Showing results by narrator "Barbara Caruso" in All Categories

Margaret MacMillan brings her extraordinary gifts to two of the most important countries today, the United States and China, and one of the most significant moments in modern history: Richard Nixon's week in China in February 1972, which opened relations between America and China (closed since the communists came to power in 1949).

First contact with a mysterious race of aliens reveals an unusual request; a family's pet dog comes to grips with the newly bestowed gift of human-like intelligence; a poet, in danger and alone on a distant world, makes unlikely allies; hundreds of years in the future, a famous hermit lives in the sea above the now-underwater Harvard University; former friends navigate unsteady peace between human refugees and the technologically superior race that saved them; in a future where human life can be infinitely extended through cybertronic rebirth, one woman declines immortality.

In the early 19th century, Emma, a 51-year-old widow with family far away, fills her loneliness by caring for her guests and sharing her own special blend of wisdom and humor. One stormy night, a rap at her door interrupts her musings. The 80-year-old Widow Leonard is standing in the rain, seeking refuge from her sons' constant bickering. Housing this feisty runaway granny, however, puts Emma in the crosshairs of a family feud.

As professional 21st-century historians cede the literary field to the popular amateur, history and its meanings become muddled - especially in the punditocracy championed by modern media. Copious amounts of cherry-picked facts and manufactured heroes are used to create a narrative rather than give any insight into past events. MacMillan offers an antidote to this by providing the necessary tools to help interpret history in constructive ways.

"Is it a crime to live? To create happiness for yourself through your own work?" How do writers and painters get their ideas? And what are the hard realities of such seemingly glamorous and romantic lives? In her groundbreaking new novel, New York Times bestselling author Sena Jeter Naslund...

Best-selling author Elizabeth Berg has published fiction and nonfiction in The New York Times Magazine, Ladies’ Home Journal, and New Woman. She has been nominated for a National Magazine Award for her graceful, witty writing. In The Pull of the Moon, she alternates letters and journal entries to trace a middle-aged woman’s impulsive, and solitary, drive across country.

In this brilliant fictional tour de force, which the New York Times called "a deft, poignant novel," Newbery Medal–winning author Paul Fleischman re-creates the first great battle of the Civil War from the points of view of sixteen participants. Northern and Southern, male and female, white and black. Here are voices that tell of the dreams of glory, the grim reality, the hopes, horror, and folly of a nation discovering the true nature of war.

Widely hailed as a milestone in American literature, Sinclair Lewis' Main Street vividly describes a country on the verge of massive change, with traditional values being threatened by progress. The novel's heroine, Carol Milford, is a highly educated, ambitious woman who plans to join a newly enlightened society. But after marrying a small-town doctor, she finds herself trapped in the role of a dutiful wife. Carol's desires for social change conflict with the security of her comfortable married life, as she struggles to understand the cost of conformity...and rebellion. As relevant today as it was upon its 1920 publication, Main Street is both a masterful piece of writing and a fascinating microcosm of America's social evolution.

Ever since her mother died, 12-year-old Katy has attempted to look after her five younger brothers and sisters. Her father, Dr. Carr, depends on her to set a good example while he takes care of patients. But no matter how hard Katy tries to be good, trouble always finds her. She tears all her dresses and breaks the dishes. She forgets to do her homework, so she gets bad grades. And her quick temper hurts the feelings of those she loves the most. But the day she refuses to listen when Aunt Izzie forbids her to use the new swing changes her life forever.

In 1838, 13,000 Cherokee were forced to leave their home in the Southeast and walk 900 miles to present-day Oklahoma. Hunger, cold, and disease threatened their very survival. Their grueling trek - the Trail of Tears - takes on new immediacy and meaning with this stunning work of fiction. Maritole loses not only her home and her settled life in North Carolina, but also many of the people closest to her. A chorus of voices joins hers to vividly recreate the tragic story of the Cherokee removal.

Follow along with a female black bear in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee as she frolics and forages with her mate in summer, then readies her den in the fall. Something surprising will happen to her under the February moon - the moon of the bears.

Thea Kronberg has a voice that can call down angels and the soul of a Colorado pioneer girl. But as she develops her talents and devotes herself to the life of an artist, she must consider the cost of the creative path she follows. Willa Cather's classic novel is full of the breathtaking beauty of the American frontier and the spirit of the people who live there.

Our finest literary interpreter of science and nature, Diane Ackerman is justly celebrated for her unique insight into the natural world and our place (for better and worse) in it.In this landmark book, she confronts the unprecedented fact that the human race is now the single dominant force of change on the planet. Humans have "subdued 75 percent of the land surface, concocted a wizardry of industrial and medical marvels, strung lights all across the darkness."

When Eve Marryat's father is laid off from the Ford Motor Company in 1931, he is forced to support his family by moving back to his Ohio roots. Eve's uncle Cyrus has invited the family to live and work at his Marryat Island Ballroom and Lodge. Eve soon forms an unlikely friendship with a strange young man named Link, blissfully unaware that her uncle's lodge is anything but what it seems.

Katie earns all A’s at her private high school, and she’s a figure-skating star. The only problem is she sometimes has trouble with her jumps. That’s when Mom orders Katie to work harder and use “mind over matter". Every day Katie spends long hours practicing at the ice rink, then hurries home to study. Sometimes, she just wants to get away from all the pressure. Then an alarming thing happens: when she falls and cuts herself, she discovers a secret way to stop this scary, out-of-control feeling....

A Golden Heart Award winner and Christy Award finalist, Maureen Lang enthralls listeners with Look to the East, the first entry in her sweeping World War I trilogy. Caught on the front lines of the Great War and torn by feuding families, the French village of Briecort is rocked by fear, suspicion, and blame. As the tale unfolds, the chaste and tender love of an adopted villager and a Belgian refugee shines brightly against a dark backdrop of pride, vanity and greed.

In the glow of a full January moon, it is the great horned owl who first senses that it is the beginning of spring. With the first full moon - the moon of beginnings - the owl starts his annual courtship.

Christy Award winner Ann Tatlock is a top name in inspirational fiction. In Promises to Keep, 11-year-old Rosalind finds 70-year-old Tillie on her front porch - again. Wanting to die in the place where she lived for half a century, Tillie continues leaving her senior living complex and finding her way “home.” Annoyed at first, Rosalind’s mother finally lets Tilly live with them. And when danger nears, Tillie selflessly determines to protect the family she has adopted as her own.

Mae Demaray is a cheerful widow who delights in helping others and spending time with her young grandson, Sammy. She would do anything for the lively little boy. But when Sammy suffers a fatal accident at her house, all joy and security flee from Mae's life. Mae's family urges her to rely on God's mercy and love, but Mae cannot forgive herself. Instead, Mae chooses a path that will lead her to question all she believes.

Gwyn Hillerman acts as a nurse at her father's medical practice in 1935 rural Alaska. Her family life has been rough ever since her mother, hating Alaska, took Gwyn's younger sister back to Chicago to live. Dr. Jeremiah Vaughan finds his life suddenly turned upside down when his medical license is stripped away after he loses an affluent patient. In a snowball effect, he then loses his engagement to Gwyn's sister, Sophia. When the government decides to send a group of families to Alaska in hopes of making a better life, Dr. Hillerman sends a letter urging Jeremiah to join his practice.