October 2023 Earphones Award Winners

Author/narrator Safiya Sinclair emphasizes the poetry of her words as she narrates her memoir. Her soft Jamaican accent sounds like gentle waves. Sinclair begins by defining "Babylon," the term that Rastafarians coined to refer to the corrupting influences of Western culture--white oppression, in particular. Her father, a musician, became a strict Rastafarian who expected women... Read More

Mary Jane Wells's performance sizzles in this explosive 1840s mystery- romance. Wells acts out the scenes with her lyrical voice, adding panache to the double entendres and sexy repartee. A string of explosions is occurring in East London. Sultry Lady Imogen Loveless, who is passionate about explosives, uses her considerable wit and steamy charms as she alternately butts heads... Read More

Fiona Shaw returns to the Thursday Murder Club series with a tour-de-force performance befitting Richard Osman's rich character development and cleverly connected crimes. Shaw's subtle variations in tone, cadence, and accent distinguish the familiar residents of Cooper's Chase, as well as the sweeping cast of police detectives and criminals. Osman's wise decision to continue... Read More

This mystery opens with the chance meeting of two women. Alix is a successful podcaster, a seemingly happily married mother of two who is living a carefree life. Josie appears at first to be an awkward, sheltered woman with a disturbing past. As Josie makes her way into Alix's life, her disturbing past takes on an entirely different angle. The performances of Nicola Walker, as... Read More

Gerard Doyle performs this stand-alone dispatch from Mick Herron's cynical "spook street" world with such dry resignation that it is often laugh-out-loud funny, or would be if it weren't so believable. In his Slough House novels (and their TV adaptations, the riveting "Slow Horses") Herron is doing for MI-5 what Dickens did for Chancery and the Circumlocution Office. This novel... Read More

This is a truly powerful narration by the versatile Daniel Henning. When Pete dies from suicide, his Gen X friends uncover his note. Then the former speech team members discover that Pete was cyberbullied by their old coach, Mr. Gold. As the team confronts him, the members recall hurtful memories and bond in their search for justice. Henning's voice offers the perfect blend of... Read More

January LaVoy gives a breathtaking narration of an astonishing historical novel. Listeners meet a servant girl in the winter of 1609 as she escapes certain death by fleeing into the unknown dangers of the forest. What follows is a beautifully wrought story of survival, narrated with precision, emotion, and a keen sense of the drama that unfolds. The girl's past is slowly... Read More