It’s time for another round up of just a few of the audiobooks I have listened to this week. This time I am going to take you on a tour of different times and places: World War II China, 1950s England, 1540 Tudor England, and present day Virginia.
World War II China
The Song of the Jade Lily by Kirsty Manning, performed by Saskia Maarleveld
I really liked this book! Here is the official description:
A gripping historical novel that tells the little-known story of Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai during WWII.
1939: Two young girls meet in Shanghai, also known as the “Paris of the East”. Beautiful local Li and Jewish refugee Romy form a fierce friendship, but the deepening shadows of World War II fall over the women as they slip between the city’s glamorous French Concession district and the teeming streets of the Shanghai Ghetto. Yet soon, the realities of war prove to be too much for these close friends as they are torn apart.
2016: Fleeing London with a broken heart, Alexandra returns to Australia to be with her grandparents, Romy and Wilhelm. Her grandfather is dying, and over the coming weeks, Romy and Wilhelm begin to reveal the family mysteries they have kept secret for more than half a century. As fragments of her mother’s history finally become clear, Alexandra struggles with what she learns while more is also revealed about her grandmother’s own past in Shanghai.
After Wilhelm dies, Alexandra flies to Shanghai, determined to trace her grandparents’ past. Peeling back the layers of their hidden lives, she is forced to question what she knows about her family – and herself.
The Song of the Jade Lily is a lush, provocative, and beautiful story of friendship, motherhood, the price of love, and the power of hardship and courage that can shape us all.
Kirsty Manning
Before listening to this book, I was only vaguely familiar with the Jews who went to China to escape the Holocaust. I didn’t know anything about the fact that there was already a thriving Jewish community in Shanghai during the 1920s and 30s. So I found this audiobook really educational as well as entertaining. The plot had many fascinating twists that caught my attention. Most of all, I enjoyed the atmosphere that demonstrated life in Japanese-occupied China. Jews and Chinese both suffered, but I was intrigued to learn that the Japanese seemed less concerned about persecuting the Jews than going after the Chinese.
This has to be one of the best World War II fiction I have listened to in a long time.
I learned a lot about a detail new to me from history while also getting to enjoy an exciting plot.
Audiobook Performer: Saskia Maarleveld
Saskia Maarleveld
Lately, as I have been listening to an increasing number of historical fiction audiobooks, I have been hearing more and more of Saskia Maarleveld. That is a good thing because Maarleveld excels in performing audiobooks, with a particular skill in handling accents. I had heard her speak numerous European accents from throughout that continent, but this is the first time I have heard her do an accent from Asia. She showed as much skill with her Chinese and Japanese accents, as well as an Australian accent in this audiobook, as her European accents.
1950s England
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, performed by Samantha Bond and Allen Corduner. Book 1 in the Magpie Murders series.
Anthony Horowitz
For those not familiar with the name Anthony Horowitz, I’m sure you’ll recognize many of his works. Besides being the author of over 50 books, he writes for television series, plays, films, and journalism. Here are just a few of his most well-known works:
- 14 YA spy books in the Alex Rider series
- Official sequels in the James Bond series
- Official sequels in the Sherlock Holmes series
- Mudsummer Murders
- Foyle’s War
- Collision
- New Blood
The BBC will air an adaptation of Magpie Murders later this year.
Here is the official description:
When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the best-selling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.
Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.
Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the listener becomes the detective.
As I began to listen to Magpie Murders, my initial reaction was unfavorable. It seemed to be just a poor attempt to write a book modeled after books by Agatha Christie. The plot was fine but not exciting, and the characters lacked much depth. However, without giving away the twists in the book, I will say that the book changes its narrator, both in the text of the book and in the audiobook.
Horowitz demonstrates his gift for writing by changing the voice of his new narrator with real skill. If I hadn’t known of Horowitz’s experience in adapting books into television shows and in continuing the series of deceased authors, I would have thought a different writer created the other section of the book. The skill really impressed me, and the overall plot enthralled me. I definitely intend to get the sequel to this book.
Audiobook Performers: Samantha Bond and Allen Corduner
Samantha Bond
Samantha Bond gives a fully adequate performance in her role as the voice of Susan Ryeland. Nothing in her performance stood out to me in particular, but she also did nothing for me to criticize.
Allen Corduner
On the other hand, I was disappointed by the performance of Allen Corduner. In performing the role of the German Atticus Pünd, he sounds more like an imitation of the Belgian Hercule Poirot. I would never have guessed that the character is German, but I didn’t think him a good Poirot either. I don’t like to give bad reviews to performers, but once in a while I can’t find much positive to say about one, and sadly, that was the case here.
1540 England and Present Day
The Devil’s Den by Irina Shapiro, performed by Jess Nahikian. Book 2 in the Nicole Rayburn Historical Mysteries series.
In 2020, leaving London for the first time since the pandemic began, Nicole Rayburn and Kyle Walsh head to a guesthouse in the Lake District for a much-needed holiday. Across from the historic manor house, on an island in the middle of a lake, are the ruins of Montrose Abbey, the last known abode of Lady Isobel Devlin. Intrigued, Nicole begins to research Lady Isobel’s disappearance as the subject for a new book and calls on her history-loving friend Reverend Hargreaves for help.
As Nicole unearths long-forgotten truths about the mysterious Lady Devlin, finding many gaping holes in the story of her disappearance, she must fight for her own happiness against a rival whose claim to Kyle’s heart might be stronger than she expected.
Irina Shapiro
The Devil’s Den had some of everything one might want in a historical mystery: a dual time line with a contemporary sleuth trying to detect the mystery from the past, a touch of romance, suspense, and plenty of historical details that most listeners will find new and fascinating. In the contemporary plot, I enjoyed seeing the depiction of life during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. I appreciated seeing just how far we have come in creating a new normal life compared to the earliest days of the pandemic.
I did think that the book needed more focus on the historical plot than the contemporary plot. The latter contained more details about the lives of Nicole and Kyle than most historical mystery books contain. Usually, the contemporary characters function primarily as ones trying to hunt down the solution to a historical question. If they figure into the plot in themselves, their situation will relate directly to the historical concern. In The Devil’s Den, the 2020 plot doesn’t have as clear a relationship to the 1540 plot as I would have liked. In addition, the historical plot contained a lot of interesting elements, but the book signaled most of the direction of the mystery plot long before it openly revealed the solutions.
Despite my stated misgivings, I still have purchased the third book in the series and look forward to listening to it.
Audiobook Performer: Jess Nahikian
Jess Nahikian
Jess Nahikian does a good job of connecting listeners to both storylines in the audiobook. Hearing Nahikian’s performance of contemporary Nicole, who speaks in the first person, I felt sure that the performer was a modern 30-something author learning to exercise her own independence. But then when I heard Nahikian perform the role of the 1540 teenage Isobel, I would have thought that Nahikian was a young woman facing the challenges of being married off to a stranger. Nahikian especially excels at showing the fear of a young lady anticipating her upcoming wedding night without having a clue what occurs on wedding nights. I was very pleased by the performance of this audiobook.
Contemporary Virginia
The Twelve Jays of Christmas by Donna Andrews, narrated by Bernadette Dunne. Book 30 in the Meg Langslow series.
Donna Andrews
After my comments in the last column that I frequently reread (by audio, of course) books by Donna Andrews, you had to know that I’d include another book by my favorite author. When I’m low, listening to Bernadette Dunne perform books by Andrews never ceases to raise my spirits at least a little. And when my migraine is bad, listening to this series goes a long way toward distracting me from my pain. Audiobooks in general do that, but Andrews’s audiobooks have a special gift for making me smile.
So here is the official description:
Meg’s brother Rob and his fiancé Delaney have been engaged for some time now. In fear of their mothers’ propensity for over-the-top celebrations, they decide to throw a party just before Christmas and then elope.
When a blizzard traps their guests inside, the two mothers find out about the planned elopement and start trying to pull together the kind of over-the-top event the couple was trying to avoid in the first place.
To make matters worse, a murder is afoot. Will Meg manage to help the snowbound would-be eloping couple thwart their mothers’ grandiose wedding plans and solve a murder among the assembled friends and relatives?
This official description doesn’t really match the plot of the book. I suspect that, given the fact that I am able to pre-order books by Andrews a year before they are released, Andrews has to submit her synopsis long before she finishes writing each book. Thus, she does not know for certain the direction the book will take before its completion.
While a big destructive storm does occur, no one gets snowed in. Instead, they all have to deal with a prolonged power outage while investigating the murder of a man who has inspired the enmity of everyone around him. There is thus no shortage of suspects. However, there is also no shortage of Christmas cheer and the cooperation of all in the small community of Caerphilly, Virginia.
The humor in this, as well as the other books by Andrews, does not depend upon a series of quips and one-liners. Rather, it develops from the book’s having built up humorous situations and characters. The characters are so well drawn that I feel certain I would recognize them if I ran into them on the street. I even once looked up Caerphilly in Google Maps when I was visiting Virginia because it felt so real in the books that I was hoping to visit it. Imagine my disappointment to learn that the only Caerphilly to exist is in Wales!
Audiobook Performer: Bernadette Dunne
Bernadette Dunne
I love Dunne’s performance of everything I’ve heard her narrate. In fact, I’ve discovered some great audiobooks that I never would have noticed if I hadn’t been looking up all the audiobooks performed by Dunne. After being a big fan of hers for a long time, I sent Bernadette a fan email and have enjoyed an online friendship with her for a few years now. She is as delightful a virtual friend as audiobook performer. So I can’t speak highly enough of Dunne as both a performer and a friend!
To purchase these books for yourself, click here on The Song of the Jade Lily
