The only thing Prunella Scales can’t do perfectly is an American accent; there seems nothing Timothy West can’t do. These two immensely skilled actors present the memorable stories in this collection with great wit and sympathy. West gives us an aging husband, full of himself and scornful of his wife, in town for a regimental dinner. But as he tries to find the even older prostitute with whom he dallied annually over the years, West makes us feel how disorienting, how finally shattering this day becomes for him, eliciting true identity and sympathy where we had expected to feel none. Scales’s portrait of two widows of a certain age who meet for lunches to condescend to each other is sharply, delicately drawn. My personal favorite is the opinionated octogenarian who writes letters to the author, “Dr. Barnes,” but all these stories are as good as the performances, making this a production that will reward multiple listenings.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2004
Duration: 6 hrs, 15 mins
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A series of terrifying accounts of the macabre is brought to life through David Ledoux's splendid reading. Ledoux offers a straightforward approach, making Hill's startling tales as believable as they are frightening. As narrator, Ledoux understands these stories—be it the dazzlingly imaginative "Pop Art" or the tense "Best New Horror," in which the central character is a horror editor who finds himself entrapped in one of his stories. Hill is a master at creating a high-tension atmosphere that never ceases to pay off with a scare. This innate ability is perfectly realized by Ledoux, who knows precisely when to increase his tone and pitch, or let his voice accelerate to increase the stakes. Dark, brooding, and realistic, Ledoux's performance is underplayed where it could go over the top.
Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2007
Duration: 12 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780061554667
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ottessa Moshfegh, author of several audiobooks, one of which she narrates, steps in to deliver this new production of the late Leonard Cohen's early fiction, written in the 1950s. The 16 short stories and a novella are a snapshot of the period and the artist's development of his voice. Cohen focuses on themes of violence, deeply intimate sex, rejection, the betrayals of old age, and more violence. Moshfegh's voice may be unexpected, given Cohen's many first-person male characters, but, curiously, it works. Moshfegh meets the moments of sexual intimacy, and of shocking violence, straight on, conveying a reverence for these early works.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781696609784
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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