On a trek to find her son, a partisan who is on the run in WWII-ravaged Italy, Lucia Fantini, opera singer and restaurateur, revisits her life in a series of vignettes that will have listeners feeling as though they're looking through a 1940s photograph album whose pictures are sepia and slightly faded. Cassandra Campbell narrates, giving the first-person voice of Lucia the gentlest trace of an Italian accent--just right for the elegant singer. Campbell never resorts to stereotypes when portraying the many unique characters that fill Lucia's life. She creates people distinctly different from the narrator and from one another. Ellen Cooney offers a lyrical reminiscence of a time and place, a group of people with real lives, and a memorable woman. Cassandra Campbell is the perfect complement.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2008
Duration: 11 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This audiobook is initially daunting. Sixteen hours long and constructed of subtle—at times, even confusing—shifts in point of view, it may feel overwhelming in the first hour. But sticking with George Newbern’s narration and Gilbert’s prose yields great rewards. Newbern’s performance is funny, thoughtful, heartrending, and utterly engrossing. When the famous, now aging, author A.N. Dyer calls his distant sons to his side, Newbern is provided ample characters to animate, and he does so with perfect pacing and what seems like an innate understanding of the novel. He creates a rhythm that makes the changing perspectives easy to follow and Gilbert’s details accessible. & SONS is a perfect example of how a skilled narrator can make a good book even better.
Pub Date: July 23, 2013
Duration: 16 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780385359566
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Following multiple lives over six decades, this is a story of cultural shifts, the effects of racial prejudice, and family secrets. Joy Osmanski's narration is engaged and easy to listen to. There are times when her narration is uneven and character accents are inconsistent, but she moves the story along at an excellent pace. Will Damron capably narrates a few descriptive paragraphs at the beginning to set the scene. During the '50s, as bombs are explode in Nevada's deserts to entertain Las Vegas tourists, four sets of characters experience the destruction caused by prejudice and social upheaval in their lives. The author skillfully integrates the lives of vivid and realistic characters, bringing them to a satisfying and surprising denouement in the final chapters.
Pub Date: May 2, 2017
Duration: 11 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781508234715
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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