New Playaway Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in Playaway. Click an image for availability.

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer Read by Nathaniel Parker Seemingly nothing in this world daunts the young criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl. In the fairy world, however, there is a small thing that has gotten under his skin on more than one occasion: Opal Koboi. In The Last Guardian, the evil pixie is wreaking havoc yet again. This time his arch rival has reanimated dead fairy warriors who were buried in the grounds of Fowl Manor. Their spirits have possessed Artemis’s little brothers, making his siblings even more annoying than usual. The warriors don’t seem to realize that the battle they were fighting when they died is long over. Artemis has until sunrise to get the spirits to vacate his brothers and go back into the earth where they belong. Can he count on a certain LEPrecon fairy to join him in what could well be his last stand? New York Times best-selling author and comic genius Eoin Colfer will leave Artemis Fowl fans gasping up to the very end of this thrilling finale to the blockbuster series.

Carly’s Voice: Breaking Through Autism by Arther Fleischmann and Carly Fleischmann Read by Cassandra Campbell and Patrick Lawlor The extraordinary and moving story of Carly Fleischmann, a teenager with severe autism who, through technology and today’s social networks, has become a passionate advocate for kids everywhere.

I, Michael Bennett by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge Read by Jay Snider and Bobby Cannavale A South American crime lord has brought New York the worst lawlessness and violence the city has ever seen. Police shot in the street. Judges murdered in the courtroom. Mayhem is unleashed–and the mayor demands that Detective Michael Bennett find a way to stop it. Bennett takes his ten kids and their beautiful nanny, Mary Catherine, out of the chaos on a much-needed vacation to upstate New York. But instead of escaping the violence, it follows them and they find themselves in the middle of another nightmare that threatens the entire family. The danger isn’t only coming from the crime lord’s killers–FBI Agent Emily Parker is back, and Bennett’s attraction to her endangers his relationship with Mary Catherine. A no-holds-barred, pedal-to-the-floor, action-packed novel, I, Michael Bennett is James Patterson at his most thrilling best.

The Long Walk: A Story of War and Life That Follows by Brian Castner Read by the author Brian Castner served three tours of duty in the Middle East, two of them as the commander of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in Iraq. Days and nights he and his team—his brothers—would venture forth in heavily armed convoys from their Forward Operating Base to engage in the nerve-racking yet strangely exhilarating work of either disarming the deadly improvised explosive devices that had been discovered, or picking up the pieces when the alert came too late. They relied on an army of remote-controlled cameras and robots, but if that technology failed, a technician would have to don the eighty-pound Kevlar suit, take the Long Walk up to the bomb, and disarm it by hand. This lethal game of cat and mouse was, and continues to be, the real war within America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But The Long Walk is not just about battle itself. It is also an unflinching portrayal of the toll war exacts on the men and women who are fighting it

Odd Apocalypse by Dead Koontz Read by David Aaron Baker In advance of the much-buzzed Odd Thomas major motion picture, Odd Apocalypse chronicles Odd Thomas’s most riveting adventure to date, as his mysterious journey of suspense and discovery moves to a dangerous new level. The Odd Thomas series is kicked into overdrive as Odd confronts deadly adversaries in a decaying estate straight out of Sunset Boulevard

Plot synopses from Playaway.

New Playaway Titles

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in Playaway. Click an image for availability.

Amped by Daniel H. Wilson Narrated by Robbie Daymond As he did in Robopocalypse, Daniel Wilson masterfully envisions a frightening near-future world. In Amped, people are implanted with a device that makes them capable of superhuman feats. The powerful technology has profound consequences for society, and soon a set of laws is passed that restricts the abilities—and rights—of “amplified” humans. On the day that the Supreme Court passes the first of these laws, twenty-nine-year-old Owen Gray joins the ranks of a new persecuted underclass known as “amps.” Owen is forced to go on the run, desperate to reach an outpost in Oklahoma where, it is rumored, a group of the most enhanced amps may be about to change the world—or destroy it.

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jaqueline Woodson Read by Cassandra Campbell Laurel would do anything to turn back time — to tell her mother and grandmother not to stay home near the beach with a hurricane coming to say no when her boyfriend, T-Boom, the co-captain of the basketball team, offers her that first hit of moon — the drug that makes her feel bigger than all she’s lost to have been there for her little brother and her best friend, Kaylee, when they needed her, instead of chasing the moon But she can’t. All she can do is move forward now. And only she can decide whether to face the pain and joy that is a part of living, or follow the moon to numbness and probably death. Only she can decide to choose to be there for her family and friends — or give them another thing to grieve. Kaylee says, “Write an elegy to the past . . . and move on.” She says it’s all about moving on . . .

The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead Narrated by Emily Shaffer. Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students – children of the wealthy and powerful – carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought.

Mansion of Happiness by Jill Lepore Narrated by Coleen Marlo Renowned Harvard scholar and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore has written a strikingly original, ingeniously conceived and beautifully crafted history of American ideas about life and death from before the cradle to beyond the grave. How does life begin? What does it mean? What happens when we die? “All anyone can do is ask,” Lepore writes. “That’s why any history of ideas about life and death has to be, like this book, a history of curiosity.” Lepore starts that history with the story of a seventeenth-century Englishman who had the idea that all life begins with an egg, and ends it with an American who, in the 1970s, began freezing the dead. In between, life got longer, the stages of life multiplied, and matters of life and death moved from the library to the laboratory, from the humanities to the sciences. Lately, debates about life and death have determined the course of American politics. Each of these debates has a history. Investigating the surprising origins of the stuff of everyday life—from board games to breast pumps—Lepore argues that the age of discovery, Darwin, and the Space Age turned ideas about life on earth topsy-turvy. “New worlds were found,” she writes, and “old paradises were lost.” As much a meditation on the present as an excavation of the past, The Mansion of Happiness is delightful, learned, and altogether beguiling.

Stones of Ravenglass by Jenny Nimmo Narrated by John Keating Timoken, a magician king, has found a new home in a castle in Britain. But when an evil steward takes control of the castle, he imprisons Timoken and wreaks havoc on surrounding villages. With the help of Gabar, the talking camel, Timoken escapes and embarks on a quest to find and rescue his friends, and build himself a kingdom to call home for good. In this brand-new series, bestselling author Jenny Nimmo takes readers on an extraordinary quest with one of her most powerful and mysterious characters, the one who started it all for Charlie Bone.

Plot synopses from Playaway.

New Playaway Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in Playaway. Click an image for availability.

The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler Read by Kirby Heybourne Anne Tyler gives us a wise, haunting, and deeply moving new novel in which she explores how a middle-aged man, ripped apart by the death of his wife, is gradually restored by her frequent appearances—in their house, on the roadway, in the market. Crippled in his right arm and leg, Aaron spent his childhood fending off a sister who wants to manage him. So when he meets Dorothy, a plain, outspoken, self-dependent young woman, she is like a breath of fresh air. Unhesitatingly he marries her, and they have a relatively happy, unremarkable marriage. But when a tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed, Aaron feels as though he has been erased forever. Only Dorothy’s unexpected appearances from the dead help him to live in the moment and to find some peace. Gradually he discovers, as he works in the family’s vanity-publishing business, turning out titles that presume to guide beginners through the trials of life, that maybe for this beginner there is a way of saying goodbye. A beautiful, subtle exploration of loss and recovery, pierced throughout with Anne Tyler’s humor, wisdom, and always penetrating look at human foibles.

The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen Read by Justine Eyre This is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress. Vladimir Putin seemed like the perfect choice for the oligarchy to shape according to its own designs. Suddenly the boy who had stood in the shadows, dreaming of ruling the world, was a public figure, and his popularity soared. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see the progressive leader of their dreams, even as he seized control of the media, sent rivals and critics into exile or to the grave, and smashed the country’s fragile electoral system. As a journalist living in Moscow, Masha Gessen experienced this history firsthand, and her account of how a faceless man maneuvered his way into absolute—and absolutely corrupt—power has the makings of a classic of narrative nonfiction.

Tangled Reins by Stephanie Laurens Read by Rosalyn Landor Miss Dorothea Darent has no intention of ever getting married, certainly not to a rogue such as the Marquis of Hazelmere. A disreputable scoundrel, he is captivated when they meet by chance and is determined to win her heart, even while she’s busy dazzling the rest of London society. Now Dorothea has a choice to make: stick with her plan to remain a respectable spinster, or run into the arms of her dashing stranger…

The Vanishers by Heidi Juvalits Read by Xe Sands Julia Severn is a student at an elite institute for psychics. Her mentor, the legendary Madame Ackermann, afflicted by jealousy, subjects Julia to the humiliation of reliving her mother’s suicide when Julia was an infant. As the two lock horns, and Julia gains power, Madame Ackermann launches a desperate psychic attack that leaves Julia the victim of a crippling ailment. But others have noted Julia’s emerging gifts, and soon she’s recruited to track down an elusive missing person who might have a connection to her mother. As Julia sifts through ghosts and astral clues, everything she thought she knew of her mother is called into question, and she discovers that her ability to know the minds of others goes far deeper than she ever imagined.

Plot synopses from Playaway.

New Playaway Titles

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in Playaway. Click an image for availability or to place a hold.

Irises by Francisco X. Stork Read by Carrington McDuffie TWO SISTERS: Kate is bound for Stanford and an M.D. — if her family will let her go. Mary wants only to stay home and paint. When their loving but repressive father dies, they must figure out how to support themselves and their mother, who is in a permanent vegetative state, and how to get along in all their uneasy sisterhood. THREE YOUNG MEN: Then three men sway their lives: Kate’s boyfriend Simon offers to marry her, providing much-needed stability. Mary is drawn to Marcos, though she fears his violent past. And Andy tempts Kate with more than romance, recognizing her ambition because it matches his own. ONE AGONIZING CHOICE: Kate and Mary each find new possibilities and darknesses in their sudden freedom. But it’s Mama’s life that might divide them for good — the question of *if* she lives, and what’s worth living for. *

Playground by 50 Cent Read by 50 Cent and Dwayne Clark Thirteen-year-old Butterball doesn’t have much going for him. He’s teased mercilessly about his weight. He hates the Long Island suburb his mom moved them to and wishes he still lived with his dad in the city. And now he’s stuck talking to a totally out-of-touch therapist named Liz. Liz tries to uncover what happened that day on the playground – a day that landed one kid in the hospital and Butterball in detention. Butterball refuses to let her in on the truth, and while he evades her questions, he takes readers on a journey through the moments that made him into the playground bully he is today. This devastating yet ultimately redemptive story is told in voice-driven prose and accented with drawings and photographs, making it a natural successor to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Loosely inspired by 50 Cent’s own adolescence, and written with his fourteen-year-old son in mind, Playground is sure to captivate wide attention – and spark intense discussion.

Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder Read by Emma Galvin Dry, sarcastic, sixteen-year-old Cam Cooper has spent the last seven years in and out hospitals. The last thing she wants to do in the short life she has left is move 1,500 miles away to Promise, Maine – a place known for the miraculous events that occur there. But it’s undeniable that strange things happen in Promise: everlasting sunsets; purple dandelions; flamingoes in the frigid Atlantic; an elusive boy named Asher; and finally, a mysterious envelope containing a list of things for Cam to do before she dies. As Cam checks each item off the list, she finally learns to believe – in love, in herself, and even in miracles. A debut novel from an immensely talented new writer, The Probability of Miracles crackles with wit, romance and humor and will leave readers laughing and crying with each turn of the page.

Soft Target by Stephen Hunter Read by Phil Gigante New York Times bestselling author Stephen Hunter is back with another breakneck thriller, in which ex-Marine sniper, Ray Kruz, must outwit a group of murderous Somali terrorists who’ve laid siege to the Mall of America. Recently retired marine sergeant Ray Kruz has been talked into a mall trip by his fiancé, the beautiful Sally Tung. For Ray, Sally represents a way to reconnect with normal life, something his 20 years in the service and five tours in two combat zones have prevented. But now he finds himself in the middle of the softest target of all, a huge consumer mall where a self-styled “Mumbai Brigade” has come to bring massive death to the heartland. They just didn’t know Ray Cruz was in the building….

Plot synopses from Playaway. *Plot synopsis from Amazon.

New Playaway Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of new Playaway titles. Click an image for availability.

Bonnie by Iris Johansen When Eve Duncan gave birth to her daughter, she experienced a love she never knew existed. Nothing would stand in the way of giving Bonnie a wonderful life, until the unthinkable happened and the seven-year-old vanished into thin air. Eve found herself in the throes of a nightmare from which there was no escape. But a new Eve emerged: a woman who would use her remarkable talent as a forensic sculptor to help others find closure in the face of tragedy. Now, with the help of her beloved Joe Quinn and CIA Agent Catherine Ling, Eve has come closer than ever to the truth. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes that Bonnie?s father is a key player in solving this monstrous puzzle. And that Bonnie?s disappearance was not as random as everyone had always believed…

The Litigators by John Grisham The partners at Finley & Figg, all two of them, often refer to themselves as a boutique law firm. Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who’ve been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago. And then change comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, a young but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-track career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he’s suddenly unemployed, any job, even one with Finley & Figg looks okay to him.

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier The extraordinary author of Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons returns with a dazzling new novel of suspense and love set in small-town North Carolina in the early 1960s. Charles Frazier puts his remarkable gifts in the service of a lean, taut narrative while losing none of the transcendent prose, virtuosic storytelling, and insight into human nature that have made him one of the most beloved and celebrated authors in the world. Now, with his brilliant portrait of Luce, a young woman who inherits her murdered sister’s troubled twins, Frazier has created his most memorable heroine. Before the children, Luce was content with the reimbursements of the rich Appalachian landscape, choosing to live apart from the small community around her. But the coming of the children changes everything, cracking open her solitary life in difficult, hopeful, dangerous ways.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition – the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen. As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive. *

Plot synopses from Playaway. *Plot synopsis from Amazon.

New Playaway Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in Playaway. Click an image for availability.

Happy Birthday by Danielle Steel Read by Angela Dawe Valerie Wyatt is the high priestess of elegance: She has built an empire on how to entertain, how to decorate, how to live beautifully, and is at the top of her game with licensing arrangements for fine fabrics, furniture, wallpaper; six books; and a highly rated TV show. Valerie’s daughter, April, is a classically trained chef and the workaholic proprietor of a comfortable, popular downtown New York restaurant. They couldn’t be happier in their chosen fields—or more different in their attitudes. Yet as each faces a major birthday milestone—Valerie her 60th and April her 30th—neither has had a significant relationship for years and both are wistful at what they’ve sacrificed for success. That is about to change, after a chance encounter in an elevator and one holiday weekend indiscretion…

The Kid by Sapphire Read by the author. In a generational story that moves with the speed of thought from a Mississippi dirt farm to Harlem in its heyday; from a troubled Catholic orphanage to downtown artist’s lofts, The Kid tells of a twenty- first-century young man’s fight to find a way toward the future. A testament to the ferocity of the human spirit and the deep nourishing power of love and of art, The Kid chronicles a young man about to take flight. In the intimate, terrifying, and deeply alive story of Abdul’s journey, we are witness to an artist’s birth by fire.

Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson Read by Mike Chamberlain In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness. Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected.

“There Are Things I Want You To Know” About Stieg Larsson and Me by Eva Gabrielsson Here is the real inside story—not the one about the Stieg Larsson phenomenon, but rather the love story of a man and a woman whose lives came to be guided by politics and love, coffee and activism, writing and friendship. Only one person in the world knows that story well enough to tell it with authority. Her name is Eva Gabrielsson. Eva Gabrielsson and Stieg Larsson shared everything, starting when they were both eighteen until his untimely death thirty-two years later at the age of fifty. In “There Are Things I Want You to Know” about Stieg Larsson and Me, Eva Gabrielsson accepts the daunting challenge of telling the story of their shared life steeped in love and sharpened in the struggle for justice and human rights. She chooses to tell it in short, spare, lyrical chapters, like snapshots, regaling Larsson’s readers with the inside account of how he wrote, why he wrote, who the sources were for Lisbeth and his other characters—graciously answering Stieg Larsson’s readers’ most pressing questions—and at the same time telling us the things we didn’t know we wanted to know—about love and loss, death, betrayal, and the mistreatment of women.*

Plot synopses from Playaway. *Plot synopsis from Amazon.

New Playaway Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of what’s new today in playaway. Click an image for availability.

The Butterfly’s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe Read by the author. The annual migration of the monarch is a phenomenal story – a miracle of instinct and survival. In The Butterfly’s Daughter, four very different women embark on a transformational voyage of self-discovery that follows the monarch’s journey from the upper Midwest through Texas to Mexico. When Luz Avila’s grandmother, the local butterfly lady, unexpectedly dies, Luz is compelled to carry her ashes home to her mountain village in Mexico. Inspired by the Aztec myth of the goddess who brings light to the world, Luz attracts a collection of women, each seeking change in her life. Yet no one’s life changes more that Luz’s when she meets her long-lost mother, a woman she had believed dead. Their mishaps, trials, and joys are met with humor and compassion, culminating in their triumphant arrival in Mexico on the Day of the Dead celebration.

Familyhood by Paul Reiser Read by the author. In keeping with the theme of his two previous New York Times bestsellers, Couplehood and Babyhood, Reiser will bring his trademark warmth and razor-sharp wit to bear on observations about parenting, marriage, and midlife. Fueled by his experiences of raising two young sons, ages 10 and 15, with his wife of twenty-two years, this new book looks at the funny truths, heartbreaks, and small victories of being a family today. Paul Reiser said of the new audiobook, “After many years of trying to master the art of being a great husband and father, I’ve decided to write this book so my children will finally have all the proof they need that I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Lies Chelsea Handler told me by Chelsea’s Family, Friends, and Other Victims Read by Johnny Kansas, Stephanie Stehling, Heather McDonald and others It’s no lie: Chelsea Handler loves to smoke out “dumbassness,” the condition people suffer from that allows them to fall prey to her brand of complete and utter nonsense. Friends, family, co-workers–they’ve all been tricked by Chelsea into believing stories of total foolishness and into behaving like total fools. Luckily, they’ve lived to tell the tales and, for the very first time, write about them.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø Read by Robin Sachs Internationally acclaimed, best-selling Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø appears on the Knopf list for the first time with a bone-chilling new thriller about a serial killer who takes Harry Hole—Nesbø’s irascible police investigator— to the brink of insanity. The first snow of the season has fallen in Oslo. A boy named Jonas wakes in the night to find his mother gone. Outside he sees the snowman, bathed in cold moonlight, that inexplicably appeared in the yard that day—his mother’s pink scarf around its neck. Hole suspects there is a link to a menacing letter he recently received. And as the number of missing women grows, it becomes more and more clear that he is a pawn in a terrifying game whose rules are devised—and constantly revised—by the killer.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen Read by Meredith Hagner Since her parents’ bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother’s new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out.

Plot synopses from Playaway.

New Playaway Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in Playaway. Click an image for availability.

The Blasphemer by Nigel Farndale Read by Simon Vance On its way to the Galápagos Islands, a light aircraft crashes into the sea. Zoologist Daniel Kennedy is confronted with a stark Darwinian choice. Should he save himself or Nancy, the woman he loves? But how can one moment of betrayal ever be forgiven? And after he escapes the plane and swims for help, who is the elusive figure who guides him away from certain death? Back in London, Daniel thinks he finds the answer; it is connected with his great grandfather and the first horrific day of Passchendaele. But as the past collapses into the present, the fissures in his relationship with Nancy show through, until he is given a second chance to prove his courage and earn her forgiveness. The Blasphemer is a novel that speaks to the head as well as the heart.

Bossypants by Tina Fey Read by the author On her way to becoming an award-winning superstar, Tina Fey struggled through some questionable haircuts, some after-school jobs, the rise of nachos as a cultural phenomenon, a normal childhood, a happy marriage and joyful motherhood. Her story must be told! Fey’s pursuit of the perfect beauty routine may actually give you laugh lines, and her depiction of her whirlwind tour of duty as the Other Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live takes you behind the scenes of a comedy event that transfixed the nation. Now, Fey can reflect on what she’s learned: you’re no one until someone calls you bossy.

Elizabeth I: A Novel by Margaret George Read by Kate Reading England’s greatest monarch has baffled and intrigued the world for centuries. But what was she really like? In this novel, her flame-haired, lookalike cousin, Lettice Knollys, thinks she knows all too well. Elizabeth’s rival for the love of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and mother to the Earl of Essex, the mercurial nobleman who challenged Elizabeth’s throne, Lettice had been intertwined with Elizabeth since childhood. This is a story of two women of fierce intellect and desire, one trying to protect her country, and throne, the other trying to regain power and position for her family and each vying to convince the reader of her own private vision of the truth about Elizabeth’s character. Their gripping drama is acted out at the height of the flowering of the Elizabethan age. Shakespeare, Marlowe, Dudley, Raleigh, Drake-all of them swirl through these pages as they swirled through the court and on the high seas.

Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed by Howard Gardner Read by Grover Gardner The True, the Good, and the Beautiful are as timeless a trio of concepts as Western culture has to offer. Since before Socrates, humankind has explored these virtues in an attempt to describe and categorize them. But our definitions of these concepts have unceasingly changed over the ages. Every known civilization has developed its own interpretations of them, and so has confronted difficult questions: Is truthfulness inherent or inculcated? Is beauty achieved or a gift from the gods? Is goodness a birthright or determined by society? In Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed, Howard Gardner explores the meaning of these virtues in a contemporary world of vast technological change and relativistic understandings of human nature.

We: How to Increase Performance and Profits Through Full Engagement by Rudy Karsan and Kevin Kruse Read by Lloyd James In We, Rudy Karsan and Kevin Kruse dig deep to reveal the nature of work in the modern organization and share the secrets for achieving full engagement at work, based on findings from over ten million worker surveys in 150 countries and also on their own experiences leading fast-growth companies. They show the inevitable linkage between the success of the individual and the success of the organization, and how both must come together to succeed.

Plot synopses from Playaway.

New Playaway Titles

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in playaway. Click an image for availability.

Incarceron by Katherine Fisher Read by Kim Mai Guest Incarceron is a prison so vast that it contains not only cells, but also metal forests, dilapidated cities, and vast wilderness. Finn, a 17-year-old prisoner, has no memory of his childhood and is sure that he came from Outside Incarceron. Very few prisoners believe that there is an Outside, however, which makes escape seems impossible. And then Finn finds a crystal key that allows him to communicate with a girl named Claudia. She claims to live Outside – she is the daughter of the warden of Incarceron and is doomed to an arranged marriage. Finn is determined to escape the prison, and Claudia believes she can help him. But they don’t realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye. Escape will take their greatest courage and cost more than they know.

Jackie As Editor by Greg Lawrence Read by Bernadette Donne At the age of forty-six, one of the most famous women in the world went to work for the first time in twenty-two years. Greg Lawrence, who had three of his books edited by Jackie, draws from interviews with more than 120 of her former collaborators and acquaintances in the publishing world to examine one of the twentieth century’s most enduring subjects of fascination through a new angle: her previously untouted skill in the career she chose. Over the last third of her life, Jackie would master a new industry, weather a very public professional scandal, and shepherd over a hundred books through the increasingly corporate halls of Viking and Doubleday. Away from the public eye, Jackie quietly defined life on her own terms. Jackie as Editor gives intimate new insights into the life of a complex and enigmatic woman who found fulfillment through her creative career during book publishing’s legendary golden age.

Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy Read by Sile Birmingham When Noel learns that his former flame is terminally ill and pregnant with a child she claims is his, he agrees to take care of the baby girl once she’s born. But as a recovering alcoholic whose demons are barely under control, he can’t do it alone. Luckily, he has an amazing network of family and friends who are ready to help: love-starved Lisa, who becomes his round-the-clock partner in little Frankie’s care; his American cousin and pep-talker Emily; and the many eager babysitters from the neighborhood, including old friends like Signora and Aidan, Dr. Declan and his parents. The unconventional arrangement works out beautifully—until a nosy social worker becomes convinced that Frankie would be better off in a foster home. Now it’s up to everyone in town to persuade her that each of them has something special to offer when it comes to minding Frankie

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain Read by Carrington MacDuffie No twentieth-century American writer has captured the popular imagination as much as Ernest Heminway. This novel tells his story from a unique point of view — that of his first wife, Hadley. Through her eyes and voice, we experience Paris of the Lost Generation and meet fascinating characters such as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and Gerald and Sara Murphy. The city and its inhabitants provide a vivid backdrop to this engrossing and wrenching story of love and betrayal that is made all the more poignant knowing that, in the end, Hemingway would write of his first wife, “I wish I had died before I loved anyone but her.”

Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag Read by Kirsten Potter Marissa Fordham had a past full of secrets, a present full of lies. Everyone knew of her, but no one knew her. When Marissa is found brutally murdered, with her young daughter, Haley, resting her head on her mother’s bloody breast, she sends the idyllic California town of Oak Knoll into a tailspin. Already on edge with the upcoming trial of the See- No-Evil killer, residents are shocked by reports of the crime scene, which might not have been discovered for days had it not been for a chilling 911 call: a small child’s voice saying, “My daddy hurt my mommy.” Sheriff’s detective Tony Mendez faces a puzzle with nothing but pieces that won’t fit. To assist with his witness, Haley, he calls teacher-turned-child advocate Anne Leone. Anne’s life is hectic enough-she’s a newlywed and a part- time student in child psychology, and she’s the star witness in the See-No-Evil trial. But one look at Haley, alone and terrified, and Anne’s heart is stolen. As Tony and Anne begin to peel back the layers of Marissa Fordham’s life, they find a clue fragment here, another there. And just when it seems Marissa has taken her secrets to the grave, they uncover a fact that puts Anne and Haley directly in the sights of a killer: Marissa Fordham never existed.

Plot synopses from Playaway.

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The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan Read by Allyson Ryan Annah knows she has a twin sister, but she forgot her long ago. Back when they went to play in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, she and Elias lost her, and after that there was no going back to the village. Life’s been hard, but Elias has taken care of her, and living in the Dark City can help one to forget the horror of the Unconsecrated – if you try hard enough. But when Elias disappears, Annah’s world crumbles. To her, life isn’t worth much more than the walking dead who roam the wasted world she lives in. It’s not until she meets Catcher that she cares to start living again. Yet Catcher has secrets. Dark, terrifying secrets that link him to a past she’s longed to forget and to a future too deadly to consider.

Endgame by Frank Brady Read by Ray Porter From Frank Brady, a friend and bestselling biographer of Bobby Fischer, comes an impressively researched biography that for the first time completely captures the remarkable arc of Bobby Fischer’s life. When Bobby Fischer passed away in January 2008, he left behind a confounding legacy. Everyone knew the basics of his life—he began as a brilliant youngster, then became the pride of American chess, then took a sharp turn, struggling with paranoia and mental illness. But nobody truly understood him. From Fischer’s meteoric rise, to a dominant prime unequaled by any American chess player, to his eventual descent into madness, the book draws upon hundreds of newly discovered documents and recordings and numerous firsthand interviews conducted with those who knew Fischer best. It paints for the first time a complete picture of one of America’s most enigmatic icons.

The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy by Mark Logue Read by Simon Vance The true story behind the award-winning movie of the same name, The King’s Speech is written by London Sunday Times journalist Peter Conradi and Mark Logue—grandson of Lionel Logue, whose recently discovered diaries and correspondence contain fascinating details about these events. At the urging of his wife, Elizabeth, the Duke of York (known to the royal family as “Bertie”) began to see speech therapist Lionel Logue in a desperate bid to cure his lifelong stammer. Little did the two men know that this unlikely friendship—between a future monarch and a commoner born in Australia—would ultimately save the House of Windsor from collapse. Through intense locution and breathing lessons, the amiable Logue gave the shy young Duke the skills and the confidence to stand and deliver before a crowd. And when his elder brother, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry for love, Bertie was able to assume the reins of power as King George VI—just in time to help steer the nation through the dark waters of the Second World War.

Toys by James Patterson Read by Matthew Bomer Hays Baker and his wife Lizbeth possess super-human strength, extraordinary intelligence, stunning looks, a sex life to die for, and two beautiful children. Of course they do–they’re Elites, endowed at birth with the very best that the world can offer. The only problem in their perfect world: humans and their toys! The top operative for the Agency of Change, Hays has just won the fiercest battle of his career. He has been praised by the President, and is a national hero. But before he can savor his triumph, he receives an unbelievable shock that overturns everything he thought was true. Suddenly Hays is on the other side of the gun, forced to leave his perfect family and fight for his life. Now a hunted fugitive, Hays is thrown into a life he never dreamed possible–fighting to save humans everywhere from extinction. He enlists all of his training to uncover the truth that will save millions of lives–maybe even his own.

Plot synopses from Playaway.