
Playing for the Commandant
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 $19.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Emily Foster
-
By:
-
Suzy Zail
About this listen
A young Jewish pianist at Auschwitz, desperate to save her family, is chosen to play at the camp commandant's house. How could she know she would fall in love with the wrong boy?
"Look after each other… and get home safe. And when you do, tell everyone what you saw and what they did to us."
These are Hanna's father's parting words to her and her sister when their family is separated at the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Her father's words - and a black C-sharp piano key hidden away in the folds of her dress - are all that she has left to remind her of life before. Before, Hanna was going to be a famous concert pianist. She was going to wear her yellow dress to a dance. And she was going to dance with a boy. But then the Nazis came. Now it is up to Hanna to do all she can to keep her mother and sister alive, even if that means playing piano for the commandant and his guests. Staying alive isn't supposed to include falling in love with the commandant's son. But Karl Jager is beautiful, and his aloofness belies a secret. And war makes you do dangerous things.
©2012 Suzy Zail, first U.S. edition published by Candlewick Press. (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Nightingale
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France—a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
-
-
HEARTBREAKINGLY POIGNANT AND INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL
- By PatrioticMimi on 02-17-15
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Orphan Train
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy, Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to "aging out" out of the foster care system. A community-service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse.... As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.
-
-
Moving story of sharing and transformation.
- By Kathi on 04-03-13
-
We Were the Lucky Ones
- By: Georgia Hunter
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati, Robert Fass
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-seller with more than one million copies sold worldwide. Inspired by the incredible true story of one Jewish family separated at the start of World War II, determined to survive - and to reunite - We Were the Lucky Ones is a tribute to the triumph of hope and love against all odds. It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer.
-
-
Love it but...
- By Roz on 07-19-17
By: Georgia Hunter
-
A Thousand Splendid Suns
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Atossa Leoni
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss, and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them, in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul, they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation.
-
-
Completely brilliant
- By Suze Weinberg on 06-01-07
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
The Storyteller
- By: Jodi Picoult
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Jennifer Ikeda, Edoardo Ballerini, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jodi Picoult's poignant number one New York Times best-selling novels about family and love tackle hot-button issues head on. In The Storyteller, Sage Singer befriends Josef Weber, a beloved Little League coach and retired teacher. But then Josef asks Sage for a favor she never could have imagined - to kill him. After Josef reveals the heinous act he committed, Sage feels he may deserve that fate. But would his death be murder or justice?
-
-
The Baker, The Nun, The Virgin and The Monster
- By Suzn F on 03-05-13
By: Jodi Picoult
-
Between Shades of Gray
- By: Ruta Sepetys
- Narrated by: Emily Klein
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lina is just like any other 15-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys - until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia.
-
-
Sunlight Through the Cracks
- By FanB14 on 03-27-13
By: Ruta Sepetys
-
The Nightingale
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France—a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
-
-
HEARTBREAKINGLY POIGNANT AND INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL
- By PatrioticMimi on 02-17-15
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Orphan Train
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy, Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to "aging out" out of the foster care system. A community-service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse.... As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.
-
-
Moving story of sharing and transformation.
- By Kathi on 04-03-13
-
We Were the Lucky Ones
- By: Georgia Hunter
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati, Robert Fass
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-seller with more than one million copies sold worldwide. Inspired by the incredible true story of one Jewish family separated at the start of World War II, determined to survive - and to reunite - We Were the Lucky Ones is a tribute to the triumph of hope and love against all odds. It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer.
-
-
Love it but...
- By Roz on 07-19-17
By: Georgia Hunter
-
A Thousand Splendid Suns
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Atossa Leoni
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss, and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them, in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul, they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation.
-
-
Completely brilliant
- By Suze Weinberg on 06-01-07
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
The Storyteller
- By: Jodi Picoult
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Jennifer Ikeda, Edoardo Ballerini, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jodi Picoult's poignant number one New York Times best-selling novels about family and love tackle hot-button issues head on. In The Storyteller, Sage Singer befriends Josef Weber, a beloved Little League coach and retired teacher. But then Josef asks Sage for a favor she never could have imagined - to kill him. After Josef reveals the heinous act he committed, Sage feels he may deserve that fate. But would his death be murder or justice?
-
-
The Baker, The Nun, The Virgin and The Monster
- By Suzn F on 03-05-13
By: Jodi Picoult
-
Between Shades of Gray
- By: Ruta Sepetys
- Narrated by: Emily Klein
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lina is just like any other 15-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys - until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia.
-
-
Sunlight Through the Cracks
- By FanB14 on 03-27-13
By: Ruta Sepetys
-
What She Left Behind
- By: Ellen Marie Wiseman
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten years ago, Izzy Stone's mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother's apparent insanity, Izzy, now 17, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster parents, employees at the local museum, have enlisted Izzy's help in cataloguing items at a long-shuttered state asylum. There, amid piles of abandoned belongings, Izzy discovers a stack of unopened letters, a decades-old journal, and a window into her own past.
-
-
Ug.
- By Marina on 12-30-14
-
Sold
- By: Patricia McCormick
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
-
-
Perfectly Haunting....
- By Theodore on 01-13-13
-
In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer
- By: Irene Gut Opdyke, Jennifer Armstrong - contributor
- Narrated by: Hope Davis
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Irene Gut was just 17 in 1939, when the Germans and Russians devoured her native Poland. Just a girl, really. But a girl who saw evil and chose to defy it.
-
-
Gripping Memoir
- By Simone on 10-04-16
By: Irene Gut Opdyke, and others
-
The Seamstress
- By: Sara Tuvel Bernstein, Louise Loots Thornton, Marlene Bernstein Samuels
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Told with the same old-fashioned narrative power as the novels of Herman Wouk, The Seamstress is the true story of Seren (Sara) Tuvel Bernstein and her survival during wartime. This powerful eyewitness account of survival, told with power and grace, will stay with listeners for years to come.
-
-
Overcome with Emotion
- By Meryl on 05-16-13
By: Sara Tuvel Bernstein, and others
-
A Trace of Smoke
- By: Rebecca Cantrell
- Narrated by: Beverley Murray
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1931 in Berlin, and the world is on the precipice of change -- the affluent still dance in their gilded cages but more and more people are living under threat and poverty. Hannah Vogel is a crime reporter forced to write under the male pseudonym Peter Weill. As a widow of the Great War, she's used to doing what she must to survive. Her careful facade is threatened when she stumbles across a photograph of her brother in the Hall of the Unnamed Dead.
-
-
Lovely story, great characters
- By Julie Colston on 05-11-18
By: Rebecca Cantrell
-
Ashes in the Snow (Movie Tie-In)
- By: Ruta Sepetys
- Narrated by: Emily Klein
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life - until Soviet officers invade her home and tear her family apart. Separated from her father and forced onto a crowded train, Lina, her mother, and her young brother make their way to a Siberian work camp, where they are forced to fight for their lives. Lina finds solace in her art, documenting these events by drawing. Risking everything, she embeds clues in her drawings of their location and secretly passes them along, hoping her drawings will make their way to her father's prison camp.
-
-
Horrible narration...
- By Mary Sunshine on 02-14-20
By: Ruta Sepetys
-
Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party
- By: Ying Chang Compestine
- Narrated by: Jodi Long
- Length: 4 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nine-year-old Ling is very comfortable in her life; her parents are both dedicated surgeons in the best hospital in Wuhan. But when Comrade Li, one of Mao's political officers, moves into a room in their apartment, Ling begins to witness the gradual disintegration of her world. In an atmosphere of increasing mistrust, Ling fears for the safety of her neighbors and, soon, for herself and family.
-
-
An eye into everyday life during Mao's reign.
- By Aaron Fraser on 07-02-17
-
A Golden Age
- A Novel
- By: Tahmima Anam
- Narrated by: Madhur Jaffrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As young widow Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she might be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming, her children are almost grown, and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air.
-
-
sad, poignant, thought-provoking, beautiful
- By Rio Delta Wild on 06-04-08
By: Tahmima Anam
-
Surviving the Fatherland
- A True Coming of Age Love Story Set in WWII Germany
- By: Annette Oppenlander
- Narrated by: Naomi Jacobson
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning 13 years from 1940 to 1953 and set against the epic panorama of WWII, author Annette Oppenlander's Surviving the Fatherland is a sweeping saga of family, love, and betrayal that illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the children's war.
-
-
Not worth my time
- By alice webber on 06-12-18
-
The Revolution of Marina M.
- By: Janet Fitch
- Narrated by: Yelena Shmulenson
- Length: 30 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
St. Petersburg, New Year's Eve, 1916. Marina Makarova is a young woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life, a life about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Swept up on these tides, Marina will join the marches for workers' rights, fall in love with a radical young poet, and betray everything she holds dear before being betrayed in turn.
-
-
*****WOW*****
- By Ella Geller on 11-15-17
By: Janet Fitch
-
What the Night Sings
- A Novel
- By: Vesper Stamper
- Narrated by: Deborah Grausman, Vesper Stamper
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After losing her family and everything she knew in the Nazi concentration camps, Gerta is finally liberated, only to find herself completely alone. Without her Papa, her music, or even her true identity, she must move past the task of surviving and onto living her life. In the displaced persons camp where she is staying, Gerta meets Lev, a fellow teen survivor who she just might be falling for, despite her feelings for someone else.
-
-
EXCELLENT!
- By Kenneth Jennings on 11-18-22
By: Vesper Stamper
-
White Gardenia
- By: Belinda Alexandra
- Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
- Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of Paullina Simons comes an unforgettable story of a mother and daughter from a remarkable new writer. Beginning in a small village under Japanese occupation on the Chinese-Russian border in the final days of World War II, White Gardenia tells the story of a Russian mother and daughter separated by war.
-
-
Fascinating novel
- By Paddington on 08-30-11
What listeners say about Playing for the Commandant
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 09-24-20
awesome 👍 great book!
great book! loved it! I would have preferred a primary source,but it was good nonetheless!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!