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Grand Avenue [Unabridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Joy Fielding (Author), Kymberly Dakin (Narrator)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)

Price: $89.95 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
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Audio, Cassette, Unabridged, Audiobook $89.95  

Book Description

May 2002
For four women, the bonds of friendship had sustained them for twenty years -- through marriage, motherhood, and murder....

Looking back, it seemed like paradise: lives filled with the blessings of friendship, marriage, children, and career. For twenty years, four friends -- Chris, Barbara, Susan, and Vicki -- shared everything through good times and bad, and faced the challenges of life and love head-on.

Now, one sits alone to ponder the strange twists and turns of fate and circumstance.

Now, she must sift through each of their pasts to discover exactly what went wrong, how dreams turned to nightmares as friendships faded and lives were destroyed.

Chris lived a contented life in her modest house with her growing family. It was her husband who never seemed satisfied -- and who expected her to sacrifice her happiness to cater to his whims.

Barbara prided herself on staying beautiful for her handsome professor husband. But it wasn't enough to keep him from dallying with his nubile young students.

Susan finished college after motherhood and became a successful magazine editor. But a casual flirtation threatened to shatter the harmonious life she had worked so hard to build.

Vicki's achievements as a stellar and sought-after trial lawyer came at a huge personal price: a marriage and family that always took second place.

Going deep inside the minds and hearts of her utterly believable characters, Joy Fielding unlocks the secrets hidden within even the closest relationships. This powerful and mesmerizing novel explores the bonds women forge, the nature of friendship, and the meaning of unconditional love.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling author Fielding (The First Time) takes a trip down memory lane in this romantic drama with a thriller twist at the end. Four women friends meet as young mothers living on Grand Avenue in an upscale Cincinnati suburb and, over the course of 23 years, collectively go through a whole range of human experience. In creating Chris, who's trapped in an abusive marriage, Fielding effectively captures the private terror of a woman psychologically and physically damaged by her husband. Vicki, the hotshot lawyer who cheats on her husband, is a workaholic mom whose family takes second place to corporate success. Susan embodies the modern mother who tries to do right by her family, but faces the challenge of a recalcitrant adolescent daughter and, later, sexual harassment on the job. Former beauty queen Barbara is a looks-obsessed woman whose devotion to countless plastic surgeries blinds her to the qualities that make a relationship work. With her usual page-turning flair, Fielding churns out a swiftly paced story that acquires real suspense when one of the characters meets a surprising fate and the meaning of friendship is put to the ultimate test. The tense denouement resolves into a tear-inducing finale, manna to Fielding's fans. 11-city author tour; teaser chapter to run in the mass market edition of The First Time.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Four neighbors from Grand Avenue, an upscale suburban Cincinnati street, meld friendship, careers, marriage, and motherhood as their lives unfold and entwine over two decades. Fielding, who has been characterized both as a romance writer and "the maven of domestic terror," mixes the affection among women friends (husbands in the book are hardly romance material) with the relentlessness of abuse and the suspense of murder in this enveloping page-turner. Forewarning that either Barbara (aging beauty queen), Chris (abused wife), Susan (doctor's wife/college student), or Vicki (lawyer) will be murdered sets a tone of unease that compels attention. Actress Kymberly Dakin is accomplished at reading the voices of women, girls, and men in various moods. Recommended for romance collections and where Fielding is popular.
Judith Robinson, Univ. at Buffalo, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Audio Cassette
  • Publisher: Sound Library; Unabridged edition (May 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0792725565
  • ISBN-13: 978-0792725565
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.7 x 2.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,175,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joy Fielding is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Still Life, Charley's Web, Heartstopper, See Jane Run, and other acclaimed novels. She divides her time between Toronto and Palm Beach, Florida.

 

Customer Reviews

78 Reviews
5 star:
 (44)
4 star:
 (24)
3 star:
 (8)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (78 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A real page-turner!, March 22, 2002
This review is from: Grand Avenue (Hardcover)
A group of reading buddies recommended this book in an online book club and since I was in the mood for something what I thought would be light and trivial ... I grabbed it at the library without a second thought. This book should have come with a warning. You cannot just put this book down to do chores or go to work. This book must be consumed in matter of hours because Fielding keeps you guessing throughout the whole book. Just when you think you have one of the characters figured out, you find another twist and turn.

A group of four women who live on Grand Avenue in Cincinnati formed deep friendships with one another over the years as their daughters grew up. There is Barbara, a former beauty queen, intent on keeping her marriage with her professor husband. There is Susan who was juggling college and motherhood. There was Chris who sacrificed everything to keep her family together while bowing to her husband's whims and maniac jealousy. There was Vicki, the superwoman who is also a top lawyer in Cincinnati. These women are very different from one another but the bond of attachment they have for one another is deep and solid ~~ till circumstances changed their lives.

This is a wonderful book about friendships between women and how despite everything it changes over the years. It is also a fast-paced novel ~~ best to be savored in one day. So I highly recommend you take the day off, turn the phone off the hook, lock the doors, send the kids to a babysitter ~~ and it'll be worth that couple of hours just to read this book. It is a fast-paced page-turner. One that I would read again! It's not a cheesy book either ~~ it is written with real emotion and passion.

So what are you waiting for? I wouldn't hesitate to pick this book up!

3/22/02

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, May 28, 2002
This review is from: Grand Avenue (Hardcover)
I started this book on a plane from Dallas to Los Angeles and continued reading to it's conclusion on a 15 1/2 hour flight to Melbourne--it was a great plane book ! I ran the gamut of emotions from terrible anger at an abusive husband, sympathy at some of the womens problems and joy at their closeness .It's an easy to read book, nicely written by a female who obviously enjoys a good relationship with other women. Don't want to give any of the plot away by going into details !
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book of women's friendships, February 4, 2002
This review is from: Grand Avenue (Hardcover)
This is the second book Joy Fielding has written that diverts from her usual suspense fare. The first, THE FIRST TIME was one of my favorite reads of 2000. With GRAND AVENUE she proves that her foray into women's fiction wasn't just a fluke. She joins the ranks of such authors as Barbara Delinsky, Kristin Hannah, Luanne Rice, and Patricia Gaffney as the one of the best the genre has to offer.

Living on Grand Avenue in Cincinnati, Barbara, Susan, Chris, and Vicki met over 20 years ago when their daughters were just toddlers. Calling themselves "The Grand Dames," they became fast friends over the years despite their varied personalities and occupations. A number of social issues are addressed as housewife Chris deals with an abusive spouse, former beauty queen Barbara deals with infertility, magazine editor Susan deals with sexual harassment in the workplace, and attorney Vicki's drive for success affects her marriage and family.

As the years go by, their friendship goes through changes as everyday life seems to get in the way. But when one of the four is threatened the other three are there for her. When tragedy strikes, friendship takes on a whole new meaning.

I literally could not put this book down, devouring it in one sitting, and finishing at 3 AM in the morning! I've read quite a few wonderful "women's friendship" books in the last couple years (those by Patricia Gaffney, Robyn Carr, Mary Alice Monroe to name a few) and this one is definitely in the same caliber as these other fine books. If you like books dealing with families, women's issues, and friendship, don't miss GRAND AVENUE. I highly recommend it.

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