Carter’s new suspense novel presents unusual challenges for narrator Bahni Turpin, and she rises to them expertly. The setup: A patrician African-American college girl is chosen to act as a conduit for secret negotiations between JFK and Khrushchev during the terrifying public standoff of the Cuban missile crisis. Sound far-fetched? Oh, get over it. Carter makes it plausible; Margo Jensen, though young, is quite a personage and what a great cover story: yet another pretty young thing dallying with JFK. Turpin brings it crackling to life, speaking in those still familiar 1960s voices as JFK, RFK, McGeorge Bundy, Curtis LeMay, and myriad other hawks and doves, spies, and jingoists as both sides struggle to avert or precipitate nuclear war. Delicious.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2014
Duration: 17 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781629238982
Publisher: Dreamscape
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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