Narrator Kathleen McInerney creates a vibrant audio version of the interlocked lives, families, and generations in Judy Blume's arresting, sometimes harrowing, new novel. In the early 1950s, Elizabeth, New Jersey, was a cheerful, confident town in the middle of the American Century when a freak series of plane crashes shattered assumptions and lives. Blume recalls the town's shock, grief, and loss of faith in the goodness of life, all of which shape this devastating story without descending to melodrama. Well matched with Blume's narrative control, McInerney's vocal technique is marvelously flexible, distinguishing with easy shifts of tone a 9-year-old girl from a 15-year-old, not to mention men from women, and the midde-aged from the elderly. Together, they make this powerfully imagined, intricately plotted story unforgettable.
Pub Date: June 2, 2015
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781101914052
Publisher: Random House 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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