Audiobooks by Julia Alvarez

The Cemetery of Untold Stories Audiobook

"Literary icon Julia Alvarez, the international bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies, returns with an inventive and emotional novel about storytelling that will be an instant classic. Alma Cruz, the celebrated writer at the heart of The Cemetery of Untold Stories, doesn't want to end up like her friend, a novelist who fought so long and hard to finish a book that it threatened her sanity. So when Alma inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic, her homeland, she has the beautiful idea of turning it into a place to bury her untold stories--literally. She creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and revisions, and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her. Alma wants her characters to rest in peace. But they have other ideas, and the cemetery becomes a mysterious sanctuary for their true narratives. Filomena, a local woman hired as the groundskeeper, becomes a sympathetic listener as Alma's characters unspool their secret tales. Among them: Bienvenida, the abandoned second wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo, consigned to oblivion by history, and Manuel Cruz, a doctor who fought in the Dominican underground and escaped to the United States. The characters defy their author: they talk back to her and talk to one another behind her back, rewriting and revising themselves. The Cemetery of Untold Stories asks: Whose stories get to be told, and whose buried? Finally, Alma finds the meaning she and her characters yearn for in the everlasting vitality of stories. Readers of Isabel Allende's Violeta and Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead will devour Alvarez's extraordinary new novel about beauty and authenticity, and will be reminded that the stories of our lives are never truly finished, even at the end."

Julia Alvarez (Author), Alma Cuervo (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Cemetery of Untold Stories El cementerio de los cuentos sin contar Unabr SP Ed

"La inigualable Julia Alvarez, autora de En el tiempo de las mariposas y De cómo las muchachas García perdieron el acento, regresa con una extraordinaria e íntima novela que nos recuerda que las historias de vida jamás están realmente acabadas. Ni siquiera cuando llega el final. **Uno de los libros más esperados del año según el New York Times, Washington Post, Today.com, Goodreads, Literary Hub, BookPage, BBC.com, and Zibby Mag** Alma Cruz ha decidido ponerle punto final a su carrera de escritora, pero teme acabar como su amiga, una exitosa novelista arrastrada a la locura por un libro que jamás terminó de escribir. Por eso, cuando hereda un modesto terreno en República Dominicana, se le ocurre sepultar allí sus decenas de manuscritos inconclusos. Quiere que descansen en paz en la misma tierra donde yacen sus raíces. Pero a diferencia de Alma, los protagonistas de sus relatos aún tienen mucho por decir, y encuentran en Filomena, la reservada cuidadora del cementerio, una interlocutora empática y atenta. Al compartir sus historiasBienvenida, la exesposa olvidada del dictador Rafael Trujillo; Manuel Cruz, un médico exiliado durante el régimen, y la misma Filomena convertirán el cementerio en un lugar mágico.Un santuario donde quienes han sido silenciados hallarán el sentido que anhelan en la vitalidad imperecedera de los cuentos que aún quedan por contar. Y colorín colorado... —— Literary icon Julia Alvarez, bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies, shares an inventive and emotional novel about storytelling and her homeland—the Dominican Republic—that Kirkus Reviews calls a ''rich and moving saga'' and Shelf Awareness calls ''a lyrical thought-provoking meditation on truth, complicated family narratives, and the question of whose stories get told.'' **Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by the New York Times, Washington Post, Today.com, Goodreads, Literary Hub, BookPage, BBC.com, and Zibby Mag** Alma Cruz has decided to end her writing career, but she fears she'll end up like her friend, a successful novelist driven to madness by a book she never finished writing. So when she inherits a modest plot of land in the Dominican Republic, she decides to bury her dozens of unfinished manuscripts there. She wants them to rest in peace in the same land where her roots are. But unlike Alma, the protagonists of her stories still have plenty to say, and they find in Filomena, the reserved caretaker of the cemetery, an empathetic and attentive interlocutor. By sharing their stories, Bienvenida, the forgotten ex-wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo; Manuel Cruz, a doctor exiled during the regime, and Filomena herself will turn the cemetery into a magical place, a sanctuary where those who have been silenced will find the meaning they yearn for in the imperishable vitality of the untold stories. Y colorín colorado..."

Julia Alvarez (Author), Altagracia Nova (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Más Allá

"La primera novela para adultos en casi 15 años de la autora internacionalmente superventas de In the Time of the Butterflies y How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. Antonia Vega, la escritora inmigrante en el centro de Afterlife, ha sacado la alfombra de debajo de ella. Acaba de retirarse de la universidad donde enseñó inglés cuando su amado esposo, Sam, muere repentinamente. Y luego más sacudidas: su hermana de gran corazón pero inestable desaparece, y Antonia regresa a casa una noche para encontrar a una adolescente embarazada e indocumentada en su puerta. Antonia siempre ha buscado la dirección en la literatura que ama - líneas de sus autores favoritos juegan en su cabeza como una banda sonora, pero ahora descubre que el mundo exige más de ella que de palabras. Afterlife es una novela compacta, ágil y agudamente droll. En este momento político de tribalismo y desconfianza, se pregunta: ¿Qué debemos a los que están en crisis en nuestras familias, incluidos -tal vez especialmente- miembros de nuestra familia humana? ¿Cómo vivimos en un mundo roto sin perder la fe el uno en el otro o en nosotros mismos? ¿Y cómo nos mantenemos fieles a esas almas gloriosas que hemos perdido?"

Julia Alvarez (Author), Alma Cuervo (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Afterlife

"From the internationally bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents comes “a stunning work of art that reminds readers Alvarez is, and always has been, in a class of her own.” (Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award–winning author of the New York Times bestseller The Poet X) Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves—lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack—but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words. Afterlife is a compact, nimble, and sharply droll novel. Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust, it asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including—maybe especially—members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost? A Time Magazine Must-Read Book of 2020 A Most-Anticipated Book of the Year: O, The Oprah Magazine * The New YorkTimes * The Washington Post * Vogue * Bustle * BuzzFeed * Ms. magazine * The Millions * Huffington Post * PopSugar * The Lily * Goodreads * Library Journal * LitHub * Electric Literature"

Julia Alvarez (Author), Alma Cuervo (Narrator)

Audiobook

Saving the World

"A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award with In the Time of Butterflies, author Julia Alvarez is a beloved voice in modern fiction and poetry. In Saving the World, she weaves the stories of two courageous women-separated by two centuries-into a breathtaking novel of love and idealism in an increasingly troubled world. A best-selling, Latin-American author living in Vermont, Alma stays behind when her husband travels to the Dominican Republic to help fight AIDS. She needs the time to work on her latest book, but she has terrible writer's block. Soon, her focus is diverted to an entirely new story, that of the early 19th-century anti-smallpox expedition of Dr. Francisco Balmis. Accompanying Dr. Balmis was DoNa Isabel, who cared for the orphan boys serving as living carriers of the smallpox vaccine. It is the narrative of the courageous DoNa Isabel that provides hope and inspiration when Alma's husband is taken captive. Mesmerizing and poetic, Saving the World is a visionary tale that raises profound questions about the world we live in-and whether or not it is beyond redemption."

Julia Alvarez (Author), Blanca Camacho (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - De como las muchachas Garcia perdieron el acento

"Abandonando la tension politica de la RepublicaDominicana de los explosivos anos sesenta, las cuatro hermanasGarcia acompanadas de sus padres se autoexilian en el Bronx Neoyorquino, arribando a un ambiente totalmente desconocido y en extremo liberal para sus conservadores padres. La excelente narrativa de Julia Alvarez nos lleva de la mano por el recorrido de las dinamicas hermanas Garcia, por caminos deliciosamente divertidos y tambien plagados de conflictos generacionales, donde las barreras del lenguaje y del prejuicio social se patentizan en el trayecto de unas rebeldes hermanas que han dejado atras la vida privilegiada y conservadora en Santo Domingo y que haran todo lo posible para adaptarse a este nuevo pais plagado de novedosas oportunidades. Alvarez nos deleita, narrando con una originalidad y ligereza sorprendente el como las Garcia perdieron su acento, pero tambien ganaron una identidad que retrata al de muchas familias de inmigrantes que dia a dia luchan por tener un futuro en este gran pais."

Julia Alvarez (Author), Adriana Sananes, Laura Gomez, Rosie Berrido, Rossmery Almonte, Silvia Sierra (Narrator)

Audiobook

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

"Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as 'simply wonderful' How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents captures the vivid lives of the Garcia sisters, four privileged and rebellious Dominican girls adapting to their new lives in America. In the 1960s, political tension forces the Garcia family away from Santo Domingo and toward the Bronx. The sisters all hit their strides in America, adapting and thriving despite cultural differences, language barriers, and prejudice. But Mami and Papi are more traditional, and they have far more difficulty adjusting to their new country. Making matters worse, the girls-frequently embarrassed by their parents-find ways to rebel against them. A touching coming-of-age tale, this enthralling book perfectly illuminates the intergenerational struggles and multicultural clashes so common to the American immigrant family."

Julia Alvarez (Author), Annie Henk, Annie Kozuch, Blanca Camacho, Melanie Martinez, Noemi De La Puente (Narrator)

Audiobook

Once Upon a Quinceanera: Coming of Age in the USA

Julia Alvarez (Author), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks by Julia Alvarez

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