ONE DAY I SHALL ASTONISH THE WORLD

Narrator Joanna Scanlan's British-accented voice sets the stage for an audiobook that follows a young woman named Susan from college to middle adulthood. While treated as an exploration of the friendship between Susan and her best friend, Norma, who end up on very different paths, the story is somewhat meandering and lacks a coherent focus. Scanlan's narration does play up the author's quips, and her detached characterization of Norma highlights how different she and Susan are throughout the years as Susan focuses on family while Norma grows her career. Leading up to Susan's employment at a university and newfound career fulfillment in the midst of the COVID era, the novel is timely but feels somehow incomplete, Scanlan's competent narration notwithstanding. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2022]