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  • Things Past Telling

  • A Novel
  • Written by: Sheila Williams
  • Narrated by: Robin Miles
  • Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (15 ratings)

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Things Past Telling

Written by: Sheila Williams
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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Publisher's Summary

“This is a truly character-driven novel that explores how people define themselves, the creation of family and home, and the importance of memory and language. . . . Fans of historical epics won’t be able to put this book down.”—Historical Novel Society

“Emotionally satisfying. . . . A remarkable character portrait.”—Publishers Weekly

The author of The Secret Women tells the story of a brave and enduring woman as indomitable as Ernest Gaines’ legendary Miss Jane Pittman, in a breathtaking novel that combines the epic romance and adventure of Outlander, the sweeping drama of Roots, and the haunting historical power of Barracoon.

Things Past Telling is a remarkable historical epic that charts one unforgettable woman’s journey across an ocean of years as vast as the Atlantic that will forever separate her from her homeland.

Born in West Africa in the mid-eighteenth century, Maryam Prescilla Grace—a.k.a “Momma Grace” will live a long, wondrous life marked by hardship, oppression, opportunity, and love. Though she will be “gifted” various names, her birth name is known to her alone. Over the course of 100-plus years, she survives capture, enslavement by several property owners, the Atlantic crossing when she is only eleven years of age, and a brief stint as a pirate’s ward, acting as both a spy and a translator.

Maryam learns midwifery from a Caribbean-born wise woman, whose “craft” combines curated techniques and medicines from African, Indigenous, and European women. Those midwifery skills allow her to sometimes transcend the racial and class barriers of her enslavement, as she walks the razor’s edge trying to balance the lives and health of her own people with the cruel economic mandates of the slave holders, who view infants born in bondage not as flesh-and-blood children but as investment property.

Throughout her triumphant and tumultuous life Maryam gains and loses her homeland, her family, her culture, her husband, her lovers, and her children. Yet as the decades pass, this tenacious woman never loses her sense of self.

Inspired by a 112-year-old woman the author discovered in an 1870 U.S. Federal census report for Ohio, loosely based on the author’s real-life female ancestors, spanning more than a hundred years, from the mid-eighteen-century to the end of America’s Civil War, and spanning across the globe, from what is now southern Nigeria to the islands of the Caribbean to North America and the land bordering the Ohio River, Things Past Telling is a breathtaking story of a past that lives on in all of us, and a life that encompasses the best—and worst—of our humanity.

©2022 Sheila Williams (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers
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What listeners say about Things Past Telling

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Storytelling at its best

This is a story about a single woman living many lives. It’s well thought out and more of old woman in a rock ing chair telling rather than a story.

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Loved it

This book was beautifully narrated. It was an incredible journey I recommend 100%. I learned a lot and was touched by the resilience and love of family - in whatever Color and place was visited

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Incredible

What a beautiful story of resilience, spirit and tragedy. Descriptive prose that allow the reader to visualize places and emotions. Wonderfully narrated.

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Tragic hopeful heart breaking story

This is a lovely book well written and beautifully read .
The story of slavery is a tragically familiar one but this book gives texture, and love and hope .

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A compelling story

I could not stop listening to this story of resilience and passion for life. it was both heartbreaking and inspiring.

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Terrible time in history beautifully told.

A touching story of slavery, class, midwifery, families, relationships and grief. The narrator has the perfect voice and cadence to keep the reader engaged and listening from start to finish.

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fabulous!

this story was very good, I love hearing about people who persevere slavery injustice

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Things Past Telling

This was a lovely written story. Filled with heartache, yet also filled with history love and beauty.

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