Quirky characters truly come to life in this masterfully narrated tale.
This new English translation of Indonesian writer Darma’s 1983 novel is given a worthy performance by Art Bautista, who takes the reader on an existential odyssey through an obsessive love. After a strange but brief encounter in the elevator of his apartment building with the eponymous Olenka, Fantom Drummond (a character perhaps based on Darma himself) quickly becomes consumed by thoughts ofthis woman and her failed writer husband, Wayne. When she inexplicably vanishes, Fantom drops everything and begins searching for her, learning some essential truths about himself along the way. Bautista is a spirited narrator: Fantom sounds innocent and introspective, Olenka sounds frightened and angry, and Wayne is a doltish purveyor of word salad.
Quirky characters truly come to life in this masterfully narrated tale.Pub Date: July 21, 2026
Duration: 9 hrs, 17 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217297917
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2026
Published in 1927, this lost gem connects the gilded voice of the Edwardian age with the devastation and carnage of WWI.
Justin Avoth has the voice of England. He just does. And herethat voice embodies a literary world lost between Hardy and Hemingway, when an orphaned adolescent is left with a dour, very Victorian aunt and a grim, miserly grandfather. Clare goes on to find true love, suffer a devastating loss, and carve out her own identity surrounded by melodramatic in-laws, horseless carriages, and prying clergy. Avoth is at his best narrating the detailed, breathless descriptions of the West Midlands, and he is especially vivid when he gives voice to Clare’s maturation as a woman of means and mother of a son wounded in battle.
Published in 1927, this lost gem connects the gilded voice of the Edwardian age with the devastation and carnage of WWI.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2025
Duration: 29 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781781985588
Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2026
Booth delivers an engaging version of a historically significant work that still deserves attention.
Jonathan Booth’s performance of these essays on political and military science clearly and ably presents Machiavelli’s arguments. Machiavelli’s ideas, while based on examples from ancient and Renaissance history, are often still valid and applicable today. Booth’s tone mirrors Machiavelli’s: serious but friendly, thoughtful, and deeply interested in his topic and in conveying it to his audience. Booth’s performance is unobtrusively precise, and he matches his expression, inflection, and emphasis to the meaning of the text. His pace is on the quick side of comfortable, but his energy and his understanding of the material draw the listener along through the occasional dry patch.
Booth delivers an engaging version of a historically significant work that still deserves attention.Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2025
Duration: 15 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781781985762
Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2026
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