Audiobooks > Fiction > Literary > The Underground Railroad (Television Tie-in): A Novel
Download The Underground Railroad (Television Tie-in): A Novel Audiobook
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Author: Colson Whitehead Narrator: Bahni Turpin Publisher: Random House Audio Audio Length: 10.75 hours Release Date: August 2016 Format: Unabridged Audiobook Delivery: Instant Download ISBN: 9781524736262
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, the #1 New York Times bestseller from Colson Whitehead, a magnificent tour de force chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. Now an original Amazon Prime Video series directed by Barry Jenkins. Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom. Like the protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey—hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.
"Bahni Turpin's narration is near perfection as she captures the emotional heart of this audiobook. Her sensitive pacing allows listeners to absorb the impact of intense scenes and tugs them along when the plot races. By using well-crafted dialect and authentic-sounding accents, Turpin believably dramatizes the wide range of characters, projecting the cruelty of the white bounty hunters, the determined fear of the runaway slave, and the reserved kindness of the Underground Railroad stationmasters. Turpin's strong performance combined with author Whitehead's affecting writing makes this the one audiobook you cannot miss. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
"Bahni Turpin's narration is near perfection as she captures the emotional heart of this audiobook. Her sensitive pacing allows listeners to absorb the impact of intense scenes and tugs them along when the plot races. By using well-crafted dialect and authentic-sounding accents, Turpin believably dramatizes the wide range of characters…Turpin's strong performance combined with author Whitehead's affecting writing makes this the one audiobook you cannot miss. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
"[A] skillful blend of adventure and harrowing historical reflection."
- BookPage
A 2016 Oprah's Book Club Selection
A BookPage Top Pick for September 2016
A #1 New York Times Bestseller
Winner of a 2016 National Book Award
Winner of the 2017 Carnegie Medal for Literature
Short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Man Booker Prize Longlist Selection
Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
A London Guardian Pick of Best Books of the 21st Century
" At first I didn't like it, then I did. Sort of back and forth. But in the end I thought it was excellent. Our book group discussion was very active on this one. Why use the metaphor of the a 'real railroad' ; how the specifics of the events actually crossed over 40 years (not in the span of the specific escape story. Totally worth a read on this one. "
- Wendy, 1/17/2018
Colson Whitehead is the author of nine books of fiction and nonfiction, including The Underground Railroad, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is a recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships.
About the Narrator
Bahni Turpin, winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and several prestigious Audie Awards for her narrations, was named a "Golden Voice" by AudioFile magazine in 2019. Publishers Weekly magazine named her Narrator of the Year for 2016. She is an ensemble member of the Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles. She has guest starred in many television series, including NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Six Feet Under, Cold Case, What about Brian, and The Comeback. Film credits include Brokedown Palace, Crossroads, and Daughters of the Dust. She is also a member of the recording cast of The Help, which won numerous awards.