A perky performance by Lin keeps the humor and the tension in the foreground in this original, nautical coming-of-age story.
Erin Lin’s youthful exuberance works well for 18-year-old Winifred Starbuck. When Nell and Peter Starbuck forbid their daughter from accompanying them on their next voyage on a new, untested merchant clipper ship journeying from Nantucket to China, Winnie stows away. Winnie desperately wants to win her father’s approval, but an ocean adventure in the 1800s is not an easy ride. Facing unimaginable hardships, storms, and even pirates, Winnie proves herself an able seaman. Lin handles the assortment of unusual characters with assurance, giving them identifiable personalities. Shipboard jargon slips easily off her tongue, while she makes Winnie’s tender regard for her mother almost palpable.
A perky performance by Lin keeps the humor and the tension in the foreground in this original, nautical coming-of-age story.Pub Date: June 9, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs, 20 mins
DD ISBN: 9781488238314
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: July 7, 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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