Taking on the added role of narrator, author Ben Macintyre delivers one of this fall's most absorbing and satisfying nonfiction audiobooks. Ursula Kuczynski, code named Sonya, converted to Marxism as a Jewish teenager in Germany during the rise of Nazism. Over the next two tumultuous decades she worked as a covert Soviet agent in China, Poland, Switzerland, and England, where, passing as an ordinary British housewife and mother of three, she transferred crucial atom bomb secrets to the Russians. Macintyre is often compared to spy novelist John le Carré, and in Sonya he offers a protagonist of compelling character, intelligence, and daring who is living out a true-life adventure on an epic scale. A gifted storyteller, Macintyre is also an expert narrator who will hold your interest from start to finish.
Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
Duration: 14 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593287651
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
James Michener tells the real stories behind the man and his books. The recording is read with skill and consistency although the reader does little to enhance the robust, larger-than-life incidents related in the book. Due to the first-person narrative format, there is no opportunity for the narrator to change his voice. This makes some chapters monotonous as they go on and on in the typical Michener style. The listener may also become confused because the stories are not told chronologically. This is not a great choice for the audio format, but Michener fans may stick with it to the end.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
In a quest for a sense of inner contentment and self-worth, Gloria Steinem brings the reader on a journey of investigation and discovery. Steinem reads the text herself in a straightforward and friendly, but not intimate, presentation which is so easy to listen to it invites repetition--thus ensuring the painless relearning of the lessons of the book. It's difficult to tell from the reading that this audiobook is abridged; each section can stand alone. Nonetheless, the listener wished the book were unabridged. Steinem left me wanting to learn more.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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