Atta Otigba and Yetide Badaki give outstanding performances of this imagistic, nonlinear novel. They are grand guides to a world of art, history, and criticism. Badaki introduces the protagonist, a photographer and professor of art, who, like the author, teaches at Harvard. The peripatetic novel includes riffs on music and a powerful lecture on J.M.W. Turner’s painting SLAVE SHIP. Cole also captures the complexity of love and marriage in this distinctly postmodern work. 

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British voice artist Joan Walker’s plummy, warm voice charms listeners as thoroughly as does Sarah Ogilvie’s marvelous account of the Oxford English Dictionary’s unsung heroes. They were a fascinating cross section of society, from criminals and lunatics, suffragettes and stuffy bankers to spinsters and entire families. Ogilvie and Walker’s shared delight in these “word-aholics” is contagious.  

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Vikas Adam brings a noirish vibe to his first-class narration of this mystery set in 1952 San Francisco. Andy Mills is trying to find his way after being bounced off of the police force because he is gay. An old lover appears, needing help, and Andy is soon working blackmail and murder cases. Adam’s performance enhances the atmosphere of the entire audiobook. Both author and narrator are top-notch.

This delightful fantasy novel about a teenage witch in a poor English village is wonderfully told by Indira Varma in her charming British accent. The 38th installment in Pratchett’s Discworld series features 15-year-old Tiffany Aching, who is trying to live up to her duties as a young witch. The other performers are equally charming in their roles as the various townsfolk, elves, and fairies who populate the story’s tiny farming village.  

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