Zora Neale Hurston’s previously unreleased work offers a rare glimpse of the experiences of the last surviving person to have been taken from Africa, brought to the United States as a slave, and then freed. Capturing the dialect, accent, and intonation of Cudjo Lewis, then living in Alabama, presents a challenging task for narrator Robin Miles, who must deliver one of the integral aspects of Hurston’s work: a reconstruction of Lewis’s African and Southern accents. Miles’s rendition is well done, with clear, deliberate diction that places appropriate emphasis on Lewis’s emotional reactions. Also included is an introduction to Hurston’s work. Traditional music at transition points sets the mood of the rural South. S.E.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2018 Best Audiobook, 2019 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Icons come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and backgrounds. Some are fascinating because of unique challenges and life stories, others by rising to the tops of their fields with style. They inspire and teach us, but there’s always much more to their lives than their public personas. These books go behind the scenes with intriguing […]