
A Family Garden
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Frank Zajaczkowski
About this listen
How can you turn down the last request of a dying friend? You can’t, even if it tears your world apart.
Chris Baker has wasted most of his life fearing emotional connections. Emptiness has become his comfort zone. And yes, there are painful reasons for his fears. But an unusual request from an estranged friend exposes his heart in the most difficult way possible…with the love he once betrayed.
When Chris agrees to reunite his friend’s grown son, Max, with his mother in British Columbia, he’s forced to confront the unresolved passions of their explosive affair that triggered her deportation years before. And though the drive to Canada may recall a few idyllic moments from the '60s, today’s road trip is a dangerous one as Chris and Max are chased by drug dealers and pursued by Max’s impetuous girlfriend.
All the while, Max keeps hidden his real motive for going to Canada and the treacherous getaway plan he has in mind.
Mature lovers. Young lovers. Hopes abandoned and dreams forsaken. A Family Garden transforms the journey North into a complex journey inward, where Chris and Max must find the courage to overcome their demons or lose forever the love they desperately need.
©2018 Frank Zajaczkowski (P)2018 Frank ZajaczkowskiListeners also enjoyed...
-
Driftwood
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Dutton
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Dutton
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Los Angeles, California: Clem Jasper is a trust fund kid with a world famous rock musician for a father. When he dies suddenly (playing ping pong) she discovers he's left her a strange legacy: a series of letters that take her on a mysterious road trip around California. Ignoring her aunt's suggestion that she pitch the trip as a reality show, she embarks on her own to discover just what it was that her father meant her to find. What secret could be so powerful that he had to die before telling her?
-
-
I cried with this one,
- By Angela on 08-16-23
By: Elizabeth Dutton
-
Summer Island
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty-four-year-old Ruby Bridge is a not-too-successful comedienne who uses her mother, a nationally-syndicated "moral and spiritual counselor" as the main fodder for her cynical, rather bitter humor. Her mother Nora, long divorced from Ruby's father, is a woman whose past is just about to catch up with her - in the form of blackmail by a former lover.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Lisa on 04-10-20
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Before He Finds Her
- By: Michael Kardos
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone in the quiet Jersey Shore town of Silver Bay knows the story: on a Sunday evening in September 1991, Ramsey Miller threw a blowout block party, then murdered his beautiful wife and three-year-old daughter. But everyone is wrong. The daughter got away. Now she is nearly eighteen and tired of living in secrecy. Under the name Melanie Denison, she has spent the last fifteen years in small-town West Virginia as part of the Witness Protection Program. She has never been allowed to travel, go to a school dance, or even have internet at home. Precautions must be taken at every turn, because Ramsey Miller was never caught and might still be looking for his daughter.
-
-
Riveting Mystery Glues-2-U for Hours
- By W Perry Hall on 02-09-15
By: Michael Kardos
-
Safe Haven
- By: Nicholas Sparks
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community..
-
-
This Was My First Nicolas Sparks Novel
- By C. Byrnes on 09-27-10
By: Nicholas Sparks
-
The Best of Me
- By: Nicholas Sparks
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this number one New York Times best-selling novel of first love and second chances, former high school sweethearts confront the painful truths of their past to build a promising future - together. In the spring of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in their small town in North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart.
-
-
Horribly depressing
- By L.W. on 10-18-11
By: Nicholas Sparks
-
Never Let You Go
- By: Chevy Stevens
- Narrated by: Rachel Fulginiti, Caitlin Davies
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash escaped into the night with her young daughter and left an abusive relationship. Her ex-husband, Andrew, was sent to jail and Lindsey started over with a new life. Now, Lindsey is older and wiser, with her own business and a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. When Andrew is finally released from prison, Lindsey believes she has cut all ties and left the past behind her. But she gets the sense that someone is watching her, tracking her every move.
-
-
Disappointed with ending
- By BonSue on 04-21-17
By: Chevy Stevens
-
Driftwood
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Dutton
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Dutton
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Los Angeles, California: Clem Jasper is a trust fund kid with a world famous rock musician for a father. When he dies suddenly (playing ping pong) she discovers he's left her a strange legacy: a series of letters that take her on a mysterious road trip around California. Ignoring her aunt's suggestion that she pitch the trip as a reality show, she embarks on her own to discover just what it was that her father meant her to find. What secret could be so powerful that he had to die before telling her?
-
-
I cried with this one,
- By Angela on 08-16-23
By: Elizabeth Dutton
-
Summer Island
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty-four-year-old Ruby Bridge is a not-too-successful comedienne who uses her mother, a nationally-syndicated "moral and spiritual counselor" as the main fodder for her cynical, rather bitter humor. Her mother Nora, long divorced from Ruby's father, is a woman whose past is just about to catch up with her - in the form of blackmail by a former lover.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Lisa on 04-10-20
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Before He Finds Her
- By: Michael Kardos
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone in the quiet Jersey Shore town of Silver Bay knows the story: on a Sunday evening in September 1991, Ramsey Miller threw a blowout block party, then murdered his beautiful wife and three-year-old daughter. But everyone is wrong. The daughter got away. Now she is nearly eighteen and tired of living in secrecy. Under the name Melanie Denison, she has spent the last fifteen years in small-town West Virginia as part of the Witness Protection Program. She has never been allowed to travel, go to a school dance, or even have internet at home. Precautions must be taken at every turn, because Ramsey Miller was never caught and might still be looking for his daughter.
-
-
Riveting Mystery Glues-2-U for Hours
- By W Perry Hall on 02-09-15
By: Michael Kardos
-
Safe Haven
- By: Nicholas Sparks
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community..
-
-
This Was My First Nicolas Sparks Novel
- By C. Byrnes on 09-27-10
By: Nicholas Sparks
-
The Best of Me
- By: Nicholas Sparks
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this number one New York Times best-selling novel of first love and second chances, former high school sweethearts confront the painful truths of their past to build a promising future - together. In the spring of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in their small town in North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart.
-
-
Horribly depressing
- By L.W. on 10-18-11
By: Nicholas Sparks
-
Never Let You Go
- By: Chevy Stevens
- Narrated by: Rachel Fulginiti, Caitlin Davies
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash escaped into the night with her young daughter and left an abusive relationship. Her ex-husband, Andrew, was sent to jail and Lindsey started over with a new life. Now, Lindsey is older and wiser, with her own business and a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. When Andrew is finally released from prison, Lindsey believes she has cut all ties and left the past behind her. But she gets the sense that someone is watching her, tracking her every move.
-
-
Disappointed with ending
- By BonSue on 04-21-17
By: Chevy Stevens
-
The Beach Club
- A Novel
- By: Elin Hilderbrand
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Beach Club, the juicy first novel by Elin Hilderbrand, a series of personal dramas are played out during one summer at a Nantucket Beach Club. It's about the love of summer, summer love, and the special feelings we all have for that special summer place—in this case, a hotel and an island.
-
-
Narration of older characters is depressing
- By T. Martin on 02-27-19
By: Elin Hilderbrand
-
Send Down the Rain
- By: Charles Martin
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Allie is still recovering from the loss of her family's beloved waterfront restaurant on Florida's Gulf Coast when she loses her second husband to a terrifying highway accident. Devastated and losing hope, she shudders to contemplate the future - until a cherished person from her past returns. Joseph has been adrift for many years, wounded in both body and spirit and unable to come to terms with the trauma of his Vietnam War experiences. Just as he resolves to abandon his search for peace, he discovers a mother and her two small children lost in the forest.
-
-
Charles Martin breathes life into every story
- By Barbara M on 05-17-18
By: Charles Martin
-
Olivia's Hope
- By: Kevin N Karella
- Narrated by: Amanda Stribling
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenny, a young woman from Chicago with a sealed record and a well-hidden past, takes on a special project for a North Dakota oilman. Could this be an easy payday? Trouble starts when the brutal past threatens to ruin the future she is searching for. The key to putting the past behind her, this time for good, reopens another door that was intended to stay closed forever.
-
-
Beautiful story of love lost and found
- By Trisha C. on 10-27-20
By: Kevin N Karella
-
The Last Detail
- A Novel
- By: Darryl Ponicsan
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unlike other branches of the armed services, the Navy draws its police force from the ranks as temporary duty - Shore Patrol. In this funny, bawdy, moving audiobook set during the height of the Vietnam War, two career sailors in transit in Norfolk, Virginia - Billy "Bad-Ass" Buddusky and Mule Mulhall - are assigned to escort 18-year-old Larry Meadows from Norfolk to the brig in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he is to serve an eight-year sentence for petty theft. It's good duty, until the two old salts realize the injustice of the sentence and are oddly affected by the naive innocence of their young prisoner.
-
-
Surprising ending
- By bella on 09-11-20
By: Darryl Ponicsan
-
The Complete Katie Connell Trilogy
- A Three-Novel Romantic Mystery Box Set From the What Doesn't Kill You Series
- By: Pamela Fagan Hutchins
- Narrated by: Ashley Ulery
- Length: 29 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Katie Connell is a high-strung attorney whose sloppy drinking habits and stunted love life collide hilariously during a doomed celebrity case in Dallas. She flees Texas for the Caribbean and escapes professional humiliation, a broken heart, and a wicked Bloody Mary habit, but ends up trading one set of problems for another when she begins to investigate the suspicious deaths of her parents on the island of St. Marcos.
-
-
MEANT 2🌟 CAN'T EDIT!! OK stories; narration FAILS
- By Terry B on 02-18-19
-
It's Always the Husband
- A Novel
- By: Michele Campbell
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They first met as college roommates and soon became inseparable, despite their many differences. Kate was beautiful, wild, wealthy, and damaged. Aubrey came from the wrong side of the tracks, and wanted more than anything to distance herself from her past. Jenny was brilliant, ambitious, and determined to win big at all costs. As an unlikely alliance formed, Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny swore they would always be friends. Twenty years later, the three women - all married, and deemed successful by any measure - are together again. But one of them is standing at the edge of a bridge.
-
-
Sometimes It's The Writer
- By Wendi on 07-12-17
By: Michele Campbell
-
Lucky
- By: Marissa Stapley
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucky Armstrong is a tough, talented grifter who has just pulled off a million-dollar heist with her boyfriend, Cary. She’s ready to start a brand-new life, with a new identity - when things go sideways. Lucky finds herself alone for the first time, navigating the world without the help of either her father or her boyfriend, the two figures from whom she’s learned the art of the scam. When she discovers that a lottery ticket she bought on a whim is worth millions, her elation is tempered by one big problem: Cashing in the winning ticket means she’ll be arrested for her crimes.
-
-
Not Lucky for me
- By Gigi a. on 12-21-21
By: Marissa Stapley
-
The Perfect Liar
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Christopher Greene
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Susannah, a young widow and single mother, has remarried well: to Max, a charismatic artist and popular speaker whose career took her and her 15-year-old son out of New York City and to a quiet Vermont university town. Strong-willed and attractive, Susannah expects her life is perfectly in place again. Then one quiet morning, she finds a note on her door: "I Know Who You Are." Max dismisses the note as a prank. But days after a neighborhood couple comes to dinner, the husband mysteriously dies in a tragic accident while on a run with Max. Soon, a second note appears on their door....
-
-
Honestly......
- By MA Reviewer on 01-20-19
-
The Lost Kings
- A Novel
- By: Tyrell Johnson
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeanie’s whole world is turned upside down. Not only has she lost her beloved brother, but with no family left in Washington, she is ripped from everything she knows, including Maddox, the boy she could be learning to love. Twenty years later, Jeanie is in England. She keeps her demons at bay by drinking too much, sleeping with a married man, and speaking to a therapist she doesn’t respect. But her old life catches up to her when Maddox reappears, claiming to have tracked down her dad.
-
-
WTH did I just listen too!
- By F. on 09-06-23
By: Tyrell Johnson
-
Nantucket Nights
- A Novel
- By: Elin Hilderbrand
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 20 years, Kayla, Antoinette and Val have performed their own special summer ritual. Once a year, the old friends put aside their daily, separate lives to drink champagne, swap stories and swim naked under the Nantucket stars. But on one of those bonding nights, one of their trio swims out from the shore and doesn't return. After the surviving friends emerge from their grief, they realize that the repercussions of their loss go far beyond their little circle, and they begin to uncover layers of secrets—and their connections to each other—that were never revealed on the beach.
-
-
Desperate
- By C. Reed on 08-08-18
By: Elin Hilderbrand
-
Strings Attached
- Tales from Ballena Beach, Book 1
- By: Nick Nolan
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Closeted teenager Jeremy is sent to live with wealthy relatives after his mother enters rehab. Struggling to fit into the posh world of Ballena Beach, Jeremy joins the high school swim team, dates a popular girl, and begins to think he may have landed in paradise - until his great aunt Katharine starts to dictate his every move…and a late-night phone call insinuates that his father’s accidental death was not so accidental after all. As Jeremy grows accustomed to the veneer of a fabulous life, so grows his need for answers - as well as the danger of immeasurable harm.
-
-
A surprising treat!
- By Riva on 01-17-14
By: Nick Nolan
-
Camino Beach
- By: Amanda Callendrier
- Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Martin had every intention of skipping her high school reunion. Once a popular girl and valedictorian, she's now pushing forty, divorced, and running a small bookstore in Nashville - not exactly an impressive life. But Sarah's best friend, Kristen, won't take no for an answer, and she won't let them return to Briley High without Roxanne, the missing third in their senior-high trio.
-
-
Trigger Warning
- By Amazon Customer on 02-27-25
What listeners say about A Family Garden
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- gbeck
- 01-16-19
Read it!!
Had a chance to both read and listen to the audiobook, and they’re both great! It’s a moving story about grabbing hold of lost love, rather than letting your fears and insecurities loosen your grip. For both young and old, it is a beautiful piece that functions as connective tissue between the bones of our different generations. Give it a read!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rick Markovitz
- 12-18-18
Engaging Storyline, Relatable Characters
I got hooked on this book with its strong premise of a dying friend asking his long estranged friend to escort his son to a new treatment center. This is a classic picaresque plot like "The Last Detail," as one example, but this resonates strongly to anyone in a parenting role. But the story continues to unfold exploring the different paths and choices we face in life and how we can change or if time changes, and we see the world and the people around us in new ways. And find true happiness. The other enjoyable aspect for anyone from California is the detailed description of Los Angeles, the California Coast going north to Canada and the settings in general. I felt like I was in the car or the ferry with the hero and his companions. The reading is also very immersive conveying the pathos and joy threaded throughout the story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Emmy
- 04-06-19
When is it too late to forgive and commit?
•audiobook•
Chris, our MC, was abandoned as a young adult when his mom ran off with his younger sister and a new boyfriend. Soon afterwards, he and his best friend run off to explore their freedom and whatever life can throw at them.
A not quite love triangle emerges but Chris is unable to commit. From a mental health position, this is common, believable- and we probably all know someone like this, so it’s relatable.
The storytelling overlaps three time periods. Chris as a young adult, Chris as an older adult, then thoughts written in letters in 2009.
Kali and Nicole’s personalities seemed very similar.
The bonding of the relationships was interesting, but I didn’t find it believable.
Knocking off a star because the major turning point - the facility in Canada sounded completely inaccurate. I’m not versed in Canadian mental health processes and procedures, but I think it was downright written solely for the plot. It was unprofessional. In the US, no one can talk to anyone without the patient’s consent. And Andre completely should not have disclosed anything personal in his office about Max.
I KNOW I wouldn’t have chosen this book if it indicated it has sex in it. It’s just not something I would choose to listen to. The scenes were brief but raw. And it had language, which I was also unprepared for. It wasn’t part of their casual conversations, only during heightened moments.
Otherwise, it was well written and seemed to be edited to a higher standard. I liked it and I think most people would too.
Almost a 4 star and I did enjoy the listen.
The author narrated the book and he did a stunning job. I would TOTALLY pick up another book by him. With caution, of course!
"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!