The differing vantage points place listeners in the middle of this haunting moral disaster.
Ethan Reid reads journalist Jeremy Harding’s introduction, recounting the deaths of 27 asylum seekers aboard an inflatable dinghy attempting a Channel crossing from France to the UK in November 2021. Reid sounds emotional when relating their unanswered calls for help to French authorities. Rachel Atkins narrates two parts of the fictional account of an unnamed Calais official who takes the call. In the first, confronted by an interviewer, Atkins makes the official’s response sound cold, detached, righteous, and even snide. This is followed by Reid’s narration of the increasingly frightened perspective of a desperate young man aboard the sinking boat. Atkins concludes the audio, returning to the viewpoint of the unnamed official who struggles to live with and defend the indefensible.
The differing vantage points place listeners in the middle of this haunting moral disaster.Pub Date: April 21, 2026
Duration: 3 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063491724
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
