Louisa May Alcott’s fans have long speculated that the romance between Jo and Laurie in LITTLE WOMEN might have been based on some unknown aspect of Alcott’s real-life experience. Here the author weaves a fictional story out of that speculation. Emily Card’s authentic performance is akin to eavesdropping on Alcott’s private journal entries, which are blended with the fictional aspects of the story. Card’s voice captures Louisa’s passion for writing and her independent spirit, which, in her mind, means foregoing marriage with her fictional lover, Joseph Singer. In the novel their romance is intricately linked to Walt Whitman’s LEAVES OF GRASS, poems that favor their liberal views. Card shifts smoothly from the familiar voices of Louisa’s family to her father’s Transcendentalist theories, which mire the family in poverty. The combination of Alcott’s words and Card’s reading is magic.
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
Duration: 9 hrs
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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