I Think I Love You

With its internal character monologues and lively dialogue, this novel works particularly well on audio. Sian Thomas is marvelous in bringing to life 13-year-old Petra, a Welsh girl in 1974 with an obsessive crush on David Cassidy. Her voice perfectly evokes the complex mix of absurdity, yearning, and poignant insecurity of adolescence as Petra struggles to fit in with her female friends and negotiate shifting alliances. Thomas is equally adept as the older, wiser, more reflective adult Petra. In addition to bringing out every subtle nuance of emotion and character, Pearson expertly voices a variety of accents: the thick Welsh of young Petra, the guttural German of her mother, the educated as well as working-class British tones, the American voice of Cassidy himself, and most impressively, the accent of the adult Petra (who has lived in London for many years), a London accent with hints of her native Welsh. A must-listen audio for fans of smart and funny contemporary fiction%E2%80%94or just those looking for inspired audio narration. A Knopf hardcover. (Feb.)