Try free for 30 days
-
The Bright Unknown
- Narrated by: Devon O'Day
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 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
-
Promise to Return
- By: Elizabeth Byler Younts
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gallagher
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1943, and Miriam Coblentz and Henry Mast are nearing their wedding day when the unthinkable happens - Henry is drafted. However, since he is a part of the pacifist Amish tradition, Henry is sent to a conscientious objector Civilian Public Service camp. When he leaves for the work camp, his gaping absence turns Miriam's life upside down. Little does she know it's only the beginning....
-
Hope Beyond the Waves
- By: Heidi Chiavaroli
- Narrated by: Heidi Chiavaroli
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Massachusetts, 1993. After making a grievous mistake that will change her life forever, Emily Robertson is sent away to live with her grandmother on Cape Cod. When Emily finds a timeworn photograph buried in a drawer, she realizes her grandmother has concealed a secret even bigger than her own. Massachusetts, 1916. Atta Schaeffer plans to marry the man of her dreams and whisk her little sister away from their abusive father. But when she is diagnosed with a dreaded malady, Atta is forced into a life of exile, leaving her sister in harm’s way.
-
The Choice
- By: Robert Whitlow
- Narrated by: Heath McClure
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even as a pregnant, unwed teen in 1974, Sandy Lincoln wanted to do the right thing. But when an ageless woman approached her in a convenience store with a mysterious prophecy and a warning, doing the right thing became even more unclear. She made the best choice she could... and has lived with the consequences. More than 30 years later, a pregnant teen has come into her life, and Sandy’s long-ago decision has come back to haunt her. The stakes rise quickly, leaving Sandy with split seconds to choose once more. But will her choice decision bring life... or death?
-
Code Name Edelweiss
- By: Stephanie Landsem
- Narrated by: Cady Zuckerman, Neil Hellegers
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1933, a man named Adolf Hitler is the new and powerful anti-Semitic chancellor of Germany. But in Los Angeles, no-nonsense secretary Liesl Weiss has concerns much closer to home. The Great Depression is tightening its grip, and Liesl is the sole supporter of two children, an opinionated mother, and a troubled brother.
-
The Shenandoah Road
- A Novel of the Great Awakening
- By: Lynne Tagawa
- Narrated by: Stuart Gauffi
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Russell's heart aches from the loss of his wife, but the Shenandoah Valley frontiersman needs to marry again for his daughter's sake. At first he believes he has found the right young woman, despite their differences, but his faith falters when time reveals she isn't quite what she seemed. Can he truly love her? Unlike her disgraced sister, Abigail Williams obeys the Commandments. At least, she thinks herself a Christian until a buckskin-clad newcomer courts her. He treats her kindly but also introduces her to a sermon by the controversial preacher, George Whitefield.
-
Long Way Home
- By: Lynn Austin
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peggy Serrano couldn’t wait for her best friend to come home from the war. But the Jimmy Barnett who returns is much different from the Jimmy who left, changed so drastically by his experience as a medic in Europe that he can barely function. When he attempts the unthinkable, his parents check him into the VA hospital. Peggy determines to help the Barnetts unravel what might have happened to send their son over the edge. She starts by contacting Jimmy’s war buddies, trying to identify the mysterious woman in the photo they find in Jimmy’s belongings.
-
-
The light defeats the darkness
- By Barbara L on 18-02-2024
-
Promise to Return
- By: Elizabeth Byler Younts
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gallagher
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1943, and Miriam Coblentz and Henry Mast are nearing their wedding day when the unthinkable happens - Henry is drafted. However, since he is a part of the pacifist Amish tradition, Henry is sent to a conscientious objector Civilian Public Service camp. When he leaves for the work camp, his gaping absence turns Miriam's life upside down. Little does she know it's only the beginning....
-
Hope Beyond the Waves
- By: Heidi Chiavaroli
- Narrated by: Heidi Chiavaroli
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Massachusetts, 1993. After making a grievous mistake that will change her life forever, Emily Robertson is sent away to live with her grandmother on Cape Cod. When Emily finds a timeworn photograph buried in a drawer, she realizes her grandmother has concealed a secret even bigger than her own. Massachusetts, 1916. Atta Schaeffer plans to marry the man of her dreams and whisk her little sister away from their abusive father. But when she is diagnosed with a dreaded malady, Atta is forced into a life of exile, leaving her sister in harm’s way.
-
The Choice
- By: Robert Whitlow
- Narrated by: Heath McClure
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Even as a pregnant, unwed teen in 1974, Sandy Lincoln wanted to do the right thing. But when an ageless woman approached her in a convenience store with a mysterious prophecy and a warning, doing the right thing became even more unclear. She made the best choice she could... and has lived with the consequences. More than 30 years later, a pregnant teen has come into her life, and Sandy’s long-ago decision has come back to haunt her. The stakes rise quickly, leaving Sandy with split seconds to choose once more. But will her choice decision bring life... or death?
-
Code Name Edelweiss
- By: Stephanie Landsem
- Narrated by: Cady Zuckerman, Neil Hellegers
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1933, a man named Adolf Hitler is the new and powerful anti-Semitic chancellor of Germany. But in Los Angeles, no-nonsense secretary Liesl Weiss has concerns much closer to home. The Great Depression is tightening its grip, and Liesl is the sole supporter of two children, an opinionated mother, and a troubled brother.
-
The Shenandoah Road
- A Novel of the Great Awakening
- By: Lynne Tagawa
- Narrated by: Stuart Gauffi
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Russell's heart aches from the loss of his wife, but the Shenandoah Valley frontiersman needs to marry again for his daughter's sake. At first he believes he has found the right young woman, despite their differences, but his faith falters when time reveals she isn't quite what she seemed. Can he truly love her? Unlike her disgraced sister, Abigail Williams obeys the Commandments. At least, she thinks herself a Christian until a buckskin-clad newcomer courts her. He treats her kindly but also introduces her to a sermon by the controversial preacher, George Whitefield.
-
Long Way Home
- By: Lynn Austin
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peggy Serrano couldn’t wait for her best friend to come home from the war. But the Jimmy Barnett who returns is much different from the Jimmy who left, changed so drastically by his experience as a medic in Europe that he can barely function. When he attempts the unthinkable, his parents check him into the VA hospital. Peggy determines to help the Barnetts unravel what might have happened to send their son over the edge. She starts by contacting Jimmy’s war buddies, trying to identify the mysterious woman in the photo they find in Jimmy’s belongings.
-
-
The light defeats the darkness
- By Barbara L on 18-02-2024
-
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip
- By: Sara Brunsvold
- Narrated by: Sara Farrington
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aidyn Kelley is talented, ambitious, and ready for a more serious assignment than the fluff pieces she’s been getting as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. In her eagerness, she pushes too hard, earning herself the menial task of writing an obituary for an unremarkable woman who’s just entered hospice care.
-
The Water Keeper
- By: Charles Martin
- Narrated by: Jonathan K. Riggs
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Murphy Shepherd is a man with many secrets. He lives alone on an island, tending the grounds for a church with no parishioners, and he’s dedicated his life to rescuing those in peril. But as he mourns the loss of his mentor and friend, Murph himself may be more lost than he realizes. When he pulls a beautiful woman named Summer out of Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, Murph’s mission to lay his mentor to rest at the end of the world takes a dangerous turn. Drawn to Summer, Murph is pulled deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous world of modern-day slavery.
-
-
The visuals of the story.
- By Kenn Kite on 10-04-2024
-
Under the Tulip Tree
- By: Michelle Shocklee
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland’s dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena’s banker father has retreated into the bottle, her sister is married to a lazy charlatan and gambler, and Rena is an unemployed newspaper reporter. Eager for any writing job, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers’ Project. There, she meets Frankie Washington, a 101-year-old woman whose honest yet tragic past captivates Rena.
-
-
A tale of hardships, lost and hope like no other
- By Professional Gypsy on 28-05-2021
-
The Letter from Briarton Park
- The Houses of Yorkshire Series, Book 1
- By: Sarah E. Ladd
- Narrated by: Jude Mason
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cassandra Hale grew up knowing little about her parentage, and she had made peace with the fact that she never would. But her world shifts when a shocking deathbed confession reveals a two-year-old letter from Mr. Clark, the master of Briarton Park, with hints to her family’s identity. Stung by betrayal, Cassandra travels to the village of Anston only to learn Mr. Clark has since passed away.
-
-
audio
- By Jo on 17-12-2023
-
Along a Storied Trail
- By: Ann H. Gabhart
- Narrated by: Jeanine Bartel
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kentucky packhorse librarian Tansy Calhoun doesn't mind the rough trails and long hours as she serves her Appalachian mountain community during the Great Depression. Yet she longs to find love like the heroines in her books. When a charming writer comes to town, she thinks she might have found it - or is the perfect man actually closer than she thinks?
-
The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr
- By: Susan Holloway Scott
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eugenie Bearhani (1760-1835) was born in Calcutta, raised in Haiti, and brought as a servant - a free woman of color - to America by an English officer on the eve of the American Revolution. Yet none of that prepared Eugenie for her next employer: Colonel Aaron Burr, who some whispered had made a pact with the devil. The lines between master and servant soon tangle and blur, and first attraction becomes dangerous obsession. Many historians deny she even existed, but she and the children she bore to Burr were very real - so was her little-known marriage to America's first true villain.
-
-
well worth the listen. inspiring!
- By jo Casey on 27-10-2020
-
Tending Roses
- By: Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Kate Bowman temporarily moves to her grandmother’s Missouri farm with her husband and baby son, she learns that the lessons that most enrich our lives often come unexpectedly. The family has given Kate the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who's become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off her beloved land and into a nursing home. But Kate knows such a change would break her grandmother’s heart.
-
-
Tending Roses…wonderful
- By Heather Jordan on 29-11-2021
-
The Italian Ballerina
- A World War II Novel
- By: Kristy Cambron
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rome, 1943. With the fall of Italy’s Fascist government and the Nazi regime occupying the streets of Rome, British ballerina Julia Bradbury is stranded and forced to take refuge at a hospital on Tiber Island. But when she learns of a deadly sickness sweeping through the quarantine wards—a fake disease known only as Syndrome K—she is drawn into one of the greatest cons in history. Alongside hospital staff, friars of the adjoining church, and two Allied medics, Julia risks everything to rescue Jewish Italians from the deadly clutches of the Holocaust.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Anonymous User on 01-02-2023
-
Sugar Birds: A Novel
- By: Cheryl Grey Bostrom
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, Harris Hayes has taught his daughter, Aggie, the ways of the northern woods, where she sketches nests of wild birds as an antidote to sadness. Then her depressed, unpredictable mother forbids her to climb the trees that give her sanctuary and comfort. Angry, ten-year-old Aggie accidentally lights a tragic fire and flees downriver. She lands her boat near untamed forest, then hides among trees and creatures she believes are her only friends—determined to remain undiscovered.
-
The Mozart Code
- By: Rachel McMillan
- Narrated by: Angharad Price
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lady Sophia Huntington Villiers is no stranger to intrigue, as her work with Alan Turing’s Bombe Machines at Bletchley Park during the war attests. Now, as part of Simon Barre’s covert team in postwar Vienna, she uses her inimitable charm and code name Starling to infiltrate the world of relics, uncovering vital information that could tilt the stakes of the mounting Cold War. When several influential men charge her with finding the death mask of Mozart, Sophie wonders if there is more than the composer’s legacy at stake and finds herself drawn to potential answers in Prague.
-
Count the Nights by Stars
- By: Michelle Shocklee
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a longtime resident at Nashville’s historic Maxwell House Hotel suffers a debilitating stroke, Audrey Whitfield is tasked with cleaning out the reclusive woman’s room. There, she discovers an elaborate scrapbook filled with memorabilia from the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Love notes on the backs of unmailed postcards inside capture Audrey’s imagination with hints of a forbidden romance...and troubling revelations about the disappearance of young women at the exposition.
-
The Sound of Light
- By: Sarah Sundin
- Narrated by: Rachel Leblang
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Germans march into Denmark, Baron Henrik Ahlefeldt exchanges his nobility for anonymity, assuming a new identity so he can secretly row messages for the Danish Resistance across the waters to Sweden. American physicist Dr. Else Jensen refuses to leave Copenhagen and abandon her research-her life's dream. While printing resistance newspapers, she hears stories of the movement's legendary Havmand-the merman-and wonders if the mysterious and silent shipyard worker living in the same boardinghouse has something to hide.
Publisher's Summary
A sparkling search for answers, family, and a place to call home.
Pennsylvania, 1940s.
The only life Brighton Friedrich has ever known is the one she has endured within the dreary walls of Riverside Home—the rural asylum where she was born. A nurse, Joann, has educated and raised Brighton, whose mother is a patient at the hospital. But Joann has also kept vital information from Brighton—secrets that if ever revealed would illuminate Brighton’s troubling past and the circumstances that confine her to Riverside. Brighton’s best friend is a boy she calls Angel, and as they grow up together and face the bleak future that awaits them, they determine to make a daring escape.
Nothing can prepare Brighton and Angel for life beyond Riverside’s walls. They have no legal identities, very little money, and only a few leads toward a safe place to land. As they struggle to survive in a world they’ve never seen before, they must rely on each other and the kindness of strangers—some of whom may prove more dangerous than the asylum they’ve fled.
Narrated in Elizabeth Byler Younts' gorgeous style, this poignant and heartbreaking novel explores the power of resilience, the gift of friendship, and the divine beauty to be found in the big, bright world—if only we’re willing to look.
Praise for The Bright Unknown:
“A beautifully woven story of a young woman’s journey to understanding that the past shapes us but does not define us, and that it is love that gives us the courage to live like we believe it. With prose that is luminous and lyrical, The Bright Unknown is a compelling read from the first page to the last.” (Susan Meissner)
“With evocative prose and rich detail, Younts draws us into the humanity and hurt of a little examined chapter in American history. Her poignant details will break open your heart, but, with skillful beauty, she makes Brighton—and us—whole again in this wonderful story of hope, grace, and love.” (Katherine Reay)
“Elizabeth Byler Younts writes with heart, a poet’s pen, and courage. This is I knew when I read The Solace of Water. This was reinforced with my reading of her newest offering. Younts has given us a story which is at once powerful and compassionate, revealing and dignified, heartrending and lyric. Compelling and infused with hope of redemption, The Bright Unknown ushers readers on a journey of empathy. I, for one, am grateful to have read it.” (Susie Finkbeiner)
Stand-alone historical novel set in the 20th century.
Audiobook length: approximately 110K words. Includes discussion questions for book clubs.
Critic Reviews
“As bold as it is beautiful, as haunting as it is full of hope, The Bright Unknown is a story that will latch onto the minds and hearts of readers, and not easily let go. With luscious language that gives birth to unforgettable characters, Younts is not afraid to explore the dark places for the sake of finding light. I could not put this novel down!” (Heidi Chiavaroli)