His/Her Master's Voice: Exceptional Audiobook Narrators

Audiobooks are, of course, about the book, but they are also about the voice, rich, tonal, talented voices that inhabit the narration and breathe life into the characters. As wonderful as a story might be, the narrator can ruin it by changing characters into unknown aliens and wrecking havoc on narrative descriptions. But great narrators step into the dual role of author and reader—for to read a book aloud is to rewrite it, and to interpret it anew is to reread it. In this split position, skilled narrators understand the heart of the story and can gift the listener with a reading that is simply astounding. To hear a range of masters at work, consider handing over the story reins to these brilliant (unabridged) voices.

Wanda McCaddon offers listeners richly expressive readings. Her voice wraps itself around accents with a fluid grace that brings even large casts of characters to life. Her reading of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (15 CDs. Tantor Media. 2008. ISBN 978-1-4001-3635-3. $89.99) is a masterwork. This reverse Cinderella story becomes a vital and energetic tale through McCaddon's lovely rendition. As Jane bravely endures her grim childhood and then wittily conquers Mr. Rochester, McCaddon infuses the novel's diverse cast with a full-bodied presence and narrates the descriptive passages and reflections with a lovely cadence and tone that create the perfect atmosphere for the story to bloom.

British actor Anthony Heald also makes the audio version of a classic novel as fresh and immediate as a newly printed work. He inhabits the books he narrates and, in the case of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment (16 CDs. Blackstone Audio. 2007. ISBN 978-1-4332-0975-8. $120), manages to sustain a long and interior novel without losing the listener's rapt attention. This is basically a character study that explores ethical questions and is filled with conversations. Heald injects Dostoyevsky's textual cues into the characters, complete with stammers and coughs. He creates flow in the dialog, juggling voices, characters, and lines with ease, and maintains a pace suitable to both the depth of the novel and the needs of the listener.

Simon Prebble's reading of Alfred Lansing's Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (9 CDs. Blackstone Audio. 2007. ISBN 978-1-4332-0629-0. $81) should come boxed with snow and ice. In this true-life adventure, explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew were stranded for 22 months in the treacherous ice of Antarctica after their quest to cross the continent on foot went awry. Prebble reads the story with heart-pounding immediacy and gripping emotional force. Beyond his exquisite control of rhythm and pace, Prebble conjures accents that bring each crew member to life and delivers the narrative passages in a tone that frosts the ears with the heavy weight of the cold and dark the men endured.

Narrating nonfiction is an art unto itself, and Marc Cashman joins Prebble in producing a masterful reading. James D. Hornfischer's Ship of Ghosts (14 CDs. Books on Tape. 2006. ISBN 978-1-4159-3133-2. $120) recounts the story of the crew of the World War II cruiser Houston, who were captured by the Japanese and suffered POW camps and forced labor. As Cashman weaves his voice through the multiple characters, listeners become enveloped in the story. His handling of pace and pitch is spot on, his reading of the sea battles is riveting, and as the story moves on to the camps and endless deprivation, his shifts in tonal inflection perfectly match the mood.

Richard Poe has a voice made for audio. It is rich, resonant, and rough. Paired with Cormac McCarthy's equally rich, resonant, and rough Blood Meridian (12 CDs. Recorded Books. 2007. ISBN 978-1-4281-1594-1. $123.75), Poe's vocals are put to amazing use. The story of “The Kid,” a Tennessee teen in the 1850s who gets involved with invading Mexico and hunting scalps, is a dark horror tale that becomes even richer as read by Poe. The Western ethos haunts this violent book, and Poe manages not just to get the voices and pace correct but somehow to convey its seething ambience as well. As a result, as all great narrators do, Poe fades to the back of the scene, letting McCarthy's language shine and allowing the characters to come alive.

Sometimes a narrator has both to step forward to claim the characters and then step back to let the story flow. Davina Porter manages to pull off this tightrope of a reading in her rendition of Diana Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes (48 CDs. Recorded Books. 2005. ISBN 978-1-4193-4890-7. $119.75). As the voice of Jamie and Claire Fraser since the start of the time travel series, Porter incarnates Claire and has surely fallen in love with Jamie if her reading is any measure. Jamie's voice is an addictive mix of Scottish brogue and Gaelic endearments. Porter's version of Claire is crisp, warm, and smart. Smarter still is the way Porter narrates the descriptive passages, which counterbalance Claire's first-person point of view, so that this huge novel is deftly paced, allowing readers to sink into its fine detail and emotional weight.