This multilayered audiobook quickly engages the listener. Peter Kenny provides a solid performance as he navigates the streets of Barcelona and portrays the characters who live there. When a mysterious stranger enters Daniel’s family’s bookstore, he sets in motion a series of events that combine to create true drama. Kenny’s confident performance bridges the gaps between background stories and the present. While this work is billed as a sequel and a prequel to two of the author’s other novels, it can stand alone and will appeal to any listener who enjoys intrigue and skilled storytelling. In fact, hearing this audiobook could inspire a search for those other two titles.
Pub Date: July 10, 2012
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780062208613
Publisher: Harper 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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