Two exceptional narrators transport listeners back in time to witness and to celebrate a sustaining friendship.
In this audiobook, Niecy and Annie call themselves "cradle friends," bonded from infancy by their shared Louisiana hometown and their tragic motherlessness. Alternating chapters follow them as they pursue separate paths through the late 1950s. Annie, brilliantly portrayed by Angel Pean, heads to Memphis to find the mother who abandoned her. Niecy, performed with equally vivid excellence by Ashley J. Hobbs, attends Spelman College in Atlanta and quietly mourns her own mother's death. Both narrators’ warmth and intensity capture the joy, despair, pride, and vulnerability of the two young women, bringing their experiences to life. The dialogue between characters is animated, and the protagonists' distinct personalities are clear throughout the performance.
Two exceptional narrators transport listeners back in time to witness and to celebrate a sustaining friendship.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593913130
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
This audiobook is initially daunting. Sixteen hours long and constructed of subtle—at times, even confusing—shifts in point of view, it may feel overwhelming in the first hour. But sticking with George Newbern’s narration and Gilbert’s prose yields great rewards. Newbern’s performance is funny, thoughtful, heartrending, and utterly engrossing. When the famous, now aging, author A.N. Dyer calls his distant sons to his side, Newbern is provided ample characters to animate, and he does so with perfect pacing and what seems like an innate understanding of the novel. He creates a rhythm that makes the changing perspectives easy to follow and Gilbert’s details accessible. & SONS is a perfect example of how a skilled narrator can make a good book even better.
Pub Date: July 23, 2013
Duration: 16 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780385359566
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Following multiple lives over six decades, this is a story of cultural shifts, the effects of racial prejudice, and family secrets. Joy Osmanski's narration is engaged and easy to listen to. There are times when her narration is uneven and character accents are inconsistent, but she moves the story along at an excellent pace. Will Damron capably narrates a few descriptive paragraphs at the beginning to set the scene. During the '50s, as bombs are explode in Nevada's deserts to entertain Las Vegas tourists, four sets of characters experience the destruction caused by prejudice and social upheaval in their lives. The author skillfully integrates the lives of vivid and realistic characters, bringing them to a satisfying and surprising denouement in the final chapters.
Pub Date: May 2, 2017
Duration: 11 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781508234715
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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