Tavia Gilbert and Robert Fass deserve only superlatives for their performances in Louis Bayard's outstanding historical fiction. Mary Todd and Joshua Speed tell compelling stories detailing the way their lives entwined with Abraham Lincoln's. In 1840, Mary comes to Springfield with marriage on her mind. She meets handsome, charming Speed and awkward Lincoln, an unimpressive country lawyer. The two confirmed bachelors share a room and a bed, and as their friendship deepens, Speed teaches Lincoln everything from hygiene to haberdashery. Gilbert's attitude fits the smart, self-assured, determined Mary, and Fass's portrayal of the debonair Speed is pitch-perfect. As Lincoln and Mary grow closer, we feel Speed's jealousy and despair over the inevitable loss of his dearest friend to marriage. An inspired literary invention, superbly performed.
Pub Date: April 23, 2019
Duration: 13 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781684571673
Publisher: HighBridge 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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