boulton
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Luna loses her beloved mother, she’s bereft: her mother was her only family, and without her Luna feels rootless. Then the chance discovery of a collection of letters in her mother’s belongings sends her on an unexpected journey.
-
Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse
- A Novel
- By: Faith Sullivan
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nell Stillman's road is not easy. When her boorish husband dies soon after they move to the small town of Harvester, Minnesota, Nell is alone, penniless yet responsible for her beloved baby boy, Hillyard. Not an easy fate in small-town America at the beginning of the 20th century. In the face of nearly insurmountable odds, Nell finds strength in lasting friendships and in the rich inner life awakened by the novels she loves.
-
The Moonlight Gardening Club
- By: Rosie Hannigan
- Narrated by: Shelley Atkinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though they come from the same small Irish village, lonely widow Ruby and struggling single mother Frankie couldn’t be more different. Then they discover the Moonlight Gardening Club, founded to remind its members that even on the darkest of nights, beauty and light can still be found. As they plant flowers chosen specially to be enjoyed under a carpet of stars in the gentle glow of moonlight, an unexpected friendship starts to bloom – and it might be just what each of them needs. But when shocking secrets from the past are revealed, both their worlds are turned upside down.
-
The Lost Bookshop
- By: Evie Woods, Nick Biadon
- Narrated by: Avena Mansergh-Wallace, Olivia Mace
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives. But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder…where nothing is as it seems.
-
-
Magical fantasy for adults
- By Elizabeth on 19-11-2023
-
This Tender Land
- By: William Kent Krueger
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1932: Located on the banks of the Gilead River in Minnesota, Lincoln School is home to hundreds of Native American boys and girls who have been separated from their families. The only two white boys in the school are orphan brothers Odie and Albert, who, under the watchful eyes of the cruel superintendent Mrs. Brickman, are often in trouble for misdeeds both real and imagined. The two boys' best friend is Mose, a mute Native American who is also the strongest kid in school. And they find another ally in Cora Frost, a widowed teacher who is raising her little girl, Emmy, by herself.
-
-
Hauntingly beautiful,
- By Haze on 17-04-2024
-
Haven Point
- A Novel
- By: Virginia Hume
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping debut novel about the generations of a family that spends summers in a seaside enclave on Maine's rocky coastline, for fans of Elin Hilderbrand, Beatriz Williams, and Sarah Blake.
-
The Echo of Old Books
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Steve West, Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
-
-
I loved the story that unfolded in this book
- By Angela Payne on 16-04-2024
-
A Scattered Life
- By: Karen McQuestion
- Narrated by: Teri Clark Linden
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Scattered Life, Karen McQuestion proves to be an adept chronicler of unforgettable female characters. Poignantly written, she thoughtfully examines how women love, learn, and come to accept themselves and others, as well as life’s often harsh realities of deception and loss. Skyla Plinka has all she could ask for - at least that’s what her mother-in-law Audrey thinks. On most days, Skyla agrees, yet there’s a part of her that longs for her free-spirited days before husband, child, and the humdrum life of rural Wisconsin.
-
Lily Bennett’s Bucket List
- By: Katherine Dyson
- Narrated by: Laura Brydon
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would Lily Bennett do? This is the question Lydia Grey finds herself asking when she discovers Lily’s bucket list at the bottom of her shopping trolley. Having just run into her ex—and his supermodel gorgeous new girlfriend—while doing the walk of shame, Lydia’s discovery takes her down an unexpected path…and into the company of Jake Jones. Jake mistakes Lydia for Lily when he offers to help her complete the list, but tempted to be someone—anyone—other than plain old Lydia Gray for once in her life, Lydia doesn’t correct him.
-
The Sunrise Swimming Society
- By: Rosie Hannigan
- Narrated by: Shirley Atkinson
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The day Heather, Niamh and Lauren met, they promised to be best friends for life, and that instant connection only grew stronger with their weekly sunrise swims in their stunning local lake. When they left school, they agreed that every year on midsummer’s dawn, they would meet at their old spot and swim together. Now, fifteen years later, the tradition has disappeared in the face of life’s realities. In fact, they don’t speak any more. But this summer, they find themselves back in their Irish hometown and realise this could be their last chance to recapture what they have lost.
-
How to Kill a Guy in Ten Ways
- By: Eve Kellman
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Hopper
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After one too many terrifying encounters, Millie Masters sets up a hotline for women who feel unsafe walking home alone at night: Message M. But very quickly she realises that there’s much more to be done to help the women who call in. Because the men just do it again the next night, and the next, and the next… And when her own sister is assaulted on a night out, the temptation to take the law into her own hands becomes too much to resist. Because M can also stand for murder.
-
Two If by Sea
- By: Jacquelyn Mitchard
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Just hours after his wife and her entire family perish in the Christmas Eve tsunami in Brisbane, American expat and former police officer Frank Mercy goes out to join his volunteer rescue unit and pulls a little boy from a submerged car, saving the child's life with only seconds to spare. In that moment, Frank's own life is transformed. Not quite knowing why, Frank sidesteps the law when, instead of turning Ian over to the Red Cross, he takes the boy home to the Midwestern farm where he grew up.
-
A Pen Dipped in Poison
- By: J.M. Hall
- Narrated by: Julie Hesmondhalgh
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Retired schoolteachers Liz, Pat and Thelma never expected they would be caught up in a crime even once in their lives, let alone twice. But when poison pen letters start landing on the doorsteps of friends and neighbours in their Yorkshire village, old secrets come to light. With the potential for deadly consequences. It won’t be long until the three friends are out on a case yet again.
-
-
Long winded
- By Gillian H on 30-11-2023
-
The Girl in the Garden
- By: Melanie Wallace
- Narrated by: Elise Arsenault
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When June arrives on the coast of New England, baby in arms, an untrustworthy man by her side, Mabel - who rents them a cabin - senses trouble. A few days later, the girl and her child are abandoned. June is soon placed with Mabel's friend, Iris, in town, and her life becomes entwined with a number of locals who have known one another for decades.
-
A Song for the Road
- By: Kathleen Basi
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's one year after the death of her husband and twin teenagers, and Miriam Tedesco has lost faith in humanity and herself. When a bouquet of flowers that her husband always sends on their anniversary shows up at her workplace, she completely unravels. With the help of her best friend, she realizes that it's time to pick up the pieces and begin to move on. When she opens her daughter's computer, she stumbles across a program her daughter has created detailing an automated cross-country road trip, for her and her husband to take as soon-to-be empty nesters.
-
-
Great book!
- By Anonymous User on 12-08-2022
-
The Silver Ladies Do Lunch
- By: Judy Leigh
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lin, Josie and Minnie left Miss Hamilton’s class at Middleton Ferris County Primary School, sixty years ago, they could only dream about what the future had in store for them. The one thing they knew for certain was that their friendship would thrive. Years later and life hasn’t always been kind. Josie is still mourning the loss of her beloved husband Harry a year after his sudden demise. Lin is hoping to celebrate her fiftieth wedding anniversary with husband Neil, but he’s suddenly keeping secrets and telling her lies, so she’s suspecting the worst.
-
-
Wonderful and uplifting.
- By JS on 23-06-2023
Publisher's Summary
A whimsical, moving novel about a retirement home for literary legends who spar, conjure up new stories, and almost magically change the lives of the people around them.
Alfonse Carducci was a literary giant who lived his life to excess - lovers, alcohol, parties, and literary rivalries. But now he's come to the Bar Harbor Home for the Elderly to spend the remainder of his days among kindred spirits: the publishing industry's nearly gone but never forgotten greats. Only now, at the end of his life, does he comprehend the price of appeasing every desire, and the consequences of forsaking love to pursue greatness. For Alfonse has an unshakeable case of writer's block that distresses him much more than his precarious health.
Set on the water in one of New England's most beautiful locales, the Bar Harbor Home was established specifically for elderly writers needing a place to live out their golden years - or final days - in understated luxury and surrounded by congenial literary company. A faithful staff of nurses and orderlies surround the writers, and are drawn into their orbit, as they are forced to reckon with their own life stories. Among them are Cecibel Bringer, a young woman who knows first-hand the cost of chasing excess. A terrible accident destroyed her face and her sister in a split-second decision that Cecibel can never forgive, though she has tried to forget. Living quietly as an orderly, refusing to risk again the cost of love, Cecibel never anticipated the impact of meeting her favorite writer, Alfonse Carducci - or the effect he would have on her existence. In Cecibel, Alfonse finds a muse who returns him to the passion he thought he lost. As the words flow from him, weaving a tale taken up by the other residents of the Pen, Cecibel is reawakened to the idea of love and forgiveness.
As the edges between story and reality blur, a world within a world is created. It’s a place where the old are made young, the damaged are made whole, and anything is possible....