In this gentle story of ungentle times, a deaf Irish-Canadian girl comes of age, learns to cope with her handicap, and finds love in the opening decades of the twentieth century. WWI intervenes, whisking her new (hearing) husband into the trenches of Normandy. Will the tide of history overwhelm the couple? The novel features much period detail, not only of quotidian life, but of the treatment and education of the deaf. Canadian actress Lorraine Hamelin speeds through much of the tale in an irritatingly goody-goody style. She has a pleasant "young mom" sound but is not particularly expressive. Y.R.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2003
Duration: 12 hrs
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: 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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