This audiobook concerns two women who are separated by decades and continents but joined by blood, tragedy, and a bejeweled cobra bracelet. The romantic story is rendered perfectly by two narrators. Helen Laser portrays the contemporary New England heroine, Mallory, a single mom. Caroline Hewitt depicts Hannah, who in 1952 is living in Cairo, which is seething with revolution. The widow of a Hungarian count, she is married to a British diplomat and is in love with an Israeli spy. Laser creates a voice for Mallory that is warm, witty and tough. Hewitt enlivens Hannah, whose voice is subdued, cultured and yearning. This production is filled with memorable characters, family secrets, passionate romance, and historical drama.
Pub Date: June 25, 2024
Duration: 12 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593909317
Publisher: Random House Audio
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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