On her sixteenth birthday, Gemma Doyle’s mother dies violently. Her father retreats into an opium haze, and she is whisked from her home in India to England. At Spence Academy, where, twenty years earlier, a tragic fire claimed three lives, Gemma discovers a diary recounting the events leading to the tragedy. Thus begins a forbidden and dangerous journey for Gemma and her friendly enemies, Felicity, Pippa, and Ann. Josephine Bailey’s performance is especially poignant as Gemma struggles with her awakening sensuality and with a growing awareness of her magical powers. Bailey transforms Libba Bray’s arcane facts about girls’ schools, the role relegated to women, hypocrisy, and expectations in Victorian England into a plausible excursion into supernatural realms. This coming-of-age story will captivate both older teens and adults.
Young AdultPub Date: Jan. 22, 2004
Duration: 11 hrs, 15 mins
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Listeners follow Merry, the longbow girl, one of the best archers in her town. When she finds a magical portal in the forest that takes her back to sixteenth-century Wales, she must use her skills to win an archery contest in order to help her ancestors keep their land. While narrator Emily Wilden brings protagonist Merry to life with a rich Welsh accent, her narration seems uneven at times. All the period characters have accents that reflect the setting of the story and transport listeners to Wales. Listeners who enjoy historical fiction and a bit of fantasy will be charmed by this tale of determination, hope, and family.
Young AdultPub Date: N/A
Duration: 11 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781501916793
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Soler's spellbinding voice turns a melancholic fable into an intimate experience listeners will feel long after it ends.
Rebecca Soler narrates this haunting audiobook with a lyrical quality that draws listeners deep into its magical realism and its many-layered story. Her emotional control serves the narrative well, allowing the story's quietest moments to land with weight. Soler voices Lexie and Chester, two teens with heavy pasts and dark secrets who are drawn to each other by an undeniable cosmic pull. On a freezing winter morning, five people, including Chester, go for a swim and wake the next day transformed into birds, their lives forever altered. Measured pacing and tender characterizations give each teen a distinct inner life.
Soler's spellbinding voice turns a melancholic fable into an intimate experience listeners will feel long after it ends. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
Duration: 4 hrs, 56 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217351152
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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