Narrator Grover Gardner’s charming voice lends the perfect touch to Captain Jefferson Kidd, a lonely widower in 1870 Texas. Gardner smoothly portrays Kidd’s sophistication as he eloquently reads the news to settlers for ten cents a listener. Braver than he should be in his sunset years, Kidd agrees to single-handedly escort an orphan girl across 400 miles of dangerous Indian territory. Gardner tenderly portrays the 10-year-old’s resentment and gradual trust as she is torn from the Kiowa tribe who kidnapped her and slowly rediscovers her original culture and the German and English languages she once spoke. Gardner’s unpretentious narration does justice to Jiles’s often exquisite turns of phrase and graceful depictions of the ethnically diverse American West.
Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
Duration: 6 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063041554
Publisher: Harper 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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