Showing results by narrator "Tavia Gilbert" in All Categories

When 17-year-old Sara Thibault's father is killed in a mudslide, her mother sells their vineyard to a rival family whose eldest son marries Sara's sister, Lydia. But a violent tragedy compels Sara and her sister to flee to New York, forcing Sara to put aside her dream of following in her father's footsteps as a master winemaker. Meanwhile, Philippe Lemieux has arrived in California with the ambition of owning the largest vineyard in Napa by 1900.

Harrison is the Monster Detective, a storybook hero. Now he’s in his mid-30s and spends most of his time not sleeping. Stan became a minor celebrity after being partially eaten by cannibals. Barbara is haunted by the messages carved upon her bones. Greta may or may not be a mass-murdering arsonist. And for some reason, Martin never takes off his sunglasses.

On the surface, Olivia has it all: a high-powered career, a loving family, and a handsome fiancé. She even seems to be coming to terms with her mother Jane’s premature death from cancer. But when Jane’s final wish is revealed, Olivia and her elder sister Georgia are mystified. Their mother rarely spoke of her rural Southern hometown, and never went back to visit - so why does she want them to return to Huntley, Georgia, to scatter her ashes?

When a powerful development company sets its sights on Mason County, Virginia, as the location for a sprawling resort for the rich, the locals begin taking sides. Many residents see the resort as economic salvation for the small Blue Ridge Mountains community, while others fear the county will become financially dependent on a predatory company. Few oppose the development more vocally than veterinarian Rachel Goddard.

Tom Bridger, who is half Melungeon, thought he had escaped his mountain community's lingering prejudice against the mixed-race group when he left to work for the Richmond, Virginia, Police Department. Tom was moving up the detective ranks when a family tragedy brought him back home and moved him into his father's job as a county sheriff's deputy. Now the bones of a Melungeon woman who disappeared 10 years ago have surfaced on a remote mountaintop, and all evidence points to murder. Violence escalates as the victim's poor family and the wealthy white family she married into scramble to protect their secrets.

Sammy Ikua Gachagua had lost his father to AIDS, his mother to abandonment, and his home to poverty. By age ten, he was living in a shack with seven other children and very little food. He entered Tumaini Children's Home seeing it as a miracle with three meals a day, a bed to sleep in, and clothes on his back. When Claire Diaz-Ortiz arrived in Kenya at the end of an around-the-world journey, she decided to stay the night, climb Mt. Kenya, then head back home to Maine.

When Pru Marlowe takes a dog for a walk, she doesn't expect to find a body. But Spot, a service dog in training, has a good nose that leads her right to the remains of a beautiful young woman. Despite her best instincts, Pru can't avoid getting involved. The young woman seems to have been mauled by a wild cat, but Pru knows there have been no pumas in the Berkshire woods for years. With panther panic growing, Pru may have to put aside her own issues - and her own ideas of domesticity - to solve a savage mystery.

Siler House has stood silent beneath Savannah’s moss-draped oaks for decades. Notoriously haunted, it has remained empty until college-bound Jess Perry and three of her peers gather to take part in a month-long study on the paranormal. Able to talk to ghosts, Jess quickly bonds with her fellow test subjects, who have their own “gifts.” One is possessed. Another just wants to forget. The third is a guy who knows how to turn up the August heat, not to mention Jess’s heart rate…when he’s not resurrecting the dead.

A History of the Present Illness takes listeners into overlooked lives in the neighborhoods, hospitals, and nursing homes of San Francisco, offering a deeply humane and incisive portrait of health and illness in American today....In the tradition of Oliver Sacks and Abraham Verghese, Aronson's writing is based on personal experience and addresses topics of current social relevance. Masterfully told, A History of the Present Illness explores the role of stories in medicine and creates a world pulsating with life, speaking truths about what makes us human.

A charming, heartwarming Christmas tale about the power of family, tradition, and love - sure to delight fans of Debbie Macomber and Richard Paul Evans. In 1875, Owen Thomas, a poor Welsh coal miner, falls in love with a beautiful London actress, Jessica Lavery. He builds her a cottage in his village and enchants her with the promise of the holidays they’ll share after they marry.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the classic story of fantasy that has delighted readers young and old for decades. Dorothy finds herself transplanted to the magical land of Oz when her house is sucked up by a tornado. To get back home she must follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard to help her get back to Kansas. Along the way she meets several interesting characters, including the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion, who join her on her travels to ask the Wizard for help.

First her father, then her best friend: two heartbreaking deaths have left Jules to look after both the potato farm Pop has left her and her friend's two children. In this relationally rich novel of faith and hope, a young woman struggles to salvage the farm, honor her promise to a dead friend, and win back the man whose heart she broke. How can one woman handle it all? The answer lies with a God who holds the keys to yesterday, today, and tomorrow....

When young Lionel is whisked from his nursery one morning and crowned king, he becomes fascinated by the forbidden Book of Beasts in the palace library. But when a real red dragon escapes from the pages and wreaks havoc on the kingdom, Lionel has to act fast to make things right. But how? Edith Nesbit's entertaining stories found a fan in J.K. Rowling, and with good reason. Like "Harry Potter", these selections from "The Book of Dragons" are full of just the right mix of magic, adventure, and everyday life.

Lamb traces the self-discovery of David Lamb, a narcissistic middle-aged man with a tendency toward dishonesty, in the weeks following the disintegration of his marriage and the death of his father. Hoping to regain some faith in his own goodness, he turns his attention to Tommie, an awkward and unpopular 11-year-old girl. Lamb is convinced that he can help her avoid a destiny of apathy and emptiness and even comes to believe that his devotion to Tommie is in her best interest.

Could a missing book be haunted? Dulcie Schwartz doesn't want to think so, but ever since it disappeared from the university, things have gone from bad to worse - one of her colleagues has been accused of homicide, and another revealed as an impostor. To top it all off, both the ghost cat Mr. Grey and the kitten Esmé seem to have switched their allegiance to her boyfriend. Deprived of feline assistance, Dulcie must uncover the truth by herself, or else find herself on the hook for the thief - and murder.

When Amy's sleazy ex reemerges, she is wary, for two good reasons. One, she is still paying off the debts Jack had gotten her in. Two, his scheme, as usual, smacks of fraud. Jack, however, insists that everything is perfectly legal, safe, and easy, especially Amy's part. All she needs to do to earn her share, which would be a quarter million dollars, is - adopt a cat.

When Casey Maldonado and Death hitch a desperate ride away from one disaster, they throw themselves right into the middle of another one. The semi in which they are traveling crashes, and before the Grim Reaper takes Evan the Trucker away, Evan whispers to Casey about a stash hidden in the truck that she should keep away from them.

A fresh approach to spiritual formation! In the past, church leaders have turned to small groups or other kinds of discipleship programs to encourage spiritual growth in their churches. Yet, despite good intentions, the deeper experiences of spiritual transformation they had hoped for remained elusive.

The day Shaley O’Conner has dreamed of all her life is shattered by a nightmare. On a lavish estate in California guarded from the media, Shaley’s mom, rock star Rayne O’Connor, is marrying her teen sweetheart and Shaley’s father, Gary Donovon. It’s a dream come true for Shaley, who has always longed for the father she never knew.But minutes before the wedding, Shaley is kidnapped.

Happily married Brooke discovers her loving husband has led a separate life with…another wife. Newlywed Samantha learns of her husband's cheating heart when she finds the goods on his computer. High-powered career woman Katherine works with heartbreaker Phillip, the man who hurt her early on in her career. Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine don't know one another, but their stories are about to intertwine in ways no one could have imagined. And all three are about to discover the power of friendship to conquer adversity.