This story of small-town people is richly detailed, American to the marrow, and wonderfully portrays its main character, Virgil Wander. MacLeod Andrews powerfully narrates this exquisitely written audiobook with a requisite nod to the regional accent of the Great Lakes. His ability to reveal the mind of the main character sets this work apart. Having suffered an accident, Virgil is now recovering his cognition and his life. Greenstone, a fictional small community, sits on an inland sea (Lake Superior), has a still operating, aging movie palace (the Empress), and a massive dangerous fish (a sturgeon). The story is replete with off- and onstage characters--including a former movie impresario, a vanished baseball player, and a kite-flying Norwegian--who invigorate this remarkable novel.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2018
Duration: 10 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781980011675
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
An astonishingly unique historical novel, which begins in Trinidad in the 1940s, this is an example of the best that an audiobook can offer. The two narrators, Ron Butler and Bahni Turpin, are superb choices who move the listener smoothly between the two main characters. Farook and Marcia Garcia are star-crossed lovers who don’t have fate on their side. Turpin evokes the rhythms of English as spoken in Trinidad, lyrical, and rhythmic. Through her confident narrative style, Marica Garcia comes across as a strong, beleaguered young woman. Her trials evoke empathy in the listener. Butler establishes the contorted choices that face Farook as an Indian man who is prevented by racism from marrying his true love. This sprawling tale spans Trinidad and the United States, from the 1940s-1960s.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2015
Duration: 13 hrs
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Sometimes a book pulls you in and holds on tight--this is definitely one of those. Narrator Erin Bennett is warm, engaging, and enthusiastic as Mallory Blessing and a host of wide-ranging, multidimensional characters. As the story begins, Mallory is dying and her son, Link, is given instructions to call a strange number belonging to Jake McCloud. Listeners are soon taken on a journey back in time as their 28-year love story unfolds. Bennett's narration perfectly matches each stage of Mallory's life--and her unconventional "same time next year" relationship with Jake--as she finds her place on Nantucket. Best of all, each chapter opens with a list of "things we were talking about" during each of the 28 years, making the novel's journey back in time even more memorable for listeners.
Pub Date: June 30, 2020
Duration: 15 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781549117367
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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