
Maria
A Novel of Maria von Trapp
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Narrated by:
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Eileen Stevens
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Natasha Soudek
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By:
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Michelle Moran
About this listen
NATIONAL BESTSELLER •
Maria von Trapp. You know the name and the iconic songs, but do you know her real story? This dramatic novel, based on the woman glamorized in The Sound of Music, brings Maria to life as never before.
“As immersive, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive as the musical . . . This one is not to be missed.”—Allison Pataki, author of Finding Margaret Fuller
In the 1950s, Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write the lyrics to a musical based on the life of a woman named Maria von Trapp. He’s intrigued to learn that she was once a novice who hoped to live quietly as an Austrian nun before her abbey sent her away to teach a widowed baron’s sickly child. What should have been a ten-month assignment, however, unexpectedly turned into a marriage proposal. And when the family was forced to flee their home to escape the Nazis, it was Maria who instructed them on how to survive using nothing but the power of their voices.
It’s an inspirational story, to be sure, and as half of the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein duo, Hammerstein knows it has big Broadway potential. Yet much of Maria’s life will have to be reinvented for the stage, and with the horrors of war still fresh in people’s minds, Hammerstein can’t let audiences see just how close the von Trapps came to losing their lives.
But when Maria sees the script that is supposedly based on her life, she becomes so incensed that she sets off to confront Hammerstein in person. Told that he’s busy, she is asked to express her concerns to his secretary, Fran, instead. The pair strike up an unlikely friendship as Maria tells Fran about her life, contradicting much of what will eventually appear in The Sound of Music.
A tale of love, loss, and the difficult choices that we are often forced to make, Maria is a powerful reminder that the truth is usually more complicated—and certainly more compelling—than the stories immortalized by Hollywood.
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Critic reviews
“Moran proves herself to be a master storyteller of historical fiction in this engaging and thoughtful novel with lush descriptions in every chapter. . . . Fans of The Sound of Music will want to read the author’s note for real historical tidbits that are awakened within the story.”—Booklist, starred review
“Maria looks at a well-known story with fresh eyes. Alternating between the life and experiences of beloved heroine Maria von Trapp in the 1940s and the perils of adapting her story for the silver screen years later, Moran adds new dimensions to a story that has captivated hearts and minds for decades. Heartwarming, earnest, and endlessly fascinating, the hills truly do come alive with the sound of music in this deftly crafted tale.”—Aimie K. Runyan, bestselling author of The Memory of Lavender and Sage
"Readers, prepare to meet the real Maria, a complex and compelling leading lady who will both delight and surprise all who feel they already know the story of the fabled von Trapp family. Michelle Moran has delivered a gem of a novel, rich in historic detail, page-turning pacing, and lyrical, lush storytelling. As immersive, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive as the musical for which Maria von Trapp is so widely known and loved, this one is not to be missed. Brava!”—Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of Finding Margaret Fuller
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February, 1946. World War Two is over, but the recovery from the most intimate of its horrors has only just begun for Annaliese Lange, a German ballerina desperate to escape her past, and Simone Deveraux, the wronged daughter of a French Résistance spy. Now the two women are joining hundreds of other European war brides aboard the renowned RMS Queen Mary to cross the Atlantic and be reunited with their American husbands. Their new lives in the United States brightly beckon until their tightly held secrets are laid bare in their shared stateroom.
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Don't like ghost stories
- By connie nance on 03-18-17
By: Susan Meissner
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The Printed Letter Bookshop
- By: Katherine Reay
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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One of Madeline Cullen’s happiest childhood memories is of working with her Aunt Maddie in the quaint and cozy Printed Letter Bookshop. But by the time Madeline inherits the shop nearly 20 years later, family troubles and her own bitter losses have hardened Madeline’s heart toward her once-treasured aunt - and the now struggling bookshop left in her care. While Madeline intends to sell the shop as quickly as possible, the Printed Letter’s two employees have other ideas.
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Underneath it all
- By LuckyL42 on 08-05-20
By: Katherine Reay
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Greenwood
- A Novel
- By: Michael Christie
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It's 2038 and Jacinda (Jake) Greenwood is a storyteller and a liar, an overqualified tour guide babysitting ultra-rich vacationers in one of the world's last remaining forests. It's 2008 and Liam Greenwood is a carpenter, sprawled on his back after a workplace fall, calling out from the concrete floor of an empty mansion. It's 1974 and Willow Greenwood is out of jail, free after being locked up for one of her endless series of environmental protests: attempts at atonement for the sins of her father's once vast and violent timber empire.
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tedious boring trite
- By Marc Buchalter on 11-19-21
By: Michael Christie
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The Last Dress from Paris
- By: Jade Beer
- Narrated by: Tamsin Topolski
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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London, 2017. There’s no one Lucille adores more than her grandmother. So when her beloved Granny Sylvie asks for Lucille’s assistance with a small matter, she’s happy to help. The next thing she knows, Lucille is on a train to Paris, tasked with retrieving a priceless Dior dress. But not everything is as it seems, and what Lucille finds in a small Parisian apartment will have her scouring the city for answers to a question that could change her entire life.
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The Last Dress from Paris
- By Mona-Alisa on 07-01-22
By: Jade Beer
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The Dollhouse
- A Novel
- By: Fiona Davis
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Enter the lush world of 1950s New York City, where a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and editors live side by side in the glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women while attempting to claw their way to fairy-tale success in this debut novel from the New York Times best-selling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue. When she arrives at the famed Barbizon Hotel in 1952, secretarial school enrollment in hand, Darby McLaughlin is everything her modeling agency hall mates aren't: Plain, self-conscious, homesick, and utterly convinced she doesn't belong.
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Lifetime Movie in Book Form
- By chelsie on 08-30-16
By: Fiona Davis
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As Bright as Heaven
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Cassandra Morris, Tavia Gilbert, Jorjeana Marie, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1918, Philadelphia was a city teeming with promise. Even as its young men went off to fight in the Great War, there were opportunities for a fresh start on its cobblestone streets. Into this bustling town came Pauline Bright and her husband, filled with hope that they could now give their three daughters - Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa - a chance at a better life. But just months after they arrive, the Spanish flu reaches the shores of America.
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As Bright as Heaven
- By Amazon Customer on 05-03-18
By: Susan Meissner
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The Fifth Avenue Story Society
- By: Rachel Hauck
- Narrated by: Lisa Larsen
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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When five New Yorkers receive an anonymous, mysterious invitation to the Fifth Avenue Story Society, they suspect they’re victims of a practical joke. No one knows who sent the invitations or why. No one has heard of the literary society. And no one is prepared to reveal their deepest secrets to a roomful of strangers. Yet curiosity and loneliness bring them back week after week to the old library. And it’s there they discover the stories of their hearts, and the kind of friendship and love that heals their souls.
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A Christian centered theme
- By Pamela on 10-10-20
By: Rachel Hauck
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The Winemaker's Wife
- By: Kristin Harmel
- Narrated by: Robin Eller, Lisa Flanagan, Madeleine Maby
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of the “engrossing” (People) and “poignant” (Booklist) international best seller The Room on Rue Amélie comes a remarkable and moving story of love, danger, and betrayal: two women in France in the darkest days of World War II and another in present-day America on a quest to uncover the secret that connects them.
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The narration was like nails on a chalkboard!
- By Diane on 08-20-19
By: Kristin Harmel
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Eleanore of Avignon
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth DeLozier
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Provence, 1347. Eleanore (Elea) Blanchet is a young midwife and herbalist with remarkable skills. But as she learned the day her mother died, the most dangerous thing a woman can do is draw attention to herself. She attends patients in her home city of Avignon, spends time with her father and twin sister, gathers herbs in the surrounding woods, and dreams of the freedom to pursue her calling without fear.
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Beautifully woven together without being overly-flowery.
- By Allison on 03-26-25
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The Flower Sisters
- By: Michelle Collins Anderson
- Narrated by: Jim Frangione, Andrea Gallo, L.J. Ganser, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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At birth, Violet and Rose Flowers were identical, save for a tiny bluish-purple mark gracing Violet’s slender neck. By nineteen, their temperaments distinguish them, as different as the flowers their mother named them for—Violet, wild and outgoing, and Rose, solitary and reserved. Still, they are each other’s world. Then, on a sweltering, terrible August night in 1928, an explosion rocks Lamb’s Dance Hall in Possum Flats, Missouri, engulfing it in flames, leaving one twin among the dozens dead, and her sister’s life forever changed.
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Loved this Book!
- By Trey DeGarmo on 06-14-24
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The House Is on Fire
- By: Rachel Beanland
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Andi Arndt, Michael Crouch, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Richmond, Virginia 1811. It’s the height of the winter social season, the General Assembly is in session, and many of Virginia’s gentleman planters, along with their wives and children, have made the journey to the capital. On the night after Christmas, the city's only theater is packed with holiday revelers. In the middle of a performance, the theater goes up in flames. Based on the true story of Richmond’s theater fire, The House Is on Fire offers proof that sometimes, in the midst of great tragedy, we are offered our most precious—and fleeting—chances at redemption.
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I learned a lot
- By Jane Perkins on 04-24-23
By: Rachel Beanland
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I Loved Her in the Movies
- Memories of Hollywood's Legendary Actresses
- By: Robert Wagner
- Narrated by: Robert Wagner
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Robert Wagner has witnessed the twilight of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the rise of television, becoming a beloved star in both media. During that time he became acquainted, both professionally and socially, with the remarkable women who were the greatest screen personalities of their day. I Loved Her in the Movies is his intimate and revealing account of the charisma of these women on film, why they became stars, and more.
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Outstanding!
- By Ernie D. Casciato on 12-02-16
By: Robert Wagner
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Spring House
- By: Mary Ellen Taylor
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Pregnant and still grieving the death of her fiancé, historian Megan Buchanan is forging ahead on a dream project: to restore to its original glory the landmark hunting lodge her own great-great-grandfather built on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. With the help of her fiancé’s caring best friend, it’s sure to draw much-needed tourist revenue to Cape Hudson, a town rich in southern history. However, it’s Spring House, the caretaker’s cottage on the grounds, that holds the most intriguing history for Megan.
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This is a sequel... very confusing!
- By Maria on 07-17-19
What listeners say about Maria
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Christina Whalen
- 01-04-25
Lovely tribute to Maria
I really enjoyed learning more about Maria but I especially loved learning more about Hammerstein! Great historical account and just the right amount of fiction with Fran’s story intertwined. Great 1st read of 2025!
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- Serena Joy
- 09-18-24
Blast from the past
Michelle Moran is a favorite of mine. Bringing real people from back in time and then creating a glorious narrative to express their story. I appreciate the epilogues that follow explaining truth from fiction and also her writing process. Most everyone knows the movie with Julie Andrews. However, most don’t know the film before it or the true person that inspired it. Learning about Maria and her family was captivating and shed such a light on the people who lived this seemingly fairy tale during a period of time that was anything but.
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- Jewels
- 02-07-25
Love love love
M Maria: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Maria von Trapp…this novel is based on the REAL Maria👗….. this is historical FICTION 📖 If you enjoyed watching The Sound of Music movie 🍿 you will enjoy this 💗💗💗LOVED‼️don’t forget to read the author’s notes!!!!
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- kmcquivey
- 03-22-25
LOVED!
If you love The Sound of Music, you will gobble up this historical novel based on Maria’s life. The narrators are wonderful- I especially appreciated the authentic German accent. The author’s notes at the end are also fascinating.
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- barbara
- 09-11-24
Great read
What a great story about a beautiful family
Well written great characters truthful information
Loved it
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ami Andrews
- 04-18-25
The mostly true and wild story that inspired the Sound of Music
Warning, it will burst some of your Sound of Music bubble. That said, what an excellent story telling. Some fantasy and truth to tell the correct story, warts and all. I loved the Sound of Music and wanted to know the back story. I thought this was Maria Vontraps autobiography, I didn't look close, At first I didn't think I was going to red this book, as i didn't care about a storyline that was weaved through, because I had hoped this was the autobiography. Then I fell in love with the side storyline characters. A few characters were that were based off of a composite of people who worked in Rogers & Hammerstein's office and Hammerstein's role in the true story. I've been thinking about this book a few days since finishing it and resold some true stories to my mom and dad, who really enjoyed hearing about "the true" story. In fact, some of the true story, is better than the movie. But the reasons they chose not to go there make sense. At the time of the play and movies release, WW2 was not a distant memory and people may not wish to watch with their scars still healing.
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- Tullamore
- 08-24-24
How well written it was. Weaving the accurate story through the imagined story of a young writer.
It stayed interesting through every chapter. Each chapter ended with a cliffhanger, and each character was so well-developed.
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- Grace Pamela
- 01-01-25
The different story line
I liked it all. Thanks so much to the author and dynamic narrators. I will love this story forever.
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- Joy McManus
- 01-05-25
Truths revealed.
Loved learning the facts and fiction behind a classic play and movie. A must listen for all Sound of Music fans!
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