Julia Whelan narrates this first-person historical fiction about a Revolutionary War widow. A contemporary of Abigail Adams, Lizzie Boylston finds a new calling in nursing injured soldiers and delivering babies after her young husband succumbs to battle. Whelan portrays Lizzie's unconventional zest--riding astride rather than side saddle, shouldering the chores of the farm--but also the fragile assurance that carries her through her grief. When Lizzie suspects a political scheme is underway to harm Abigail and her family, Whelan dramatizes Lizzie's resolve to put a stop to it. In conversations, Whelan's renderings of key characters are engaging, though some of the dialogue between Lizzie and Abigail doesn't clearly distinguish between the two. Overall, Whelan's lively pace carries the listener through a few slow sections, resulting in a satisfying historical story.
Pub Date: 2015
Duration: 12 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN:
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
American colleges are favorable locales for ghastly event and hair-tearing circumstance. There is, for instance, a good deal of pleasure to be had out of professor and past-prodigy Grady Tripp's awful life, as portrayed by Michael Chabon in WONDER BOYS. There is a certain amount of slapstick here, but it's balanced by Chabon's superb portrait of a gale-force mid-life crisis, a soul-destroying albatross of an unfinished novel and the mind-numbing inconsequence of writers' conferences. David Colacci sounds a little starved for oxygen in his reading, but that's not exactly out of keeping with Grady Tripp's personal gestalt.
Pub Date:
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
As a group of men bring their own emotional baggage to their football-obsessed reunion, R.C. Bray delivers his usual solid narration. He shifts his tones slightly but enough to put the listener in the motel with the men, revealing their foibles as the story progresses. The narrator's role in this book is a descriptive one, and Bray is a good guide. His narration becomes extra important because this is a rare instance when there almost isn't a protagonist. The author's well-written story--which alternates between serious and laugh-out-loud funny--uses quarterback Joe Theismann's 1985 injury, a broken leg, as a McGuffin.
Pub Date:
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781681680057
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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