Touching the recently killed General Armstrong Custer, Lakota Sioux youth Paha Sapa feels the white man's soul enter his body. There it stays, conversing with him about Custer's graphic marital memories for the next six decades as the Native American matures, marries, and works on the carving of Mt. Rushmore. Erik Davies performs the story's narrative passages and the voice of Paha Sapa, and Michael McConnohie takes on Custer's words. Davies concentrates on the many Lakota words, reading them slowly and carefully to ensure perfection. He gives the same gravity to Paha Sapa's English speech. McConnohie's Custer barrels through the general's lusty recollections at a more natural pace. Vivid descriptions of Black Hills events and the Chicago World's Fair round out this piece of historical fiction.
Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2010
Duration: 21 hrs
Publisher: Hachette 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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