The Newlyweds

In this cross-cultural, fish-out-of-water tale from Freudenberger, an 11-month courtship consisting of many emails and one exceptionally awkward visit culminates in marriage when 24-year-old Amina Mazid moves from her home in Bangladesh to New York to marry engineer George Stillman. But the couple%E2%80%99s new life is anything but perfect. Both Amina and George are harboring secrets and will have to work to prevent the past from ruining the future. Narrator Mozhan Marno turns in a strong performance in this audio, deftly handling the books large cast of characters and switching between Bengali and American accents. Marno also creates a range of voices and speech patterns for the characters, capturing both Amina%E2%80%99s fast-talking coworkers in Rochester and the formal diction of her parents. But most importantly, Marno%E2%80%99s narration is grounded in Amina%E2%80%99s voice and changes with the character as she finally begins to shed her meekness. A Knopf hardcover. (May)