At the core of this powerful story of a runaway slave trying to survive along Maryland's eastern shore in the 1850s is a literary device that fails to persuade. Liz Spocott is called "two-headed" because she has futurist dreams—like clips from our nightly news—of the future of blacks in America, including visions of a great preacher who also has a dream. Liz's own short life among slavers; slave catchers; a fabled runaway slave gone feral, called the Woolman; and Moses, a Harriet Tubman figure, is compelling enough. It may be that the whole construct doesn't quite come together because the usually wonderful Leslie Uggams rarely finds the right tone here, overdramatizing as if performing for restive children, diverting attention from the story to the performance.
Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2008
Duration: 10 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781429592536
Publisher: Penguin 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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