Before We Were Free
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Narrated by:
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Julia Alvarez
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By:
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Julia Alvarez
About this listen
Anita de la Torre never questioned her freedom living in the Dominican Republic. But by her 12th birthday in 1960, most of her relatives have emigrated to the United States, her Tío Toni has disappeared without a trace, and the government’s secret police terrorize her remaining family because of their suspected opposition of el Trujillo’s dictatorship.
Using the strength and courage of her family, Anita must overcome her fears and fly to freedom, leaving all that she once knew behind.
From renowned author Julia Alvarez comes an unforgettable story about adolescence, perseverance, and one girl’s struggle to be free.
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Critic reviews
"Alvarez proves as gifted at writing for adolescents as she is for adults. Here she brings her warmth, sensitivity and eye for detail to a volatile setting, the Dominican Republic of her childhood, during the 1960-1961 attempt to overthrow Trujillo's dictatorship....A stirring work of art." (Publishers Weekly)
"An involving book for adults as well as young adults....[Julia Alvarez] reads with emotion and clarity, and her warm Latin accent is a pleasure to listen to." (AudioFile)
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- By Elizabeth Gordon on 07-12-16
By: Alex Flinn
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Walk Two Moons
- By: Sharon Creech
- Narrated by: Hope Davis
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion.
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Such a great story wonderfully told
- By Susan on 02-06-12
By: Sharon Creech
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The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove
- A Novel
- By: Susan Gregg Gilmore
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Bezellia Grove was born into the most prominent of Nashville families, but that didn’t stop her from having an alcoholic mother and a distant, adulterous father. Her nanny, Maizelle, and Nathaniel, the handyman, are the people who have taken care of her since she can remember. She considers them family, but her parents just consider them servants because they are Black. When Bezellia has a clandestine romance with Nathaniel's son, Whites and Blacks unite in fury at the young couple.
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light southern fiction
- By suzanne on 02-08-13
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The Daisy Children
- A Novel
- By: Sofia Grant
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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When Katie Garrett gets the news that she’s received an inheritance from the grandmother she hardly knew, it couldn’t have come at a better time. She flees Boston and travels to rural Texas. There, she’s greeted by her distant cousin Scarlett. Friendly and flamboyant, Scarlett couldn’t be more different from sensible Katie. And as they begin the task of sorting through their grandmother’s possessions, they discover letters and photographs that uncover the hidden truths about their shared history, and the long-forgotten tragedy of the New London school explosion of 1937 that binds them.
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a little odd to me
- By G-Mom on 11-09-24
By: Sofia Grant
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Finding Fish
- A Memoir
- By: Antwone Q. Fisher
- Narrated by: Thomas Penny
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Baby Boy Fisher was raised in institutions from the moment of his birth in prison to a single mother. He ultimately came to live with a foster family, where he endured near-constant verbal and physical abuse. In his midteens he escaped and enlisted in the navy, where he became a man of the world, raised by the family he created for himself. Finding Fish shows how, out of this unlikely mix of deprivation and hope, an artist was born.
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This book will not disappoint you.
- By Joseph on 10-16-16
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Bettyville
- By: George Hodgman
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself - an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook - in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. Will George lure her into assisted living? When hell freezes over. He can't bring himself to force her from the home both treasure - the place where his father's voice lingers, the scene of shared jokes, skirmishes, and, behind the dusty antiques, a rarely acknowledged conflict...
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Title Should Be Georgeville-It's All About George
- By Sara on 10-08-15
By: George Hodgman
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Charms for the Easy Life
- By: Kaye Gibbons
- Narrated by: Kate Fleming
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
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A family without men, the Birches live gloriously offbeat lives in the lush, green backwoods of North Carolina. Radiant, headstrong Sophia and her shy, brilliant daughter, Margaret, possess powerful charms to ward off loneliness, despair, and the human misery that often beats a path to their door. And they are protected by the eccentric wisdom and muscular love of the remarkable matriarch Charlie Kate, a solid, uncompromising, self-taught healer who treats everything from boils to broken bones to broken hearts.
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So Lovely!
- By Doodle slave on 01-04-17
By: Kaye Gibbons
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Nearly Normal
- Surviving the Wilderness, My Family and Myself
- By: Cea Sunrise Person
- Narrated by: Cea Sunrise Person
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In her best-selling memoir North of Normal, Cea wrote with grace about her unconventional childhood - her early years living in a tipi in Alberta with her pot-smoking, free-loving counterculture family. But her struggles do not end when she leaves her family at the age of 13 to become a model. Honest and daring, Nearly Normal reveals the many ways that Cea's unconventional childhood continues to reverberate through the years.
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This one is just not for me
- By Pamela Plimpton on 03-15-19
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Treasure Box
- By: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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A shattering childhood tragedy left Quentin Fears devastated. But the wealthy, enigmatic recluse has experienced the extraordinarily unexpected: love at first sight, with Madeleine. Now he must meet his new wife's family. A bizarre, dysfunctional collection of extreme characters, they are guarding a secret both shocking and terrifying, as is Madeleine herself. And suddenly Quentin Fears must prevent his dream woman from unleashing an ageless malevolence intent on ruling the world.
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OSC at his best!!!
- By KaHef on 01-13-07
By: Orson Scott Card
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The Good Sister
- By: Wendy Corsi Staub
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In New York Times best-selling author Wendy Corsi Staub's electrifying new thriller, a mother races to save her daughter before her darkest nightmare comes true. Sacred Sisters Catholic girls' school has hardly changed since Jen Archer was a student. Jen hoped her older daughter would thrive here. Instead, shy and studious Carley becomes the target of vicious bullies. But the real danger at Sacred Sisters goes much deeper.
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This was an okay book
- By Erica on 05-09-15
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To See the Moon Again
- By: Jamie Langston Turner
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first step to letting go of the past is forgiving it …Every day of her life Julia Rich lives with the memory of a horrible accident she caused long ago. In the years since, she has tried to hide her guilt in the quiet routine of teaching at a small South Carolina college, avoiding close relationships with family and would-be friends. But one day a phone call from Carmen, a niece she has never met, disrupts her carefully controlled world.
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Beautiful Story of Forgiveness and Selfless Love
- By sharon on 09-20-14
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Not good for audiobook
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Split narrative never comes together -poor audio
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Once Upon a Quinceanera
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The quinceañera, the 15th birthday celebration for a Latina girl, is quickly becoming an American event. This legendary party is a sight to behold: lavish ball gowns, extravagant catered meals, DJs, limousines, and multi-tiered cakes. The must haves for a "quince" are becoming as numerous and costly as a prom or wedding. And yet, this elaborate ritual also hearkens back to traditions from native countries and communities, offering young Latinas a chance to connect with their heritage.
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Dont just exist - LIVE!
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A great follow-up to En el Tiempo de las Mariposas
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compelling story
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My class LOVES this book!
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missing one chapter(Punishment)
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Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna
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It is 1913, and 12-year-old Petra Luna’s mamá has died while the revolution rages in Mexico. Before her papá is dragged away by soldiers, Petra vows to him that she will care for the family she has left — her abuelita, her little sister, Amelia, and her baby brother, Luisito — until they can be reunited.
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¡Me encanto!
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Clap When You Land
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In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
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Narration
- By VB on 06-05-20
What listeners say about Before We Were Free
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-17-20
Gracias!
I read it from beginning to end with out stopping. Julia Alvarez you're one of the best storytellers ever.
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- Keith E meyer
- 09-07-20
Amazing
Loved every second of the novel. Beautiful. The narration was top-notch and I truly fell in love with every character.
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- QueenNay
- 12-02-22
Lovely book
I started reading this book at my local library, but never was able to find the name again until recently. I was so excited to see the audiobook available. I truly enjoyed this book and highly recommend.
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- Stacy
- 10-24-21
Humbling
To hear others stories is humbling to me. Humans can be cruel to people when we do not understand their story. This is a good, simple, story for all ages to develop compassion for another person.
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-16-23
Before We We Free book by Julia Alvarez
Love the book! The audible reading i wish would be clearer for readers to read.
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- Lily
- 01-08-18
Talented Author Left Much To Be Expected Narrating
Bad News First
Superb story conflicted with not-so-great narrating: characters were not made as lively as they could've, jokes didn't hit as well they should've, many a tender scene was made awkward by monotonous, almost forcibly hushed tone, inappropriate inflections disrupt a truly captivating buildup.
As far as the story itself, the line between historical context and fiction is very efficiently maneuvered. Interesting, well-developed characters endear themselves to the reader as events unfold throughout the story. Events do not simply happen around the characters; the reader is made aware very early on that no one is invincible in this world and that the reign in the character's country is no exception. This gives the reader hope: anything can happen. This also makes the reader consider the fate of every character: anything can happen.
As with any story, there are flaws to be found. This particular story possesses very few.
The reader is left with many questions at the end of the story; many of which can be answered with a great deal of speculation but are ultimately still just speculation.
Narration strengths would include the distinguishing of voices of various characters (which makes it much easier to follow conversations between multiple characters) and an unhurried pace that compliments many image-heavy scenes, allowing the listener to soak in every detail and even add to the scene themselves, in their mind's eye.
In summation: Ms. Alvarez created a beautiful story about war, the avoidance of such, and the key players involved in any conflict, all from the perspective of a child growing into a young woman.
However, this particular medium (audiobook) of communication of aforementioned beautiful story leaves much to be desired and/or imagined, in this case, at least.
Many thanks to anyone who took the time to read this lengthy backhanded compliment.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Reader5309
- 06-11-24
Compelling!
I enjoyed this story from start to finish! It weaves together the coming of age of the protagonist and the heartbreaking situation in her native country in an authentically tween-ager way. At moments lighthearted, and at others devastating, there are many stopping points for pause and reflection. I think this would be a fantastic book for middle schoolers, though more politically conservative regions of the U.S. may contest some of the mentions of puberty’s effects. However, to me, this makes it all the more powerful for young learners to see themselves centered in the story.
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- Boston Shopper
- 02-23-21
Great story
Great story. Julia Alvarez is a wonderful writer and poet. No offense to Julia but I didn’t like narration. I stuck with it because it’s a good short story.
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Overall
- Carmen Feliciano
- 10-24-21
Beautiful story
I loved it! What a heartbreaking yet beautiful story! The narrator kept me engaged! I especially liked Anita! What a smart , creative and courageous little girl.
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- Katherine Jaspon
- 02-01-23
Great story.
Very engaging. I read it with my daughter. Narrating is excellent. I would highly recommend.
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