Women Survival Stories

Actress and humorist Annabelle Gurwitch returns with I See You Made an Effort, a book of essays so wickedly funny it may make you forget your last birthday. Not one to shy away from the grisly realities of middle age, the “slyly subversive” ( O: The Oprah Magazine) Gurwitch confronts the various indignities faced by femmes d’un certain âge with candor, wit, and a healthy dose of hilarious self-deprecation.

Amelia Earhart captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world when she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by airplane. This audiobook, her personal account of the historic flight, sparkles with her high-spirited charm and adventurous determination.

In 1934, at age 51, Elsa’s sheltered life in Mussolini’s Fascist Italy changes remarkably when she and her husband, Paul, purchase the Pensione Alexandria overlooking the Mediterranean in Naples. When war breaks out in Europe and Italy sides with Germany, Elsa and her family’s fears are quickly realized. The growing sense that the atrocities in German-occupied lands will soon occur in Italy forces them to sell their pensione and attempt a desperate journey to safety in America.

In the early years of the 18th century, a band of French scientists set off on a daring, decade-long expedition to South America in a race to measure the precise shape of the earth. Like Lewis and Clark's exploration of the American West, their incredible mission revealed the mysteries of a little-known continent to a world hungry for discovery. Scaling 16,000-foot mountains in the Peruvian Andes, and braving jaguars, pumas, insects, and vampire bats in the jungle, the scientists barely completed their mission.

In 1934, at the age of fourteen, Colette Brull-Ulmann knew that she wanted to become a pediatrician. By 1942, Brull-Ulman and her family had become registered Jews under the ever-increasing statutes against them enacted by Petain's government. Her father had been arrested and interned at the Drancy detention camp and Brull-Ulman had become an intern at the Rothschild Hospital.

Growing up in Paris, the daughter of a German mother and an Irish father, Svenja O'Donnell knew little of her family's German past. In this transporting and illuminating audiobook, the award-winning journalist vividly reconstructs the story of her grandmother Inge's life from the rise of the Nazis through the brutal postwar years, from falling in love with a man who was sent to the Eastern Front just after she became pregnant with his child, to spearheading her family's flight as the Red Army closed in, her young daughter in tow.

Never rich enough. Never connected enough. Never feeling like she fit in. That’s how Emme felt when it came to the incredible wealth and privilege of the hunter/jumper world. But she loved the horses. So, for a time, she tried to compete—graduating law school and passing the bar exam, traveling in the “right” social circles, and getting engaged to the entitled son of the CEO of one of the fastest-growing hedge fund companies. For a time, the façade worked...until she couldn’t pretend that this was the life she wanted. It was time to make a change. A major change.

1 Night. 6 Women. 1 Jail cell. In this lyrical masterpiece by 2020 Sonia Sanchez-Langston Hughes award- winner Diana Tokaji, we hear the intimate stories of strangers, locked together for one long night. Meet: Baby, Alexa, Richmond, The Social Worker, Mudd - a teen, a divorcee, a sex worker, a social worker, a pregnant mom - and our grey-haired narrator who was just assaulted by the police.

Car-En, a ringstation anthropologist on her first Earth field assignment, observes a Viking-like village in the Harz mountains. As Car-En secretly observes the Happdal villagers, she begins to see them as more than research subjects (especially Esper, a handsome bowhunter). When Esper’s sister is taken by an otherwordly sword-wielding white-haired man, she can no longer stand by as a passive witness. Knowing the decision might end her career, she cuts off communication with her advisor and pursues the abductor into the mountains.

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Narrated by her son, Samia: A Story of Survival, Love, and Legacy offers an intimate portrayal of a mother’s strength and the impact of her journey on those she loved.

Prolific cookbook author Brigit Binns's coming-of-age memoir—costarring her alcoholic actor father Edward Binns and glamorous but viciously smart narcissistic mother—reveals how simultaneous privilege and profound neglect lead Brigit to seek comfort in the kitchen, eventually allowing her to find some sense of self-worth. Peppered with humor and seasoned with optimism, Brigit's story is an entertaining tribute to female resilience.

A teenage girl, guilty only of being Jewish, is saved from the fate that awaits her family and hidden by her parents' Catholic friends—who pay the ultimate price for their bravery. So much was risked and so much lost but the legacy of their courage and trust lives on through the surviving generations. Now, at last, their story can be told . . .

In 1993, Donna Palomba was raped by a masked assailant in her own home. Yet, her story is more than a victim's tale of physical and emotional recovery. It is a story of one woman's hunt for justice while fending off attacks by institutions designed to defend and protect her - the police department, the local government, and a community clinging to an outrageous claim that Donna had invented the crime to cover up a sexual affair.

Cancer Heroes is a collection of stories of hope, healing, and profound transformation. Nine women share brave and intimate accounts of their unique cancer experiences, from the shock of diagnosis and anxiety of cancer treatment to the fear of recurrence and the pain of loss. You will find messages of hope and healing from a community of voices of those who have experienced the worst cancer has to offer and, in the process, found inner strength they didn’t know they had.

Lola Montez was one of the most celebrated and notorious women of the nineteenth century. A raven-haired Andalusian who performed her scandalous “Spider Dance” in the greatest performance halls across Europe, she dazzled and beguiled all who met her with her astonishing beauty, sexuality, and shocking disregard for propriety. But Lola was an impostor, a self-invention. Born Eliza Gilbert, the beautiful Irish wild child escaped a stifling marriage and reimagined herself as Lola the Sevillian flamenco dancer and noblewoman.

On a rainy day in July 1999, 21 young people lost their lives in the infamous Saxetenbach Gorge Swiss Canyoning Disaster. I should have been one of them. The flash flood swept down the mountain with impossible force, sweeping the victims’ bodies miles downstream. It would take days to recover them all. Many were only identifiable from dental records. But I survived. From little girl lost to lioness. Brave Enough Now is a gripping story of courage, survival, friendship, and transformation.

All Roads Lead Home, Shipwrecked off the 7th Continent unveils an entertaining behind-the-scenes look at Lisa's life, world travels, and heroic, death defying journey on and off of the Explorer.

On June 19, 2001, Ryan Corbin, grandson of Pat Boone and son of Lindy Boone Michaelis, accidentally stepped through a skylight and fell three stories onto a cement floor. As Ryan lingered between life and death in intensive care, Pat and Lindy decided to take action in a big way: They went on Larry King Live, shared their faith, and asked millions of TV viewers to pray for Ryan. Heaven Hears is the amazing story of what happened next. You won't want to miss this story of tragedy and triumph from the Boone family. It's a story of the immovable faith of a mother, the incredible power of prayer, and the undeniable evidence that heaven hears us.

In "I Change Course," Kate offers a candid reflection on the power of choice and the beauty in every ordinary moment. Her story is both inspiring and entertaining, showing how embracing change with an open heart can lead to remarkable personal growth. With wisdom and humor, Kate Bean guides listeners through the process of rediscovering, reimagining, and rebuilding their lives after change. Whether you are facing your own crossroads or simply seeking inspiration, this memoir is a beacon of hope and a reminder of the transformative power of embracing life's uncertainties.