Amari, a young African slave, befriends Polly, a young indentured servant, as the two begin their lives on a Southern plantation in the early eighteenth century. While many aspects of the story are predictable and most characters are caricatures, Amari's hard life and brutal experiences, and Polly's to a lesser extent, shake the listener. Myra Lucretia Taylor amplifies the violence and tragedy with a compassionate voice that breathes emotion and sorrow into her depiction. While she handles the varying accents adequately, her real accomplishment is her portrayal of dual points of view. Though the story is told in the third person, Taylor maintains perceptibly different tones as the emphasis shifts between Amari and Polly.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2006
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Both narrators express the story’s mounting tension, contributing to the gothic horror of this historical fantasy.
This audiobook opens from the perspective of Ygnacio, portrayed by narrator Omar Leyva. His attention is on 16-year-old Minerva, who has left a broken home. It’s only later that listeners learn Ygnacio’s distant voice belongs to a ghost seeking revenge. Leyva’s accent gives a strong sense of the novel’s Latin American setting. Minerva becomes a maid for wealthy Señora Encarnación in a crumbling, haunted home while civil war rages around them. Krysta Gonzales performs Minerva’s chapters with a mix of youthful exuberance and lack of confidence that reflect Minerva’s age and her tragic past. As Miranda’s courage and resolve strengthen, we hear it in Gonzales’ voice.
Both narrators express the story’s mounting tension, contributing to the gothic horror of this historical fantasy. (Paranormal. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
Duration: 8 hrs, 19 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217349845
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2026
Themes of inheritance, identity, sacrifice, and belonging resonate through three voices.
This multigenerational family story comes to life through an ensemble performance. After high schooler Dawn receives an assignment to interview her grandmother, she begins uncovering a family history that stretches from 19th-century China to Taiwan and then New York. Eunice Wong, Katharine Chin, and Kenneth Lee shift among generations with careful attention to rhythm, pitch, and emotional texture, making the transitions easy to follow. Their performances capture the family's guardedness over its old secretsas well as Dawn's curiosity as a young woman seeking answers. As the layers of the Chin family history emerge, the narrators maintain a strong sense of continuity across time.
Themes of inheritance, identity, sacrifice, and belonging resonate through three voices. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs, 42 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063238039
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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