Free Audiobooks - Where The Streets Had A Name and A Passage to India

Audiobook Sync's summer of free audiobooks continues. First, I've linked in the info from Amazon for each title (Amazon has the best reviews), then a link below to get your audio copies free. You can't get any titles that have been missed, but once they are loaded into Overdrive (which you will need to install, if you are not already using it for library books), they are yours to keep (there is no expiration date). The web site is running a bit slow this morning (at least, the script to give you the download link is), so be patient -- it will eventually get past the login portion and display a link.

Two new titles each Thursday, so be sure to check back next week.!

Where The Streets Had A Name ($12.23 paperback; $8.90 Kindle in Australia only; $77.95 Audio CD), by Randa Abdel-Fattah, read by Kellie Jones.

Book Description
Thirteen year old Hayaat is on a mission. She believes a handful of soil from her grandmother's ancestral home in Jerusalem will save her beloved Sitti Zeynab's life. The only problem is that Hayaat and her family live behind the impenetrable wall that divides the West Bank, and they're on the wrong side of check points, curfews, and the travel permit system. Plus, Hayaat's best friend Samy always manages to attract trouble. But luck is on the pair's side as they undertake the journey to Jerusalem from the Palestinian Territories when Hayaat and Samy have a curfew-free day to travel.

But while their journey may only be a few kilometers long, it could take a lifetime to complete. . . .

Humorous and heartfelt, WHERE THE STREETS HAD A NAME deals with the Israel-Palestinian conflict with sensitivity and grace and will open a window on this timely subject.

A Passage to India ($8.71 paperback; $0.00 Kindle; $26.30 Audible), by E. M. Forster, read by Sam Dastor.

Book Description
Among the greatest novels of the twentieth century and the basis for director David Lean’s Academy Award-winning film, A Passage to India tells of the clash of cultures in British India after the turn of the century. In exquisite prose, Forster reveals the menace that lurks just beneath the surface of ordinary life, as a common misunderstanding erupts into a devastating affair.

Eager to know the "real" India, a group of English tourists develops a friendship with the cultivated Dr. Aziz. The veneer of trust and mutual affection is shattered during a trip to the Marabar caves, when one of the women accuses Dr. Aziz of assault. Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India paints a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst and, in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," foreshadows the end of British rule in India.

Click HERE to sign up for an account and get the free downloads. Don't forget, you'll also need to install the Overdrive software (there is a link at Sync). In addition, you end up clicking about three pages, for each book, before the audiobook actually downloads. Don't stop so long as you still see a button that talks about your Sync download (or until you see the Overdrive software open up). Once in Overdrive, you'll need to tell it where to save the files (just click OK to use the default location, since Overdrive will keep track of them for you), then again to actually start the download (by default, all parts of the book are downloaded; I would suggest not changing this in the last dialog box, just click on OK to get the download started).