nonfiction – Always With a Book

k2reader April 6, 2024

Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls by Kathleen Hale #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Grover Press, #partner, for the finished copy of Slenderman in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my collection. Publisher: Grover Press Published: August 16, 2022 Summary: The first full account of the Slenderman stabbing, a true crime narrative of mental illness, the American judicial system, the trials of adolescence, and the power of the internet The Slenderman stabbing of May 31, 2014, in the…

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k2reader March 29, 2024

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you SimonBooksBuddies / Simon and Schuster, #partner, for the finished copy of The Many Lives of Mama Love in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my collection. Publisher: Simon & Schuster / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: February 27, 2024 / August 1, 2023 Summary: New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot caller…

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k2reader March 28, 2024

This Isn’t Going to End Well by Daniel Wallace #bookreview #audiobook

Thank Algonquin Books, #partner for the finished copy of This Isn’t Going to End Well in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Algonquin Books / Hachette Audio Published: March 26, 2024 – Paperback Release Summary: In this powerful memoir, the bestselling author of Big Fish tries to come to terms with the life and death of his multi-talented longtime friend and brother-in-law, who…

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k2reader March 12, 2024

Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult by Michelle Dowd #bookreview #audiobook #blogtour

Thank Algonquin Books, #partner for the finished copy of Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Algonquin Books / Hachette Audio Published: February 27, 2024 – Paperback Release Summary: A moving, heartbreaking, and lyrical true story of the author’s escape from an apocalyptic cult—and the survival skills that led to her freedom. My family prepared…

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k2reader February 11, 2024

The Amish Wife by Gregg Olsen #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and Jennifer Musico, PR / Thomas Mercer #partner, for the finished copy of The Amish Wife in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer / Brilliance Audio Published: January 1, 2024 Summary: The #1 New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author Gregg Olsen solves a murder among the Amish and reveals the conspiracy to keep it a secret in…

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k2reader January 22, 2024

Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Pegasus Crime Published: September 6, 2022 Summary: A new, fascinating account of the life of Agatha Christie from celebrated literary and cultural historian Lucy Worsley. “Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was.” Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was “just” an ordinary housewife,…

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k2reader January 8, 2024

The Palace by Gareth Russell #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Atria Books #partner, for the finished copy of The Palace in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: December 5, 2023 Summary: The popular and “scrupulous historian” (Daily Mail, London) Gareth Russell presents five hundred years of British history—from King Henry VIII to Queen Elizabeth II—as seen through the doorways of the…

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k2reader December 11, 2023

Trail of the Lost by Andrea Lankford #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC and @NovelSuspects & Hachette Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Trail of the Lost in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Hachette Books / Hachette Audio Published: August 22, 2023 Summary: From an award-winning former law enforcement park ranger and investigator, this female-driven true crime adventure follows the author’s quest to find missing hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail by pairing up…

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k2reader November 26, 2023

Lay Then to Rest by Laurah Norton #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC and @NovelSuspects & Hachette Books, #partner, for the finished copy of Lay Them to Rest in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Hachette Books / Hachette Audio Published: October 17, 2023 Summary: A fascinating deep dive into the dark world of forensic science as experts team up to solve the identity of an unknown woman named “Ina Jane Doe,” exploring the rapidly evolving…

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k2reader November 19, 2023

Spare by Prince Harry #bookreview #audiobook

I borrowed this audiobook from the library. Publisher: Random House Audio Published: January 10, 2023 Summary: It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would…

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k2reader November 13, 2023

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann #bookreview

Thank you Doubleday #partner, for the finished copy of Killers of the Flower Moon in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Doubleday (Paperback movie tie-in version – Vintage) Published: October 10, 2023 (Originally Published April 2017) Summary: In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles,…

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k2reader October 11, 2023

Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond by Henry Winkler #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Netgalley / Macmillan Audio, for the ALC and Celadon Books, #partner for the advanced copy of Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Celadon Books / Macmillan Audio Published: October 31, 2023 Summary: From Emmy-award winning actor, author, comedian, producer, and director Henry Winkler, a deeply thoughtful memoir of the lifelong effects of stardom and the struggle to become whole. Henry Winkler,…

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k2reader August 17, 2023

All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, #partner, for an advanced copy of All the Living and the Dead in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: April 12, 2022 Summary: A deeply compelling exploration of the death industry and the people―morticians, detectives, crime scene cleaners, embalmers, executioners―who work in it and what led them there. We…

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k2reader July 24, 2023

Searching for Savanna by Mona Gable #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Atria Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Searching for Savanna in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: April 25, 2023 Summary: A gripping and illuminating investigation into the disappearance of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind when she was eight months pregnant, highlighting the shocking epidemic of violence against Native American women in America and…

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k2reader March 25, 2023

Memoir Madness 2023: 4 mini-reviews #memoirs #bookreviews #audiobooks

This month I participated in MEMOIR MADNESS 2023 – a challenge over on Instagram where we focused on reading memoirs throughout the month of March. It’s a little play on March Madness and I have loved participating in this. I love reading memoirs – it’s one of my favorite forms of nonfiction that I try to read throughout the year. So far, I’ve read 3 this month, but you are…

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k2reader February 25, 2023

A Place Called Home by David Ambroz #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Hachette Audio, #partner for the ALC of A Place Called Home in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Hachette Audio Published: September 13, 2022 Summary: There are millions of homeless children in America today and in A Place Called Home, award-winning child welfare advocate David Ambroz writes about growing up homeless in New York for eleven years and his subsequent years in foster care, offering a window into what…

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k2reader February 7, 2023

Atomic Habits by James Clear #bookreview #audiobook #nonfiction

I purchased this book and audiobook for my own personal collection. Publisher: Avery / Penguin Audio Published: October 16, 2018 Summary: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving – every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny…

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k2reader January 24, 2023

The Science of Murder by Carla Valentine #bookreview #nonfiction

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Sourcebooks Published: May 31, 2022 Summary: Discover the science of forensics through Agatha Christie’s novels Agatha Christie is the bestselling novelist of all time, and nearly every story she ever wrote involves one―or, more commonly, several―dead bodies. And the cause of death, the motives behind violent crimes, the clues that inevitably are left behind, and the people who put…

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k2reader December 11, 2022

The Ambassador: Joseph P. Kennedy at the Court of St. James’s, 1938-1940 by Susan Ronald #bookreview #nonfiction #audiobook #backlistreview

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, #partner for the advanced copy of The Ambassador in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Random House Audio Published: August 3, 2021 Summary: Acclaimed biographer Susan Ronald reveals the truth about Joseph P. Kennedy’s deeply controversial tenure as Ambassador to Great Britain on the eve of World War II. On February 18, 1938,…

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k2reader December 6, 2022

When a Killer Calls by John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you William Morrow Books, #partner for the finished copy of When a Killer Calls in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Dey Street Books / Harper Audio Published: February 1, 2022 Summary: A Haunting Story of Murder, Criminal Profiling, and Justice in a Small Town From John Douglas—the legendary FBI criminal profiler, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the Netflix…

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k2reader November 28, 2022

Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book and audiobook for my own personal collection. Publisher: Flatiron Books / Macmillan Audio Published: November 1, 2022 Summary: In an extraordinary story that only he could tell, Matthew Perry takes readers onto the soundstage of the most successful sitcom of all time while opening up about his private struggles with addiction. Candid, self-aware, and told with his trademark humor, Perry vividly details his lifelong battle…

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k2reader November 27, 2022

Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe #bookreview #nonfiction

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Doubleday Books Published: June 28, 2022 Summary: From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, twelve enthralling stories of skulduggery and intrigue by one of the most decorated journalists of our time. Patrick Radden Keefe has garnered prizes ranging from the National Magazine Award to the Orwell Prize to the National Book Critics Circle Award for his…

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k2reader November 22, 2022

Con/Artist by Tony Tetro #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC and @NovelSuspects & Hachette Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Con/Artist in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Hachette Books / Hachette Audio Published: November 22, 2022 Summary: The world’s most renowned art forger reveals the secrets behind his decades of painting like the masters—exposing an art world that is far more corrupt than we ever knew while providing an art…

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k2reader November 2, 2022

Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit & Obsession Edited by Sarah Weinman #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased both this book and audiobook for my own collection. Publisher: Ecco / Harper Audio Published: July 28, 2020 Summary: A brilliant anthology of modern true-crime writing that illustrates the appeal of this powerful and popular genre, edited and curated by Sarah Weinman, the award-winning author of The Real Lolita. The appeal of true-crime stories has never been higher. With podcasts like My Favorite Murder and In the Dark, bestsellers like I’ll Be…

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k2reader September 27, 2022

Elizabeth and Margaret by Andrew Morton #bookreview #audiobook #backlistbook

Thank you Grand Central Publishing, #partner for the finished copy of Elizabeth and Margaret in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio Published: March 30, 2021 Summary: Perfect for fans of The Crown, this captivating biography from a New York Times best-selling author follows Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Margaret as they navigate life in the royal spotlight. They…

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k2reader August 17, 2022

Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks: A Son’s Discovery of His Italian Heritage by Giovanni Ruscitti #bookfeature #authorinterview

Thank you GetRedPrBooks #partner, for the advanced copy of Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks in exchange for this feature. Today, I’m happy to be featuring this book, which published yesterday. Please see what others have said about the book and read an interview that was done with the author. Publisher: Radius Book Group Published: August 16, 2022 Summary: Cobblestones, Conversations and Corks is a passionate and deeply moving story…

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k2reader July 27, 2022

The Kitchen Is Closed: And Other Benefits of Being Old by Sandra Butler #bookreview

Thank you to GetRedPR, #partner, for an advanced copy of The Kitchen Is Closed: And Other Benefits of Being Old in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Both/And Productions Published: July 26, 2022 Summary: In her eighties, Sandra Butler does not identify as elderly. Or mature. She’s neither plucky nor a burden, and she’s not over any hills. She’s old, and she’s ready to reclaim that word. In this…

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k2reader July 18, 2022

Bad City by Paul Pringle #bookreview

Thank you Celadon Books, #partner, for the finished copy of Bad City in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Celadon Books Published: July 19, 2022 Summary: “Pringle’s fast-paced book is a master class in investigative journalism… when institutions collude to protect one another, reporting may be our last best hope for accountability.” —The New York Times For fans of Spotlight and Catch and Kill comes a nonfiction thriller about corruption and betrayal radiating…

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k2reader July 11, 2022

The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Riverhead Books, #partner for the paperback copy of The Beauty in Breaking in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Riverhead Books / Penguin Audio Published: Print – June 29, 2021 (First published July 2020) / Audio – July 7 2020 Summary: An emergency room physician explores how a life of service to others taught her how to heal herself. Michele…

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k2reader June 23, 2022

When the Moon Turns to Blood by Leah Sottile #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC and @NovelSuspects & Twelve, #partner, for the finished copy of When The Moon Turns to Blood in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Twelve Books / Hachette Audio Published: June 21, 2022 Summary: WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD examines the culture of end times paranoia and a trail of mysterious deaths surrounding former beauty queen Lori Vallow and her husband, grave digger…

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k2reader May 18, 2022

Review: Bomb Shelter: Love, time & Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott (audio)

Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Print – ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Audio – ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio Summary: From the bestselling author of I Miss You When I Blink comes a poignant and powerful new memoir that tackles the big questions of life, death, and existential fear with humor and hope. A lifelong worrier, Philpott always kept an eye out…

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k2reader April 27, 2022

Review: The First Kennedys by Neal Thompson

Publisher: Mariner Books Published: February 22, 2022 Source: Hardcover via Publisher Summary: Based on genealogical breakthroughs and previously unreleased records, this is the first book to explore the inspiring story of the poor Irish refugee couple who escaped famine, created a life together in a city hostile to Irish, immigrants, and Catholics, and launched the Kennedy dynasty in America. Their Irish ancestry was a hallmark of the Kennedys’ initial…

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k2reader April 26, 2022

Review: Unmasked by Paul Holes

Publisher: Celadon Books Published: April 26, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher Summary: From the detective who found The Golden State Killer, a memoir of investigating America’s toughest cold cases and the rewards–and toll–of a life solving crime. I order another bourbon, neat. This is the drink that will flip the switch. I don’t even know how I got here, to this place, to this point. Something is happening to…

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k2reader April 5, 2022

Review: Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones (audio)

Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Avid Reader Press / Audio – ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio Summary: From Chloé Cooper Jones—Pulitzer Prize finalist, philosophy professor, Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant recipient—a groundbreaking memoir about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen. “I am…

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k2reader March 4, 2022

Review: Sanctuary: A Memoir by Emily Rapp Black (audio)

Publisher: Random House / Random House Audio Published: January 19, 2021 Source: Print – Personal Copy / Audio via library Summary: From the New York Times best-selling author of The Still Point of the Turning World comes an incisive memoir about how she came to question and redefine the concept of resilience after the trauma of her first child’s death. “Congratulations on the resurrection of your life”, a colleague wrote to Emily Rapp…

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k2reader February 24, 2022

Review: Enough Already by Valerie Bertinelli (audio)

Publisher: Mariner Books / Harper Audio Published: January 18, 2022 Source: Print – Hardcopy via Bibliolifestyle / Audio via Library Summary: Beloved actress and New York Times best-selling author Valerie Bertinelli returns with a heartfelt look at turning sixty, the futility of finding happiness in numbers on a scale, learning to love herself the way she is today, and tips for a healthier outlook on life. Valerie Bertinelli shares an inspiring…

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k2reader November 17, 2021

Review: Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang (audio)

Publisher: Doubleday Books / Random House Audio Published: September 7, 2021 Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Audio via Library Summary: An incandescent memoir from an astonishing new talent, Beautiful Country puts listeners in the shoes of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world. “Extraordinary…. Consider this remarkable memoir a new classic.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly…

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k2reader October 22, 2021

Review: The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams (audio)

Publisher: Celadon Books / Macmillan Audio Published: October 19, 2021 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Celadon Books / Audio – Borrowed via library Summary: In a world that seems so troubled, how do we hold on to hope? Looking at the headlines–a global pandemic, the worsening climate crisis, political upheaval–it can be hard to feel optimistic. And yet hope has never been more desperately needed. In this urgent…

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k2reader September 19, 2021

Review: Forever Young by Hayley Mills (audio)

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio Published: September 7, 2021 Source: Print – Finished Copy via Grand Central / Audio – ALC via Hachette Audio Summary: Iconic actress Hayley Mills shares personal memories from her storied childhood, growing up in a famous acting family and becoming a Disney child star, trying to grow up in a world that wanted her to stay forever young. The daughter of acclaimed…

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k2reader September 11, 2021

Review: The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: September 10, 2019 Source: Publisher Summary: Over the past eighteen years, monumental literature has been published about 9/11, from Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower to The 9/11 Commission Report. But one perspective has been missing up to this point—a 360-degree account of the day told through firsthand. Now, in The Only Plane in the Sky, Garrett Graff tells the story of the day…

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k2reader August 10, 2021

Review: The New Normal: A Roadmap to Resilience in the Pandemic Era by Jennifer Ashton, M.D., M.S.

Publisher: William Morrow Published: February 9, 2021 Source: Publisher Summary: From Dr. Jennifer Ashton—the Chief Medical Correspondent at ABC News covering breaking medical news for Good Morning America and GMA3: What You Need to Know—comes a doctor’s guide to finding resilience in the time of COVID, while staying safe and sane in a rapidly changing world. In March 2020, “normal” life changed, perhaps forever. In its place we were…

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k2reader July 28, 2021

Review: Heavy by Kiese Laymon (print/audio)

Publisher: Scribner / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: October 16, 2018 Source: Print: Personal copy via Literati Book Club / Audio: Library Summary: In this powerful and provocative memoir, genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon explores what the weight of a lifetime of secrets, lies, and deception does to a black body, a black family, and a nation teetering on the brink of moral collapse. Kiese Laymon is a…

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k2reader June 23, 2021

Review: The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore

Publisher: Sourcebooks Published: June 22, 2021 Source: Publisher Summary: From the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Radium Girls comes another dark and dramatic but ultimately uplifting tale of a forgotten woman whose inspirational journey sparked lasting change for women’s rights and exposed injustices that still resonate today. 1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is…

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