Narrator Heather Tracy doesn't hold back in this over-the-top prequel. Based on Jane Austen's LADY SUSAN and featuring appearances by characters from several of Austen's works, the story follows young Susan Smithson from the disgrace of being expelled from boarding school through a series of social trials and triumphs. Susan is exceptionally pretty and clever, and just good-natured enough that her schemes are entertaining instead of maddening. Tracy perfectly pitches her narration to walk the fine line between charming and outrageous, keeping the listener guessing whether Susan will win in the end. Her aggressively drawling Lady Catherine de Bourgh and a perpetually annoyed Scottish gentleman turned theater director are the highlights of a charmingly voiced cast of secondary characters.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2021
Duration: 11 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Warleigh Hall Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ayla, one of the "others," is adopted by a clan of Neanderthal cave people. She struggles to conform to their ways, but her advanced human traits overwhelm and threaten their primitive culture in this initial installment of an immensely popular series. Although the story might benefit from abridgment, Rowena Cooper easily carries out the formidable task of enlivening the mostly silent and stereotypical characters with consistent, diverse personalities and human dimension. Through skillful phrasing and inflection, she maintains the reader's interest and suspense, especially with Ayla and her plight, throughout this rambling and imaginative story.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This lyrical, sensual novel of woman's lot in Manchu, China, is as well researched as it is well written. Authentic in tone, it's nonetheless written for Westerners by a Western expert on China. Moreover, Susan Clark performs the demanding text superbly, with only occasional signs of fatigue. For the most part she not only sustains the quaint diction and Asian atmosphere, but also, creates whole worlds with her voice. She acts the book, rather than reads it, and, in so doing, turns a pretty trifle into a stupendous beauty.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 4 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Audio Literature
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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