June 2019 Earphones Award Winners

Sound effects and Bahni Turpin's lively narration enhance this vivid story of an inquisitive future scientist. Ada must rely on her curious mind, her friends Rosie and Iggy, and her family to rescue a friend in trouble. When Uncle Ned goes airborne in a pair of inflatable pants and can't land himself, Ada devises a scientific plan to bring him back to earth. The plot's twists... Read More

Narrator Sean Crisden amplifies the electric chemistry between Milo and Tomas, who are longing for a fairy-tale romance. Milo, a passionate social worker, is fiercely loyal to his friends and family. Crisden gives him an enthusiastic voice with a light accent to convey his Cuban, Jamaican, and New York City roots. At an LGBTQ fundraiser, Milo has a steamy encounter with... Read More

Narrator Suzanne Toren employs her considerable vocal talent to help listeners view America's history through the lens of the female Jewish experience. The work begins in 1654 with the first arrivals and spans more than 350 years. Toren's steady voice and empathetic tone, clear diction, and comfortable pacing engage listeners with this survey of the personal stories of... Read More

Mary Robinette Kowal narrates a powerful rumination on the aftermath of war in this third installment of the Amberlough Dossier series. How do you determine guilt or innocence when no one is truly blameless but a reckoning is still owed? Five years have passed since Amberlough City fell to the One State Party and was subsequently liberated by a group of... Read More

Oh, the utter delight of adventuring in Madagascar with the late English naturalist Gerald Durrell and his poly-voiced narrator, Rupert Degas, who beautifully channels Durrell's slightly raspy voice, his exuberant personality, and his enthusiasm for every variety of fauna, including human. The book describes a 1990s trip to Madagascar's remotest regions to find and collect a... Read More

Carl Honoré's narration of his inspiring book has the kind of energy that will help people expand what's possible for them in their later years. With his quietly assertive enthusiasm making his message hard to dismiss, he offers new research that shows how our mental image of late life has tremendous power to motivate good habits, provoke unlikely achievements, and juice up our... Read More

Emily Woo Zeller narrates a deeply moving love story between two passionate and strong-willed individuals from its emotionally devastating lows to its profoundly satisfying conclusion. Khai Diep is convinced he is incapable of feeling, and, therefore, has no need of a wife. Esme Tran, despite numerous obstacles, jumps at the chance to meet a potential husband who is American.... Read More

Narrator Simon Prebble delivers this smartly written puzzle with just the right pensive attitude for the veteran detective DCI Banks and those in his orbit. Banks and his team have two murders to investigate. One looks like a suicide, but isn't. The other looks like an accident, but is it? A young woman's body is found in an abandoned car, and, while it looks like suicide, it's... Read More

Tavia Gilbert and Robert Fass deserve only superlatives for their performances in Louis Bayard's outstanding historical fiction. Mary Todd and Joshua Speed tell compelling stories detailing the way their lives entwined with Abraham Lincoln's. In 1840, Mary comes to Springfield with marriage on her mind. She meets handsome, charming Speed and awkward Lincoln, an unimpressive... Read More

A skilled cast of narrators brings a compelling fantasy world to life in Niki Pau Preto's first novel. Joy Osmanski voices Veronyka, a war orphan whose betrayal by her sister, Val, spurs her to disguise herself as a boy in order to join the rebel phoenix riders. Sev, a war orphan on a different path, is voiced in a wary, rumbling tone by Jacques Roy, whose excellent narration... Read More

How splendid that the audiobook celebrating the titular character, who is a storyteller, is offered to us by two talented narrators. Cynthia Farrell and Timothy Pabon share the narrative responsibility here, and the result is outstanding. Farrell's performance is richly textured and brimming with enthusiasm. Her voice has a resonant quality that gives it depth; her narration of... Read More

Narrator Andrew Eiden will thrill listeners with his smooth transitions between the organized heroine and the Quebecois hero in this contemporary sports romance. For Amy Callahan, the hits just keep coming, but when a French-speaking hockey player comes to her rescue, things begin to look up. But if the well-meaning Emile isn't careful, his overprotective tendencies might ruin... Read More

"I don't want to make photographs, I want to make windows," says the subject of this fictional biography of a street photographer, single mother, and provocateur who set out to make a name for herself in the late 1950s-early 1960s New York arts scene. Using a natural and direct delivery, and with the help of a few veteran narrators, author Myla Goldberg deftly takes up much of... Read More

Narrator Rebecca Soler returns for the final installment in the Caraval trilogy, and with the Fates free, the stakes are higher than ever. While Soler's characterization of Scarlett was soft and motherly at the beginning of the series, the listener now hears her passion and desperation as she must fight for those she loves. Tella began as reckless and aloof, but here Soler... Read More

Actor Tembi Locke narrates her memoir in a smooth, warm voice that carries the listener through her story of falling in love with Saro, an engaging Sicilian chef, his early death from cancer, and how time with his family helped heal her intense grief. Locke's memoir frequently shifts timeframes, alternately voicing the devastation of his death and the joy of their life... Read More

Orlagh Cassidy narrates Blake's beautifully written multigenerational story of love and lies with consummate skill. Elegant and clear, distant yet passionate, she helps listeners discover the quirks in characters' personalities and explore their motives, both evident and hidden. The story, which spans the 1930s to the present, revolves around the Milton family of New York and... Read More

Narrator Laura Jennings believably delivers the intonations of a number of Native American characters in this mystery. What appears to be a straightforward missing persons case involving members of a local Pueblo tribe takes on a supernatural twist when police sergeant Nicky Matthews has a vision of an old woman who may or may not be the Wind Mother, or "kachina." Jennings... Read More

Lorene Cary does a fantastic job narrating her outstanding memoir, shading it with the nuanced emotions it requires. In a wonderfully paced storytelling voice, she captures the reverberations that occur when her grandmother, who lived to be over 100, moves into her home. Her story is filled with all the love, pain, frustration, guilt, sadness, and, most of all, the appreciative... Read More

This laugh-out-loud audiobook is Bill Geist's recollection of his 1960s summers at his Uncle Ed's hotel, Arrowhead Lodge, in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Geist introduces his memoir with his Midwestern twang; then narrator Allan Robertson transforms Geist's words into one of the funniest performances ever. He effectively delivers the pregnant pauses in the description of... Read More

Ellen Parker's fine narration of this classic collection of meditations on the arid reaches of California is by turns intimate and inspiring. Her nuanced approach--deliberately paced, thoughtfully delivered--fits the the tone and style of this personal exploration of the Owens Valley, which is bounded by the Sierras, near Death Valley and the Mojave Desert. Parker's narration... Read More

This extraordinary audiobook, performed by a quartet of talented narrators, will have listeners devouring its fabulist story while wishing it would never end. The one-of-a-kind Dead Papa Toothwort, a mythological creature existing for centuries in the woods outside an English village, is brought to menacing life by David Timson's deep, raspy timbre and deliberate phrasing.... Read More

With remarkable vocal agility, narrator Michael Crouch takes a fascinating novel and makes it downright riveting. No matter what appears in the audiobook, Crouch is game. Ilya is an exchange student from Russia who is living in Louisiana. Fluent accents emerge without hesitation or exaggeration. The cast of characters expands, time shifts between past and present, and a mystery... Read More

Jenna Lamia expresses the youthful longing of Lucy, who still grieves for her late mother, a marine biologist. After five years, she's adjusted to life with her father and is buoyed by her lifelong friendship with her neighbor, Fred. But then, he drowns. Lamia balances Lucy's grief with her determination to uncover the answer to a question her mother once studied: Why are white... Read More

Luis Moreno masterfully narrates Detroit ex-cop August Snow's second mystery adventure. Snow goes on the offensive when his community, Mexicantown, falls prey to an insidious human trafficking system with roots in immigration enforcement. As the vulnerable are trapped by circumstances, Snow puts his life on the line to rescue them. Moreno's narration blends with the detailed... Read More

Steven Crossley is a frequent narrator for McEwan's novels, and one who conveys with subtle effect McEwan's most ingenious and subversive storylines. That voice is a modern variation of the detached, worldly narrator of classic British suspense fiction--a voice that might have fit Adam, one of the first 25 autonomous robots on the market, rather than Adam's owner, Charlie, this... Read More

Dustin Lance Black, Academy Award-winning screenwriter and LGBTQ activist, narrates his family's heartwarming and poignant journey growing up across intersections of faith, poverty, and sexuality in the southern U.S. and California. Black's conversational storytelling illuminates his cherished mother Anne's irrepressible spirit and tenacity in the face of adversity and... Read More

Kate Levy scores a triumph with her first audiobook narration, masterfully delivering this exhaustively researched biography of First Lady Barbara Bush. Even listeners with only the most casual interest in Mrs. Bush will find themselves transfixed by complex and fascinating insights that are short on sentiment and long on family dynamics. Levy's narration is appealing,... Read More

Jacques Roy's nuanced performance of Higginbotham's harrowing audiobook keeps listeners deeply engaged. In 1986, the Russian nuclear plant at Chernobyl failed. The result was a disaster of a global scale, with the details surrounding the event unclear until now. Many characters are involved up and down the chain of command--from the technical staff at the plant all the way up... Read More

Narrator Cynthia Darlow does the real driving as she portrays Julia Murdoch in another wacky adventure with the folks in Abbotsville, North Carolina. As Lloyd, who has his learner's permit, drives Miss Julia and her friends all over the county, they keep running suspiciously into one or the other of the new folks in town, Dr. Crawford and his wife. Darlow expertly navigates... Read More

A sensitive, skillful narration elevates this E L James novel, an obvious departure from her bestselling 50 Shades series. A newly minted earl, Maxim Trevelyan mourns the loss of his elder brother while becoming romantically involved with his housekeeper, Alessia, a victim of human trafficking. Narrator Dominic Thorburn uses an aristocratic British voice for Maxim, managing to... Read More

AudioFile Golden Voice Barbara Rosenblat brings her inimitable style and incredible range to Benjamin's roman à clef based on an actual couple who were resistance fighters during WWII. Claude Auzello, manager of the famous Ritz Hotel in Paris, meets outrageous American Blanche Ross and pursues her so persistently that she marries him. Problems arise almost immediately. Claude... Read More

At a time of celebrity biographies, Melinda Gates, philanthropist and wife of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, narrates her own story of growing awareness of women's lives worldwide. She does so in a strong, affirmative voice that tells all, even her own reluctance, as a practicing Catholic, to become a spokesperson for contraception. Gates is the feminist we all need; she... Read More

Narrators Emily Woo Zeller and Richard Ferrone alternate chapters, engrossing the listener in this intelligent thriller about a series of murders in Los Angeles. Zeller's appealing voice captures the emotionally fragile mind of Dylan Cross, a tall, beautiful architect--who is the murderer. As Dylan, Zeller masterfully walks the line between sanity and insanity, self-control and... Read More

Vanessa Johansson smoothly narrates this story of intense friendship and its perils. Violet--a quiet, intelligent girl from the wrong side of the tracks--and Stella--a charismatic, rich beauty--become best friends at college. Johansson shines at her adept emotional portrayals of these two very different young women. After college, when Violet excels in a career she loves and... Read More

In this memorable audiobook, Connell and Marianne, both smart, odd, and socially at sea, are deeply connected to each other and too young to know how rare their bond is. Everyone at their village high school in Sligo knows that Connell's mother cleans house for Marianne's family, so they feign indifference. At university, everything changes, then reverses, then changes again.... Read More

Narrator Kim Fields pulls out all the stops portraying a sophisticated young jazz trumpeter and the many gnarly characters she meets in the urban jazz scene. Didi Herron is crisscrossing the country, looking for a tape of her father's last jazz performance. The versatile Fields captures the heroine's longing and determination, as well as the edgy dynamics of African-American... Read More

Kimberly Farr has previously narrated two other Elizabeth Strout novels, earning Earphones Awards for both. Her clear grasp of Strout's characterizations and the flow of her delivery are, therefore, not surprising but remain praiseworthy. While named for a single, recurring character--an emotionally unpredictable yet surprisingly sympathetic one--OLIVE KITTERIDGE uses a village... Read More

One of the great narrators, Arthur Morey takes the simple beauty of White's well-wrought words and delivers them eloquently. John Meacham's introduction to this essay collection is a love song to the excellence of the author's achievement. The title piece exemplifies this happy meeting of writer and narrator. Morey's tone, tempo, and style are pitch perfect for White, who... Read More

Author Lucy Strange narrates her second book, capturing the historical thriller's gothic atmosphere. The story transports listeners to the southeast coast of England at the beginning of WWII. Strange imbues her words with impactful inflections and poignant pauses that take listeners into the heart of 12-year-old Pet. An encroaching war is confusing enough, but worse yet are... Read More

Mozhan Marnò's performance of the latest installment in Chris Pavone's Kate Moore series is perfection. Her voice is beautiful, her French pronunciation expert, her foreigners speaking French with bad accents ditto. Pavone has a lot of backstory to fill in, which makes for a discursive setup, but Marnò creates tension and pace with attention to expression, personality, and... Read More

This audiobook is a perfect storm in which the beautiful yet brutal powers of author Mark Haddon and narrator Tim McInnerny collide in an awesome display. The emotional center of the work is a girl whose harsh entry into the world merely foreshadowed an even more disturbing life to come. She escapes that life by way of story, and we soon enter into her own very personal... Read More

This superb audiobook is a seminar in great poetry from the Old Testament to the century just past. Bloom, our most revered literary critic, who is in his late 80s now, looks back at the poems and authors he's most admired. Many of the recent poets are friends now departed, and a sense of nostalgia and loss pervades the material. Stephen Mendel is an especially effective... Read More

Svetlana Alliluyeva, Joseph Stalin's daughter, may be mostly forgotten now, but narrator Kathleen Gati brings her to life in this audiobook. The audiobook tells her story through her fictional journals. Narrator Mark Bramhall is equally fine as the fictionalized lawyer who brings Svetlana to the U.S. The novel is mostly true to history, with a few changed names, and the... Read More

Narrator Simon Jones breathes life into the character of English gentleman Bertie Wooster as he tries to assist in three different love affairs--with disastrous yet comic consequences. Jones shines in conveying the superciliousness of Wooster; the level-headedness of his valet, Jeeves; and the crazy antics of the lovelorn. A comedy of errors ensues that only worsens as Wooster... Read More

This audiobook collection sparkles with wit and wisdom. Mostly set in Denver, Colorado, these short stories present a range of narrative styles that give them individuality and create a unique listening experience. In the title story, narrator Roxana Ortega vividly portrays various female characters, mainly Mexican-Americans. Marisol Ramirez, does excellent work in "Any Further... Read More

Full of easy humor and a wide-eyed sense of discovery, writer/comedian Aasif Mandvi reprises his 1998 Obie Award-winning one-man play about a young man who leaves his village in India to work in a Manhattan restaurant. He stays with the restaurant owner's family, and each member of the family has their own story to tell. Mandvi effortlessly hops from the individual voices and... Read More

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edna Ferber's classic novel set in New Orleans in the 1880s receives a flawless performance by Robin Miles. First published in 1941, the novel highlights the universal themes of ambition, greed, revenge, and, most importantly, the power of love. In a retrospective, 89-year-old tycoon and media darling Clint Maroon reveals his life as a robber baron... Read More

Narrator Ron Butler has a challenging task in describing Pup Flanagan's large family. Sixteen-year-old Pup is the youngest of five "sister-mothers" and Luke, an angry, alcoholic brother. Butler manages to distinguish all of them, their overwhelming collective presence, and the unexpressed grief that lingers after the death of Patrick, the oldest. Though it's been two years, Pup... Read More

Mozhan Marnò gives an extraordinary narration of this audiobook, set mainly in 1950s Iran and the U.S. Raised by progressive Iranian parents, Roya meets Bahman, an activist student, at a Tehran stationery shop. They are planning to marry when Bahman mysteriously disappears. Roya moves to California where she studies science and marries the caring Walter. Sixty years later, Roya... Read More

A vibrant chorus of more than 20 voices narrates this accessible anthology focusing on LGBTQ experiences before, during, and after the Stonewall uprising of 1969. Told through a diverse array of first-person narratives, interviews, articles, and more, the anthology creates a kaleidoscopic view of the early Gay Liberation movement. The cast of narrators echoes this variety,... Read More

Tanis Parenteau's spellbinding narration evokes the rugged authenticity of the postapocalyptic Navajo homeland of Dinétah. Her confident voice with its touch of snark deftly embodies the gritty charm of Diné bounty hunter Maggie Hoskie, who's trying really hard not to kill anyone. Parenteau's flawless narration builds with the story's dramatic tension as the White Locus rises... Read More

Narrator Therese Plummer shines in her entertaining portrayals of the Kesslers, a famous yet dysfunctional family whose members struggle to find stability and acceptance. Listeners will be introduced to the family members' strengths and weaknesses. Janine can't find an identity now that she's outgrown her career as a child actor; her father, Marty, a retired producer, is back... Read More

Vikas Adam embodies the mixed feelings of Ashish Patel, the younger brother of Rishi, a character also portrayed by Adam. Ashish, a handsome high school basketball star at his elite school, has been dumped by his college girlfriend. Adam enacts the fading of Ashish's haughty attitude as his mojo is replaced by severe self-questioning that has him ready to accept his parents'... Read More

Forthright and uncompromising, Anuradha Bhagwati narrates her memoir with same strong voice that her prose exhibits. Bhagwati takes listeners through her life as a Marine after graduating from Yale. Following an honorable discharge, Bhagwati dedicated herself to fighting the military's culture of gender discrimination and sexual abuse. She recounts intense and painful... Read More

Krause's whimsical linked stories melding fantasy and reality feature a series of seemingly disparate offbeat characters who are facing the challenges of mental issues such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and dementia. Narrator Janet Metzger adopts a Canadian accent while bringing these Saskatchewan-based characters to life. She skillfully helps to distinguish... Read More

The recorded performance of this provocative play from the Cold War era shines with wit. Alfred Molina's vocalizing of a worldly-wise and weary Russian is especially effective--you can hear Moscow in his voice. Steven Weber's earnest American--from Wausau, Wisconsin--aptly performs the foil/friend. A duologue, the play shows the irony of the pair's woodland strolls as they... Read More

What better way to learn about the joys of gardening than to hear members of a family sharing their experience? Meet the Gaineses, who had no experience with growing things when they started with "Fern Number One" and then moved on to a houseful, and then to a "yardful" of plants. Along the way, this family shares both the science and practicality of gardening; for example,... Read More

Juliet Stevenson provides a compelling narration of Henry James's story about innocence, social class, and morality. The protagonist, Maisie, struggles to preserve her innocence when her parents divorce and her stepparents commit adultery. Seemingly effortlessly, Stevenson changes her voice to match her characters' traits: Maisie's innocent demeanor, her stepfather Sir Claude's... Read More

Narrator Niall Buggy gives voice to 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan in Anne Griffin's debut novel. We meet him at the bar of the local hotel where he is raising a glass and a toast to each of the five people most important to his life. Through these toasts, Hannigan tells his story. Buggy's Irish brogue, pacing, and emotion are impeccable as the listener is transported to the bar... Read More

There's a moment in this enchanting audiobook that displays narrator Rupert Degas's talent to the full. It occurs when the naturalist author is at a cocktail party in Buenos Aires and has to talk to a pompous Englishman whose dismissive attitude towards Argentinians offends the young Durrell. Degas imitates this Brit's accent in such a fine tone that it sounds like he is... Read More

As an audiobook performer, Robert Caro doesn't display much polish, but there could be no finer voice for describing his career as an investigative writer. Caro, the esteemed biographer of Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson, portrays the painstaking research and years of writing and rewriting behind his books in a voice that is pure New York City: "sawer" for "saw" and "idear" for... Read More

Narrator Bahni Turpin engages the listener with this complex dual biography of writers Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. While both are known as luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, this audiobook explores the lesser known aspects of their friendship and collaboration throughout the 1920s and '30s, which ended in a bitter split. Turpin keeps the pace of the work flowing... Read More