Five narrators take on this story of young Indio women who are swept up in the violence of an El Salvadoran dictator. When Graciela is taken from her friends and family to become an oracle for a horrifying dictator, she meets her older sister, Consuelo, who was stolen when she was a young child. After a violent uprising, the sisters escape from El Salvador to the rich world of California, but neither is able to leave behind the ghosts of their murdered friends. Deftly switching between English and Spanish, narrators Gisela Chipe, Elena Rey, Alma Cuervo, E.A. Castillo, Ines del Castillo take turns bringing life to the sisters and the murdered girls whose spirits will not remain silent.
Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
Duration: 12 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593868522
Publisher: Random House 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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