Audio only
Murder In Matera
A True Story of Passion, Family, and Forgiveness in Southern ItalyBy Helene StapinskiNarrated by Helene StapinskiLength7h 46m
About this audiobook
"Tantalizing" - NPR
“A thrilling detective story… Stapinski pursues the study of her family’s criminal genealogy with unexpected emotional results.” — Library Journal
A writer goes deep into the heart of Italy to unravel a century-old family mystery in this spellbinding memoir that blends the suspenseful twists of Making a Murderer and the emotional insight of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels.
Since childhood, Helene Stapinski heard lurid tales about her great-great-grandmother, Vita. In Southern Italy, she was a loose woman who had murdered someone. Immigrating to America with three children, she lost one along the way. Helene’s youthful obsession with Vita deepened as she grew up, eventually propelling the journalist to Italy, where, with her own children in tow, she pursued the story, determined to set the record straight.
Finding answers would take Helene ten years and numerous trips to Basilicata, the rural "instep" of Italy’s boot—a mountainous land rife with criminals, superstitions, old-world customs, and desperate poverty. Though false leads sent her down blind alleys, Helene’s dogged search, aided by a few lucky—even miraculous—breaks and a group of colorful local characters, led her to the truth.
Yes, the family tales she’d heard were true: There had been a murder in Helene’s family, a killing that roiled 1870s Italy. But the identities of the killer and victim weren’t who she thought they were. In revisiting events that happened more than a century before, Helene came to another stunning realization—she wasn’t who she thought she was, either.
Weaving Helene’s own story of discovery with the tragic tale of Vita’s life, Murder in Matera is a literary whodunit and a moving tale of self-discovery that brings into focus a long ago tragedy in a little-known region remarkable for its stunning sunny beauty and dark buried secrets.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.8 (2.1K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, StoryGraph, LibraryThing
GenreBiography and Memoir, History, Travel
Length7 hrs 46 mins
Narrated byHelene Stapinski
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMay 23, 2017
LanguageEnglish
The Way of RoninTu Lam12h 9m4.9 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
Matters of the HeartJacinta Nampijinpa Price9h 35m4.8 (359)$29 · $0.00
How to Test Negative for StupidJohn Kennedy8h 13m4.7 (9.7K)$28 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m4.7 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
John Muir: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth & Letters to a Friend (Annotated)John Muir10h 13m4.7 (1.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m4.7 (5K)$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (384)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
Ghosts of HiroshimaCharles Pellegrino8h 59m4.5 (877)$23
Black AF HistoryMichael Harriot15h 43m4.7 (14.6K)$33 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m4.6 (3.2K)$18 · $0.00
Fall and RiseMitchell Zuckoff17h 23m4.6 (9.8K)$40 · $0.00
A Cook's TourAnthony Bourdain5h 50m4.2 (38.2K)$28 · $0.00
A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (With Original Drawings & Photographs) (Annotated)John Muir5h 55m4.6 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
Will's Red CoatTom Ryan8h 23m4.5 (2.3K)$26 · $0.00
South! - The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917 (Annotated)Ernest Henry Shackleton17h 9m4.4 (14.3K)$2 · $0.00
Little PrincesConor Grennan9h 38m4.3 (27.6K)$29 · $0.00
We are Soldiers StillHarold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway7h 46m4.4 (2.4K)$26 · $0.00
The Road to San DonatoRobert Cocuzzo7h 29m4.4 (397)$17 · $0.00
Around the World in 60 SecondsNuseir Yassin7h 48m4.4 (836)$26 · $0.00
The Midwest Survival GuideCharlie Berens6h 6m4.3 (4.9K)$24 · $0.00
The Home of the Blizzard (Annotated)Sir Douglas Mawson19h 2m4.3 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
Local WondersTed Kooser6h 21m4.4 (978)$14 · $0.00
Over the Edge of the WorldLaurence Bergreen6h 14m4.3 (23.2K)$24 · $0.00
What Really Happened In WuhanSharri Markson16h 28m4.3 (4.8K)$40 · $0.00
American RambleNeil King10h 58m4.3 (2.8K)$29 · $0.00
In The Footsteps Of RamaVikrant Pande, Neelesh Kulkarni9h 45m4.3 (778)$16 · $0.00
Never Leave the Dogs BehindBrianna Madia5h 37m4.2 (7.8K)$24 · $0.00
Touch the Top of the WorldErik Weihenmayer11h 18m4.3 (2.9K)$20 · $0.00
Mud, Sweat, and TearsBear Grylls9h 25m4.2 (20K)$29 · $0.00
NorthboundNaomi Arnold7h 21m4.3 (669)$24 · $0.00
China RoadRob Gifford10h 35m4.2 (4.7K)$20 · $0.00
You may also like
The Deaths of Sybil BoltonDennis McAuliffe12h 40m4.1 (434)$25 · $0.00
West of the WestMark Arax13h 39m4.2 (462)$23
BarracoonZora Neale Hurston3h 50m4.2 (49.1K)$6 · $0.00
A Clergyman’s DaughterGeorge Orwell10h 17m3.6 (17.6K)$20
The Gallery of Vanished HusbandsNatasha Solomons12h 1m3.7 (3.1K)$23 · $0.00
LandfallEllen Urbani12h 23m4.1 (559)$20 · $0.00
The Seven Skins of Esther WildingHolly Ringland19h 8m4.2 (15.3K)$40 · $0.00
Twelve Years a SlaveSolomon Northup7h 48m4.3 (140.2K)$20
It All Falls DownSheena Kamal8h 35m3.6 (1.4K)$26 · $0.00
Miss del RíoBárbara Mujica13h 2m3.8 (1.5K)$33 · $0.00
The RavagedNorman Reedus8h 50m3.6 (4.2K)$20
The KnowingTanya Talaga15h 16m4.5 (1.8K)$33 · $0.00
Hope and GloryJendella Benson11h 4m3.8 (2K)$29 · $0.00
SundogJim Harrison7h 58m4.1 (1.6K)$20
HurricanesRick Ross, Neil Martinez-Belkin5h 53m4.3 (7.1K)$24 · $0.00
The Comedy of ErrorsWilliam Shakespeare1h 46m3.9 (43.9K)$15
The LivingAnnie Dillard6h 3m3.8 (3.9K)$24 · $0.00
The Brothers Karamazov (Classic Unabridged Edition)Fyodor Dostoyevsky38h 18m4.5 (452.3K)$2 · $0.00
The Liz Taylor RingBrenda Janowitz9h 43m3.8 (2.2K)$29 · $0.00
The Glass HotelEmily St. John Mandel10h 28m3.9 (218.1K)$29 · $0.00