Power of Music Shines in Hachette’s ‘Willesden Lane’
The Children of Willesden Lane is an account of Lisa Jura’s childhood flight from Nazi-controlled Austria to England, written by her daughter Mona Golabek (with Lee Cohen) and published in 2002. Jura, a gifted pianist, helped comfort fellow children at her orphanage in London with her music. Years later, Jura won a music scholarship to the Royal Academy. Golabek recently completed a sold-out tour of a stage production inspired by the book, The Pianist of Willesden Lane, which played in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and London, among other cities, and at the end of March, BBC Films announced that Robert Shapiro will produce a feature film adaptation of the book. Now on audio for the first time, narrated by Golabek, the recording (released in March) features classical piano solos performed by the author (who was taught by her mother) as well as a children’s orchestra piece. For Golabek, the stage production and audio release are proving timely, all these years later. “The tragedy of what we see repeating itself in every refugee crisis is heartbreaking,” she said. “I tell my mother’s story because we need to remind ourselves of man’s humanity to man.”
’Twas Jeff Bridges in the Booth for Cider Mill
Maine gift-book publisher Cider Mill Press will release a “family heirloom” book-and-CD edition of its bestselling The Night Before Christmas picture book, featuring a new recording of Clement C. Moore’s holiday poem read by Academy Award–winning actor Jeff Bridges. Bridges’s recorded rendition will also be available as a standalone CD audiobook and digital download. All three formats are set for October publication.
‘Free State of Jones’ from Audible and Ali
Actor Mahershala Ali (Netflix’s House of Cards, the Hunger Games movies) recently visited Audible studios to record The Free State of Jones, the story of Confederate army deserter Newton Knight and the band of fellow deserters, farmers, and slaves he organized to rise up against the Confederate cavalry during the Civil War, with the aim of forming their own republic in what is now Jones County, Miss. Ali has a key role in the feature film adaptation of the book, Free State of Jones, also starring Matthew McConaughey, due out this June from STX Entertainment. Audible’s audio program pubs May 3.
Blackstone’s Got Designs on Gucci
The 1960s love affair between the late Aldo Gucci, the man behind the famous Italian fashion label, and an employee at his flagship store in Rome, unfolds in In the Name of Gucci, by the couple’s daughter Patricia Gucci. Patricia eventually became her father’s protégé and sole heir to the exclusion of Aldo’s three sons. She reads her account for Blackstone’s May release, which incorporates her recollections and information gleaned from interviews with her mother and a collection of her parents’ letters.
HighBridge’s “Bad-Ass” Recording
The efforts of a band of librarians from Timbuktu to rescue and protect precious centuries-old Arabic texts from al-Qaeda is at the heart of the dramatic true tale The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, by journalist Joshua Hammer. During the 1980s, a mild-mannered archivist and historian named Haidara began traveling across the Sahara and along the Nile locating and salvaging ancient Islamic and secular texts. In 2012, he led a mission that smuggled 350,000 treasured volumes out of Timbuktu and away from the al-Qaeda militants who were taking control of the city. Actor Paul Boehmer narrates for HighBridge on this April release.
Hargitay’s Trip from ‘Law & Order’ to ‘Hamilton’ with Hachette
Mariska Hargitay, best known for her long-running role as Olivia Benson on NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, gets to let her superfan flag fly as narrator of Hamilton: The Revolution, a look at the development of the smash Broadway musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy Carter. Miranda, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics for, and stars in, the stage production, made the decision to cast Hargitay, whom he called “the #1 fan of the show.” In a statement he added: “And she has a killer voice! I want to hear her telling the story.” Miranda was in Hachette’s studios to record more than 200 personal footnotes to the recording, and Carter, involved with the evolution of the show from its earliest stages, gave voice to the audiobook’s introduction. Hamilton: The Revolution goes on sale April 12. The digital download edition will feature a PDF of the musical’s full libretto, and the CD edition will include a PDF of images from the print book being simultaneously released by Grand Central Publishing.
