
Sleeping Giants
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Alex Hyde-White
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By:
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Rene Denfeld
About this listen
“Rene Denfeld reminds us that storytelling remains one of the most powerful means we have of confronting our darkest human impulses, and sometimes overcoming them.”—Washington Post
From the bestselling author of The Child Finder and The Enchanted, a compelling and poignant story of sibling bonds, monsters masquerading as caretakers, terrifying secrets, and the power of love to right even the most egregious wrongs.
Twenty years ago, a nine-year-old boy was swept away by powerful waves on a remote Oregon beach, his body lost to the sea. Only a stone memorial remains to mark his tragic death.
For most of her life, Amanda Dufresne had no idea she had an older brother named Dennis Owens, or that he had died. Adopted as a baby, she learned about him while looking into her late birth mother, and is curious to know more about this lost sibling. A solitary young woman, Amanda has always felt distanced from the world around her. Her brain works differently from others, leaving her feeling set apart. Her one true companion is the orphaned polar bear she cares for working at the zoo. By getting to know her birth family, she hopes to understand more about herself.
Retired police officer Larry Palmer is a widower with nothing but time and in need of a purpose. He offers to help Amanda find answers. The search leads to shocking and heartbreaking discoveries. Dennis Owen had been a forgotten foster child abandoned to a home for disturbed boys off the coast. As Amanda and Larry dig deeper into the past, the two stumble upon decades of cruelty and hidden crimes—including a barbaric treatment still used today.
Told in Rene Denfeld’s inimitable style, Sleeping Giants is an enthralling and heartbreaking novel that burrows deep in the heart and will leave no listener untouched.
©2022 Rene Denfeld (P)2022 HarperCollins PublishersPeople who viewed this also viewed...
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Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon's Skookum National Forest. She would be eight years old now - if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as "the Child Finder", Naomi is their last hope.
-
-
One Dimensional
- By Sara on 10-04-17
By: Rene Denfeld
-
Sleeping Giants
- By: Sylvain Neuvel
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
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Story
A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.
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BLUES BROTHERS
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-04-16
By: Sylvain Neuvel
-
Rednecks
- By: Taylor Brown
- Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Award-winning novelist Taylor Brown brings to life one of the most compelling events in twentieth-century American history, reminding us of the hard-won origins of today’s unions. Rednecks is a propulsive, character-driven tale that’s both a century old and blisteringly contemporary: a story of unexpected friendship, heroism in the face of injustice, and the power of love and community against all odds.
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Dragon Day
- By: Bob Proehl
- Narrated by: Hayley Atwell, Michael Chiklis, Aldis Hodge, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Compiled by intrepid journalist Neve Pride, this archive of recordings spans the months after dragons emerged on earth, chronicling the communities that sprang up amid the destruction, the scientists, military leaders, and experts searching for a defense, and those steadfastly seeking the missing. Neve and her young daughter Bex travel among the wreckage speaking to those left behind and surviving, against all odds. Neve records everything for history, and in the hopes of locating a clue as to where the dragons came from and how one might stop them.
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Not worth listening even as free book
- By Amazon Customer on 04-01-25
By: Bob Proehl
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Let Us Descend
- A Novel
- By: Jesmyn Ward
- Narrated by: Jesmyn Ward
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Let Us Descend describes a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. A journey that is as beautifully rendered as it is heart wrenching, the novel is “[t]he literary equivalent of an open wound from which poetry pours” (NPR). Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the listener’s guide. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother.
-
-
Usually I enjoy an author reading…
- By Patio on 11-04-23
By: Jesmyn Ward
-
The One
- By: John Marrs
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Vicki Hall, Simon Bubb, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab, and soon, you'll be matched with your perfect partner - the one you're genetically made for. That's the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: Test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance, and love.
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Loved this book!
- By Brooke on 04-13-20
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What listeners say about Sleeping Giants
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-15-24
Another excellent novel
Another excellent novel by Rene Denfeld. A story of separated siblings and police working a case from years prior never solved.
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- Gina
- 11-23-24
Awesome story line
This didn’t feel like a fictional story at all. The abuse the poor kids receive at institutions like the one in the story should be made more public. I laughed, cried and shook my head throughout this book. Best read in a long time!
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- I Buy Things All The Time!
- 12-08-24
I liked this one!
I intentionally listened to a book that didn’t have a ton of reviews. I just wanted to see if big-name authors write better than lesser-name authors. Turns out, they don’t.
Sleeping Giants was complex and educational. The characters were well-developed and likable. I recommend this one.
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- Robin Burcham
- 04-19-24
outstanding story telling
I didn't want to stop listening. The story really nailed how inadequate the foster system can be. I hope one day we, as a society, will find a better solution to help children who have no one else.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kelly
- 10-07-24
I loved this book
I absolutely loved this book. It keeps you guessing until the end. Immediately started it over after if was finished.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kate
- 12-08-24
Solid storytelling
Well crafted novel by a writer whose other books I will definitely pick up in the future. Very good narration
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- Running hare
- 12-17-24
Heartbreaking mystery
Really good narration.
The story leaves you feeling both heartbroken and comforted in the end, and gives much cause to wonder about a topic of human behaviour (institutional)-
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