Dion Graham's haunting narration reveals the heartbreaking costs paid by soldiers who experience the horror of trench warfare. Alfa is a "Chocolat," a Senegalese man fighting for the French in WWI alongside his childhood friend, Mademba. When Mademba dies under impossibly painful circumstances, Graham channels Alfa's enormous grief and subsequent descent into madness as every day he sneaks across enemy lines, kills a German soldier, and returns with a macabre trophy. With anguish and driving momentum, Graham immerses listeners in Alfa's unraveling mind, illuminating both the tenderness of cherished memories and his desperation to find a foothold in reality. This is a gut-punch of an audiobook, made all the more affecting by Graham's intense and emotionally resonant delivery.
Pub Date: 2020
Duration: 3 hrs
DD ISBN:
Publisher: Brilliance 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:
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:
Duration: 4 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Audio Literature
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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