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A Woman of Endurance
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Tracey Leigh
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Combining the haunting power of Toni Morrison’s Beloved with the evocative atmosphere of Phillippa Gregory’s A Respectable Trade, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa’s groundbreaking novel illuminates a little discussed aspect of history—the Puerto Rican Atlantic Slave Trade—witnessed through the experiences of Pola, an African captive used as a breeder to bear more slaves.
A Woman of Endurance, set in nineteenth-century Puerto Rican plantation society, follows Pola, a deeply spiritual African woman who is captured and later sold for the purpose of breeding future slaves. The resulting babies are taken from her as soon as they are born. Pola loses the faith that has guided her and becomes embittered and defensive. The dehumanizing violence of her life almost destroys her. But this is not a novel of defeat but rather one of survival, regeneration, and reclamation of common humanity.
Readers are invited to join Pola in her journey to healing. From the sadistic barbarity of her first experiences, she moves on to receive compassion and support from a revitalizing new community. Along the way, she learns to recognize and embrace the many faces of love—a mother’s love, a daughter’s love, a sister’s love, a love of community, and the self-love that she must recover before she can offer herself to another. It is ultimately, a novel of the triumph of the human spirit even under the most brutal of conditions.
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What listeners say about A Woman of Endurance
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Nano
- 2023-03-16
RIVETING
This is a heart wrenching story of slavery in the mid-1800s which I believe everybody should read; history offers the opportunity to teach us what not to do or support. The story strengthens ones compassion and empathy for a race of people who have suffered beyond our imagination. It is simply unfathomable that human beings could be so unbelievably cruel to others; it is beyond my comprehension, is terrifying and saddens my soul to think people like that still exist in our society. It begs the question of whether humanity as a whole, will ever learn that each of us is as precious and valuable as another, despite our differences of color, race, ethnicity, religion or not, gender, gender expression, wealth, opinion etc. I believe as a human I am no better and no less than anybody on this planet, but recognize my privilege as a white educated middle class woman, In this life, I am just one of the lucky ones and that is just sad and unacceptable. I would love to see this story turned into a television series. Despite the brutality the slaves suffered, it is a story depicting how strength, perseverance, love and faith are necessary components of survival in the most brutal of human conditions. It is a story that reminds us of how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. May whoever our/your god or belief system is, help us all. Thank you to this amazing author for your work and to the narrator who did such a wonderful job!
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Performance
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- Bonnie
- 2023-03-12
Endurance is an understatement
Wow! What a powerful story. I wish that the Spanish parts were translated in English. Regardless, it was a painful but beautiful story.
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