Origin, Diana AbuJaber
Origin, Diana AbuJaber
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Origin
A Novel

Author: Diana Abu-Jaber

Narrator: Elisabeth Rodgers

Unabridged: 14 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/01/2007

Synopsis

Lena is a fingerprint expert at a crime lab in the small city of Syracuse, New York, where winters are cold and deep. Suddenly, a series of crib deaths—indistinguishable from SIDS except for the fevered testimony of one distraught mother with connections in high places—draws the attention of the police and the national media and raises the possibility of the inconceivable: could there be a serial infant murderer on the loose?Orphaned as a child, out of place as an adult, gifted with delicate and terrifying powers of intuition, Lena finds herself playing a critical role in the case. But then there is the mystery of her own childhood to solve. Could the improbable deaths of a half-dozen babies be somehow connected to her own improbable survival?

About Diana Abu-Jaber

Diana Abu-Jaber is the author of Origin, Crescent, The Language of Baklava, and Arabian Jazz. She has won the PEN Center USA Award for Literary Fiction, the Oregon Book Award, and other prizes. Her writing appears in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Slate, Ms., Gourmet, Salon, and Vogue, and she is frequently featured on National Public Radio.

About Elisabeth Rodgers

Elisabeth Rodgers is an actress and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. After graduating from Princeton University, she completed a two-year program at William Esper Studio, where she studied with Maggie Flanigan. Her audiobook narration training came from Robin Miles, who has also directed her in several productions. She has recorded dozens of books for a multitude of publishers.

Reviews

Goodreads review by John

A novel of literary suspense that might have done well to tune back the "literary" aspect -- basically a euphemism for a surfeit of twee, self-indulgent writing. It manages, though, to be a good and modestly gripping tale despite the irritation of our having to wade through puddles of the author's l......more

Goodreads review by Marne

I don’t usually read this kind of novel, but last spring I read Crescent by the same author, and since this was the only other book of hers our library owns, I decided to take a chance. This was much more than an ordinary thriller about a forensic expert. I identified very strongly with Lena, the e......more

Goodreads review by Annmarie

I highly recommend this atmospheric literary mystery. The fascinating main character, Lena Dawson, is a lab tech in snowy, frigid Syracuse, NY, who has an uncanny ability for intuitive leaps of deduction and an exceptional sense of smell. She's also kind of socially out of step with coworkers and th......more

Quotes

“Here’s a brilliant protagonist who can trust her intuition when she reaches the limits of her professional training.” Chuck Palahniuk

“A superbly written and utterly compelling novel.” Andre Dubus III, New York Times bestselling author

“Creepy fun…an original—just wonderful to read.” Washington Post Book World

“A riveting new novel…told in compact and vigorous prose…Terrific. Seattle Times

“Put Abu-Jaber among those who have not only embraced the mystery genre but have created expert novels in doing so.” Fort Lauderdale (FL) Sun-Sentinel

“Finally, a novel of literary suspense that gets almost everything right—forensically and psychologically.” Baltimore Sun

“[A] mystery of cold beauty and dark isolation, written with crystalline precision.” Miami (FL) Herald

“[A] haunting story, icy cold in its upstate New York setting but glowing with the unusual brightness of its heroine.” Eugene (OR) Weekly

“A departure for Abu-Jaber; a treat for readers.” Amazon.com, editorial review

“[A] gripping contemporary thriller…Abu-Jaber’s lovely nuanced prose conveys the chill of an upstate New York winter as well as it does Lena’s drab existence before she was drawn into the mystery of the crib deaths…Enthralling.” Publishers Weekly, starred review

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