Showing results by narrator "Claudette Eaton" in All Categories

Cat's claw (Uncaria tomentosa) is a tropical vine that can grow up to 98 feet (30 meters) tall. Its name comes from its hooked thorns, which resemble the claws of a cat. It is found mainly in the Amazon rainforest and in other tropical areas of South and Central America.

Forty-three, newly divorced, and starting over—Elena Romano thought her biggest challenge would be dusting off the shelves of her late aunt’s seaside bookstore. But under a floorboard, she finds an old map of the Lady Catherine, a ship claimed by the Maine coast in 1898, and tucked away inside a rare Agatha Christie novel, a note from her late Aunt, telling of the century-old secret that was never meant to be found.

When a young feral kitten follows the tracks of her missing brother into the woods, she expects hunger, cold, and the dangers of the human world. She is utterly unprepared for what she finds. Beneath the forest floor lies a vast, shifting labyrinth where ancient magic breathes, shadows hunger, and every chamber is a trial. Cats from across the land have been drawn into its depths, trapped in a ritual none of them understands. To survive, Nyx must face predators, forge uneasy alliances, and trust instincts she never knew she possessed. But this place is no ordinary prison. Its walls move.

High above Frostpine Wood, an ancient lighthouse gathers moonlight and sends it across the forest in silver paths. The light guides night travelers, warns of storms, and helps every creature find the safest road home. The Snowfeather family—Eldric, Sora, their children Nivek and Lumi, and wise Grandmother Aster—has guarded the lighthouse for generations. When the beam begins to fail, the family discovers that the danger is not a single enemy but a chain of small selfish choices.

In Little Fern Vale, a hedgehog family discovers that the loss of the western thickets has exposed mice, shrews, frogs, beetles, and other small creatures to wind, fire, predators, and fear. Oren, Elva, their children Pippin and Tansy, and Grandmother Nettle propose a living thorn fence with many gates shaped for different needs. As stoats exploit weak openings, false alarms, fire, and disagreements over ownership, the valley must learn that true protection depends not on a perfect wall but on shared evidence, adaptable rules, free escape routes, and responsibility distributed among all.

In Hollowglass Wood, every creature trusts the Night Bell, a silver seedpod that rings from the old ash tree whenever danger approaches. When a clever flock of magpies begins stealing the forest's bright objects and spreading false alarms, the animals turn against the owls who have guarded the bell for generations. Young owl Elowen must uncover a scheme built from rumor, vanity, and fear before the magpies seize the high branches and control every warning in the wood.

In Frostwillow Valley, winter arrives earlier and harsher than anyone remembers. The Silverpaw family of snow rabbits - Alder, Mira, their children Pip and Luma, and Grandmother Sedge - discover that the valley's hidden warm-air channels have been blocked by ice, fallen stone, and years of neglect. As food dwindles and fear divides the animals, the family must cross blizzards, reopen an ancient route beneath the mountain, and persuade every creature to share labor and supplies.

In Bellriver Vale, generations of swallows have built their mud nests beneath the old stone bridges and followed the river's insects through the seasons. When the Emberbeaks, a disciplined flock from the burned plains, arrive and begin claiming the mud banks, feeding currents, and nesting ledges, the swallows respond as separate families rather than one people. Young Tella Reedtail, her cautious brother Orrin, the proud bridge captain Marrow, the marsh scout Suri, and the aging storyteller Grandmother Veya must learn that unity is more than flying in the same sky.

Whether you are approaching your seventies, well into the decade, or just curious about the lives of older women, this book will resonate with women everywhere. In heartfelt, honest stories written by women in the USA, UK, and Canada, you'll learn about women who are navigating this decade, writing about topics they chose, from relationships and marriage to health and wellness, dating in later life, work and retirement, living with changing circumstances, finding new careers, letting go, and exploring new futures.

When forensic accountant Ivy Montgomery returns to Laurel Ridge to settle her grandmother’s estate, she expects paperwork, probate, and a quick sale. Instead, she inherits half of a crumbling mountain inn—and the other half belongs to Reid Harrison, the man she left behind ten years ago. Margaret Montgomery’s will comes with one condition: Ivy must live at the Laurel Ridge Inn for ninety days, keep it open, and prove the place still matters. Ivy wants nothing more than to finish the transaction and return to Chicago, but the old house has other plans.

The Prospect Mountain Lodge has been closed for nearly two years, but former ski patrol director Owen Hartwell never left. While the rest of the world moved on, Owen remained on the mountain, maintaining equipment, documenting inconsistencies, and quietly investigating the circumstances surrounding the resort's sudden closure. What began as suspicion eventually became a twenty-two-month search for answers. When feasibility analyst Nora Callahan arrives to evaluate the property for a potential acquisition, she expects a routine assignment.

They called her difficult because telling the truth made everyone uncomfortable. Lena learned early that love meant watching, protecting, and going back into the fire. As the oldest daughter in a family shaped by abuse, silence, addiction, loss, and survival, she became the shield, the fixer, and the one who carried what no child should have been asked to hold. But survival has a cost. The wounds Lena buried followed her into adulthood through broken relationships, prison, sobriety, motherhood, grief, success, and the exhausting belief that being useful was the same as being loved.

By the time the sky turns that color, it’s already too late. Not orange. Not red. Something dirtier—like rust mixed with bruised purple, a sky that looks burned rather than lit. That was the first sign I noticed that evening, standing still for a moment longer than I should have, staring west. Southern California sunsets are supposed to be beautiful. This one felt accusatory. The air was wrong. Heavy without humidity. Dry enough that every breath felt unfinished. Somewhere far off, sirens layered over one another, no longer distinct enough to count.

Erica Parker has barely been a bride nine months when two thugs show up at her apartment while her husband is away on one of his infamous business trips, claiming he owes their boss a large gambling debt. Frightened for her life, and without any other options, she heads for her childhood Long Island home she escaped three years ago. And swore never to return. The aunts who raised her are as interfering and controlling as ever, but soon as the family attorney advances the rest of her trust from her parents’ life insurance, she can return to normalcy.

A quiet corner in a small town doesn't seem like much—until you realize how many lives pass through it. For thirty years, Martha Halverson has stood at the intersection of Maple and Third, guiding children safely across the road. It's a routine so familiar most of Willowbrook barely notices it anymore. Until one afternoon, when everything almost goes wrong.

Dorothy Cahill kept records. Not out of habit—but because she believed what people said mattered enough to be kept. For eleven years, a small reading group met every Tuesday in a quiet Colorado town. They talked about books. They shared opinions. They assumed they knew one another. They were wrong. When Dot dies, her will names a man no one has ever heard of—Fletcher Ames—as the sole beneficiary of her home and estate. A stranger. Eight miles away. Living in town for months… without ever introducing himself.

A single billing entry shouldn’t matter. But this one does. Nora Voss has spent ten years inside hospital systems —processing cases, trusting documentation, moving patients through structures designed to hold. Not question. When a routine file reveals a follow-up procedure billed after a patient’s death, Nora does what she’s trained to do. She verifies. What she finds isn’t an error. It’s a pattern. Records that look complete. Transfers authorized without authority. Cases sealed, archived, and kept just active enough to be used. Every step documented. Every step defensible.

In the shadow of war, Reza and Zahra have been married for exactly three weeks when their fragile new love is torn apart. As Saddam Hussein's forces invade Iran, Reza —a poet who dreams in verses of Hafez —is drafted to the frontlines, leaving behind his bride and the jasmine-scented garden that was meant to be their sanctuary. What follows are eight years that will test whether love can survive separation, trauma, and the crucible of war. In their modest home, Zahra transforms waiting into resistance.

A century-old secret is hidden in the cove, guarded by a lighthouse keeper and a bookshop owner. What if the lost manuscript they found could change the world—or get them killed?

There are moments in history that can only be understood in hindsight. And then there are moments like this one— when the change is happening so fast, so deeply, and so quietly, that we are living inside it without fully realizing it. This audiobook exists in such a moment. Over the last seventy years, the United States—and the world—has undergone transformations that once would have taken centuries. Entire industries have risen and disappeared. Ways of working, communicating, learning, and building have been reinvented again and again. What was once physical became mechanical.