Stray

Narrator Alex McKenna shares Stephanie Danler's memoir of a successful author trying to face her troubled upbringing. Listeners encounter a range of relatives who reveal too much to a precocious and suggestible Danler. McKenna gives the author a sardonic persona that is equal parts self-deprecating toward the economic privilege of her childhood and critical of the adults in her life at that time. Her story moves from New York to California and spans a variety of topics including love, disappointment, and addiction. McKenna keeps listeners engaged by evoking the sense that a fascinating stranger has decided to bare her soul over successive cups of coffee. She sets a steady, comfortable place that can be listened to at length. M.R. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine