cover image A Secret Kept

A Secret Kept

Tatiana de Rosnay, read by Simon Vance, Macmillan Audio, unabridged, seven CDs, 9 hrs., $34.99 ISBN 978-1-4272-1095-1

Together, de Rosnay and Simon Vance guide us through a sister and brother’s traumatic search for the real cause of their mother’s death some 30 years before. Vance is a reader’s reader, and he narrates de Rosnay’s novel with nuanced tones, rhythms, cadences, and subtle modulations, intonations and pauses to etch each character indelibly in the reader’s memory. He has the rare ability to do convincing women’s voices without sounding silly, and his French is very good (though his American accents are slightly overblown). A St. Martin’s hardcover (Reviews, July 26). (Sept.)