Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create accountGet a free audiobook when you make the switch!
When you start a new membership in support of local bookstores with the promo code SWITCH, youāll get a bonus audiobook credit at sign-up.
Make the switchGift audiobook credit bundles
You pick the number of credits, your recipient picks the audiobooks, and your local bookstore is supported by your purchase.
Start giftingAshes on the Moor
When Evangeline is sent to live in a small mill town in Northern England as a schoolteacher in 1871, she finds herself struggling to fit in with an unfamiliar culture. Raised with the high-class Victorian values and ideals of a sophisticated upbringing, she is unprepared for the poverty she finds in the gritty factory town of Smeatley, where the locals speak with a hard-to-understand Yorkshire accent and struggle to thrive with few resources or opportunities.
Though she has no training as a teacher, she must prove herself successful before her grandfather will release her substantial inheritance to her and allow her to be reunited with her younger sister, the last remaining member of her family after a fever claimed the lives of her parents and brothers.
Evangelineās sudden change in circumstances is complicated when her auntāa woman who values class distinctions more than her family relationshipsāforbids her from acknowledging any connection to her or to her grandfather, Mr. Farrāthe man who owns nearly the entire town. For the first time in her life, Evangeline is truly alone.
Heartbroken, she turns to the one person in town who has shown her kindnessāan Irish brick mason, Dermot, and his son, Ronan. Despite the difference in their classes and backgrounds, Evangeline and Dermot become friends, due in part to her ability to connect with Ronan, whose behavior requires special attention. The boy is uncomfortable around strangers and rarely even speaks to the other children in town. He often fixates on details other people ignore, and he adheres to specific, self-made rules that give his life order and structure; for example, Dermotās coat must be hung on a specific peg next to the door.
Evangeline attempts to prove herself a worthy teacher and earn the respect of her hard-to-understand students. Determined to find a way to introduce them to āproper Englishā while still honoring their unique language and culture, she enlists the help of a local family to write down familiar stories in the Yorkshire vernacular. Because of her efforts, the students and their families warm to Evangeline and she continues to look for ways to give the children a chance to become more than factory workers in the local cotton mill.
When the town learns of her upper-class status, Evangeline must work twice as hard to win back their trustāespecially Dermotās. In the end, Evangeline and Dermot discover that, even though they come from different social spheres, together they can overcome social prejudices, make a positive difference in the lives of even the humblest people, and enjoy the strength that comes when two hearts find each other.
Ashes on the Moor is the inspiring love story of one Victorian womanās courage to fight against all odds, and the man whose quiet strength gives her the confidence to keep trying.
Sarah M. Eden is the USA Today bestselling author of many well-received historical romances. Combining her obsession with history and her affinity for tender love stories, she loves crafting deep characters and heartfelt romances set against rich historical backdrops. The Lady and the Highwayman won the Indie Award Gold Medal for Romance and Healing Hearts was a finalist for the Holt Medallion. She is a two-time āBest of Stateā Gold Medal winner for fiction and a three-time Whitney Award winner.She holds a bachelorās degree in research and happily spends hours perusing the reference shelves of her local library.
Justine Eyre is an award-winning audiobook narrator who has recorded over three-hundred titles. Named a 2013 AudioFile Best Voice, she has won an Audie Award and multiple Earphones Awards. Classically trained and multilingual, she performs on stage, television, and film and has had roles in King Lear and The Crucible, on Two and a Half Men and Mad Men, and in multiple indie-circuit films.
Reviews
āNarrator Justine Eyreās wide-ranging performance expertly showcases this regionās challenging dialect, allowing listeners to fully experience the language and culture barriers Evangeline must overcome to connect with her studentsā¦For the townspeople and Dermot, their dialects are tied to their identity and sense of community. Eyreās thoughtful consideration of these traits is wonderfully displayed through her nuanced and well-crafted performance.ā
āEden ably captures the changing of an era, the horrors of factory work, and the displacements of being Irish in England [and] a lady among the working classes.ā
āReaders will enjoy Evangelineās growth as a strong woman almost as much as the steady, slow burn of her relationship with Dermot, which moves from wariness to friendship to sweet romance.ā
āOnce again, Eden proves herself a gifted writer dedicated to unique, out-of-the-box storytelling with inspiring and thought-provoking elements. Exploring one womanās struggle to find her place in a world where every step forward is a challenge offers an upliftingāand very cleanāromance.ā
āThe dialog and character development in Edenās latest are very well done; readers will particularly enjoy the banter between Evangeline and Dermot and will be eager know what happens next to the Smeatley townsfolk and our protagonists.ā
Expand reviews