This complicated novel--told in three points of view through letters, essays, and a diary--brings three teenagers together. Morgan Hallett narrates Molly's letters to Pepper with an edgy defiance in her voice that fits a girl who is considered a freakish loner by her peers. Pepper writes a series of school essays. Despite Pepper's academic failure and personal tragedy, narrator Fajer Al-Kaisi imbues him with a sunny good nature that suits his comic musings and kindness to Molly. Rachel Botchan narrates the diary of Ava Dreyman, in which Ava recounts her discovery that her mother's resistance to the Cold War government of East Berlin endangered Ava's life. The listener hears Ava's demeanor change from the saucy smugness of a beautiful girl to the steely determination of one seeking justice. Loss, perseverance, and fire link the lives of these three teens.
(Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2017
Duration: 13 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781501960369
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 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
Jameson's vocal range turns a found-family pirate romance into a masterful performance.
Joe Jameson's ear for class distinction carries this swashbuckling romance from scene to scene. He gives Captain Sharpe a rolling, theatrical lilt that turns every "Kitten" into a small seduction, while Kit's clipped, overcorrected vowels betray the nobleman underneath his borrowed name. The pirate crew gets careful differentiation, too: distinct voices that stay clear even when several characters converse in the same scene. Kit Davenport flees an arranged marriage and hides his noble identity, landing as the bookkeeper on a ship under Sharpe's command—and only belatedly realizing that they're pirates. Jameson's performance does the real work of the romance, charting Kit's shift from stiff aristocrat to someone looser and freer through breath and pacing alone—letting listeners hear the transformation before the plot confirms it.
Jameson's vocal range turns a found-family pirate romance into a masterful performance. (Historical adventure. 14-18)Pub Date: June 16, 2026
Duration: 10 hrs, 48 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668178690
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: yesterday
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