YELLOWFACE

Helen Laser gives a mesmerizing performance in this poignant novel about race, censorship, and the capriciousness of social media. When June Hayward and Athena Liu get together to celebrate Athena’s success as an Asian writer, the night goes incredibly wrong. Athena ends up dead, and June ends up with Athena’s manuscript. Laser’s inflections accurately portray retiring June and her confident, classy nemesis, Athena. Ensuing events include June’s rise to fame and subsequent descent into guilt and delusions amid social media fallout and increasing accusations of theft and cultural appropriation. Laser captures all of it with compelling crispness that brings out the novel’s themes. This is a riveting production of a thrilling and thought-provoking story. M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2023 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2023]