Delors has created an intense story in the tumultuous setting of post-Revolutionary France. While narrator Steven Crossley provides a meticulous reading, his British accent is sometimes at odds with the French setting. Police Inspector Roch Miquel is the focus of the novel as he attempts to investigate an attempted assassination of Napoleon Bonaparte while also trying to protect his father from the machinations of the scheming police minister Fouche. Crossley provides excellent voices for each character, but the impeccable Britishness of his pronunciation doesn’t make it easy for an American listener to drop into the sense of place that one usually expects from a historical novel.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2010
Duration: 12 hrs
Publisher: Tantor Media
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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