Showing results by publisher "Brilliance Audio" in Small Town & Rural

August 1956. After a night of rage and terror, Anna Nassad wakes to find her abusive husband dead and instinctively hides her bruises and her relief. As the daughter of Syrian immigrants living in segregated Alabama, Anna has never belonged, and now her world is about to erupt. Days before, Anna set in motion an explosive chain of events by allowing the first black postman to deliver the mail to her house. But it's her impulsive act of inviting him inside for a glass of water that raises doubts about Anna's role in her husband's death.

The story of a Civil War soldier finding his humanity in the face of horrible savagery. Emerging from the Civil War a shamed and broken man, Stephen Latch turns to a life of thievery and murder. Still hoping to uphold the values of the Confederacy, Latch sets his sights on the wealth of resources pouring westward from the northern United States, putting together a band of ruthless misfits to help him stake his claim of the riches of the caravans.

In late-1980s rural Ohio, bright but mostly friendless Barry Nadler begins his freshman year of high school with the goal of going unnoticed as much as possible. But his world is upended by the arrival of Gurbaksh, Gary for short, a Sikh teenager who moves to his small town and instantly befriends Barry and, in Gatsby-esque fashion, pulls him into a series of increasingly unlikely adventures. As their friendship deepens, Barry’s world begins to unravel, and his classmates and neighbors react to the presence of a family so different from theirs.

One drop of blood for a chance at a multimillion-dollar windfall. Is it a philanthropic gesture from a billionaire widow? Some suspect a darker motive behind the DNA lottery—one tied to the eighteen-year-old mystery of an infant’s unidentified remains that mars the history of idyllic Rosemary Hills, Iowa. Right after the blood lottery is announced, three local women fall under suspicion of knowing something about that night, and their carefully kept secrets threaten to spill out too.

In post-Cultural Revolution China, in the fading village of Freshwind, the fates of two households are shifting. The Bais, once the most powerful family in the region, have fallen from status. Their beautiful daughter, Snow Bai, an embodiment of tradition, pursues a career in a vanishing art form. The Xias, enthusiastic members of the Party, are on the rise. Their favorite son, Wind Xia, is a citified politician whose marriage to Snow Bai could unite the two families. But in a village casting about for a new road to prosperity, fortunes can change.

Seventeen years ago, two pink stripes on a pregnancy test changed Anne Sullivan’s life. She abandoned her artistic ambitions, married her college sweetheart before graduation, and - like the mother she lost in childhood - devoted herself to her family. To say she didn’t see the divorce coming is an understatement. Now, eager to distance herself from her ex and his lover, she moves with her troubled daughter, Katy, to the quaint bayside town of Potomac Point, where she spent her childhood summers.

When Caroline Wimbley Levine learns that her mother, Miss Lavinia, has supposedly gone mad, she leaves the big city bustle of Manhattan and returns to Tall Pines Plantation. Caroline originally left Tall Pines to escape her feisty, eccentric mother and her drunken brother, Trip. When Miss Lavinia dies, Caroline is forced to come to terms with her family's troubled history as well as her failing relationship with her husband.

Grace first met Mimi when she blew into their sons’ toddler playgroup like a warm bay breeze that loosened Grace’s tight spaces. Despite differing approaches to life and parenting, the fast friends raised their kids together while cementing a sisterlike bond that neither believed could be broken. But when a string of ill-fated decisions results in a teen party with a tragic outcome for Grace’s son, the friendship is ripped apart and an already-splintered community explodes.

Two months a widow, Mallory Dent has made the impulsive decision to pack up and move on. In remote McNamara, nestled in the northern mountains, she can escape her grief, guilt, and pain. But the day Mallory arrives, death follows her, lapping just outside her door. A woman’s body is found floating in Loss Lake - and it’s not the first death on these shores. Locals talk about a monster in the depths with an almost disturbing reverence. Sergeant Joel Benson understands Mallory’s unease. Years ago, his own brother was killed in the home Mallory now owns.

After thirteen years away, Tina O’Grady returns to her hometown of Benson, Texas, drawn to the old oak tree in the park. She and her childhood friends, Walker and Gracie, called it the “tomorrow tree” and shared their dreams beneath its branches. But Tina, still reeling from past betrayals, has no plans to stay.

It’s 1989, and college freshman Michael Greco is ready to leave his dreary small town—and the grief of his father’s death—behind. He has everything he needs for a great year: a starting spot on the football team, new friends, and a promising flirtation with a beautiful grad student. But just as Greco settles in to campus life, his uncle shows up demanding that he take care of his father’s unfinished business with a powerful Chicago gangster.

Kit Porterfield is coping with the upheaval of her personal life when another shock blindsides her. Maxine Meadows, an aunt she never knew existed, has bequeathed to her a rustic campground in Maine. With it comes a long-buried family secret that Kit’s late mother took great pains to hide for her entire life.

When Chase Loudermilk, a troubled veteran, is found dead, everyone assumes it’s suicide. Everyone except his criminology professor, Teddy Drummond. A former cop haunted by painful memories, Teddy suspects Chase has been murdered, and that the answers lie hidden in his shadowy past. Drawn reluctantly into the case, Teddy teams up with Detective Raina Bragg—a woman with every reason to hate her. As the two dig into the town’s buried secrets, what they uncover is more than a motive. It’s a chain reaction of choices, each darker than the last. Then another body turns up.

It’s the perfect getaway. Until there’s no way out. You have been dreaming of an unforgettable weekend escape, and Black Tarn Lodge seems to offer everything—a magnificent Gothic mansion with towering turrets nestled in the misty Lancashire hills. Expecting elegant dinners, vintage wines and a screening of a legendary lost film in the private cinema, all seems perfect. Until night falls and a thick fog isolates you from the world. Your phones go missing. Guests start vanishing. And then you find the body.

A desperate murder committed by Angela Miller’s mother tore Angela’s life apart and brought her to Martha’s Vineyard to live with her wealthy grandparents. It’s where her cousin, Kiki King, was born and raised, and Kiki now wants nothing more than to see the world beyond its sandy perimeter. Kiki’s mother escaped it. She took a late-night swim off Tashmoo Beach and was never seen again.

A year after forest fires ravaged the town of Crow Valley and claimed the life of Dale Jepson―karaoke legend, local prison guard, and all-around good guy―the community hosts a high-stakes karaoke competition. But when a convicted murderer escapes from nearby Crow Valley Correctional, residents discover there’s more on the line than local, perhaps even national, karaoke fame.

In the charming seaside town of Anastasia, California, Faith Kincaid is looking to start over after her bruising divorce from powerful, corrupt senator William Gerard. But the past still haunts her. As she prepares to testify against her ex at his high-profile bribery trial, the federal government is watching her every move. They’ve even sent a special agent, Shane Callan, to protect her. Faith doesn’t think she needs a bodyguard—especially one as physically formidable as Shane. But he refuses to take no for an answer.

After inheriting his uncle’s lodge, Silas Matheson hopes the grandeur of the California Sierra Nevada will be a fresh start for his two young sons, and a chance to finally face his demons. It was here, fifteen years ago, that Silas and his friends Jessica, Danny, and Meg ventured into the mountain wilderness and Jessica vanished without a trace. When his boys go missing in the same dark woods, the fear and guilt that Silas has been running from ever since come crashing back.

With youngest sister Hallie getting married, the three Walsh sisters reunite at their family’s beach house for the big event. It’s a celebratory affair, rife with cherished traditions. But families are complicated, and these sisters are no exception.

Twenty years ago, an out-of-control prank ended in an accident that destroyed the high school gym and threatened the futures of star athletes Beth and Ally. They move on with their lives carrying their secret while someone else is blamed, but the years reveal that no one truly comes out unscathed. Now, both women are at a crossroads: Beth returns to her hometown after a concussion ends her professional soccer career, and a surprise pregnancy disrupts Ally’s idyllic family. The only thing either of them are sure of is their desire to mend their estranged relationship.