The lives being lived cheek by jowl in a luxury Park Avenue apartment building make for a delicious comedy of manners in these artful linked stories. Carrington MacDuffie does an enchanting Angelina Samoza, the Nicaraguan socialite with only slightly crossed eyes who has a slew of Guatamalan illegals living in her maid’s room. MacDuffie’s perfect Italian accent, quite distinct from her perfect Spanish one, comes into play when Vinnie, the fired doorman, makes a fortune importing couture knockoffs from the Old Country. And Dick Sapphire’s long dead Jewish mother chimes in, as wonderfully inflected as a voice from a Woody Allen movie. Leff’s vertical slice of New York life is a stylish entertainment on the page and is even more amusing in this wonderful production.
Pub Date: July 1, 2006
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
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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