Caryl Phillips has compiled three biographies of black men struggling to make their way in a white world in England. The accounts date from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. The first and third sections—about a Jamaican boy “given” to Samuel Johnson and a stowaway from Nigeria who ends up in England—make for the best listening. They are narrated by a single performer and a full cast, respectively. Each is riveting because the linguistic skills of the performers give a vivid sense of the time and place of the man being documented. The second section, about Randy Turpin, a mixed-race boxer from Wales, is predominately spoken as a third-person narrative in an American accent. But individual characters are presented with distinct British accents. This makes the middle section a jarring experience overall.
Pub Date: 2008
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books/ Griot 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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