Who can forget the September terrorist bombing of the New York financial district? Yes, 1920 was quite a year. Rubenfeld's novel revisits that other bombing of Wall Street, linked to Italian terrorists, which casts innumerable allusions to that eerily similar New York bombing on September 11, 81 years later. Narrator Kerry Shale is the perfect choice to deliver this complicated story. His varied repertoire of voices weaves a love story that involves seedy national politics, scientific breakthroughs, and WWI. Shale perfectly creates the many varied characters that bring this novel to life. The bombing is a turning point in the lives of three characters, who include Sigmund Freud and Madame Curie.
Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2011
Duration: 14 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781101460481
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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