Colony and Hill Towns — Anne Rivers Siddons

Colony: As aged Maude Chambliss waits to be taken home by her granddaughter, she recalls her summers at Retreat, a colony in Maine: from her arrival in 1921 as a young bride, fresh from South Carolina, a misfit amid these wealthy Bostonians, to her current struggle to keep the colony and its environs out of the hands of spoilers. She thinks of her mother-in-law, the imperious Hannah, who taught Maude that it is Retreat's women whose pride and backbone are the colony's lifeblood; and it is this legacy that Mande must now pass on . . . if Retreat is to survive.

Beautifully read by Judith Ivey, two-time Tony^® award winner.

Hill Towns: This phenomenal national bestseller is a rare story of depth and deliverance. Hill Towns explores the structure of a marriage. As a small child, a single event irrevocably changed the life of Catherine Gaillard -- and rendered her unable to leave her cloistered mountaintop town in Tennessee for the next 30 years. Her devotion to her husband, Joe, and her desire to forever put this incident behind her propel Cat on a life-changing voyage to Italy.

Read by Oscar^®-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden.