Orlagh Cassidy eloquently narrates this fictional account of a WWII-era physicist who is working on the atom bomb in Los Alamos while yearning for the love of her life in Berlin. Anticipating persecution as a Jew, Hannah escapes Germany and continues her work on the atom with the Americans in New Mexico. Portraying Hannah with a gentle Austrian accent, Cassidy captures the character's feminine beauty and scientific acuity. Major Jack Delaney is dispatched to Los Alamos to investigate suspicions that Hannah's loyalties may still lie with the Third Reich scientists she abandoned. Cassidy does well with the extended dialogues between Hannah and Jack. The more he is determined to ferret out Hannah's secrets, the more her revelations become both shrewd and mesmerizing.
Pub Date: March 3, 2020
Duration: 8 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781549155185
Publisher: Hachette 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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