THE PHOEBE VARIATIONS

Earphones Award winner Rachel L. Jacobs narrates this character-driven story, an evocative coming-of-age chronicle of a suburban Chicago teenager who is graduating from high school in 1974. Listeners will hear the recollections of 70-year-old Phoebe as she looks back on a critical period and her vivid, youthful reactions to those life-changing events. The story delves into female bonding, parenting styles, the role of birth parents, and, rather significantly, the preeminent importance of music. Phoebe is not overtly likable and is barely relatable, but Jacobs makes her understandable even when teenage Phoebe's decisions seem quirky and lacking in forethought. This audiobook with its memorable protagonist is literate, insightful, perplexing, and skillfully performed. [Published: JANUARY 2026]