Each month, for your literary listening pleasure, our friends at AudioFile Magazine bring us the cream of the audiobook crop.
This month’s bounty of brilliant audiobooks includes Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle (read by Cassandra Campbell & Alex McKenna), Tia Williams’ Seven Days in June (read by Mela Lee), Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray’s The Personal Librarian (read by Robin Miles), and John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed (read by the author).
FICTION
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers | Read by Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton, Prentice Onayemi
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Harper Audio | 29.75 hrs.]
Three talented narrators transport listeners of Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’s lyrical debut. The story centers on the complicated lives of Ailey and her extended family and ancestors. Narrator Adenrele Ojo could teach a master class in narration with her flawless portrayals of the intelligent, sensitive Ailey and the other unforgettable contemporary family members. Karen Chilton’s precise and skillful performance guides listeners through the histories of Ailey’s ancestors. The scholarly pronouncements of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois are delivered with appropriate gravitas by Prentice Onayemi.
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead | Read by Cassandra Campbell & Alex McKenna
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Random House Audio | 25.25 hrs.]
Cassandra Campbell and Alex McKenna’s captivating performances will divert you from everything else as you follow two women on different quests in separate eras. Marion, in the early twentieth century, devotes her life to flying; years later, Hadley prepares to play Marion on-screen. Campbell, who narrates most of the book, delivers Shipstead’s stunning descriptive prose with a precision that crystalizes its edges, making it sound timeless. McKenna’s poignant depiction of Hadley, in a chipper yet throaty voice that hints of late nights, perfectly combines the character’s endearing mix of enthusiasm, naïveté, and sangfroid. Together, they transfix.
The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin| Read by Feodor Chin
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Hachette Audio | 9.5 hrs.]
Narrator Feodor Chin beautifully performs this revenge story set in the post–Civil War American West. Ming Tsu, born in America and orphaned at birth, was raised by a California crime boss who taught him how to survive in a violent world. After Ming is forcibly recruited by the Union Pacific Railroad as a manual laborer, he escapes, determined to track down every man who tore him away from his white wife. Chin delivers on all fronts: capturing the lyrical flow of the text, voicing authentic-sounding accents, building the mystery and tension, and projecting Ming’s passion and rage.
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray | Read by Robin Miles
[Penguin Audio | 12.5 hrs.]
Narrator Robin Miles employs her terrific performance skills to enhance this historical novel on the life of Belle da Costa Greene. Born Belle Marion Greener—daughter of activist Richard Greener, Harvard’s first Black graduate—she “passes” as a white Portuguese woman while working as the personal librarian of financier J.P. Morgan. Miles creates vibrant portrayals of each Morgan family member, as well as a mélange of New York and European society, affording listeners an illuminating picture of the opulence, prejudices, and restraints of this insular social milieu.
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams | Read by Mela Lee
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Hachette Audio | 10.5 hrs.]
Narrator Mela Lee’s extraordinary range and dramatic style allow listeners to experience every dark, humorous, and heartbreaking moment of this fraught second-chance romance. As troubled teenagers, Eva Mercy and Shane Hall shared seven life-changing days. Lee’s conversational tone lends itself well to Eva, who now hides her chronic illness and her complacency with her career behind a smile. As Shane, Lee completely transforms her voice, speaking in a deeper pitch and an emotionally charged tone that perfectly fit the troubled writer.
**
NONFICTION
The Women They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore | Read by Kate Moore
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Blackstone Audio | 14.5 hrs.]
Author/narrator Kate Moore delivers her stunning biography of Elizabeth Packard (1816-1897), who became an advocate for the rights of women and patients unjustly committed to insane asylums. Elizabeth’s vindictive husband, a minister, had her forcefully committed because he feared her intelligence, opposed her defense of women’s rights, and loathed her deviation from his religious beliefs. In the asylum, Elizabeth encountered many other sane women who had been committed by men who found them troublesome. Moore’s performance shines a light on Packard, a mother of six, who never stopped fighting against gender-based prejudice.
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green | Read by John Green
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Penguin Audio | 10 hrs.]
This audiobook, narrated faithfully by its author, offers a complex and insightful look at the various human experiences that shape us. John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) delivers impassioned reviews on a five-star scale of Diet Dr. Pepper, Canada geese, and more miscellaneous experiences, connecting each to his personal life and to current social issues. Green’s narration flows conversationally, gentle through moments full of heartache, or with whimsical delight during upbeat sections. Listening to the audiobook is essential to the full experience, as Green sings at one moment and plays the last recorded song of a now extinct Hawaiian bird in another.
Plunder by Cynthia Saltzman | Read by Suzanne Toren
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Tantor Media | 10 hrs.]
This fascinating audiobook is a fusion of exceptional writing and an outstanding narration by Suzanne Toren. Author Cynthia Saltzman presents a sweeping account of Napoleon’s conquest of Europe, including his looting and the creation of the Musée du Louvre. Caught between the colliding worlds of art and politics is the history of Paolo Veronese’s painting The Wedding Feat at Cana. The level of detail and visual imagery in this audiobook is stunning, and Toren delivers the entirety with a bravura that is uniquely her own. Impeccable pacing, exquisite French, and diverse accents all add depth and clarity to this captivating listen.
What White People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri | Read by Emma Dabiri
[Harper Audio | 3.25 hrs.]
Emma Dabiri narrates with the same clarity, thoughtfulness, and directness with which she wrote this guide to going beyond the nebulousness of “allyship” to the action of building coalitions for change. The Irish-Nigerian author delves into the history of racial formation and its corresponding power and legal structures, and advocates for the need to build new futures beyond the inherited and restrictive systems of oppression. Dabiri’s compelling writing; warm, accented voice; and smooth, well-paced delivery combine to capture the listener’s attention, making for an audiobook that one will want to return to, and share.
Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard | Read by Suzanne Simard
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Random House Audio | 12.25 hrs.]
This beautifully written, scientifically stunning, and deeply personal audio memoir will forever alter your understanding of forests. It’s lucky for listeners that it’s also a master class in read-by-the-author audio. In silky, rich vocal tones, forestry ecologist Suzanne Simard describes growing up and working in the fecund forests of British Columbia. With the pacing and emotions of a seasoned actor, Simard takes listeners through her most impactful forestry experiments, as well as the major events in her personal life, including motherhood, divorce, and surviving breast cancer.
