Showing results by narrator "Xe Sands" in All Categories

On May 31, 1953, 20-year-old Sylvia Plath arrived in New York City for a one-month stint at Mademoiselle to be a guest editor for its prestigious annual college issue. Over the next 26 days, the bright, blond New England collegian lived at the Barbizon Hotel, attended Balanchine ballets, watched a game at Yankee Stadium, and danced at the West Side Tennis Club. This captivating portrait invites us to see Sylvia Plath before she became an icon - a young woman with everything to live for.

In this award-winning collection, listeners will find spellbinding stories of loss, absence, and the devastating effects of chance - of what happens when the unthinkable bad luck of other people, of other towns, becomes our bad luck, our town. Taut, lucid, and engrossing, provocative and dark - and often darkly funny - these stories have much to offer the lover of literary fiction as well as the listener who just loves a great story.

Maggie Bennett possesses stunning beauty that acts as a disguise for the lethal skills that truly come together to make her tough, icy, and cool. She thought she was ready for anything until she was assigned to protect ex-rock star Mack Pulaski. He aimed his sensual appeal with deadly accuracy - right into Maggie’s heart. Love is full of traps, but it could be a fatal distraction on the sizzling journey that sweeps them from Central America to Zurich, where multi-million-dollar drug deals provide the kind of stakes men kill for.

The Marvel of Martyrdom takes a broad perspective on self-sacrifice and martyrdom, bringing together religion, popular culture, history, psychology, and mythology. Stories of individuals both famous (Gandhi) and obscure (Rodrigo Rosenberg) intertwine with research on altruism, happiness, and radicalization to terrorism. The changing landscape of the book's setting - from The Roman Empire to 19th-century Russia to Nazi Germany to post-World War II India to present day Ukraine - makes the power of self-sacrifice and martyrdom come alive.

A dying film maker determined to turn his own death into his most celebrated work of art enlists one of his former actresses, Annie, to assist. But when he relinquishes the directors chair he also relinquishes his power, and Annie has her own plans for this most final of performances. A haunting tale of sci-fi horror in which the women abused by the ultimate bad media man take exquisite revenge.

Magic is real, and hungry - trapped in ancient texts and artifacts. Only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Join Detective Sal Brooks, newest recruit to a black-ops magic hunting team backed by the Vatican, as she travels the world to keep the supernatural in check.

Magic is real, and hungry - trapped in ancient texts and artifacts. Only a few who discover it survive to fight back. In this third season, join Detective Sal Brooks, newest recruit to a black-ops magic hunting team backed by the Vatican, as she travels the world to keep the supernatural in check.

Rabies enjoys a fearsome and lurid reputation. Throughout the decades of spiraling growth that defined New York City from the 1840s to the 1910s, the bone-chilling cry of "Mad dog!" possessed the power to upend the ordinary routines and rhythms of urban life. In Mad Dogs and Other New Yorkers, Jessica Wang examines the history of this rare but dreaded affliction during a time of rapid urbanization.

In today's fast-paced, competitive business environment, everyone needs to communicate clearly and use time productively. E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide is a user-friendly audiobook that is filled with guidelines, tips, and tools. Discover how to write professional email that gets results, makes better use of email time, and avoids problems that can be costly. The updated version includes a section on using instant messaging and handheld devices. Used by individuals, corporations, and trainers, this is a must-have for anyone who writes emails at work.

The town of Soldiers Grove is nestled amongst the driftless hills of southwestern Wisconsin. Its winters are long; its warmer seasons bright and challenging. The population is fewer than 600, including those residing in the senior citizens home. Two of these seniors, Cyril and Louise, have come to live there. Unlikely as it may seem, for they come from very diverse backgrounds, they form a close friendship, and their growing attachment sparks them to adventures and unlikely locations. 

Connor Rye seeks solace on remote Whitaker Island. When his first quiet evening ends with a blow to the head, it’s clear that nothing - and no one - is as it seems. Still haunted by his sister’s murder, he’s buried himself in work while trying to hold his family together. Now, when he has a minute to breathe, he knows better than to get involved with a stranger, but it might be too late to keep his distance.

Whitaker Island is more than a getaway. For Tessa Jenkins, the remote strip of land in Washington state is a sanctuary. Fleeing from a shattering scandal, she has a new name, a chance at a new beginning, and a breathtaking new view: Hansen Rye. It’s hard not to crush on Whitaker’s hottest handyman. At six-foot-three and all kinds of fine, he’s also intensely private - and the attraction between them soon simmers dangerously out of control.

Rette was born on a small dairy farm in southern Wisconsin—land with wide pastures bordering on forest and a cold, clear trout stream rimming its edge. From the beginning her parents could see that she was odd, different from other children in the way that she was always listening, often with her ear pressed to a tree or flat to the ground, hearing the sounds of roots at work in the earth, listening to the thoughts of the animals.

Fresh-out-of-a- bad-relationship New York City single, Sofia La Scala, carves out time once a week for happy hour with her best friend Chloe in search for Mr. Right. But when Chloe can’t make it out one night, Sofia meets seductive billionaire, Alex Chambers. The two immediately connect and begin flirt–filled exchanges that heat up rapidly and eventually lead to a steamy romance. The relationship challenges Sofia’s norms and flings her into a world of fantasy, role playing and lust.

Stiletto is a timely, fast-paced feminine mystery told in two diverse voices—a tense, erotic duet between the sharp, intuitive Detective Anna Crane and her prime suspect, the brilliant biochemist Eleanor Kiernan. Both women are haunted by the tragic loss of a sibling, but Kiernan's twin brother died of an overdose of the opiate she helped to create.

For nine months in Auschwitz, eighteen-year-old Eva Fleiss clung to sanity by playing piano on imaginary keyboards. After liberation, Eva and the five remaining Jews of Laszlo, Hungary, journey home, seeking to restart their lives. Yet the town that deported them is not ready to embrace their return. Their former neighbors and friends resist relinquishing their newfound status and property, and they struggle with their roles as perpetrators, enablers, and bystanders during the Holocaust.

M’Kenzee Davenport knows love doesn’t last. So despite marrying her high school crush on a whim in Vegas, the gritty photojournalist never believed the union was real. But when her husband-in-name-only goes missing on a mission for the FBI, she’s stunned to receive his effects as next-of-kin.

When Lynn and her husband set out for a weekend retreat to repair their rocky marriage, icy roads lead to a fatal collision that ends Lynn's life. Stranded between the physical world and the afterlife, Lynn experiences the grief of her loved ones as they process her death. Lynn's lifelong friends are tortured by not only loss but also unspoken wounds in their friendship. With clever influences from above, Lynn coaxes them to reunite at a beachside cottage on the one-year anniversary of her death.

Waco, Texas, 1993. People from all walks of life have arrived to follow the Lamb’s gospel—signing over savings and pensions, selling their homes and shedding marriages. They’ve come here to worship at the feet of a former landscaper turned prophet who is preparing for the End Times with a staggering cache of weapons. Jaye’s mother is one of his newest and most devout followers, though Jaye herself has suspicions about the Lamb’s methods—and his motives.

Discovering the simple pleasure of having someone to share the load, Landry grapples with uncertainty when she is called to New York City to respond to a medical crisis. And though Davis is unsure where their relationship stands in her absence, even the start of a global pandemic can’t dim his dreams of sliding a ring onto her finger.