If you haven’t listened to Alexander McCall Smith’s wonderfully amusing collection about the neighbors at 44 Scotland Street, you’ll want to get to know them before starting this seventh book in the series. Narrator Robert Ian Mackenzie’s performance is wise, witty, and usually tongue-in-cheek as he recounts the tribulations of Matthew and Elspeth, new parents of triplets; the realizations of engaged couple Angus and Domenica; and Big Lou’s latest romantic entanglement with an Elvis impersonator. Mackenzie is completely convincing when precocious 7-year-old Bertie puts himself up for adoption on eBay, and he’s believable without using cloying children’s voices for Bertie’s school chums, Tofu, Ranald, and Olive. Even Cyril the dog is credible. Mackenzie makes McCall Smith’s humorous stories delightful listening.
Pub Date: 2013
Duration: 10 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781470340537
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
An astonishingly unique historical novel, which begins in Trinidad in the 1940s, this is an example of the best that an audiobook can offer. The two narrators, Ron Butler and Bahni Turpin, are superb choices who move the listener smoothly between the two main characters. Farook and Marcia Garcia are star-crossed lovers who don’t have fate on their side. Turpin evokes the rhythms of English as spoken in Trinidad, lyrical, and rhythmic. Through her confident narrative style, Marica Garcia comes across as a strong, beleaguered young woman. Her trials evoke empathy in the listener. Butler establishes the contorted choices that face Farook as an Indian man who is prevented by racism from marrying his true love. This sprawling tale spans Trinidad and the United States, from the 1940s-1960s.
Pub Date: 2015
Duration: 13 hrs
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Sometimes a book pulls you in and holds on tight--this is definitely one of those. Narrator Erin Bennett is warm, engaging, and enthusiastic as Mallory Blessing and a host of wide-ranging, multidimensional characters. As the story begins, Mallory is dying and her son, Link, is given instructions to call a strange number belonging to Jake McCloud. Listeners are soon taken on a journey back in time as their 28-year love story unfolds. Bennett's narration perfectly matches each stage of Mallory's life--and her unconventional "same time next year" relationship with Jake--as she finds her place on Nantucket. Best of all, each chapter opens with a list of "things we were talking about" during each of the 28 years, making the novel's journey back in time even more memorable for listeners.
Pub Date: 2020
Duration: 15 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781549117367
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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