This week’s Throwback Thursday is inspired by Kaetrin’s review of Nora Roberts’ 2021 title, Legacy. A decade ago, on May 20, 2013, the founders of AudioGals posted a “Three Gals Talk” review of The Witness which features the incomparable Julia Whelan as narrator. Note that it was the first time some of us had even listened to her! From my perspective, 10 years later, Ms Whelan is still one of the most talented and versatile narrators today. And Nora Roberts is still one of the most prolific and widely-read authors! Published in April 2012, this audiobook won the award for Romance in the 2013 Audies.
Narrated by Julia Whelan
Melinda’s Take
Nora grabs you with the first paragraph:
Elizabeth Fitch’s short-lived teenage rebellion began with L’Oreal Pure Black, a pair of scissors and a fake ID. It ended in blood.
Liz’s life was changed forever on that day – I noted the publisher’s blurb doesn’t tell you what happened, so I’ll leave that spoiler out. It made for an incredibly heart-pumping ride, as the first part of the book describes her ordeal at age 16. Twelve years later she arrives in Bickford, Arkansas, as Abigail Lowery – a reclusive young woman, living alone on the outskirts of town, with an incredible security system and packing heat. All of this intrigues the new sheriff, Brooks Gleason, who makes it his job to get to know her better – a lot better. Together they take on the town bullies and Abigail’s extraordinary secrets.
It’s a suspense, it’s a warm and emotional romance, and it’s a truly satisfying journey. It has some of my favorite tropes including besotted hero and notable pets. Liz/Abigail is an incredibly conflicted heroine with about a hundred valid reasons to be too messed up to even think straight – all of which make it difficult to imagine her ever letting anyone into her world. Brooks is a class act – an alpha/beta hero: a cop should be alpha, and the fact that somehow he gets his way about 100% of the time should be alpha, but his mannerisms are pure good ol’ beta boy next door, and the narrator conveys that in her soft but insistent tone as well. Leave it to LaNora to make it all turn out right in the end.
Julia Whelan has narrated/co-narrated 85 titles at Audible.com [2023 note: that was as of 2013], including the recently released and much-talked-about Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn as well as nonfiction and books of several fiction genres, dating back to 2009. Her bio indicates she has been acting since she was a child and appeared in a few movies and a TV series (Once and Again). She’s a talented and experienced narrator, something those of us at AudioGals truly value. That being said, I’ll admit I generally prefer a more mature sounding voice, but her young sound worked well for Liz at 16 and at 28, and to be honest, her rendition of Brooks grew on me, so that by the end, she became Brooks in my ears. She doesn’t have a wide, or maybe I mean low range, although she created enough distinct characters to keep the dialogue very clear and easy to follow. It took me a while, but about 2/3 of the way in, she had reached that level of disappearing into the background, leaving me with the intriguing storyline. She gave the Arkansas locals a soft Southern/mountain accent just hinted at through speech, with the occasional dropping of the final “g” and the wordplay, and without hitting the listener over the head with a made-for-TV version of Southern sweet tea accents, and I really appreciated that.
Since this audiobook is nominated for an Audie in the romance category, I listened to it with the criteria for winning in mind: quality. Audiobook of the Year is the “audiobook that, through quality, innovation, marketing and sales, has had the most significant impact on the industry.” The nominees are chosen from books entered by publishers – so while it’s not 100% clear to me if the playing field is at all level (are books I like even entered?), there are factors at play that I cannot judge, specifically the “marketing and sales” angles. For quality, there is the quality of the narration, the quality of the book and the quality of the actual recording itself. I would give the book a solid A for intriguing plot, excellent writing and characterizations. The narration is also an A, although the youthful sound even in the older characters might lower that to A- for me. The recording is the level of quality I expect from Audible.com and the major publishers – I didn’t note any repeated sections, jerky transitions, or background noise. If there was anything innovative about the recording, I don’t know what it might be, however – which is a good thing in my mind. Maybe they save that innovative criteria just for the top book? But the marketing and sales piece – the parts that have the most bearing on the impact on the industry – is a little more cut and dried, and is knowledge gained from retail sales reports. So I’ll just say I think the quality of this book was what I expect – not exceeding that – and leave it at that.
Melinda
Brenda’s Take
For a romance, The Witness started off differently for me with the first 20% of the book dedicated to traumatic events that occur when our heroine is 16. As those events shape and define Elizabeth Fitch’s change into who she is as Abigail Lowery when she meets small town sheriff Brooks Gleason 12 years later, they provided both a nail biting beginning along with solid reasons for her current well guarded solitary lifestyle.
I always enjoy Nora Roberts’ writing – she has a romance style that appeals to me and I look forward to each of her annual romantic suspense releases. I know I’ll laugh out loud at least once, have a smile on my face in general, and probably tear up at least a time or two while listening to one of her books IF the narrator delivers what is written. Narrator Julia Whelan delivers and she does it extremely well.
There are narrators who perform heroes with a delicious low register that delight our ears – Julia Whelan isn’t one but I still consider her one of my favorite narrators. Why? Because she emotes each and every emotion written into a story with an energy that engages me completely. She focuses my attention on each detail of the story unfolding before my ears as if I’m there.
Knowing the above, I still raised an eyebrow when I first heard Brooks speaking, wishing he had been given the timbre of John’s voice (a character from earlier in the story) but after my first raised eyebrow, I was carried straight into who Brooks is, not what he sounds like. He is a confident well rounded man that can be pushed only so far and Julia Whelan portrays this laid back but determined personality perfectly along with imparting the humor he finds in nudging Abigail from her strict routines.
Ms. Whelan does the same with intellectual genius but socially awkward Abigail. I could feel her as young Elizabeth craving “normal” to balance a life centered around her intelligence. I experienced her disorientation as Abigail weighed facts about a personal subject, made a decision she thought reasonable, and then was taken aback when another’s emotions made the situation play out differently than she foresaw. I could sense her bafflement over feelings invoked by an offer of friendship – her distress about how to properly attend a simple family BBQ – her disbelief as she finds her heart ruling for the first time as she falls in love despite her brain’s resistance.
I easily recognized each of the other characters by their appealingly developed personalities – good or bad – and enjoyed hearing the tinge of the South flavoring the speech of the Arkansas locals just enough. I especially admired how she developed Brooks’ mother Sunny’s voice with a layer of southern over her obvious east coast roots to go with her early flower child persona.
Overall – once Brooks was introduced, I was fully on board for the excellent ride listening to The Witness proved to be.
Brenda
Lea’s Take
The Witness surprised me. I’m not what you could call a Nora Roberts’ fan but it’s not based on any dislike of her work. Partly my lack on interest has to do with the few titles I have tried – they were average reads that didn’t leave me wanting more. But mostly it’s the fact that there are just so darn many. Where does one start and proceed from there? And how in the world does one human produce that type of backlist?
With that said, The Witness changed my view on the first part of my lack of interest comments. My interest never lagged a moment even with a lengthy prelude, something that often has me impatiently waiting for the author to just get on with it. That all-important prelude sets the stage for a remarkably satisfying romance.
As with every audiobook I truly enjoy, I ask myself, “Would this book be such a personal success if I had only read it?” The answer here is a solid “No.” Julia Whelan takes a well-written romance (with a degree of suspense) and takes it to a higher level of entertainment. How could my mind have wrapped around the hero, Brooks, so completely in print? Ms. Whelan emphasizes every facet of this man’s highly appealing personality as well as effectively depicting his disgust, his determination, and his toughness when needed. With every rise and fall of his voice, I understood him.
Just listening to excerpts as I write this review makes me want to stop writing and listen all over again. I’ve read many favorable comments on Julia Whelan’s narrative talent but this is actually my first time listening to one of her titles. Her voice sounds young – actually too young for my tastes. I usually have to work to get past the feeling that I need to hear a mature voice portraying adult characters. And she lacks that extra deep range for performing male characters making it a double challenge. But despite the lack of that lower range and her young sounding voice, I was very close to being completely satisfied with her excellent performance. However, since I’m such a die hard for that deeper sounding male, the lack of it for the ever-so-engaging Brooks did bring about that minus you see in the grade.
Ms. Whelan performs each and every character distinctly. Her characterization of Liz/Abigail not only remained true to the written word but I’m certain I would not have understood her personality and determination to live life by her own rules to such a degree in print format. Abigail at times sounds clueless – in a very intelligent manner. She’s proper, no-nonsense, and sees things clearly (and has no problem stating it). Her strength and sensibility combined with her need to explain things in a straightforward manner provides some of the most entertaining moments, especially when Brooks is on the receiving end.
Now I’m back to thinking about my second reason for not listening to Nora Roberts. That huge backlist. But I’m gonna find a way to start working through it – just a little here and there.
Lea Hensley
Buy The Witness by Nora Roberts on Amazon
I read this in print first and adored it. Then I listened on audio. I liked Julia Whelan but agree that her voice sounded too young for the older characters and I would have liked Brooks’ voice to be deeper. That said, she nailed the characterisation. Once I got over it wasn’t Tanya Eby narrating, I settled in an enjoyed it. (When I read the print version I totally heard Eby narrating in my head, a la The Search!). The Witness was one of my top 4 books from last year. It was an absolute cracker IMO.
To me, Julia Whelan made the story! Loved her narration.
Witness was one of the first books I relistened to when I was stuck at home at the begiinning of lockdown. In fact I went through several of my Nora Roberts favorites at that time. This time around, however, I wasn’t a big fan of Brooks continually walking through Abigail’s boundaries. It wasnt’ awful, but it still struck me as a bit of an a-hole move to just assume she didn’t mean it when she told him she wasn’t interested in getting to know him better. But I think it’s a great mystery/suspense plot.
The narration is excellent, as all three of the ladies said.
I re-listened to this recently (after Legacy in fact) and it holds up super well. Julia Whelan’s narration is superb.