In Min's first book, EMPRESS ORCHID, Alexandra O'Karma portrayed a 17-year-old concubine whose feisty temperament gained her entrance to the bed of the emperor and put her in a powerful position. Now Empress Tzu Hsi, who is based on a real-life nineteenth-century figure, is middle-aged, and O'Karma's voice portrait is mature and weary. This makes more and more sense as Empress Orchid ages and faces nonstop personal and political stresses. She gives up the man she loves, sees her birth son die, and discovers her adopted son's weakness. Her impoverished government is under siege by foreign powers and is being attacked from within by warring factions. Despite all, O'Karma's delivery reveals the strength and caring of this fictionalized character in a portrait that, according to the author, attempts to "rehabilitate" history's vilifying picture of the Empress.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2007
Duration: 15 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
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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