Beyond the Pale
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Narrated by:
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Elana Dykewomon
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By:
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Elana Dykewomon
About this listen
Beyond the Pale - winner of the Lambda Literary Award - tells the stories of two Jewish women living through times of darkness and inhumanity in the early 20th century, capturing their undaunted love and courage in luminous and moving prose. The richly textured novel details Gutke Gurvich's odyssey from her apprenticeship as a midwife in a Russian shtetl to her work in the suffrage movement in New York.
Interwoven with her tale is that Chava Meyer, who was attended by Gurvich at her birth and grew up to survive the pogrom that took the lives of her parents. Throughout the story, historical background plays a large part: Jewish faith and traditions, the practice of midwifery, the horrific conditions in prerevolutionary Russia and New York sweatshops, and the determined work of labor unionists and suffragists.
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Beyond the Pale is a touching, lyrical story that follows two immigrant women from the Pale settlement in Russia to New York. Dykewomom presents a powerful look into the experience of being Jewish and a lesbian, while also looking at the greater immigrant experience against the backdrop of poverty. It's a treat to have the writer herself perform this audiobook. Because they are her own words, she easily captures the rhythms of the poetic language. Meanwhile, her voice is so loving toward the characters that is hard not to be swept away by this beautiful, moving audiobook.
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On any particular day, thousands upon thousands of people pass through New York City's Grand Central Terminal, through the whispering gallery, beneath the ceiling of stars, and past the information booth and its beckoning four-faced clock, to whatever destination is calling them. It is a place where people come to say hello and good-bye. And each person has a story to tell.
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Grand Central: Memories
- By ZacharyKindle Customer on 05-03-17
By: Melanie Benjamin, and others
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Honor
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Piter Marik
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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An honor killing shatters and transforms the lives of Turkish immigrants in 1970s London. Internationally best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak’s new novel is a dramatic tale of families, love, and misunderstandings that follows the destinies of twin sisters born in a Kurdish village. While Jamila stays to become a midwife, Pembe follows her Turkish husband, Adem, to London, where they hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. In London, they face a choice: stay loyal to the old traditions or try their best to fit in.
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Complex but Compelling
- By Cariola on 04-14-13
By: Elif Shafak
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A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
- By: Brigid Pasulka
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years.
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The Old & New Worlds Converge & Transcend Time
- By Sara on 11-22-16
By: Brigid Pasulka
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The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
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My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
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For Freedom
- The Story of a French Spy
- By: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- Narrated by: Carine Montbertrand
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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No one would guess that a 13-year-old schoolgirl and singer named Suzanne would become one of France's great heroes. But when the German army occupies her hometown of Cherbourg during World War II, Suzanne learns that there are some things worth fighting for any way she can. Recruited by the French Resistance, Suzanne becomes a spy covertly working for a noble cause. Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's historical novel is a captivating tale of courage.
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Good historical book
- By joan on 04-29-19
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Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
- By: Allan Gurganus
- Narrated by: Barbara McCulloh
- Length: 49 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Allan Gurganus's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and fans alike fell in love with the voice of 99-year-old Confederate widow Lucy Marsden, one of the most entertaining and loquacious heroines in American literature. Lucy married at the turn of the 20th century, when she was 15 and her husband was 50. If Colonel William Marsden was a veteran of the "War for Southern Independence", Lucy became a "veteran of the veteran" with a unique perspective on Southern history and Southern manhood.
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Dated.
- By edie butler on 04-06-21
By: Allan Gurganus
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The Walking People
- By: Mary Beth Keane
- Narrated by: Sile Bermingham
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Greta Cahill never believed she would leave her village in the west of Ireland until she found herself on a ship bound for New York, along with her sister Johanna and a boy named Michael Ward. Labeled a "softheaded goose" by her family, Greta discovers that in America she can fall in love, raise her own family, and earn a living.
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Irish immigratn story
- By Chrissie on 09-10-13
By: Mary Beth Keane
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The Vine of Desire
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Anju and Sudha formed an astounding, almost psychic connection during their childhood in India. When Anju invites Sudha, a single mother in Calcutta, to come live with her and her husband, Sunil, in California, Sudha foolishly accepts, knowing full well that Sunil has long desired her. As Sunil's attraction rises to the surface, the trio must struggle to make sense of the freedoms of America - and of the ties that bind them to India and to one another.
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Vine of desire
- By Mz Shantay on 03-27-21
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Winter Collection
- Six Historical Short Stories (A Timeless Romance Anthology, Book 1)
- By: Sarah M. Eden, Heidi Ashworth, Annette Lyon, and others
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Six award-winning authors have contributed brand new stories to A Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Collection. A collection unlike any other, listeners will love this compilation of six sweet historical romance novellas, set in varying eras, yet all with one thing in common: Romance.
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Winter
- By Manila J. Dobbs on 08-12-23
By: Sarah M. Eden, and others
What listeners say about Beyond the Pale
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ginger 3701
- 10-26-18
Incredible!
I loved this book. I love this author. I cannot remember when a book has touched me so deeply and personally. Made even more special by the narration of the author herself. Very highly recommended.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Tina
- 03-25-14
Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
It was savvy and to the point!...stories were great!
What about Elana Dykewomon’s performance did you like?
I liked how it was narrated, simple, easy and at times funny!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
YES!
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- Julia
- 01-31-15
Beautiful
Gripping. Compelling. Compassionate. Historically moving. All these words come to mind as I think back on this well written story. More than a story.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mary
- 06-15-15
Sadness
This story has some of the saddest history woven around its characters. It's presentation is not typical . Sad
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- Melissa
- 08-10-15
good story with too much internal dialog
the underlying story is beautiful, but there are long stretches where it's just internal rambling of a preteen and that really dragged on over and over. just to mention, since the summary doesn't, there are alot of female sexual relationships. one last thing, if you know your history... you can see alot of the awful things coming.
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- Hana Fronkova
- 05-24-22
Not my cup of coffee
I you are member of LGBTQ+ comunity than this book is for you. It is a story about 2 russian jewish girls (cousins) falling in love. I gave it 3 stars because some of the story has interesting info from that era. It is set i New York city at the beginning of 20th century.
The author also narrates the book and it’s awful.
Her voice is so monotonous.
I didn’t enjoy this book at all and my standards aren’t high at all.
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- Kelly
- 11-25-13
great historical fiction with a lesbian twist
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I would recommend this book to anyone who is into historical fiction, as this gives great insight into the experiences of immigrants in the early 1900's NYC as well as the oppression of Jews in Russian and elsewhere during that time period
What was one of the most memorable moments of Beyond the Pale?
the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire was as memorable as it was upsetting and difficult to read, though wonderfully written. Also the moments detailing the Pograms in Russia were painfully real, beautifully written and so tragic.Through her narration and writing you truly felt right there in the midst of the action, and you mourned the losses of loved ones right along with the main protagonist.
What about Elana Dykewomon’s performance did you like?
It was so incredibly authentic... these stories could have very well been her own stories that she is passing on to me, the listener
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I was in tears toward the end, the factory fire... I challenge you to make it through that part of the book (after reading all of the events leading up to it) with a dry eye
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4 people found this helpful
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- Susie
- 10-23-13
Leaving the Safety—and Danger—of Home
When I first read “Beyond the Pale” I realized it had been a long time since I’d read any fiction with such scope and authority. Entire towns, entire histories brought to life.
What Dykewomon does so well is vividly animate the social geography of Russian Jews during the progroms; the experience of leaving the homeland, and of labor solidarity; and finding sexual identity in the New World.
Dykewomon reads her own work so beautifully, you’ll feel like she’s telling you the story spontaneously in your ear, dishing the dirt on the characters in the neighborhood.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Barbara Ruth
- 08-08-18
Beyond the Pale -
I am so glad Elana narrated her book. No one else could have done it justice.
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- Karen
- 11-23-13
Love the story / performance mixed
I read this book years ago when it was first published, and I loved it then, and I love it now. Elana Dykewoman captures something essential about the immigrant experience - the cultural and political and emotional worlds they experienced, including unbearable trauma and tremendous joy. At the same time, her main characters are navigating the dynamics of belonging and exile and making new home in relation to learning how to be women-loving-women in a world where there is hardly even language and only the barest beginnings of community for them. It is about family and loyalty and being true to yourself in a changing world. And beautifully written.
That said... having an author-read book is always a bit risky. Elana Dykewoman gets some things absolutely right. She has the Yiddish inflection and expressions and pronunciation that are absolutely required for the characters' voices to feel authentic. What she doesn't have is voice acting ability to create characters whose voices sound different on the recording. So there were times when dialogue that would be clear visually on the page became confusing when listing - hard to know who was speaking. Especially where there are changes in who is narrating. Also, there were far more than the usual number of editing glitches - not a huge deal, but noticeable.
Because this book is probably thought of as "niche", I imagine there may not have been a substantial budget for hiring voice talent - so I'm glad Dykewoman made it happen anyway. Revisiting this story in a new way was wonderful, despite the less-than-ideal recording.
It is a very moving and difficult and beautiful story. Well worth it.
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2 people found this helpful