From the musical passage that introduces the first story to the final word of the last story in this collection, THE MEANS OF ESCAPE--eight stories by the late British writer Penelope Fitzgerald--enthralls. This is the first time that any short stories by the Booker Award-winning writer have appeared in the United States, and such stories they are--sly, mysterious, humorous tales about misunderstandings, missed opportunities, the shifting balance of power between people. Donada Peters brings perfect pitch and timing to the narration. It’s clear that she understands these often oblique stories, and in her understanding--her pauses, emphasis, changes of tone--she enables the listener to understand. Peters so thoroughly inhabits the characters--a lonely girl in nineteenth-century Tasmania, an elderly German composer living in isolation--that it seems as if the author herself is reading. A collection and performance to treasure.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2000
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A series of terrifying accounts of the macabre is brought to life through David Ledoux's splendid reading. Ledoux offers a straightforward approach, making Hill's startling tales as believable as they are frightening. As narrator, Ledoux understands these stories—be it the dazzlingly imaginative "Pop Art" or the tense "Best New Horror," in which the central character is a horror editor who finds himself entrapped in one of his stories. Hill is a master at creating a high-tension atmosphere that never ceases to pay off with a scare. This innate ability is perfectly realized by Ledoux, who knows precisely when to increase his tone and pitch, or let his voice accelerate to increase the stakes. Dark, brooding, and realistic, Ledoux's performance is underplayed where it could go over the top.
Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2007
Duration: 12 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780061554667
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ottessa Moshfegh, author of several audiobooks, one of which she narrates, steps in to deliver this new production of the late Leonard Cohen's early fiction, written in the 1950s. The 16 short stories and a novella are a snapshot of the period and the artist's development of his voice. Cohen focuses on themes of violence, deeply intimate sex, rejection, the betrayals of old age, and more violence. Moshfegh's voice may be unexpected, given Cohen's many first-person male characters, but, curiously, it works. Moshfegh meets the moments of sexual intimacy, and of shocking violence, straight on, conveying a reverence for these early works.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781696609784
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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