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Monda, my preferred narrator for any story with a noirish flavor (including Hand’s fabulous Cass Neary series), at first seemed an incongruous fit with the historical setting, but the world Henry and Pin inhabit is a hard-knock one, and within a few chapters it was impossible to imagine this story read by anyone else. Eventually, though, Henry gains the trust of Pin, a girl who dresses as a boy in order to move safely through the tawdry carnival milieu where her mother, a fortuneteller, works.

He makes a most unlikely detective, tormented as he is by the aftereffects of a brutal childhood as a ward of the state and subsumed in his own imaginary life as a defender of abused children. Darger is a real historical figure, a janitor who created an unsettling fictional universe of brave little girls battling dastardly villains, only discovered after his death. Ann Patchett deserved a more skilled interpreter.Ĭurious Toys by Elizabeth Hand, narrated by Carol MondaĪ supremely creepy serial killer stalks the amusement parks of 1915 America, and the only people onto him are a newspaper reporter, a 14-year-old Chicago urchin, and a hospital custodian named Henry Darger. A great, immersive novel calls for a narrator who can lose himself in the characters. I know, I know-Tom Hanks reading Ann Patchett? That’s nuclear-grade likability, right? But Tom Hanks is always Tom Hanks: That’s what makes him a movie star. Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House was read by none other than Tom Hanks. During long walks and chore days, I wanted to be whisked off to other worlds and times by the performance of an expert narrator-with an emphasis on the “expert.” Audiobooks, the most robust sector of the publishing marketplace right now, attract more marquee talent than ever before-which isn’t always a good thing.

The Retiree Who Helped Catch the Golden State Killerįull disclosure: Audiobooks were my great escape over the past 12 months, and while no doubt there were plenty of stellar, important nonfiction works released in 2019, I mostly listened to fiction. The Youngest-Ever Booker Prize Winner Fulfills Her Promise With a Taut Eco-Thriller Ron DeSantis’ Book Reveals His Fatal Flaw-or Is It His Secret Weapon?