Audiobooks narrated by Suzanne Toren

They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan

"The inspiring story of three young Sudanese boys who were driven from their homes by civil war and began an epic odyssey of survival, facing life-threatening perils, ultimately finding their way to a new life in America. Between 1987 and 1989, Alepho, Benjamin, and Benson, like tens of thousands of young boys, took flight from the massacres of Sudan's civil war. They became known as the Lost Boys. With little more than the clothes on their backs, sometimes not even that, they streamed out over Sudan in search of refuge. Their journey led them first to Ethiopia and then, driven back into Sudan, toward Kenya. They walked nearly one thousand miles, sustained only by the sheer will to live. They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky is the three boys' account of that unimaginable journey. With the candor and the purity of their child's-eye-vision, Alephonsian, Benjamin, and Benson recall by turns: how they endured the hunger and strength-sapping illnesses-dysentery, malaria, and yellow fever; how they dodged the life-threatening predators-lions, snakes, crocodiles and soldiers alike-that dogged their footsteps; and how they grappled with a war that threatened continually to overwhelm them. Their story is a lyrical, captivating, timeless portrait of a childhood hurled into wartime and how they had the good fortune and belief in themselves to survive."

Alephonsion Deng, Benjamin Ajak, Benson Deng, Judy A. Bernstein (Author), Murphy Applin, Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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Antisemitism, an American Tradition

"Jews experienced antisemitism the moment they landed on what would become the United States. When they first arrived in New Amsterdam in 1654, Peter Stuyvesant tried but failed to deport them. As historian Pamela S. Nadell tells in Antisemitism, an American Tradition, this was only antisemitism's beginning on our shores, as negative European stereotypes about Jews rooted into American soil. Compared with the Old World, with its expulsions, Inquisition, ghettos, and Holocaust, America's Jews have a different history—but one where antisemitism, even if it has had fewer dramatic eruptions, is deeply embedded. Jews in America faced restrictions on holding office and getting financial credit. Universities set quotas to limit the number of Jews attending and businesses refused to hire them. Jews endured verbal and physical attacks, and their synagogues and cemeteries, continuing to this day, were vandalized and desecrated. Antisemitism, an American Tradition investigates the depths of this fraught history and its recent manifestations. At a time when prejudice, discrimination, and hate against Jews is flaring across the country, Antisemitism, an American Tradition argues that we must understand the past. This momentous work reveals how antisemitism—and resistance to that hatred—endures, representing not a rupture from America's history, but a centuries-old legacy."

Pamela S. Nadell (Author), Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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The Bell Tolls at Traeger Hall

"In 1890, the ominous tolling of the bell announces that death has come to Traeger Hall, leaving orphaned Waverly Pembrooke to piece together the puzzle behind her uncle's and aunt's murders. Bound by the terms of her uncle's eccentric will, Waverly finds herself alone in a manor shrouded by death and questioning her uncle's paranoid motivations. A madness hovers over Traeger Hall, and Waverly--as well as the people of nearby Newton Creek--are ill-prepared for the woe that has descended on the property. In present day Newton Creek, the whispers of a curse still cling to the century-old time capsule of Traeger Hall. When Jennie Phillips takes possession of the estate after the death of her parents, she is intent on solving the century-old mystery of the Traeger murders. Yet a modern cold case suggests that untimely deaths and mysterious occurrences still form the cornerstone of the manor. And as thorny truths surface, Jennie realizes the dark legacy threatens not only the town and the Traeger descendants . . . but also, chillingly, Jennie herself. Lauded by Library Journal as being 'in a class by herself,' Jaime Jo Wright presents an atmospheric thriller of legends, twisted tales, and a legacy that crosses centuries"

Jaime Jo Wright (Author), Allyson Morgan, Libby McKnight, Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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Walking the Tideline: Loss and Renewal on the Oregon Coast Trail

"In Walking the Tideline, Caroline Kurtz solo hikes the rugged, beautiful Oregon Coast—an expedition of isolation, adventure, joy, and grief inside the emotional wilderness of finding one's identity after the death of a loved one. In her third memoir, Portland-based author Caroline Kurtz travels the coast of Oregon on foot in her late sixties, tracing the boundary of sand and salt water, rock and forests, carrying her shelter and food as she navigates the edges of solace and resolution after the death of her husband. During her journey, Kurtz grieves as she reflects on her long, and at times rocky, marriage to Mark, whom she had known and loved since she was a teenager in boarding school in Ethiopia. As she navigates the adventures encountered along the trail—leaky tents, hitching rides, chance encounters, and beautiful landscapes—she intertwines the historical events of coastal Oregon with her spiritual experience, giving space for the shattering of an old identity and the planting of a new self, nourished and enlightened by the depths of a profoundly complex and considered life. Kurtz spent her early years in Oregon before her parents moved her and her siblings to remote Ethiopia, where she spent her childhood and teen years, before returning to America for college, where she reunited with and married Mark. The two lived variously in Portland, Ethiopia, and Kenya, and retired to Portland, where Caroline now lives."

Caroline Kurtz (Author), Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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From the Valley We Rise

"Loyalty during Peril In the heart of war-torn France, Isabelle Seauve's resolve is tested after her father sacrifices his life to protect her involvement in the French Resistance. Heartbroken, Isabelle becomes more dedicated to hiding Jewish children in and near the village of Sisteron despite the growing danger when she discovers a traitor within the Resistance ranks. Truth amid Deception As the shadow of betrayal looms, Isabelle's world collides with that of US Army Chaplain Peter Christensen, who carries emotional scars from his first position in Kentucky and his service in North Africa. Together, they face the brutal reality of war as the second D-Day—the Allied invasion of Provence—unfolds. Bravery through Trial Fifteen-year-old René Amblard narrowly escapes a devastating German attack that claims the lives of his mother and their fellow Maquis fighters. With a Jewish orphan girl at his side, René seeks out his cousin, Isabelle, for refuge while he contemplates revenge. When the bombs of Operation Dragoon begin to fall, this unlikely group of heroes must find freedom in their souls before they can rebuild what has been destroyed."

Elizabeth Musser (Author), Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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Things in Nature Merely Grow

"'Unforgettable' SUNDAY TIMES 'Courageous' OBSERVER 'One of the most important books to be published in years' SARA COLLINS 'There are few writers with Li’s power' DOUGLAS STUART The best book I have read this year’ DAVID NICHOLLS 'I will return to it for the rest of my life' CHARLOTTE WOOD A remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance from acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist Yiyun Li as she considers the loss of her son James. 'There is no good way to say this,' Yiyun Li writes at the beginning of this book. 'There is no good way to state these facts, which must be acknowledged. My husband and I had two children and lost them both: Vincent in 2017, at sixteen, James in 2024, at nineteen. Both chose suicide, and both died not far from home.' There is no good way to say this – because words fall short. It takes only an instant for death to become fact, 'a single point in a timeline'. Living now on this single point, Li turns to thinking and reasoning and searching for words that might hold a place for James. Li does what she can: including not just writing but gardening, reading Camus and Wittgenstein, learning the piano, and living thinkingly alongside death. This is a book for James, but it is not a book about grieving. As Li writes, 'The verb that does not die is to be. Vincent was and is and will always be Vincent. James was and is and will always be James. We were and are and will always be their parents. There is no now and then, now and later, only, now and now and now and now.' Things in Nature Merely Grow is a testament to Li’s indomitable spirit. As seen in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, LA Times, TIME, and the Paris Review. 'To state that this courageous book is a testament to love is an understatement. One is left altered by it' OBSERVER 'A story of loss that is unlike any other book I've read … an unforgettable monument to endurance' SUNDAY TIMES 'Resolutely unsentimental, and yet it might wind you with its emotional force' GUARDIAN 'A memoir unlike others, strange and profound and fiercely determined not to look away' NEW YORK TIMES 'An extraordinary book’ SARAH MOSS 'A manifesto of living, not dying, and of how we endure the most unimaginable things' SINÉAD GLEESON, in THE WEEK 'A profound look at how a parent continues to live in a world without her children’ TIME ‘A book unlike any I've read, that brims with rare clarity and intelligence, with love and care. It will stay with me for a long time’ CECILE PIN"

Yiyun Li (Author), Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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No One Has Seen It All: Lessons for Living Well from Nearly a Century of Good Taste

"From the New York City legend, bestselling author, and iconic stylist Betty Halbreich comes this wise and witty collection of guidance from her 96 years to help people of all ages look, feel, and live their best. For half a century, Betty Halbreich curated wardrobes and bore witness to the vicissitudes of life as Bergdorf Goodman's original personal shopper. Of course, visitors to the store were awed by a 96-year-old woman who still held down a nine-to-five, let alone one in the youth-obsessed industry of fashion. But age is only half the story: Betty built that career by giving encouraging yet deeply honest advice. Much of it was about what to wear, but her insight was by no means relegated only to matters of the closet. She was known for her good taste on many levels, from her immaculate Park Avenue apartment of 70-plus years to the fashion stars she helped discover and the looks she styled for iconic series like Sex and the City and Gossip Girl. In short, Betty was in the unique position to dispense useful prescriptions on how to look good and live well at any age. This collection of her writings from the last five years of her life contains her signature firm and frank guidance on relationships, careers, style, etiquette, and keeping house, as well as eloquent reflections on aging, solitude, and modern life. The result is a definitive dispatch from a powerful woman who always held her head up high, inspiring you to do the same."

Betty Halbreich (Author), Helen Laser, Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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The Burning Heart of the World

"AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLER, ZABELLE • AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES REVIEWED, ALL THE LIGHT THERE WAS • In vivid, poetic prose, Nancy Kricorian’s The Burning Heart of the World tells the story of a Beirut Armenian family before, during, and after the Lebanese Civil War. “You won’t be able to put this book down.'—Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of The Evening Hero • “vivid, reverberating life.”—Aram Saroyan, author of Still Night in L.A. Returning to the fabular tone of Zabelle, her popular first novel, Kricorian conjures up the lost worlds and intergenerational traumas that haunt a family in permanent exile. Leavened with humor and imbued with the timelessness of a folktale, The Burning Heart of the World is a sweeping saga that takes readers on an epic journey from the mountains of Cilicia to contemporary New York City."

Nancy Kricorian (Author), Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster

"A real life Queen's Gambit, this captivating memoir tells the story of one of the most renowned women in chess history, Susan Polgar, taking on a sexist establishment and rewriting the rules of what women could achieve against the oppressive backdrop of Cold War Eastern Europe. Born to a poor Jewish family in Cold War Budapest, Susan Polgar would emerge as the one of the greatest female chess players the world had ever seen-the highest rated female player on the planet and the first woman to earn the men's Grandmaster title. As a teenager in 1986, she became the first woman to qualify for the men's World Chess Championship cycle, later achieving the game's triple crown, holding World Championship titles in three major chess time formats. Yet at every turn, she was pitted against a sexist culture, a hostile Communist government, vicious antisemitism, and powerful enemies. She endured sabotage and betrayal, state-sponsored intimidation, and violent assault. And she overcame all of it to break the game's long-standing gender barrier and claim her place at the pinnacle of professional chess, before going on to coach other players and build two separate college chess dynasties. Before her improbable rise, it was taken for granted that women were incapable of excellence in the game of chess. Susan Polgar single-handedly disproved this belief. "

Susan Polgar (Author), Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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Mary Chesnut's Civil War

"The incomparable Civil War diarist Mary Chesnut wrote that she had the luck “always to stumble in on the real show.” Married to a high-ranking member of the Confederate government, she was ideally placed to watch and to record the South’s headlong plunge to ruin, and she left in her journals an unsurpassed account of the old regime’s death throes, its moment of high drama in world history. With intelligence and passion, she described the turbulent events of politics and war, as well as the complex society around her. In her own circles, the aristocratic, patriarchal, slave-holding Mary Chesnut was a figure of heresy and of paradox: she had a horror of slavery and called herself an abolitionist from early youth. Edited by the eminent historian C. Vann Woodward, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War presents a full and reliable edition of Chesnut’s journals, restoring her to her rightful place in American history and literature."

Mary Chesnut (Author), Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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The Favourites

"Brought to you by Penguin. BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick. Everyone thinks Heath Rocha was my first love. He wasn't. My first love was figure skating. Katarina Shaw has always known she’s destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating – and each other – to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating fans with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style and rollercoaster relationship. Until, at the Olympic Games, as the world holds its breath, a shocking incident instantly destroys their partnership. Ten years later, an unauthorised tell-all documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha. If Kat wants to own her story, she must break her silence. As Kat’s account of her dramatic rise and fall alternates with scandalous interviews from the film, The Favourites spins into a dance between passion, ambition and what it truly means to win. Sensational rumours have haunted Kat and Heath’s every step for years, but the truth may be even more outrageous than the headlines. ‘Part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones and the Six . . . As brilliantly choreographed as a gold-medal performance’ JODI PICOULT © Layne Fargo 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Layne Fargo (Author), Amy Landon, Christine Lakin, Elena Rey, Eric Yang, Graham Halstead, Johnny Weir, Julia Emelin, Layne Fargo, Louisa Zhu, Suzanne Toren, Valerie Lohman (Narrator)

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The Pleasing Hour

"A New York Times Notable Book The Pleasing Hour, the debut novel by Lily King, is a profoundly moving story of family, betrayal and the naivety of youth. Young, inexperienced and fleeing a terrible personal loss, Rosie travels to France to become an au pair to the Tivot family. Nicole, the cool, distant and beautifully polished mother of the three children she cares for is impossible to connect with - there is something about the woman that both fascinates and unnerves Rosie. The same is true of the rest of the Tivot clan. Nicole's husband, Marc, and their children all seem to be caught in an unending struggle against each other for love and acceptance. Only when Rosie is sent to care for Nicole's now-elderly guardian - the storyteller of the family's secrets - does she finally discover the truth. There, Rosie will learn of a past darkened by war, duplicity and a tragedy that still resonates in the Tivot's lives."

Lily King (Author), Suzanne Toren (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Suzanne Toren