The Bookstore

With a sweet, lushly accented tone, Heather Wilds voices Esme, an earnest British graduate student who is studying art history at Columbia and navigating the strangeness of Manhattan. As the protagonist, Wilds alternates between a na•ve, timid newcomer and a sharp-tongued, straight-talking independent woman, sometimes to the point of stretching realism. Similarly, the pacing of the audiobook is often inconsistent. Esme's ordered world is thrown into disarray by an unplanned pregnancy, and sometimes her behavior is so clichéd as to be frustrating. Even though some of the conversations offer uneven interpretations of New York accents, this production is largely a good listen, thanks to Wilds. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine