Flush

Virginia Woolf, read by Eileen Atkins. AudioGO, library edition, unabridged, three CDs, 3.75 hrs., $49.95 ISBN 978-1-4458-4609-5

Narrator Eileen Atkins turns in a pitch-perfect performance in this charming audio production of Woolf’s biography of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s spaniel, Flush. The story uses the dog—one of the most famous animals in literary history—as a lens for understanding the travails of his owner, the romantic story of her courtship and marriage to Robert Browning, and the class system of mid-19th-century British society. Atkins adopts the proper tender tones in describing the blossoming relationship between Flush and Elizabeth, who feeds him delicacies from her own hand, but changes her voice to depict Flush’s fury at being displaced by the interloper Robert. Atkins also beautifully captures the sense of freedom—not experienced since puppyhood—Flush feels when he’s set loose from the confining parlors of Wimpole Street and moved to the sunbaked streets of Italy with the newlyweds. (Sept.)

Featured Audio Reviews

David Lynch, Kristine McKenna

Filmmaker Lynch and coauthor McKenna both contribute their voices to this wonderfully entertaining audiobook about Lynch’s life and his creative influences. The chapters Continue reading »

Anthony Horowitz

Voice actor Kinnear sounds playfully peevish and impatient when portraying the narrator of Horowitz’s hugely entertaining whodunit, adding to the novel’s sense of fun. Daniel Continue reading »

David Crystal

With a sharp English accent and expert pacing, Perkins largely exemplifies the lessons in linguist Crystal’s lively treatise on the subject of eloquence. Originally published in Continue reading »

Rick Bragg

Cookbooks don’t translate easily to the audiobook format, but Bragg, reading in a friendly Southern drawl, manages to effortlessly transform this collection of his mother’s Continue reading »