Narrator Leila Buck gives voice to a family divided by politics yet kept together by love in this historical novel set against the backdrop of Palestine in the late 1960s. Throughout her narration, Buck uses a somber tone that hints at the coming trauma and separation. She tells listeners in a subdued voice of the family's downward spiral as they are, first, displaced from Nablus and, later, separated in war-torn Kuwait. Beginning with Salma, the matriarch, listeners experience the heartbreaking decisions facing displaced people during times of social and political instability. With a story that rings familiar in our turbulent times, Buck manages capably with her characterizations of both male and female characters.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2017
Duration: 12 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781501941542
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
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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